Pacific Northwest Road Trip Day One: Portland to Crater Lake

Well, we are off on the big Pacific Northwest road trip. After flying into Portland, we jumped in our rental car and headed for Crater Lake, stopping along the way to visit a couple of Oregon's very cool covered bridges. It sprinkled on and off throughout the day, but overall it was a beautiful day. Oregon is very green and lush. We made it to Crater Lake about 6 PM, checked into the Aspen Inn and headed for Crater Lake (after stopping at a little organic store to pick up dinner). About halfway up the road to the park, it started to snow! We made it to Rim Village, but there was no visibility and the wind was really blowing, so we headed back to our hotel. We will try again tomorrow morning.

Shot from the plane flying into Portland. It looks like crystals are falling from the sky.

Lowell Covered Bridge

 Beautiful valley near Lowell

 Office Bridge in Westfir, Oregon

 Snowing in Crater Lake. Zero visibility, so no shots of Crater Lake itself. Oh well...we shall try again in the morning.

Wetlands - May, 2011

Just thought I'd post a few photos from a walk around the Bolsa Chica Wetlands yesterday. Not the best time of day to take photos in the wetlands, but I got a few decent shots.  Vacation is coming up in a few weeks (YAY!), so I am looking forward to updating the blog regularly with some interesting thoughts and sights.

Egret amidst a field of gold algae.

Tern in flight.

This little tern landed near us and hammed it up.

Same egret, a different pose.

Someone lost their hat in the algae.

This little guy came over to us to say hi. He wanted to know why I was only taking photos of the big birds!

Egrets

Terns

Great Blue Heron

I love this photo. It looks like Ms. Egret is taking a dramatic leave of us, with her tail feathers all aflutter.