Photoshop'd

I took a beginning Photoshop class last week. Neat stuff! Here's my first attempt to clean up one of my favorite photos. I've always liked this picture of Alicia and Kevin but I was always disappointed with distractions in the background (I swear that woman's coat looks like a Barney costume). So I warmed up, sharpened, and increased the contrast in the foreground. Then I darkened, blurred, and took most of the color out of the background. I also did my best to get myself out of the reflection in Alicia's sunglasses, along with a few other bits of cleanup work. I like the "after" photo much better.

Hoar Frost

Oh my gosh! It's been sooo long since I've posted to my site. We've had so many great adventures since I last blogged in May. I just hope I can get some of them posted here so you can see what we've been up to.

Starting with the most recent event first, we had an amazing example of hoar frost last weekend. it made for some beautiful pictures at Drake Park. I went out on Saturday and took several pictures adjacent to Mirror Pond, but we got a bit more frost Saturday night so I went back again on Sunday. I'm glad I did because just as I got there the sun was coming out. I ended up taking many pictures from the same vantage points as the day before, but the bright sunlight added some great color to the photos, and really made the frost stand out.

Saturday Evening Post

Central Oregon is amazing. We started the day on Mt. Bachelor. We wanted to get the boys up there one more time before the ski season is over. There's still plenty of snow up there. 12 to 14 feet of it actually. But the owners of the resort ( Powdr Corp.) are being major butt-heads and are closing down much earlier than conditions warrant, much to the chagrin of us season pass holders. I definitely won't be buying passes again next year for the boys.

Anyhoo...so today at about 1:00 we're taking in the view from Mt Bachelor but ready to head for home because the lifts are shutting down. Alicia and I dropped the boys off and were back on the road by 2:00. Probably less than 45 minutes from Bend we reach the Prineville Reservoir. We were only there long enough to drive across its dam and begin our drive along the Crooked River. It was a beautiful drive! It's supposed to be an awesome river for fly fishing, and at several of the stops we made along its banks we did indeed see folks wetting their lines. The canyon that the river flows along is very dramatic. Its full name is the Lower Crooked Wild and Scenic River Chimney Rock Segment. The river has cut its way into this amazing basalt gorge with walls up to 600 feet high! I had that feeling again, like when we went to Lake Billy Chinook several weeks ago. A feeling like we had driven much farther from home. It was reminiscent of dramatic landscapes I've seen in Utah and parts of Yellowstone, and the sense of awe I normally associate with destinations I've reached while on vacation.

After leaving the canyon we drove through some very pastoral farmland and finally made our way into the city of Prineville. Heading maybe 15 minutes east of town we finally reached the far point of our trip at Ochoco Reservoir. We met up with some of Alicia's friends from work who were camping there. The campground was very green and nicely treed, and their campsites overlooked the lake. It was a very nice setting to enjoy the Subway sandwiches we had picked up earlier. So after a short visit we were back on the road again, taking a more direct route to make our way back to Bend. But even with all of our sightseeing we manged to get home with dinner for the kids by 7:00!

Sprung!

I know it's supposed to be the middle of spring, but today is one of the first days that really felt like it. Alicia and I took Shasta for a walk along the Mill A Loop which is a 1.1 mile loop along both sides of the Deschutes River in the Old Mill District. I was in shorts and a t-shirt, and when we started out into the wind my windbreaker seemed like a good idea, but coming back with the wind I got too warm and had to carry it the rest of the way. When we crossed the Les Schwab Amphitheater we let Shasta off leash so she could reach top speed for a minute. She always has a great time zooming across the grass there.

When we got home we sat on our front porch to soak up a bit of the afternoon sun. In this warm moment it was hard to remember or even imagine the snow and ice of January and February. As we sat on the porch I also inspected our newly discovered neighbors though binoculars. Although technically these neighbors were a type of squirrel they are much larger than the grey squirrels we have around the 'hood. Since we moved into the house in October we had never seen a Rock Chuck (Yellow-bellied Marmot) around Bend. Then last week we saw them in several locations around the city the same day , including the empty lots across from our house. In fact, today seemed like some sort of wildlife safari. We saw:

• A dozen or more deer across several locations in SW Bend.


• A woodpecker knocking on our neighbor's house under their eaves.


• A Steller's Jay and an American Robin (I think) at our feeder.


• Beautiful Violet-green Swallows flitting under the eaves of our house.


• Canadian geese eh, coots, black birds, and an assortment of ducks in the Old Mill District.

Seems like the only thing we didn't see were fish. Hmm....I think we've been here long enough to get our resident fishing licenses....

WIP

This post is a Work In Progress. I just wanted to get the photos posted from the day trip Alicia and I took yesterday, and then hopefully I'll get back in a few days to fill in the details.

The basic idea is that we drove up to the Cascade lakes on the opening day of fishing season. We didn't go to fish. We just went to visit the lakes because we've missed them. The majority of the lakes up there are still snowbound but we would take what we could get.




Our first stop was the resort at South Twin Lake, which was beautiful and verdant despite a bit of snow lingering on the southern shore.




Our next stop was the 10,000 acre Wickiup Reservoir, which after having just been at South Twin seemed incredibly vast. The handful of boats plying its surface each seemed to have a lake's worth of water to itself. Shasta certainly enjoyed swimming and wading at its shores.


