OK so I know this isn't the most flattering picture but it's the only one I have which shows how tall my grandma's tomato plants are. They're huge! In case you can't tell, they're the same height as Apollo.
Some veggies grandma gave me. Some of those carrots looked funky, she said it may be because they were growing around rocks. One of my earliest memories involves my great granddad (grandma's dad) who used to tell Aimee and I to go out into the garden and get our own carrot. He'd wash it off and we'd eat them like they were candy. I think I was around 3 years old.
Mom had apples everywhere! So many, in fact, that the elk kept coming into the yard and eating them, despite her many crazy-old-lady like cd's hanging from the tree's to scare them away. When I first drove up I thought, what kind of kooky old lady thing is she doing to her tree's?? It seems they worked on the elk for a couple weeks but it didn't take long for them to wise up to the reflections caused by the cd's. While we were there, the elk walked up into the yard at least twice and ate some branches, apples and stomped holes into the yard. It was like revenge for insulting their intelligence! Ha! If the elk only knew what was in the freezer!
Apparently one of her pheasants died and she's planning on getting it stuffed. (Yes!!) Oh yeah, and under the bags of blackberries, strawberries and blueberries is a black plastic garbage bag with an elk head in it. It's the last elk she got all by herself. She's so proud! I have to say holding the bird by its feet was damn creepy but I promise, I only did it long enough for her to move the berries out of the way so she could show Apollo the elk bag.
This is one of my favorite photos from our trip. The elk had just finished walking up to the front yard to see if anyone was home. Once they saw us and realized they wouldn't be getting any apple treats today, they walked across the field and the creek and started heading up a dirt road. Shortly after I took this, the bull and head cow stopped and watched us for a while as the five other cows and two calves continued on. The alpaca didn't seem to be bothered by them at all. As always, click for a closeup.
We decided to walk out on the jetty. I used to love walking out on this thing and sitting on the very end. The waves splashing violently were so beautiful, I loved it! Now the sand has come in and built up a wall of sand on one side.
Of course it's still beautiful but the lapping waves just aren't the same as the crashing mother-nature-gonna-kick-yo-ass waves. I didn't see any starfish either but it's most likely because I didn't walk out far enough. Oh, if you click on the pic, you may be able to see what appears to be an ants house out there in the sand. In reality, it's a shelter built from the ever-present driftwood. People like to build shelters and camp out on the beaches with fires and what-not. There are no fire-pits here. Another thing, even though it was August, you won't see anyone on these beaches in bikini's, shorts or even in water past their knee's. It's too cold.
Mom, Apollo and Tyler. He's taller than me now. And considering that I measure in just a couple inches over five feet, this is no shocker.
Mom sure does love to point! Especially when driving. It doesn't matter if you're driving or she is. Her pointed finger will end up in front of your face pointing at something that you MUST SEE RIGHT NOW.
I took this on whim, I thought it looked pretty cool. I didn't really pay much attention to my own shadow until later. I'm currently trying to decide if I should get a gym membership or if I should just buckle down and start doing stuff here on my own. Like going for walks and not eating ice cream.
We found this shell tucked into a hole in a rock. After looking it over, we put it back for others to find.
My "little cousin" Tyler who will some day be over 6 feet just like his Dad. He was playing with a piece of driftwood Apollo found and decided to take home to use as his club. Apollo, being the city slicker that he is (hehe), carried that club around with him everywhere at Mom's. We have it here with us in SD now. The area behind Tyler used to be filled with water.
Oregon is famous for its sand dunes, apparently. My former mechanic used to travel up there with his wife and kids just to drive dune buggies several times a year. The dunes stretch over a small portion of the Oregon coast but as far as I know, the most popular ones are just south of Florence. It's possible I'm saying that because I have *ahem* never seen the other dunes.
One area with a fence separating the parking lot from the dune buggies. We watched them for about fifteen minutes, it looked like a lot of fun. Those dots are dune buggies. The three on top were waiting for that other dot to finish running over a large hole another guy had made when he got stuck. Several of them ran over it repeatedly until it wasn't a hazard.
We found several pockets of salt created by dried up ocean water. I wanted to taste it soooo bad. Mom has always teased me because I tasted a lot of stuff when I was a kid. But this time I kept my distance.
