Jupiter Inlet

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Family, Travel
Jupiter Inlet and Lighthouse-037
Highway 1 Drawbridge over Jupiter Inlet

It’s been a stressful week.  Laura’s mom fell on Friday and broke both legs.  She had surgery on Saturday, and is looking at a long recovery time.  Laura had flown down to Florida so she could drive back with Amy and her mom and some time with us.  Her mother fell as they were getting ready to go to the airport to pick her up.  So, with Laura in Florida with no way back and not enough supplies for an extended stay, I packed more gear for her and clothes for me and drove down Sunday.

Monday was spent in the hospital. Tuesday I had a bit of a break. Amy and Laura stayed with their mom, and I headed ab hour down the road to Jupiter, where my niece, Katie, and her husband, Aaron had just moved. My sister, Glynda, had come down to help them get settled in, and it was also their son, Jack’s first birthday.

Apparently first birthday cake smashing is a thing. If you buy the first birthday cake from Publix, they throw in a “smashing cake.” Katie thought that the small one was too small and wouldn’t show up in photographs well. She bought a larger one. She had a little set in place, so we put Jack in front of the cake…

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LCU Does Lake Jocassee

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Paddling, Photography

LCU at Lake Jocassee-010

We just got back from our grand west coast tour last Sunday, but we weren’t settling down. Stephen and I had made another mid-week trek to the Pickens Flea Market, and Friday morning I had taken Laura to the airport for a quick trip down to Florida so that she could drive back to our place with her sister and mother. That left me as the sole occupant of the house. So, what was I to do but throw a party?

The guys from Lowcountry Unfiltered had been wanting to paddle Lake Jocassee. Last Saturday was the second Saturday, the traditional LCU paddling day, but it was postponed a week so that we could get back from the west and organize the trip. Several of the guys were camping or staying other locations overnight. Matt, James, and Scott came up early and stayed at our house. We had chili, various imbibements, and Star Wars movies with an MST3K treatment.

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Samish Time Lapses and Family Discoveries

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Family, Photography, Travel

Eligin Pocket Watch

August 6, 2014

It was another day on Samish Island, and we had a full day planned. Most of this involved taking care of some family business in town, but there were opportunities for shopping and photography.

One thing I wanted to do was try some time lapse photography on the island. I had done this before, but that was with limited equipment. I had an iPad, which I couldn’t leave outside for extended periods. Now, with the GoPro, I could set up a session and leave it for much longer.

My first attempt was actually yesterday evening. I set up the camera and let it run for a couple of hours over the late afternoon, evening. While the GoPro worked great and I like the overall view, the wide angle made it so that I couldn’t capture the incoming tide as I wanted.

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Morning Light in Skagit Valley

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Family, Photography, Travel
Skagit Valley and Samish Island-7
Mount Baker

August 5, 2014

It had been a long week+ of traveling, but now we were settled in for awhile. I got a good night’s sleep, but, as usual, was awake far too early. I think it also has something to do with the longer daylight up here. I’ve never been this far north in winter, and would be curious as to how that would affect me. I’d probably still get up early.

From a photography standpoint these long days are fabulous. Long morning and evening light means you’ve got much more optimal time with the best possible light. Even with longer light, I wasn’t going to waste any of it, so I headed out early to take some photos of Skagit Valley.

First, though, I did get did get distracted by a small bunny right outside the window while I was having breakfast…

Skagit Valley and Samish Island-1
Skagit Valley and Samish Island-2

This part of the Skagit Valley is mostly reclaimed farm land. Samish Island was once a true island, but has been reconnected to the mainland by land reclamation. “The Flats” present and ever-changing landscape, depending on crops, weather, and lighting conditions. Today the weather was clear and spectacular.

