Central Oregon Video Compilation

Here's a video showing assorted scenes throughout Central Oregon:

Driving Journey: Day 3: Rogue River Gorge

After leaving Crater Lake I headed West on Hwy 62 toward I-5. One stop along the way was at the Rogue River Gorge. It reminded me a lot of places I had seen in North Vancouver before.

Driving Journey: Day 3: Crater Lake

Visiting Crater Lake was definitely the highlight of my trip. I had seen incredible photos of it before but just assumed that they had been tweaked with photo software.


But when my eyes first saw the magnificent blue color of the water it was hard to believe that it was really "that" blue!



No one is allowed to climb down except employees.








You can stay overnight at this lodge.
Is it just me, or do you see a face here too?



Once you get to the rim then you can drive around it, stopping at any vistas you wish. This is a typical section of the Rim Road.
Mt. Mazama, adjacent to Crater Lake is but one of many mountains that run up & down Washington, Oregon, & California.

Driving Journey: Day 3: Up to Crater Lake

I got up early on my 3rd day on the road in order to see all of the many things that I wanted to. The first leg of the trip was from Klamath Falls up to Crater Lake, about 70 miles.



I absolutely love this shot! Imagine waking up every morning and seeing this majestic view.





Here's a good shot of the canyon that sits off to the right as one drives up the mountain road to Crater Lake.

Driving Journey: Day 2: Klamath Falls

By the time I reached Klamath Falls, it wasn't really that late but I was absolutely beat. Perhaps it had just been awhile since I had done such a driving trip or perhaps I'm just getting old!

I checked into the Shilo Inn, which I had booked on Hotwire.com while still in Bend.

The people working there were super friendly and I got a nice room with much more space than I needed.
The lake was a bit far away but still a nice vista (minus the highway in between).
I was hankering for some good Mexican food and a quick check on VirtualTourist.com was a recommendation for Sergio's.


It turned out to be an excellent choice as the food was delicious!Klamath Falls is a small town of just 20,000, about 18 miles north of California. The downtown core revealed that it had clearly seen better times.
But I try to find beauty in all things and there were indeed some nice vistas abound.

Driving Journey: Day 2: Diamond Lake & Highway

By the time I got past the Cascade Lakes Highway it was after 3pm and I decided to leave Crater Lake for the following day. So instead I briefly visited Diamond Lake, which is immediately north of it.



Then I took the West Diamond Lake Highway around the western side of Crater Lake. I came across this small river which the photos simply don't do justice to. Just imagine a perfect day with warm, though not hot, weather, blue skies with a few clouds, and this scenery abound. Magnificent!




Then, before heading down Hwy 62 to Klamath Falls, I took another side road to capture this overview of the Umpqua National Forest.

Driving Journey: Day 2: Cascade Lakes Highway

Rather than head directly down Hwy 97, instead I chose to explore the Cascade Lakes Highway.

Driving Journey: Day 2: Around Bend

Prior to Before leaving Bend the next morning I drove around the town and photographed much of it. This panorama is comprised of 8 individual photographs.

Incidentally, it and the next two were all shot from Pilot Butte State Park, just east of downtown.

Driving Journey: Day 1: Bend, Oregon

I stayed overnight in Bend. It's a lovely little community with a great number of fantastic restaurants and microbreweries.

Driving Journey: Day 1: Mount Hood

Much of the top half of Highway 97 was very pleasant but uneventful. However, I couldn't resist capturing this image of Mount Hood.

Driving Trip: Day 1: Washington State

Having never driven through central Oregon before, that was one of my goals for this trip. To get there I first had to head down to Yakima, Washington in order to link up with Highway 97.

Last Meal in Seattle

Before hitting the road I had breakfast with Melissa, her sister, and her family. They chose the Portage Bay Cafe, a place I highly recommend. They have a self-serve berry bar where you can add your own toppings to your pancakes and waffles. Yum!

