Cabin Fever noun : an unhappy and impatient feeling that comes from being indoors too long.
Well said, "merriam-webster.com," well said.
We've been feeling this, this cabin fever, this ennui, this feeling of 'we should be doing....something' but not being able to define it, grasp it, shake it. Until this morning. It was unplanned, sort of, an impromptu move towards adventure and whatever will come our way.
A day for exploring was what we needed. A day to shake off the cobwebs; a day just tailor made for the two of us to follow our nose...wherever it goes.
It was a day for the two of us to hit the road.
And the Mini was ready. She may not be a luxury car but she is reliable, dependable...a constant. And she's mine. Hahaha, that's the best thing about her. She's my portal to adventure and mystery.
And so we struck out with just a vague notion of where we might end up. The idea was to drive north. I knew we'd be stopping by the Little Nestucca River but, beyond that, I had no idea.
When you're looking for adventure, you'll find it. Before we'd gone even a half-mile, we saw these birds migrating to the south. There was a long line of them....maybe a quarter-mile or more. What a sight.
The road leading into the Casino. I include this because it shows the closeness we have to open areas with a heavy growth of mature trees, a forest right here in the city. The ground here dips down and is wet and marshy and so I guess it isn't prime real estate for development now. It's pockets of woods like this that help to support the wildlife in our city...like the deer we've seen at our bird feeders.
It's difficult trying to turn left onto The 101. The traffic is so steady and so thick that it can be a real lesson in dealing with frustration. My first thought on seeing the situation was, why put yourself through all that guaranteed angst!?! So we quickly found an easier way around the problem. When we're going north, we avoid it by heading on over to the Safeway, swinging through their parking lot and then coming out on a road where there is a light that allows you to turn left...easily...onto The 101. It's complicated but, honestly, it is much better than toasting my BP trying to turn left onto The 101.
Another neat thing is that this road also feeds you directly into the McDonalds. See the Golden Arches there slightly right of center? I gotta say that all this news about McDonalds doing badly is a mystery to me. Whenever I go into this restaurant, or any McDonalds for that matter, they're busy. I don't get all these gloom and doom reports. I love the $1 soda and the $1 coffee. Hahaha, they're right up my alley!! And it would be an understatement to say that I just loved the Sausage Biscuit.
Cuz I do. I loves them lots and lots!!
Coffee in hand, we were on the Road to Adventure!! Heading out The 101, going north...following our noses.
I've said it before and I continue to say it with, always with, a note of awe and reverence in my voice...It is such a beautiful drive going north or south on The 101 through Central Oregon.
And every time I experience it, I comment on it.
And we didn't get far before our first stop...at the Salmon River just outside town. We've driven by it a lot and lately its been marked by a large number of cars parked on the road near it. It's Salmon fishing season and they're out in great numbers nearly every day.
So I pulled on over and got out for a look-see.
And the fishermen were out in force.
There's a bit of a story here so bear with me. I walked out onto the bridge over the river to get a better view and, naturally, to get to the other side. I figured I would also be able to get some better pictures of the fishermen while on the bridge.
There I was, in the middle of the bridge keeping one eye on the on-coming traffic and the other on the river and the guys fishing. I was, of course, wearing my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap. I figured I would show my Oregon spirit AND be highly visible with my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap.
I saw a large RV was barreling down the road and so I turned to face it as it zoomed by and, oops, the wind from the passing RV lifted my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap up off my head and into the air. I turned to see where my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap was going and as I watched, it gently floated down on top of the railing of the bridge, tottered there for just a second, and then gracefully and slowly tipped over and headed down into....the river.
Ratz!!
Quickly ascending into a dark mood and roundly cursing the wind, the RV and life in general, I leaned over the railing to say adios to my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap. I couldn't see it so I crossed over to the other side of the bridge and saw it...leisurely floating down the river.
But it appeared that the current was carrying my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap close to the shore and so I thought, why not walk on down there and see if I can snag the doggone thing. So I walked to the end of the bridge, where I got this shot of the other side of the river and there, in the middle of the river, was my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap floating merrily along. I carefully made my way down to the bank of the river.
Where I saw these guys.
The brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap wasn't floating near the shore so I asked them if they were good enough at casting to catch my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap. The guy in the dark jacket assured me that he was. And they began taking turns casting their lines towards my slowly floating brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap.
And he was as good as his word. It took maybe seven tries but he finally hooked my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap.
And slowly he reeled it in.
Easy now...steady...
Careful....
And, success!!
There it was!! His best catch of the day as far as I was concerned...my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap.
Hahahaha, I was more than pleased because I had mentally written off ever seeing my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap again.
I thanked him several times and asked him to pose with his 'catch'. He then suggested I get a picture of him with his other catch for the day...
...this little guy.
I know!! Just a bit bigger and better, just a bit, than my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap. Which is, by the way, lying on the ground in front of this monster fish.
With my dripping wet brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap in hand, I made my way back to The 101 and then turned towards the Mini and Carol.
I was feeling a tad better about getting my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap back but feeling a wee foolish for having had it blown off my head and into the river. Well, as Carol said, it will make a good story.
When I got home, I realized you might not have an idea what my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap really looks like and so, here, a better picture of my river-going, brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap.
See. It was worth the effort.
And now back to our story...
Luckily, I have another cap stashed in the Mini and so I was able to let my brand-new, bright yellow Oregon cap dry out while we motored around.
Next stop was just before you get to Neskowin and Proposal Rock. There's a small pond there alongside the road that I like to stop at for pictures.
Hahaha, it's not always reflections in water for me.
But if there are ducks there, well, I'll shoot them.
