Thursday, January 10, 2013

The West Coast

I took these shots near Anacortes, WA 
while I was waiting for the ferry.



Doe Bay is an isolated corner of Orcas Island. 
Very beautiful but deserted in November when I took these shots.



I took a broom making seminar with my friend Susan's basket weaving group.
I made a hearth broom, a cobwebber and 3 whisk brooms.


Heading south, I spent a week in Portland. Norah came down too 
for a few days. We had a fun time. Portland is a very cool city. 
And not just because they have no pro football.





Astoria, OR is at the mouth of the Columbia River and a 
treacherous area for ships. There are hundreds of shipwrecks.


A little farther down the coast, Cannon Beach is a 
little coastal community with a beautiful beach.


It was windy the day I was there and the dry sand being 
blown over the wet created some interesting effects.



Really, a gorgeous beach.




These haystack formations turned out to harbor all kinds of sea 
life in tidal pools. It was low tide so I could just walk right 
up to them. Mussels, barnacles, starfish, anemones and more.




Some very unexpected things at Cannon Beach.


Driving back from the beach I stopped at a fish hatchery with a salmon stream.


Some people had been there for hours with no luck, but this old guy 
got there when I did and within a few minutes had snagged this beauty.



The forests of the coastal range are very furry and magical.


Here's a new shot of the Oregon state capitol.


I stayed one night outside of Ashland, OR 
and woke up to a couple of inches of new snow.


I followed my GPS's directions back to the main road. The route took 
me up a little mountain road. As the elevation got higher, the road got 
snowier and then icier until I came to a pickup truck in the ditch. 
I stopped to see if I could help and the guy said TURN BACK. 
I almost slid off the road turning around. Possibly the scariest driving 
experience of my life. I drove back down that road at about 5 mph. Yikes!


I finally got to southern California and stayed a night 
at El Capitan beach near Santa Barbara.



El Capitan has the picture perfect campsite.




Now I'm in Slab City. More on that later.









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