Shore Acres State Park might be one of my favorite places in Oregon so far. First, the cliffs overlooking the Pacific are fantastic.
And the walk down to the beach isn’t bad either.
But then there is also a lovely garden, with a plethora of roses in bloom.
As a photographer, it was a cool place, and even without that, just walking through the gardens, hiking along the edge of the cliffs and down to the beach is a great way to spend a day!
I’ll have a few more from Shore Acres!
We stopped at Cape Blanco along the Oregon Coast to see the lighthouse, but were greeted by so much more on that cape.
Some shots from an afternoon exploring the Portland Art Museum
Unfortunately, my first adventure to Australia was work related. So, I only got a fraction of the time to explore Sydney that I would like, and no time to explore outside of Sydney. That being said, the time I did spend in the city was awesome, and I definitely came away with a multitude of ideas on what to see the next time, whether it be for work, or vacation!
Most importantly, I got to see the Amphitheater and the Harbour Bridge!
The morning I arrived in Sydney after the 15 hour flight from LAX, was a holiday Monday, and a lovely June morning. Yes, it was almost winter in Australia, but Sydney is a very temperate climate year round, and there was no fear of it being too chilly, though it was quite windy as I walked around the harbor, no doubt!
Then again, the sailing seemed nice!
Next time, I definitely want to actually go up in the Sydney Tower 
And check out the Maritime Museum so I can tour the AMAS Vampire and Onslow.
More photos from Sydney will be coming, mixed in with all the other photos I’m catching up on!
Since I was actually home for the long holiday weekend, and we had a friend staying with us, we decided to check out the fireworks show up at the Oregon Garden in Silverton, OR. We are members and have enjoyed some time wandering around the gardens previously (photos from that are coming eventually too!), so it seemed like a fun way to spend the evening of July 3rd, and in fact, it really was. We got there early and treated ourselves to the buffet dinner, which was fabulous, and then grabbed up a few seats in the garden next to the resort, where we could watch the sunset, and then the fireworks. Not too shabby!
And, if you’re interested in some video, my iPhone was handy for that as well.
After spending the evening in Crescent City, CA we set out the next morning to do a little hiking in the nearby Jedidiah Smith State Park. It was a chance to explore more of the Redwoods before heading back up into Oregon and continuing up the coast.
It was early morning and the relatively easy trail we decided on was empty, so it made for a very peaceful stroll among the giants.
We even came across on of the things my wife was most keen to spot, a banana slug.
More photos from our hike, as well as the rest of our long Memorial Day road trip, will be forthcoming on the blog in the next few weeks!
Over the long Memorial Day weekend, the wife and I decided to take a road trip down into Northern California. This would allow us too not only take in the coast line of Oregon all the way down to the state line, but also venture into California for a little exploring of the coast, and the Redwoods!
Our first destination was a place called Trees of Mystery.
Granted, if you follow that link, some of the stuff that they do here could be considered a little cheesy, and touristy. It’s all good fun, and beyond that, there are some great example of Redwoods here, and some great educational tools to learn more about how these trees grow, how they continue on and even how when they fall, their roots continue to generate new life. Plus, if you don’t know much about how Redwoods were used by Native Americans, you can learn, and the legend of Paul Bunyon through the carvings that were done as part of the park, like the one above.
I enjoyed it, and going here on day one actually made me appreciate our trip to Jedidiah Smith Redwoods park the next day more, because I had some education on what I was seeing as we did some hiking. That’s a win in my book!
Some of the cool stuff at Trees of Mystery:
Family Tree
A redwood that has started to grow full size trees on it’s own branches.
Cathedral Tree
Brotherhood Tree
Candelabra Tree
Literally, a fallen Redwood that starting growing new trees out of the nutrients in it’s own root system.
Life Reforming
New forest life grows inside the husk of a redwood that burned after a lightning strike.
One more…
Cape Lookout was one of our stops while spending a weekend in the Tillamook area recently. It’s an interesting bit of topography, with the mountain cliffs and forest running right up to the beach sands along the Pacific. This particular day, while the sun was shining, the ocean had kicked up enough mist to make it appear foggy, and the trees just beyond the beach made for a shady, cool area perfect for hiking.
Like I said, a little bit of everything right there within a short walk of the parking area, or a cabin if you were spending the night!
It wasn’t a lesson learned per se, as I would normally always have a backup, but let’s say it was a solid reminder.
Last week, I was going to Ottawa for work, and as is the norm when I’m headed somewhere new and I know I’ll have some time to wander, I wanted to bring my Nikon. On the other hand, this is a work trip so I’m already carrying a lot of technology with me, so I only really had room for the camera body and lens, not multiple lenses.
Wouldn’t you know it, somewhere along the trip, or through the long immigration search, the lens must have gotten banged a little too hard once and the internal optics were broken.
So I had to resort to documenting my time in Ottawa with my smartphone. Luckily the iPhone does a pretty decent job, even if it’s not the same as my DSLR.
Parliament from the Ottawa River
Parliament During the Tulip Festival
Rideau Canal Locks
War of 1812 Memorial
I thought this was a Paris thing?
Rideau Canal
You can see a few more photos in the Flickr album.
On a recent trip to London for work, I found myself with an opportunity to explore some of the sights of London. Because of the nature of this trip, and the work commitments I had, there wasn’t a ton of opportunity to arrange anything ahead of time, I had to simply take advantage of whatever gaps of time I could grab up.
As it turns out, I was staying very near the British Museum, and was keen to explore some of it. Since it is free, and near by, as I found myself with a few hours, I could just pop over, and I did.
Now, regardless of how you feel about how the museum went about collecting history from all over the globe, (or stealing it if you prefer), there is no doubt that this is a great place to immerse yourself in an absolutely orgy of historical artifacts. In fact, even after two trips and hour spent there, I haven’t seen everything!
One of the nice things about this museum, however, is that with a few exceptions, photography is encouraged. So I managed to get quite a few shots of cool historical artifacts from all over the world.
I will, over the next series of posts, be sharing some of those shots with you, as well as some of the background. I hope you enjoy them!