October 30, 2018 Oregon Coast

Another rare sunny day on the Oregon Beach. 50's. 

Our first stop was Darlingtonia State Natural Site where there is a huge meadow of Darlingtonia Californica a carnivorous pitcher plant. It is set in a thick grove of spruce trees. Heceta lighthouse is one of the most photogenic light houses on the coast.  

We stopped at the Sea Lion Caves where there is a huge cave in the cliff that the sea lions live in during the winter. There are no sea lions there today so we did not take the elevator down into the cave to see it. Blackberry bloom and a tide pool. This cool arched tree is above Neptune beach. 

John on Neptune beach looking for tide pools. Cooks chasm is a long chasm that huge waves rush up and crash at the end. Spouting horn is above a cave under the cliff with a hole at the top and spray  shots out when the waves hit the cave just right. 

Huge waves break on the ledges. You can be swept out to sea, injured or drown. I worried about this photographer on the edge, John was further back. In the chasms the huge waves make huge piles of foam that are more fascinating that the waves. 

The sign says at Cooks Chasm:beware of rip currents, beware of sneaker waves, stay off logs, use caution on rocks and jetties, beware of incoming tides, unstable cliffs, stay back from cliff edges. Yarrow and heath blooms along the trail. This is one of the cliffs. At the top right is Thor's Well a giant sink hole. When the waves crash water shoots up it and then drains back out.  

Looking up the coast at Yachats, OR a cute little coastal town. John at the Yachats brewery and farmstore with is amber ale. We had lunch at an outdoor table in the sun.  

Devil's churn. It is another chasm that churns the foam and has crashing waves. Beach trail, no climbing or digging on the cliffs. A crab and a monkey flower below one of the many fresh water springs coming from the cliffs into the ocean. 

John on the Hobbit trail to Hobbit Beach. The trail is named for the thick vegetation tunnels that look like hobbits would use. Clover, handicap space, green/yellow grass and red striped rocks and another hanging clover bloom. 

We took a long walk along Hobbit Beach in the sun. Beautiful colors. 

Cool clouds above Hobbit beach. Pink flowers from a flowering bush, a face in the cliff, succulent leaves and a half a sand dollar. Didn't find any whole ones, just halves.  

Sunset on Hobbit beach and looking south toward Florence on the way home. 

October 28-29, 2018 Florence, Oregon

We finished at Oregon Motorcoach. The bus should be good for a year.  We drove down to Florence, Oregon, which is just west of Eugene and on the coast. It was supposed to rain all day, but the sun came out and was nice on the way down. 50's, windy and cloudy.

A more Oregon looking forecast. Rain everyday. There is a drought and it has been sunny and dry until this week.  The drive on the way down with mossy fall colored big leafed maple. I think I take a photo of this section every time we come this way. 

The bus in our campsite at Harbor Vista county park. Snugged into the vegetation. It will be nice to camp where there is not a big bright parking lot light. We went down to the beach. About the time we got there the fog rolled in. John's camo jacket blends right in and he is invisible. 

The waves on the jetty and the beach.

Sanderlings running their little legs off on the beach. The next day it was predicted to rain hard and be in the 50's. A miracle happened and it was sunny and in the 50's. This is the harbor by the campground at low tide.

More at low tide. A cool rock and John under the dragon looking dead tree.  

During low late afternoon light we went to the beach. Where there are northwest  ugly clams and Gaper clams. Siuslaw North Jetty, deadly waves at anytime, Loose slippery rocks and patterns in the sand. Reflected sea gull in the parking lot. 

This dune looks like John's hair! Reflections of the end of the rain clouds on the beach.

Waves and more reflections on the beach. 

Sanderlings running along the waves. This nice lady took our photo. 

The nice lady wanted some photos of herself in this yoga pose.  Sunset on the high clouds.

Sunset on the high clouds.and John got this photo of me right before I tried to jump it. 

October 22-27, 2018 Eugene, Oregon

Another sunny 72 degree day. The bus is still being worked on.

John has the almost full moon in his hand. Love long and prosper. We had dinner with Leslie and Scott at the Plank Brewery. Leslie got another birthday season complimentary dessert. 

The coach is still in the shop. Most everything we wanted done is done. They discovered that the oil pan needs replacing when they had it on the lift. And the passenger chair is out getting the wires fixed so that the foot rest will work again.  

John got new tires on the car. When the put the tires on they discovered that three of the rims were bent, so we got rad looking new rims. When they are aligning it they discovered that the rear end needs parts since it would not align. Seems never ending. We got our absentee ballots and voted today. 

Halloween decorations. Jack o lantern lights.  I finally finished the masterpiece. It got huge. 13 x 13 x 2 inches. I used needles I dyed-purple, navy blue, teal, and scarlet. The center is a piece of glass I fused and the beads are glass beads I purchased. 

This is what the basket looks like with light behind it. The glass shows up real well and the white beads are actually synthetic moon stones, so they are translucent.  These cool clouds before sunset dissipated before sunset colors caught them.   

Friday night we went out to hear great music at Dark and Stormy in Springfield. Great show, at the end the venue stiffed the artists , they said not enough people showed up for them to pay them. Pretty lame. Foggy rainy and cool. 60s. Scott built the Hip-Hop House in their backyard for Leslie to use as her massage studio. I got a great massage yesterday. John is getting one now. It was predicted to rain all day, but the sun came out so I sat on the deck and worked on the latest masterpiece.   

  

Scott was inside with his drum set. In the afternoon we went to Dorris ranch a historic filbert orchard that is now a park. We filled a bag with filberts and then hiked along the Willamette river in fall colors.  

Leslie on the trail. Fall colors. 

Beautiful fall colors along the trail.

 John, Leslie and Scott on the trail. Laurie and Steve stopped by on their way to a costume party to show off their costumes.  

The current new masterpiece. It has a piece of my glass in the center with glass beads. So far so good. Our big bag of filberts and holly berries.