Oregon Coast Trip 2011 – Day 1

 

Day 1:

 

Mostly boring driving. Northern Utah, during this extremely wet season anyway, is rather pretty. A few pics from the drive-by photography album:

 

barn

 

 

I have a new found enjoyment of wildflowers and photographing them. A few favs from one of the rest stops we stopped at.

I have long wanted to visit Twin Falls and see the so named falls. Somehow every time we were in the area we just never made it. We finally did this trip.

 

 

 

First view of the Snake River Valley just after the eastern Hansen Bridge I had no idea this gorge was so deep! side thought: i84 roughly follows the Oregon Trail route.. apparently the emigrants had to cross this bad boy 3 times!!! Can you even imagine? Now west of this is the Twin Falls waterfall.

 

Twin Falls. Anybody else see anything wrong with this image?

They severed the twin!!! I always wondered why I could not find any images of Twin Falls (the waterfall) and instead always got results of Shoshone Falls. I guess they built a hydroelectric plant over the falls and in doing so killed the falls the town was named after. Sigh. As if that was not bad enough, they also "turn off" the other falls during off season in order to generate more power. I get it, people need power, but this is what you named the city after!

 

 

 

Faint Waterfall Bows. (can it still be called a rainbow when it is due to a waterfall?)

  

Shoshone Falls on the other hand, which also has a power plant, and also "turns off" during the off season is pretty spectacular. I just read that it's claim is: "The Niagara falls of The West!" even though it is actually taller. I would have to agree (even though I have yet to be to Niagara Falls). This waterfall is amazing,

 

 

The mist was so intense one of the lookouts we were basically in a heavy downpour during clear blue skies! I really enjoyed this location.

 

 

 

Got a more prominent Waterfall Bow here.

 

 

And another

 

 

Found this cute marmot (no really that is what it is) chilling on a cliff next to the falls, munchin some grass. He’s cute!

 

 

View Downstream.
 

 

 

And an interesting archway, plus a bit of the dam.

 

 

Snake River - Cool Lighting on Mountain (DBP Album)

 

We arrived to our "bit more than halfway" point in Baker City, OR. While Landis was checking in to our Hotel, I saw a building I wanted to photograph. This resulted in a late evening stroll around Baker City. We actually walked quite a bit further than I originally anticipated. i just kept seeing cool buildings peaking out over the tops of others and decided to go for it. Now normally, I would feel weird about wondering around a strange city, at night, with my camera, but something about this city made me feel comfortable enough to do it.

 

  

 

These 2 buildings look very similar to 2 of my favorite buildings in Salt Lake Also the best results with the lighting I had, without a tri-pod. I actually kind of like the soft lighting and think I might try to do some more architecture shots during dusk.

 

After settling in to our hotel I started researching some things we could do with a 4 hour block of time we needed to waste. While trying to locate a particular area I wanted to go to, I randomly discovered the most amazing hidden gem of an area I have ever seen. And then, unfortunately discovered that the BLM, while wanting people to see this gem, also wants to keep it very pristine, and therefore only provides instructions, by mail, to those willing to go through the effort of calling and requesting the information. Sigh. I am already here so... gonna have to rule that out. Another time. Sigh. And no, I am not sharing until I get to explore it first. :-p

 

PS: We stayed at the Bridge Street Inn and not only was it inexpensive, but it was comfortable, the staff was amazing, and the continental breakfast, was actually really good, home made food. Not that stupid here’s an ego and a banana that other places do. I would highly recommend it if you are looking for a place in the area.

 

I had originally combined day 1 and 2, but that ended up being an extremely long post, so Here is the short teaser I suppose. :) Stay tuned, shouldn’t be long as day 2 is already written.