Final Day in Seattle: The Deer

On the morning I was preparing to leave Seattle a beautiful deer decided to have breakfast in Mike's overgrown garden. Some of these photos are mine, some were taken by Mike.

Seattle - Day 4

This was a pretty low key day, during which I didn't capture many photos. But here are Mike's cats, Raleigh and Mavick.

And here's some leftover Thai food from a few days prior. Still delicious!

Seattle - Day 3: Mariners Baseball Game

In the evening I attended my first Seattle Mariners baseball game. They ended up beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 7 - 3!

Seattle - Day 3: Summer Solstice Parade

I attended the Fremont Summer Solstice Parade in Seattle and it was quite an event. Before the formal parade get started, the large crowd was entertained by nude bicyclists, which seemed to be the main highlight for many.

Seattle - Day 2

As part of the official welcoming committee at Mike's house, his dog & 2 cats decided to take over the bed of the visitor aka moi!














I had neglected to get a haircut back home so Mike recommended this place. Apparently several of Microsoft's senior executives go here too. I was very satisfied with the end result on top of my own head!













I was meeting a longtime friend of mine, Stanton, for lunch in Bellevue. I got there a bit early so decided to wander around some. I'd never seen anything like this setup before.













Bellevue's architecture is exceptionally modern.


































This Dale Chihuly glass sculpture was in the entrance of one of the many malls there.















I loved the contrast of these two signs!
















Stanton's lunch was more than a little colourful.
















For dinner, Mike & I tried the Mongolian Grill. I'd gone to one many times in Mexico City but never in Seattle before. Very tasty!

Seattle - Day 1

I absolutely adore this dog! His name is Rufus and he belongs to my friend, Mike. Whenever I visit, Rufus and I go on 2 - 4 walks per day. It's a perfect way to slow down one's mind and get a little exercise.












I took my friend, Melissa, out for brunch at Julia's in Queen Anne. The restaurant is situated in an old Victorian style house.















This, and many other artifacts, are embedded in cement in Lenny's square in the Fremont neighborhood.
































Later, with her niece in tow, we visited the Fremont Troll, which I had never seen before even though I visit Seattle a lot.

Journey Overview

I've been working a lot the past few months and was developing a tech version of "cabin fever". So I wanted to (read "needed to") get away, by myself, for a few weeks. Where to go?

Well, I didn't want to go too far on this trip so Washington & Oregon states seemed like great destinations. Plus, there were certain parts of Oregon that I'd never seen before and decided to incorporate them into an interesting driving trip.

My June 17th departure was timed to coincide with a longtime friend from Chicago, Melissa, visiting her sister's family in Seattle. So I rented a car that afternoon, drove down to the Emerald City and stayed there over the weekend.

Then on Monday, June 22nd, I ventured out on my own southeast on I-90, and then south on Highway 97 through Yakima, Washington and Bend, Oregon, as far south as Klamath Falls.

The major destination down there was Crater Lake, which I had flown over many times but never visited in person. After that I negotiated a path out to the beautiful Oregon Coast, stopping off at the Oregon Caves National Monument, which I later realized I had last visited almost precisely 25 years ago.

Then I headed up the Oregon Coast and just north of Lincoln City cut inland to McMinnville to see Howard Hughes' infamous Spruce Goose airplane. After that I spent a few days in Metro Portland visiting two sets of friends and finally returned to Seattle before returning home to Vancouver this morning.

Except for cold, foggy weather along much of the Oregon Coast, it was an amazing journey. In total I drove 3,500 km, with 2,000 of that over the 5-day period of June 22 - 26. Not the kind of trip that everyone likes but I enjoyed it immensely, especially the freedom to not be on anyone's schedule but mine, and to see what *I* wanted to see, at the pace that I was comfortable with.

Catching Up . . .

I went on vacation on June 17th and, unlike times past, I chose to stay off the Internet as much as possible. It was a very healthy thing to do! I'm now going to catch up on posting the 1,100+ photos & videos I shot.

These two were actually taken in Vancouver, shortly before I left.

