AN AMAZING DAY OF PHOTOGRAPHY!!!

Funny how things can go from bad to spectacular overnight!!  As a photographer, you have lots of subjects to choose from ... portraits, landscapes, advertising ... but you should always go for what excites you most.  For me, it's critters!!  There's nothing better than tracking an animal and finally being able to get some amazing images of them being themselves.  I guess that's the animal lover in me.

Around Long Beach, the best place to do that is Ledbetter State Park at the very tip of the Peninsula.  Park in the lot, take the trail at the south corner for 50 feet or so and turn right at the Y.  It takes you directly to Willapa Bay.  This time I remembered to check the tide tables.  You want to hike this area when the tide is out in order to see all the creatures.

As I walked along the water's edge, I spotted several baby dungeness crab WAY far from the water.  Hopefully they are alive today because I transported all of them out through the mud to the waters edge.  Cute little guys!!   I also saw lots of tracks that might be dog, but they were different.  The nails were really long and showed up in the sand.

And then I saw her!!  Way down the beach Miss Coyote was stalking the birds at water's edge.  RATS!!  I brought my biggest lens, but don't have it on the camera yet.

I tried to be stealthy and get a little closer, but she caught me immediately.  I know I'm down wind so she can't smell me, but they have very keen eyesight!!  I froze.  It didn't work.  Even though there was no one else around, that movement was enough to scare her back into the woods.

Disappointed, I sat on a log for 30 minutes waiting for her to come back.  To my left, I heard some yipping, so I scanned the area with my camera, to find a SECOND younger coyote at the farthest end of the beach.

Well SHOOT!!  I still don't have the big lens on!  What the heck did I bring it for?  I figured I wouldn't see them again, so I didn't bother.  It's HEAVY!  At 17 inches long, it's also very hard to steady without a tripod.  This guy paid attention to the yipping and headed to the trees.

About that time, I heard these kids coming down the beach.  Isn't it cool how you meet the nicest people in the middle of nowhere?  This is Christina, who is holding Sierra Rain (not sure Rain is spelled correctly) along with twins Caiden and Landen.  Talk about world travelers, Sierra's first trip was through the Panama Canal!!

As you can see, the boys were gathering seaweed.  I showed them the coyote tracks in the sand and we looked for awhile, but didn't see them again.  As they went on their way, I meandered slowly back along the beach, hoping to see Miss Coyote just one more time.

As I stopped to rearrange my backpack on a big log half buried in the sand, OH MY GOSH ... there she is!!!  I couldn't believe my luck!!  I immediately dropped to the mud and stayed as low as possible as I changed to the big lens.  She hid behind this grass for quite awhile, peeking her head up occasionally to see where I was.  I stayed quiet as a mouse.

With the wind still in my favor, she walked through the grass straight towards me.  My heart was beating so hard I'm sure she heard it!!

As she nosed around, she kept a wary eye in my direction.  By now, my leg is cramping, my pants are soaking up the nice stinky saltwater and the sun is burning my feet.  I'm pretty sure it's 90 degrees out, but I'm NOT moving.

The next thing I know, she's marking her territory.  Maybe she thinks I'm a big dog ... or competition at least, who knows.  After twice making sure I knew this was HER hunting grounds, she turned around and headed back toward the tree line.

That's mud on her back foot ... she picked up as much as I did traipsing out to the water's edge.  It's probably been 20 minutes now and I'm very uncomfortable.

But I'm NOT moving.   I imagine she heard the clicking of the lens.  I think I snapped 100 images of this beauty.  

She looks to be in excellent shape, so her hunting skills must be very good.  As I watched her through the lens, I was shocked to see her coming right towards me.  Looking through a lens can be deceiving.  When I peeked above the camera, she was about 150 feet away as she stopped to sniff the sand before jumping on to the original log I was sitting on and disappearing into the trees.

WOW!!!  Just wow!!  I'm in seventh heaven!!  Of course you never know if you got good images until you upload them to your computer, but I was thrilled to get anything.  