Every time.
I was happily snapping away. I always feel there's a great picture here but I haven't, as yet, found it. But I'm still looking.
I moved along and then saw a possible picture and so I moved through the tall grass up next to a couple of trees alongside the pond and started snapping. Then, I noticed these....
....guys about two or so feet away from me. Hahaha, I moved very carefully then got a couple of pictures of the nest...
Fun Facts: What we saw were Paper Wasps, European Paper Wasps to be exact. These wasps arrived on the East Coast in 1981 and have slowly worked their way across the nation to Oregon - where they're displacing the native paper wasps.
The good thing about them is that they feed strictly on insects which make them beneficial in the garden. Plus, they don't normally disturb your picnics.
I pointed out the nest and Carol had to get a picture to send her son, Paul.
More Fun Facts: Why are they called 'Paper' Wasps? It's because of their nests. These wasps chew up plant material and mix it with their saliva, essentially making paper with which to build their nests. All paper wasps build relatively small nests, clustered outward from the center, with the open holes of individual cells showing.
Having exhausted my interest in wasps, I moved back to the trees...
...and the pond. I keep thinking I'm gonna get up early some day and get some shots of this pond with the camera on a tripod...you know, all professional like.
Hahaha, I keep thinking it.
Next stop on our Odyssey was the Little Nestucca River where the Barnacle Geese had been spotted just a month or two ago. It's also where we saw some Egrets and a Bald Eagle and so we were hoping for some more sightings.
And we weren't disappointed. As we walked up the bank running alongside the river, we spotted this Great Blue Heron (GBH) resting on a log.
And then this guy, another GBH, flew by and landed on the river, too.
While we were watching the guy on the log, he took off and swung around towards us and then headed out into the fields.
Meanwhile, this guy was still perusing the area....looking for lunch.
We saw several gulls in addition to the GBHs but that was about it. Oh, and the fish were leaping out of the water catching insects, too.
But, soon enough, we were ready to move on. We decided to follow the Meda Loop Road. We've taken it once before, but from the other direction so taking it from the opposite direction was sorta like seeing the whole valley loop for the first time.
Oh, the loop encircles a large farming valley which is also, coincidently, part of the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
It's a pretty drive.
With plenty of small farms and tree lined lanes.
We were slowly motoring along when we saw this small dot on a power line. I pulled over and got this shot from the car.
It's an American Kestrel...a female, I think.
Fun Facts: The smallest falcon, the American Kestrel is also the most familiar and widespread in North America. In open country, like we were in, they're most commonly seen perched on roadside wires, like this one, or hovering low over a field on rapidly beating wings waiting to pounce on a grasshopper.
Kestrels usually nest in the cavities of trees. They mostly dine on large insects but also some small mammals, birds and reptiles. Grasshoppers are the favored food but other large insects are also taken. Funny, I never think of a raptor feeding on insects.
She was a good distance away and after twisting in my seat to get a picture, I decided to get out and use the monopod for a better picture. No sooner than I had opened the back door of the Mini, she took off.
Ratz!!
But I had a good view of the valley from where I was standing, so...
A little further down the road, we saw this guy. We think it's a female White-Winged Crossbill. Maybe.
But she had something to say.
Quick Fun Fact: Crossbills have specialized beaks that allow them to feed on conifer cones.
It was fun, driving around the valley. Plenty to see.
Like this guy. A farmer's cat doing its job. He was a small dot out in the green field. We didn't stick around to see what he was hunting...maybe a vole.
But we did spot this fellow, sitting on top of a telephone pole along the road. Then he flew across the field and lit in this tall fir tree. A Red-Tailed Hawk.
We came to a junction in the road and, on a whim, we headed east on Highway 22. We haven't been up this way and so, why not. We quickly left the farmland and drove into a....
....long narrow valley with hills on either side and a river running down the middle.
So, of course, I stopped to get some pictures.
It's what I do.
And where you have a river you usually have to have bridges. And along our drive on this highway we crossed several. The neat thing was these were all built when cars were slimmer and the road wasn't used as often as it is now.
All the bridges on this road were one laners.
You never forget, in this area, how close you are to the forests.
Nor, how close you are to fresh water...running streams, flowing rivers.
We went up about 8-10 miles before we turned around and headed on back. It had been my intent to drive up The 101 and head back along the road that runs next to the ocean. And so we did. (Actually we were forced to change our route by the local fire department due to a traffic accident blocking the road.)
Just past Netarts, we saw these guys, sunning themselves on a sand bar out in the bay.
They've got the right idea, a little nappie is a good thing. A very good thing.
Looking down the coast. Really, it's so easy to get these great sights anywhere you stop along the coast.
While I was out shooting the harbor seals and the gulls, Carol got this shot of me with her cellphone.
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| CB |
I've got a real affection for driving around this area. The sights are, well, always good.
I always want to stop and get some pictures. Pretty much the rest of the blog is shots I took on the road.
I could do a book just on the roads through Oregon.
It's always changing.
And, even though we were on the coast, it was never really busy.
I totally like that.
We took a little detour down the road leading to the Camp Meriweather. It's a BSA summer camp.
It was a couple miles in before we saw the gate into the camp. Looks like a great place for a summer camp. Deep forest and, on the other side, the ocean.
Soon enough we were back on the road.
The final hill before you get to LCO.
And then we stopped by the Safeway to get a pizza for dinner and saw this. Hahaha, I'd love to have that '66 Bug I had. It was a fun little car. They should make cars this simple again.
All in all it was a great day. A day made for adventure.
We had us some fun, we saw us some sights and reaffirmed that...
...life is good, Baby!!
Hooah!!
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