It was interesting to watch all the heavy equipment moving those big logs around:
I love watching the sky in Washington and Oregon - it is constantly changing, sometimes dark, sometimes brooding, and every now and then the sun peaks through:
We took an afternoon ride along the coast, and found a small bay and the scenery for which Oregon is famous:
The surf this day was 22 to 26 feet high, out beyond the entrance to the bay:
We stayed only two nights in Coos Bay, and drove down the coast towards Brookings, Oregon. The interplay of rocks, light, sky and water are so interesting!
Can you imagine, we found snow along the route, we were so surprised! It was along a stretch of about a mile:
The next day the sun came out so we explored the coastline north of Brookings.
We saw whales spouting just off shore! You can't see them in the photo below, because of course they never spouted when the camera was aimed at them. They must be camera-shy. But they were there, just feet beyond the rocks on the left. Honest. One of the whales was actually inside those rocks, closer to shore. They weren't moving, but reappeared in the same places time and again, so I believe they were resting.
Many of the rocks seen along the shore here are volcanic, dating from the Cretaceous period. They are black "pillow" lava rocks, made from hot lava that cooled quickly when it hit the water. More recently, tectonic uplift created the coastal range of mountains.
One big hunk of driftwood:
More black lava rocks:
I turned my attention to botany when I found wild amaryllis blooming on a hillside:
Berries:
More rocks, and western gulls:
Our destination today is Redcrest, California, on the Avenue of the Giants. Giant redwood trees, that is. An old growth forest with trees up to 2200 years old and 380 feet tall. I have been here before, it is a place that I love. It feels sacred, a holy place, with trees unimaginably old. It is always quiet in these forests, as it should be, a place of reverence.
Tomorrow we head for Petaluma, just north of San Francisco. The drive is three hours. Lee and I are more than half way through our odyssey, so hard to believe! I look forward to more adventures to come.