As I packed to leave, I met three locals in the parking lot who told me of a mother beat and her cub they have seen traverse the entry road.  Maybe I'll drag that tripod out and set it up for a few mornings.

I was so happy when I got back that even the twelve RV's that came in with screaming kids didn't bother me.  Well, not quite.  The one that parked next to me and let their kids run from one end of their rig to the other ..... over and over .... until 11:00 pm, irritated me to no end.  It's okay though ... I got coyote pictures!!!

A Little Drive To Nowhere .....

Sometimes you win when you take off to explore the country .... sometimes you lose.  This day was a losing proposition all the way around!  It got to be so bad it was funny, but I wasn't laughing all that much.  I was just trying not to go to jail!!

In looking at the map in my rig, this appeared to be a nice drive North along the bay towards Aberdeen.  Many of you who have been here before or even lived here, are laughing.  I thought there might be tall cliffs and beautiful vistas for some spectacular pictures.

I was wrong ... wrong ... WRONG!!  It started off nice enough but quickly became a sea of mud.  This is Willapa Bay, a very BIG but shallow bay full to the brim with mud and sand.

What happens to a bay when the tide is negative?  All the water disappears.  As far as you can see, there is little to NO water, just lots of mud.  To make matters worse, there were only two pullouts where you could park and take pictures.

The first one was surrounded by trees, blocking the view entirely.  No water, no big rocky cliffs, no lighthouses ... I was beginning to feel robbed, not to mention hungry because I forgot to bring snacks.

When I got to the bridge, as you can see in the map above ... I'm the little blue dot, just before cell service disappeared ... I finally found a spot to pull over.  Something must have been going on however, because when I pulled up next to the car parked there, it was an unmarked Sheriff's car ... or maybe Fish and Game. 

It was at that point ... that SECOND ... that I remembered my purse laying on the chair in the rig.  OH NO!!!!  No driver's license ... no CASH .... NO CREDIT CARDS!!  I began to shake in my boots!  I'm how many miles away from the motorhome??  GOOD GRIEF!!

BIG SIGH!!  I'm doomed!!  I'm going to jail, or at the very least, paying a really big fine!!  Very quietly, I exited the gravel parking lot and headed back, making sure I drove at least five miles under the speed limit the entire way.  I took every back road I knew before finally arriving at the rig where I gave my purse a big hug!!

With the day cut short (and purse in hand) I headed off to the Seaview Post Office to pick up a couple of packages I ordered.  I've decided to try knitting again ... I can hear the groans, but I'm undaunted.  Alas, there were no packages available.  I never know how Amazon will ship things ... USPS or UPS which had not arrived yet.  I drove all the way back home.

Two more hours went by and I couldn't stand it.  My phone said it was delivered, so I traipsed back to the post office (with purse).  UPS just arrived and they brought my package ... the one that shouldn't have arrived for two more days.  That's weird, but thanking the Postmaster, I proceeded to drive away when she ran me down.  BOTH packages had been delivered.  YAY!!!

A perfect ending to a comedy of errors day on my part.  I got 20 rows into my knitting project (a cowl that will fit up over my face to keep me from getting sunburned) before ripping it out in disgust!!  The wires came out of the handles and all the stitches ended up in my lap.  I couldn't stop laughing ...... it had been that kind of day.

Today will be better, as I've now replaced all of those 20 rows and duck taped my purse to my shoulder .... wish me luck with the rest of my knitting and today's adventure!!

Now HERE'S A Sight To See!!

I never get tired of the sunsets here.  The walk to the beach, maybe .... but the sunsets always make it worth the effort.  The trail through the sand dunes at this end is deep sand, but I like to take the road less traveled.  I suppose it's the black sheep in me.  I found another trail with lots of grass, and therefore much harder footing from the roots, making the trip much more enjoyable.  My tip for the day ... if you can, always walk in the grass on the side of the trail.

