Gang Aft Agley

This evening as we were driving by the willamette river, we slowed down as a heron came flapping out of the mist towards our car. As we slowed, it turned and started flying the same direction as we were going. We were all peering out of the windows, when the heron decide to lighten its load. I don’t know if it was trying but it couldn’t have placed the shot with anymore precision, all over our windshield. Thanks to our forward motion the entire top of the car has now been painted white, with a nice triangular section at the top of the windshield, where our wipers don’t reach.

The true extent only became clear as we exited the vehicle and realized that both passenger side doors (handles included) were coated as well. As we walked around the car Sarieah remarked that it looked as if we had run into an entire flock of geese.

As I sit here and work I felt a small grasshopper land on my shorts. It is much smaller than those I am used to in the midwest, and is colored more like the inside of a lime, including the moist sheen, as opposed to the dry grass look that I recall.

Just now it has tickled its way up to the top of my knee, Im laying back with my legs propping up the computer. and jumped to the other knee, where its seems content to take a nap.

Joined by a ladybug on the elbow, and a small spider navigating through the leg hair jungle. Man that is ticklish.

20 minutes later, the grasshopper is still hanging out. Looking more closely I believe it is immature, as its wings barely make it back to where its hind legs pass its body on their way up to its knees.

Growing up in the midwest, meant one thing during the winter, a total absence of green. Granted there were decorative evergreens planted here and there, but they still seemed to be muted, as if they were slowly leeching their color out in a vain attempt to color the entire landscape.

Saturday on our drive through the Cascades we stopped at Sahalie Falls. Aas we hiked through the snow to get to the viewpoint I was struck by the overwhelming color present.

Here Sarieah and the two littlers are looking over the edge at the McKenzie river rushing by, and even though we had just walked through snow we were still surrounded by color.

On Christmas Eve, after finding out that it was too windy for whale watching, we took a small hike to Drift Creek Falls, south east of Lincoln City. Keigan was the photographer for the trip, and he took this picture of a creek/ stream that we passed as we walked towards the falls. I liked this one enough that I have put it as my desktop image.

The hike itself was nice and gentle, though we turned back at the top of the falls instead of going down to the base of them as it was getting late in the day and the light was starting to fade. The trail comes out on top of the falls, which drop 75 feet, with a suspension bridge across the creek so that you can turn and look at the falls, and continue down towards the base.

In the book I received the next morning 120 Hikes on the Oregon Coast they warn about the suspension bridge, as it sways quite a bit. I remember reading on a sign that the length of the bridge is close to 200 feet, while it is barely wide enough for two people to pass. Though the view of the falls is definitely worth the hike across the swaying bridge.

Sarieah and I were looking at a book on waterfalls Waterfall Lover’s Guide Pacific Northwest: Pacific Northwest : Where To Find Hundreds Of Spectacular Waterfalls In Washington, Oregon, And Idaho and thinking that this would be a wonderful book to guide us in our exploration of Oregon.