Travelogue

Amazingly my photos have traveled from an iPhone 4S

to the iCloud

then to a MacBook Pro...

***WOW***

but learning how to pry them from the MacBook Pro

to share them with you on Blogger

is challenging me today...

...now how did I do it a few days ago =)

ahhhhhhh, yes.

Here are some photos from my trip south, from Portland, OR, to northern CA and back...

Viewing  the Umpqua River Lighthouse south of Florence

 is becoming a tradition for me when I drive the coastal route.

then stopping at the Veterans Memorial

and marveling at the huge sand dunes that are a part 

of the Oregon Dunes National Park area.

South of there I had to stop for road work and had time to

snap some photos of the placid blue Pacific Ocean.

I arrived in Crescent City, CA, just in time to have tea with these

lovely ladies, Windy Weavers =) who I enjoyed meeting

with nearly every Friday afternoon for 7 years while we chatted, and crafted various fiber arts projects.

I never tire of being near the sea and enjoyed this view especially.

The large rock island is called Castle Rock.

Many years ago a shepherd would herd his flock of sheep out into the

water at low tide and have them swim to the island in the spring to have

the flock graze there for the summer.

Sea lions laze on the lower rocks of the island and we could sometimes

hear their funny "orffing" conversations at night when we lay in bed with our window open.

In February thousands of Aleutian Geese land on the island to sleep at night, but every morning

for several weeks they take off in huge Vs across the sky and land in nearby pastures to feast

and store up enough energy so that they can eventually make it back to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.

North Beach

Crescent City Lighthouse

One of the redwood groves and some ferns in the Jedediah Smith

State Park

The weekend passed swiftly and we headed back north to  Portland, OR on Monday.

Then on Tuesday and Wednesday visited some of our favorite local spots...

Chanticleer Point at the Women's Forum along the Columbia river...

an artist's view 

and the following photos are of my journal pages from last week,

 Kate's Challenge

to track reasons we have found to be cheerful =)

How has  your week been?

Hugs from Gracie <3

Another Launch

In May, 2011, my oldest daughter, her two little grand girls and I drove from Portland, OR,  to the CA San Francisco Bay area to visit family and friends. One of the specific goals was to visit my older sister  and her husband, who were  preparing to move.  They have been in their home for over forty years!  It has been a West Coast gathering spot for the extended family for that long and difficult to say good-bye to even though we are happy my sister and her husband are moving closer to their daughters.  On the way down we took the coastal route and stopped at a scenic outlook in Crescent City, CA for this picture.

Then we headed down through the redwoods.

After visiting at least some of our family members we stopped to enjoy some time with our forever friends.  We also checked out their backyard flock of chickens. The grand girls got to go hunting for eggs!  We are keen on having a little flock of chickens in our backyard and are checking out how we can best make that happen.

On the long trek home via I-5 at least some of us got to view majestic Mt. Shasta in northern CA.

Some of us saw sheep!

And some of us counted sheep...

or at least went to sleep...