I was sad when I saw it. I walked around the house and it mostly looked the same, except for the fact that time has not been kind. You know, that whole tore up look. And the silence...it was deafening. The window you see on the second floor was to my bedroom. I used to sit there at night and listen to the bear(s) eating blackberries or the occassional coyote hooping it up. (Click the pics)
The black walnut tree in the front yard has taken over. It's HUGE! You can't even see the house from the road. All it needs is a big storm, some tree rott and it's over for the house. I'll never forget the time I saw a cougar jump from the walnut tree, through the yard and over the fence toward the barn. The big cat was chasing one of our house cats. I assume he got her eventually since she (Smudge) came up missing. She was my favorite cat. :(
In front of the house looking towards the barn and the bridge over the creek. When the water froze every winter, we'd take the wheelbarrow and fill it up by lowering buckets over the bridge. We then wheeled it to the ungracious cattle in the coral who gulped it up like it was nothing. I was going to take more photos but my aunt's dog suddenly started barking at us (he was sleeping in a dog house on the porch) and we weren't sure if he would appreciate us hanging around. Plus, who wants to look at acres of blackberry bushes growing over buildings?
Because we took our time leaving, we got caught up in traffic onto the Bay Bridge. And of course, once we got on the other side, we got lost. Why in the hell there isn't a main road that leads you from one major bridge to another, I don't know. Or signs. Why no signs?? Or how about this, in San Francisco you'll see a sign that says something like "Golden Gate Bridge, use right lane." So, you get in the right lane and you drive and drive. And that lane turns right or goes straight. And you drive. And just when you think you're lost, you see the bridge!
Once I realized where we were, I pulled off the road and we took a gander at the Palace of Fine Arts. This time we didn't even bother getting out of the car. We did a drive by tour with a couple other cars.
Oh hey, remember how I told you that the Golden Gate bridge would just suddenly appear? Well, here's the view out our sunroof while we were in traffic to get on it. I was a little edgy at this point and the traffic had made me irritable. I was glad to get over the bridge though and onto the 101 where we, you guessed it, joined more traffic. It is after all road construction season!
I'm not exactly sure what part of Cali this is in. All I know is it's near the Eel River in Northern Cali but before the Redwood Forest. Each time Aimee and I take this drive, we stop here and take pictures. This old bridge is falling apart and is actually blocked off from vehicles. Apollo's not used to my country ways and was afraid to pass the gate but pssh!! I followed the animal trails and made him come with me for this and the next photo.
Ahh, the Eel River! It seems to be ever present in Northern Cali. If you look closely, you can see the road winding at the base of that mountain. The view is better in person.
Speaking of views better in person, here's one you definitely had to see for yourself. These elk weren't that far off the road but they look like ants here. There were two bull elk in this herd, they and the cows blended in with the marsh and were soon hidden from our view. You can see the fog is already rolling in pretty heavy. The beach was just on our left on the other side of the road.
We stopped in Crescent City, home of the infamous Pelican Bay State prison, for gas and the restroom. Apollo got "the eye" from six local young men. They scoped out our car, walked by and looked in side and basically and made him nervous. He figured they thought he had just gotten out of prison or something. I was afraid that this was going to be the first of many bad experiences for him in a mostly caucasion region but thankfully, it wasn't.
During our brief pit stop in Crescent City, I kept thinking of how awful it must be in the prison there since it's always cold and damp in this coastal area. I was still coughing and hacking up lung and wondered how many people got pneumonia or bronchitis at this prison. I'm sure the crappy weather lends itself negatively to the general mood of the inmates.
We made it across the Oregon border around 9:30PM and went shopping at Fred Meyer's in Brookings for the dinner Apollo was cooking at Mom's the next day. He was stunned to learn liquor isn't sold in regular grocery stores in Oregon. Stunned!! I think the clincher was when he learned the liquor store had closed at 7:00PM. He walked around in a speechless daze for a few minutes, trying to figure out what he was going to do about that. We got in to Mom's around...oh, 2:00 or 2:30AM? I'm not sure, I was pretty out of it.
Alright, more later. (So much for no long winded stories. Ha!)
Here's the first photo we took on our trip. (Click to fully appreciate the cow population!) It was somewhere near dusk on Day One as we were driving through California and I looked over and saw cows! Thousands of cows everywhere!! I of course thought of Faythe (because she appreciates them so much) and took this photo while Apollo drove. Mom said they put the cows in these over-crowded fields, pump them full of food and chemicals and sell them. I'm not sure if there's any truth to it but I don't see any other reason why they'd have all these poor cattle crammed into small spaces. It was awful. I was aghast! 