We've had negative tides for the last week or so, giving you a good look at why the waves start so far out in the ocean.  The water hitting the shallow sand bar is what causes the waves.  Walk out far enough and you will fall off a cliff into the depths of the ocean, that is if you don't get washed away with the rip tides first.

You would think that means there's lots of cool things on the beach to collect ... like shells, sea glass and such.  You would be mistaken, like I was.  About the coolest thing you can find here are bird feathers and maybe a piece of sea grass (that's grass not GLASS like I hoped there would be).

There are lots of images to be found, since the water exiting the beach leaves beautiful patterns in the sand.

You don't want to stand in one spot too long however.  There is so much water still in the sand that within seconds, I was sinking rapidly and the sand sucked my flip flop right off my foot!!

There weren't too many seagulls in this area, probably because it's not where the crab live.  The other end of the 26 mile beach is littered with crab parts.  This end is pristine, so I'm not sure what this guy was looking for.  

There is also not near the people at this end.  In fact, there was only two other people on the entire beach that I could see.  You can drive the length if you stay close to the water's edge where the sand is packed, but with my luck, I'd be stuck at the unoccupied end when the tide came in.  I'd rather walk.

Spectacular, right?  I should have brought my chair, not that it lasts for long.  It took about nine minutes for the sun to set in these pictures, during which time I was racing back and forth along the beach looking for the best shot!!

I think this is my favorite.  A little beach, a little water, a little sun, a little fog and some clouds thrown in for good measure.

I never get tired of taking images of this beach.  Sitting around all day waiting for it is not my cup of tea however.  Yesterday I took off on another adventure that kind of backfired, which I'll relate to you tomorrow.

You would expect no less from me, right?   A little misadventure?  So let's see what kind of trouble I can get into today!!!

Where Do Cranberries Come From?

I never knew the answer to that question until I came to Long Beach Peninsula a few years ago.  I thought they grew on tall bushes like blackberries.  Did you know they have been around longer than the pilgrims?  Native Americans crushed cranberries with dried deer meat and fat to create that tastiest of foods ... pemmican.  I don't think I'll try to reproduce that!!

This is the Pacific Coast Cranberry Research Station which used to be affiliated with Washington State University.  When it was closed in 1992, local cranberry farmers for Ocean Spray took over and have been harvesting ever since.  They have a great little museum full of old harvesting equipment and tools.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I was greeted by this little barky guy!!  What a cutey ... I bet he could be heard a mile away!!  The main reason I stopped is for a geocache.  It's under the rhododendron bush ... but they had about EIGHT bushes!!  I went inside to ask about it, but the sweet lady had no idea what I was talking about.

Eager to know why she had seen people in the bushes, she followed me outside while I explained all about the cool places and amazing history you can discover while geocaching.  I found the container and she helped me with the log before replacing it.  We may just have another convert!

From the museum, you can take a little walking tour down to the fields.  These vines grow for 50 years or more she said.  I was so surprised when I first came here to see these vines only 8-10 inches tall.  I was SURE those guys were waist deep in water.  When ready to harvest, the fields are flooded and machines run through the vines to strip the cranberries, which float because they are mostly hollow in the middle.  

Not quite ready for harvest, these beds were full of berries!!  Here's an interesting note ... the Washington berries are darker red than any other, so Ocean Spray mixes them with berries from back East which are pink, to make a better looking product.

I'm a big cranberry fan ... I have them on salad practically every single day.  There's lots of yummy cranberry things for sale in the museum, with just a few here that I picked up.  Quick bread, a mix to make scones and jalapeño cranberry jelly, with some cranberry taffy just for good measure.

Back at the rig, I made the cranberry nut streusel quick bread.  WOW!!!  You have to try this one.  It's orange cranberry flavored and perfect for breakfast or even dessert!!

There is one thing about staying this far North ... AT&T's tower is quite a distance away and service yesterday was terrible.  While in the rig, I used Anderson's free WiFi for cellular service, like maps, Facebook and geocaching.  I turned off everything I could so nothing would be running in the background taking up bytes.  While doing that, I accidentally turned ON the wrong thing.  Data Roaming.  The entire day I couldn't get anything to load.  Frustrated, I spent two hours back home trying to figure it out.