The Coming Downfall of the American Economy

Awkward Family Photos

We all have them ... odd family photos from years past. Here's a site that celebrates them!!

When in Rome, Do Like the Romans!

Today I'm joining several friends to go watch a crazy parade, featuring nude bicylists! Photos to be posted in the near future!

Dennis Miller on the O'Reilly Factor

Female Porn - Not What You Might Expect

Read this and be sure to look at the comments too - interesting!

PETA Sues Fish Market For ... Throwing Dead Fish

No, that is not a line from Monty Python. PETA, in their continued tradition of absolute insanity is protesting the throwing of fish at the famous Pike Place Market in Seattle.


I hope that the owners of the fish market personally sue each & every member of PETA who protests there for infringement of their right to practice business. Imagine one of these whiny metrosexual know-it-all PETA members being thrown into prison. When asked by his cellmate, Bubba, why he's there, the response would be, "Ummmm, well, for protesting against the improper handling of dead fish." Such nobility ... nope, such stupidity!!

My Dream Car!

Look at this absolutely amazing automobile! At the link there's even a video of a test drive in it. Way cool!

Talking to Americans

I've been listening to Dennis Miller's radio show since Day 1, but today was the first time I called in. I got to talk with both the host and Mark Steyn - what a thrill!

If you're interested, you can listen to it here around 9:40am PT / 11:40am CT / 12:40pm ET. Or you can listen to it here around 6:40pm PT / 8:40pm CT / 9:40pm ET.

Tune in earlier to hear the full interview with Mark Steyn.

David Letterman Sincerely Apologizes

David Letterman finally did the right thing. Here's the full transcript of his apology:

All right, here - I've been thinking about this situation with Governor Palin and her family now for about a week - it was a week ago tonight, and maybe you know about it, maybe you don't know about it. But there was a joke that I told, and I thought I was telling it about the older daughter being at Yankee Stadium. And it was kind of a coarse joke.

There's no getting around it, but I never thought it was anybody other than the older daughter, and before the show, I checked to make sure in fact that she is of legal age, 18. Yeah. But the joke really, in and of itself, can't be defended.

The next day, people are outraged. They're angry at me because they said, "How could you make a lousy joke like that about the 14-year-old girl who was at the ball game?" And I had, honestly, no idea that the 14-year-old girl, I had no idea that anybody was at the ball game except the Governor and I was told at the time she was there with Rudy Giuliani…And I really should have made the joke about Rudy…

But I didn't, and now people are getting angry and they're saying, "Well, how can you say something like that about a 14-year-old girl, and does that make you feel good to make those horrible jokes about a kid who's completely innocent, minding her own business," and, turns out, she was at the ball game. I had no idea she was there. So she's now at the ball game and people think that I made the joke about her. And, but still, I'm wondering, "Well, what can I do to help people understand that I would never make a joke like this?" I've never made jokes like this as long as we've been on the air, 30 long years, and you can't really be doing jokes like that. And I understand, of course, why people are upset. I would be upset myself.

And then I was watching the Jim Lehrer 'Newshour' - this commentator, the columnist Mark Shields, was talking about how I had made this indefensible joke about the 14-year-old girl, and I thought, "Oh, boy, now I'm beginning to understand what the problem is here. It's the perception rather than the intent." It doesn't make any difference what my intent was, it's the perception. And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it's not a very good joke. And I'm certainly - (audience applause) - thank you. Well, my responsibility - I take full blame for that. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It's not your fault that it was misunderstood, it's my fault. That it was misunderstood.

So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the Governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I'm sorry about it and I'll try to do better in the future. Thank you very much.

The Extremely Brave Protesters in Iran

I am overwhelmed with empathy and admiration for those in Iran who are protesting for their freedom. There are reports now that many of the members of security forces don't speak Farsi, the national language of the country. In other words, they're thugs brought in from other countries.

We here in the West sooooooooooo take our democracy for granted. Take a look at the photos at this link. This gentleman is providing constant feeds on Twitter. There are many more photos here.