Our last stop was North Twin Lake. Now North and South lakes are certainly very similar in size and shape, but if they're twins they're fraternal. The north lake's surface was still mostly covered in ice. In fact, if you listened closely you could hear a faint "eshhhh" coming from all the bits and pieces of ice as they mingled on the surface of the lake. It sounded a bit like someone turning slowly under the cover of crisp sheets. Maybe that was it. Maybe North had hit the snooze button a few more times than South and was just now stirring.


On the way home we stopped to take a look at the Fall River. It erupts from a spring, crystal clear, flows just seven miles, and then loses itself in the Deschutes. Even without a polarized lens of some sort you could see right to the bottom. At this stop we also had our first taste of mosquitoes (and one of them had their first taste of me). Time to start carrying repellent in the car.




Once we returned from the mountains we had just enough time to change our clothes and then we were off to McMennamins for a friend's birthday party. There were lots of friendly folks there, yummy appetizers, and free soda refills (whoo-hoo!) for us non-drinkers. The patio we were seated at was very pleasant but it was a bit on the cool side; probably in the thirties. Thankfully the waitstaff did a good job of keeping the fire pits stoked to keep the chill from setting in.

When the party finally broke up a few of us still wanted to chat so we wound up at The Blacksmith restaurant/bar/lounge. The six of us seemed to gravitate to the very comfy seating in their lounge. The atmosphere was very agreeable in a clever combination of trendy and rustic. We were considering ordering dessert but the hour being late they were no longer serving. I think we all managed to enjoy our alcholic beverage even without dessert. I'm determined to go back during their happy hour in hopes of finding a good deal on an appetizer or two. They call their food "new ranch cuisine" and I'm very intrigued by some of their menu items, like lobster corn dogs and "Cowboy Crostinis." Can't wait...

A Snow Show

I keep thinking I've seen the last of the snow and then it snows again. This is not a complaint. Even though I can't wait for the Cascade Lakes Highway to be clear of white stuff so we can get beyond Mt. Bachelor once again, I nonetheless will miss the snow falling in our neighborhood.

This latest dusting started late last night. When I went to bed I opened the blinds so that from my pillow I could watch it fall under the light of the streetlight. As I settled in for the silent display I could also hear a train blow its horn as it made its way through town. The tracks are just a couple of miles away. Just far enough to sound soft, even nostalgic. At less than half the distance the blare would likely be a burden. But tonight it's like being lulled to sleep by the slowing music of a windup snow globe.

A Good Day Solo

Today turned out to be a really nice day. Initially I had resigned myself to hanging out at home. The boys were playing on their computers and Alicia was feeling under the weather. The weather outdoors was also a bit on the cold side at 36º, with some sunshine but also the occasional outburst of snow. By mid-afternoon though I decided that I need to get outside and explore even if that meant doing it by myself.

I decided to go to Tumalo Falls. Alicia and I had gone there last Thanksgiving but only as far as the lower overlook.

We were very impressed by beautiful view it presented, but the turkey was in the oven and needed to get back to save it from burning. I thought this time I might hike the short trail to the brink viewpoint. Unfortunately the two dollars in gas I had invested in getting there was wasted because the gate was closed. Had I gotten there too late? Beats me. In my experience, most day-use areas are open until 10:00 so I don't know what the deal was.

As an alternate destination I decided to locate an area of whitewater called Big Eddy (pun intended I suspect). Big Eddy is a Class III rapid on the Deschutes River that I had heard about but never seen. Alicia and I had previously driven out Cascade Lakes Highway just past the Inn of the Seventh Mountain to see Dillon Falls and Benham Falls. I remember seeing the sign for Big Eddy but we didn't take the time to drive in and see it.

Shortly after turning off the highway today though, the first road I encountered lead to the Lava Island Falls trail head. I hadn't seen this area before either so I took the turn. The short drive to reach the river was well worth it.


I spent about an hour there taking pictures. It was near freezing but sunny and clear. The din of the falls was an inescapable but pleasant companion while I was there.

Finally I moved on down the road a bit to take a look at Eddy. From the river trail I found that there were really several rapids on this section of the Deschutes. I think I'll have to come back this summer, perhaps with Sun Country Tours, and take a raft trip on those rapids. At the very least it looked like it would be fun (and cheap) to just sit on the bank and watch other folks shoot by on their rafts.

All in all it was a great day of sightseeing on the river. On the way back I decided to pull off the road just after passing the Widgi Creek golf course, and take the road to the Meadow Picnic trail head. When I think of a picnic area I don't know that I expect much other than a pleasant setting and some picnic tables. I must say that even though I had just left some rather stunning sights just a few miles back, I was stunned yet again by the beautiful stretch of river that the picnic tables were set beside. Picnicking could be considered a form of meditation in a setting like this.

Well, seeing all that I saw certainly would have been enough to call the outing a success but I had one last stop to make as I got back into town. I thought that the localized sunshine we were receiving might make for some dramatic photos against the dark sky looming in the east, and I had a spot above Farewell Bend Park in mind that I had been trying to figure out how to reach. I finally found good walking access (along with three deer) from the driveway at the Pine Ridge Inn. When the conditions are right you can find some pretty dramatic scenery in your own back yard.