FINALLY, when I turned roaming OFF, everything came up that I had needed all day long ... like the geocaching site.  It was all my own fault!!  Having spent so much time on that and with nothing to cook for dinner, I drug out the old standby .. frozen hotdogs.  Here was my wonderful gourmet dinner.  It was actually pretty good and I didn't burn or cut anything I wasn't supposed to.

There hasn't been any wind to speak of, with overcast skies all day long, so when the sun came out about 7:00 pm, I trotted off to the beach with my camera.  The tide was way out as it's been negative for several days.  It's amazing to see just how far out the sand bars go before you hit the water's edge.  It would be perfect for surfing, but the rip tides are extreme here.  At any rate, that made for some awesome pictures, which I will show you tomorrow.  

Moving On Up and Down!!

Due to Jessie's emergency trip to the Vet, I moved into Thousand Trails Park in Seaview a day early.  That means they made me move OUT a day early, cutting short my Kite Festival time.  It was no problem finding an RV park, but it WAS a problem finding what I considered to be a safe one for me!

Here's a little foggy kite flying .....

But first, I launched a major attack on this huge spider I found lounging in my living room.  Once thoroughly smashed and stomped with a rug, I removed same to discover it was a piece of yarn from the black rug Jessie has been using to make her "nest" bed.  I hate spiders ... and black yarn fluff!!

On one of my geocaching trips, I discovered Anderson's RV Park and was pleasantly surprised.  MUCH closer to the beach, spaces wide enough, level gravel sites with all being 50 amp full hookups.  You have to pay for service however ... this park is $50 a night (including tax).  

I know, that's pretty pricey, but here's the thing.  I've stayed on the Oregon Coast for free the last four weeks and not spent a dime on fuel in two months.  They have a nice laundry room and restroom/showers, neither of which I will use, but I COULD.  I was lucky enough to get reservations for three weeks.  Don't do the math .... I don't want to know!!  I'm moving on UP the coast and DOWN to the beach!

I took my time in the morning since checkin wasn't until 1:00 ... but checkOUT at TT was 11:00.  I tried to drive slow the whole 4 miles.  Surely everyone will leave early and my spot will become vacant.  Here's another thing I like about this park ... I have a SPOT reserved.  I don't have to drive around trying to find a place with the hookups on the correct side.

Of course the guys in MY spot, didn't want to leave THEIR spot.  I finally got parked around noon.  Here's the absolute best part.  This is the trail from the park to the beach.  Its maybe 200 yards.  If the big earthquake hits, I'm a goner, but in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy every minute of my stay here.

Since Cooper and Jessie have only been to the ocean once, I decided to take Cooper for a walk.  Jessie will get to go when her leg heals a little more.  It was cold and drizzly all morning so the sand wasn't hot at all.  He went nuts!!  

He ran around and around at the end of the leash, just having a blast.  No, I won't EVER let him off the leash.  He's a runner, as demonstrated when he got out in Havasu City in 108 degree temperatures and disappeared for three hours.  Luckily I got him back, but he's on a short leash now.  Well not short, it's about 20 feet I think.

He would have run straight into the water if I let him, but that would have required a bath ... his least favorite activity.  Totally exhausted after ten minutes, we headed back to the park.

The winds weren't enough to fly my kites, so I just hung out with the puppies, watching the park fill up.  With 57 spaces at $50 a night ... this place is a money maker ... at least during the summer!!  If you have AT&T, cell service is not great ... connect using Anderson's free WiFi.  Verizon on the other hand, is 4-5 bars and my personal WiFi for my computer works great.  

My heartfelt thanks to one of my readers, Carol from Safari Park, who offered their extra parking spot, should I not find a place to stay.  There are many RV parks here, but most are very old with spaces VERY close together and questionable electricity.  I feel lucky to find this place.  

