Ok, a bit of lag between my last post and this one.  Here are some pics of journies taken...

Lincoln City January 2014 

Umqua river on the way to Toketee Falls Feb 2014

 

Summer Lake Spring 2014

 

 
 
Finally caught a shot of the hummingbird visiting my honeysuckle bush.

 Trip up the gorge October 2014

 Love the black and whites.

Nice motel on the river except for the trains which knew not the time, including 2 am.

  

December 2014 Death Valley Trip
The trip down was rain the whole way down with small breaks of sun to bring out the rainbows. 

Gas milage was great headed down into Dealth Valley 99.9 to the gallon!

At the bottom was a diverse landscape that had been shaped by the years of water flow.

Hiking into a canyon to a "waterfall"

While it wasn't much of a waterfall there was evidence that it could be a force to be reckoned with as evidence by the debris several feet high!

 Such different landscape all in the same valley.



From 70+ degrees in Death Valley to face a nemisiss coming home...snow, lots of snow.

 

March 2015 a day at the beach...

Waters a bit choppy for the bouyies...



and a bit rough for the slow oysters too....heehee

 
 

 December's search for

      ....sun!!!!

Found it in eastern Washington, leaving the clouds and heading for blue skies, while not warm it was sun!

 My destimation Palouse Falls, WA.  Happened upon it while searching for pictures on Pinterest.  Checked the road conditions and no snow...until I actually got to the falls.  That white stuff isn't foam, its ice and now.  Nothing up top in the way of snow.

 Even down river it was cold enough for ice to form on this moving river.

This bush had the inclination to be on the otherside of the fence...I know the feeling so well!

Instead it is literally stuck on the fence, half on this side and half on the other-there might be a lesson in there somewhere.

             Came around the corner and happened upon a herd of deer.  By the time I got my camera on & ready they were up the hill.

and running away!   

 Black and White collection...they speak to my soul.

Yellow Stone

 Dominican Republic

      toes in the sunset and sandy beaches

Stolen picture from Emily's Bolivian Blog

Geocaching in the NW means    enduring rain

 Crack in the Ground, eastern Oregon

Fort Rock, Eastern Oregon

Summer Lake, OR

 Eastern Oregon, gorgeous day and lovey place for a geocache

 Sunsites, AZ after a thunderstorm

...aah

 Well 8 months back in Oregon and still trying to find motivation     and inspiration.

   

                                                   Kept looking in the rearview mirror and got some awesome views, although not all in Oregon.

           Got a new camera and tried looking at things up close and with the cool "fish-eye" setting.

 

 Tried geo-caching and after several attempts over several months finally found one!  Came in the wrong way, got really wet and muddy, but the feeling of finally find a cache in Oregon's heavy tree canopy...priceless! Got some help from a passing muggle, Tony the fisherman, to make it back to the road with a "short-cut".   

 


Not everyone is as excited by my new camera.

So that is my update to this point.

 

Well...

there are a few things I said I would never do but here I am having moved to Oregon and to Newberg. Not finding work in Arizona the trip to Oregon began the middle of September, found a 2 bedroom/2 1/2 bath with a garage, my brother & I are sharing expenses and the first part of November started  working in insurance again. Now the background on my blog is even more appropriate as it has done a whole lot of raining since I have been back.  Not having a window in my office is a benefit as I can pretend the picture in my office is actually a window onto a sunflower field.

Fittingly a frog said goodbye to me at my storage unit in Sunsites, AZ and another one "sang" hello at my new apartment and greeted me at my storage unit in McMinnville, OR! The plague continues, grrrr!

Having done things backwards, again, I came back to Oregon the beginning of October and it has rained most days since arriving. Here are some last pictures of Arizona...

This is actually White Sands, New Mexico - can you figure out why its called White Sands?  It is the oddest thing to find in the middle of dessert browns, reds and greens the opposite of an oasis - sheer white sand, it was more like a drive through a snow park than dessert sand.

The monsoon season in Arizona brings out beautiful flowers and  fields of green - the desserts blossom so beautifully.
















When it rains it really, really rains!  And loud thunder and lots of lightening.  But the next minute it is sunny!

The rainy season makes for some great pictures.  This one above is one of my favorites.  Went out to try and capture some lightening and got this, not a bad trade.

"Ghost" towns are plentiful here - remnants of living now gone so different and yet not.
The east side of the Chiricahuas are even more impressive than what I saw & posted last year.  It takes a long meandering drive to get there since the spring/summer fires combined with the rains this year have closed down some of the passes.  It is understandable why people choose to live there it is beautiful although very remote.

 Someone asked me what I was going to do with the time off from work (4 days) and I told them I did not know as the rain and Oregon don't inspire me, but may be if I open my eyes...

and make friends with the frogs in my life...who knows.