Exploring Oregon

I’ve just been really busy!

The business is growing and I find myself swamped. It’s been like this for close to a year. I pointed out to Llama, recently, that I’m still working my butt off. But at least this year I’m actually making some money at it!

The down side is I haven’t had much time to travel and take photos. If you’ve built your own business you know what I’m talking about. Long hours. 7 day work weeks. Not to mention a Lot of “courtesy service” to build long term relationships.

The only photos I’ve been able to take were product photos for clients. Until recently, that is.

The first weekend of June, Llama and I went to Eastern Washington to attend a wedding. That night we stayed in La Grande, just East of the Blue Mountains and drove all the way back to Eugene on Sunday.

Saturday was a beautiful, clear, and rather hot day. But Sunday morning we woke to heavy rain. We got up early anyway, and by the time we had everything packed back into the car, and had eaten our “continental breakfast,” the rain had backed off to a light drizzle. We headed South on I-84 ’til we came to a town named North Powder, where we turned and headed West into the mountains.

We took a disappointing detour, heading out to a wildlife refuge. I’m afraid we were the wildest animals out there. Thanks in part to the rain, the elk were no where in sight.

We got back on the main road and headed for Anthony Lakes. This road is known as the Elkhorn Drive National Scenic Byway. It meanders all over the place. We kept crossing Antone Creek, which is relatively straight compared to the road. We stopped and took pictures of the creek at two of the crossings.

It was starting to get windy and the rain was picking up. As high as we were, it was getting cold, too. As we continued to climb, we noticed some snow in with the rain. Within a couple of miles, we were in the middle of a winter wonderland. By the time we got to Anthony Lakes, the snow was coming down pretty good.