The other good part about Anderson's is the QUIET.  Only the sound of the waves on the beach.  There are no huge families here with twelve kids, 4 dogs, 3 tents and 6 bicycles laying around.  They also do not allow fishing boats, which means I have to be extra quiet when I take the dogs out at 5:30 am.

It's nice that life is back to normal ... I don't have a schedule to follow.

Happy International Geocaching Day!!

It was yesterday ... I'm a little behind.  All that heat fried my little brain.  After Miss Patty Chance gave me the heads up, I tried to look it up on the internet, but for the first time, I found nothing.  As soon as I turned on my Geocaching App however, it gave me a resounding welcome!!

Thank goodness the cool weather came back in.  I was greeted with a refreshing 50 degrees when I opened the door, followed by a nice breeze.  That meant HUGE crowds at the Kite Festival.  I waved to everyone as I drove by on my way up the Peninsula.

Thanks to a steadfast agreement, developers have not been allowed into the interior of this arm extending up the Washington coast.  I wouldn't have known it unless I went geocaching!  There are several good sized lakes here, this being Loomis Lake.  This was my first stop, where I found a huge lake, full of fish for dinner if you're a fisherman, where you can kayak for hours in absolute peace.  This one is for Nick and Terry Russell, who have inflatable kayaks and need a place to paddle.

I even got a big geocaching stamp for finding that one.  There was another at the entrance gate, but crawling through the jungle on hands and knees getting my hair caught in a berry bush, didn't do it for me.  I backed out, leaving a chunk of evidence I had been there.  I'll leave that one to the kids.

Can you guess where I am now?  Jacks Country Store in Ocean Park.  I LOVE this store.  Talk about one stop shopping ... they have it all and it's better quality than Walmart!

Here's a sample of the kitchen gadget aisle.  It's like an old hardware store, blended with the Kitchen Store, Safeway and a fish market, all in one.

Just a sample of what I found ... including sleeves that fit on iron skillet handles so you don't burn yourself, which is a good possibility for me!!  They also have cool things like bacon gum!!

Just down the street is this unassuming building known as the Full Circle Cafe.  When you enter, go straight to the back to find a huge yarn store.  If you eat here (the food is good), be patient.  There's only two people doing everything!!

The yarn store is full to the brim with a surprising variety of patterns and colors.  I wasn't looking for anything special, just cruising through the aisles.

But of course I DID find something to work on when I'm not on the beach practicing with my kite.  It was THEN that I found these spectacular Victorian scissors.  I've been on the hunt for ages ... and where do I find them?  In a tiny store way up in Washington.  It's a beautiful necklace you wear when sewing, quilting or doing needlework until you're ready to cut ... just pull on the handles and you have a sharp pair of scissors at your fingertips.

I picked up three more geocaches, one because Barbara and Tom Westerfield are such good teachers.  It hadn't been found, or at best was difficult to locate, as noted from previous visits.  As soon as I drove up, I saw it.  It looked like an electrical outlet cover on the side of a light standard, but lift it OFF the metal pole and it hides a geocache.  FOUND IT!!

With four in my pocket for the day, I thought about stopping here at Curbside BBQ for dinner ... only for a fleeting moment.

I actually stopped there last week.  Depending on what you order, this is probably one you can skip.  I expected the pulled chicken to be more than just pieces of drumsticks.  Although the sauce was tasty, there was lots of gristle, which I detest.  Hopefully the brisket or pork is better.  The sides were good, just nothing to write home to mom about.

When I came back through town, I was happy to see the cool weather holding and a million people at the Kite Festival.  The wind was blowing nicely so I'm sure the rest of the activities went off without a hitch.  There wasn't a single parking space anywhere and it took me 30 minutes to go five blocks before taking a side street.  I've noticed that in every town, there are one or two side streets that will take you the entire distance, bypassing the mess in the middle.

Today I move to my next location, thanks to Thousand Trails who won't let me stay one day past my three week limit, no matter the reason.  The good news is I'll be even closer to the beach for kite flying and further North so I can explore that area more.