From Foggy Mountains to the Sea

Friday was another rainy day in Oregon.

Greg, of course, wasn’t going to let a little rain stop him. He gets bored if he has to just sit around and relax for too long, so he put on all his clothes and headed outside to work on some projects.

With all the rain, he noticed the gutters weren’t draining properly, so naturally he climbed up on a ladder and cleaned the gutters. Because apparently even a rainy vacation is a good time to find something to fix.

While Greg was outside working, LaRee and I decided to go take pictures along the river.

The rain had brought in fog, and I’m a sucker for foggy mountains. Unfortunately, I had left my camera back at the house, so I had to settle for my phone.

We drove all the way up the highway to Scottsburg, stopping along the way whenever we saw something worth photographing.

It was really fun going with LaRee because she pointed out some great spots and different angles that I might have otherwise missed. One of my favorites was underneath the bridge in Scottsburg.

Eventually we made our way back to the house.

But as soon as I got back, I couldn’t help myself.

I had to go back out with my camera.

I told myself I wasn’t going to go very far.

That didn’t last.

I kept finding beautiful spots, so I kept driving. Before I knew it, I had made it all the way up to Loon Lake. I hadn’t been there in years.

The weather couldn’t make up its mind. One minute it was just sprinkling and the next it was absolutely pouring. But that kind of weather makes Oregon look even more beautiful to me.

After Loon Lake, I headed back down the highway toward Scottsburg. I didn’t quite make it all the way back to the bridge before Greg texted me asking if I was okay and if I was ever coming back.

Apparently, Scott, Jen and Jan had all been at the house.

So I decided I should probably head back.

Except when I passed the elk viewing spot, the elk were really close to the road.

So obviously I had to stop.

I pulled over and got out my camera and took pictures of the elk. Because at this point, I was already late. What was a few more minutes?

By the time I finally made it back to the house, Scott and Jen were gone and Jan was getting ready to leave.

Whoops.

I was sad that I had missed them.

Since everyone was gone anyway, I decided to go back out again.

This time I headed toward the ocean in search of some of my favorite birds—the turkey vultures. Greg’s dad had told me about a spot where I was pretty much guaranteed to find some.

On the way, I stopped at the boat docks and started seeing seals in the water. So, of course, I stopped to take pictures of those too.

I also spotted a seagull trying to eat a HUGE fish. The fish was so big that its tail was still sticking out of the seagull’s mouth.

I found the turkey vultures hanging around the fish filleting station and took a bunch of pictures of them. There were also a lot of seals hanging around the area.

I stopped at another dock and took even more pictures of the seals laying around.

Then I drove a little farther down the road and took some pictures of the crab dock before finally heading back to the house.

At this point, I’d probably spent more time driving around taking pictures than I had actually spent at the house.

And I was perfectly happy about it.

We had dinner and then headed back out again to meet Scott and Jen at their Airbnb.

On the way there, I noticed the sunset was looking like it might turn out pretty. I asked Greg to pull off near the crab dock and we headed up toward the lighthouse.

I took pictures until the sun disappeared behind the clouds.

Then we continued on to meet Scott and Jen at their rental.

They were staying in an area I’d never been to before called Lakeside. Their rental was in a great spot right on the water. We spent some time standing out on the dock, talking and looking at the water.

There was also a beautiful patch of lily pads that I couldn’t resist photographing.

It was just nice to sit and visit for a while.

When we headed back, it was getting cloudy again, so naturally I had to stop at the lighthouse one more time.

I wanted to see if I could get pictures of the lighthouse lights through the fog.

I really wish I had thought to pull out my tripod and do a longer exposure. It would have been so cool to really capture the lights glowing through the fog. Instead, I just hand-held my camera and took a few quick pictures before we headed home.

I think that’s one of my favorite things about Oregon.

The beauty changes constantly.

You can have foggy, rain-soaked mountains in the morning, elk standing along the highway, seals and turkey vultures along the coast, and then a beautiful sunset over the ocean all in the same day.

Where else can you go from the mountains to the sea in just a few minutes?

Even the rainy days are beautiful here.

And apparently, even when I tell myself I’m only going out for a little while, I can still manage to spend the entire day chasing pictures.