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From Long Beach to Samish Island

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Photography, Travel
Skagit Valley and Samish Island-38
Samish Island Sunset

Monday, August 4, 2014

We got a good night’s sleep in our quaint little hotel, but it was time to move on. We were very close to the end of our journey, but we still had some exploring to do. We got up and had a large breakfast at a local joint, where I demonstrated my prowess with one of the triangular peg puzzles.

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Portland, Oregon to Long Beach, Washington

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Photography, Travel
Marsh's Free Museum at Long Beach
Marsh’s Free Museum at Long Beach

Saturday, August 3, 2014

It had been a long day already. We had seen some amazing waterfalls, some incredible vistas, and some enormous crowds along the Columbia Gorge. It was time to move on. I didn’t want a repeat of Friday’s scramble to find a place to stay in Portland, so Laura dove into the task of finding us a place for tonight. Our only requirement was that it needed to get us further on our way, preferably somewhere on the Washington State coastline, but not too far of a drive. Laura was successful, but I didn’t know anything about the town or location. Regardless, I set the GPS and we set off.

I-84 took us through downtown Portland and over the Willamette River on another spectacular bridge. We didn’t linger for sightseeing, or even for a photo of the bridge and skyline, but kept going. We left the interstate for the coastal highway, which mimicked our Friday trip over from the coast. We passed through rural lands, then ascended over the coastal range, dropping back down at the appropriately named community of Seaside.

We began seeing signs pointing to historical locations for Lewis and Clark. Seemed fitting. Our last two week road trip was ten years ago, when we followed the Lewis and Clark route across country in another convertible.

The highway followed only a short span of the Oregon Coast before turning back eastward. Most of this was through developed seaside communities. Soon, though, we were crossing the Young’s Bay Bridge toward Astoria. We didn’t linger, though, because we immediately drove onto the Astoria Bridge across the Columbia River.

Astoria Bridge over Columbia River

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Waterfalls of Columbia Gorge

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Photography, Travel
Columbia Gorge from Vista House
Columbia River Gorge

Sunday, August 3, 2014

We wanted to get an early start. However, gas and more coffee were calling. We found a Starbucks in the little planned community of Wilsonville, then headed on our way. We circled past Portland on I-205 until we came to an overlook of the Willamette River. We had a good view of the Willamette River Locks.

Willamette River Locks

Soon we found ourselves headed east on I-205, and entering the Columbia River Gorge. The gorge was much wider than I had imagined. I don’t know what I was expecting – perhaps a narrow river gorge like the Green in North Carolina?

Tom Driving along Columbia River Gorge

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Coos Bay to Portland

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Photography, Travel
Heceta Head Lighthouse from Sea Lion Cave
Heceta Head Lighthouse from Sea Lion Cave

Saturday, August 2, 2014

It was time to continue our trek up the west coast. We weren’t really sure where we would end up today, but from Aunt Ellen we had gotten suggestions about a couple of place we wanted to stop along the way.

We retraced our steps northward from yesterday’s trip, driving along miles and miles of dunes. It would have been tempting to stop at several of the locations with dune overlooks, but with Dunefest in full swing that wasn’t very appealing.

Soon we came to the town of Florence on the Siuslaw River. As we crossed the river we made note of the fascinating architecture of the bridge. It turns out that this is one of the historic bridges along this road designed by Conde McCullough, an architect active during the 1920s and 30s. McCullough had a penchant for adding art deco elements to his designs, such as unusual obelisks at the entrances to the bridge. We had already crossed several of his bridges, including the ones at Coos Bay, Umpqua River, and Gold Beach. This wouldn’t be the last one we crossed today.

The town of Florence looked like it would be a great place to explore, with an interesting waterfront along the Siuslaw. However, we kept going. The dunes also continued, ending abruptly at Cox Rock, near Sea Lion Point. The dunes stretch for over 35 miles of the Oregon Coast, and it was interesting seeing the massive piles of sand right up against the highway in some areas. I had to wonder about the shifting nature of the sands, and how hard it must be to keep the highway clear. I was also glad it wasn’t exceptionally windy in an open top car.

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