I Found Autumn...

... it was hiding in Oregon! Imagine that! I begged autumn to visit us in California and it has been slightly cooler as of late, so I appreciate that, truly I do!

Anyway, my blog absence was merely heightened even further by the fact that I was traveling with my mom and grandma in Oregon from last Thursday through Sunday evening. It was a delightful trip, though probably a bit too full of things to do. I think I could have used a few more hours of sleep, but otherwise, it was SO great.

We flew into and out of Portland and visited lots of places along the way. I'll write up a more complete trip report in a week or so, but since I've only had a moment or two since arriving home to glance through my pictures, I'm going to need a bit of time.

Here are a couple of tidbits:

I think almost every part of Oregon we saw was beautiful. It seems impossible that any place could have that much cool stuff chocked up within its borders, but Oregon qualifies for sure. I had seen very little of the Oregon coast prior to this trip and I must say, boy was I missing out. Here is a picture of the Oregon Dunes. Yes, they are very tall and they do go on for quite awhile. And yes, it IS exhausting to climb to the top of them (think about walking on a very soft-sanded beach, but going uphill).

There are designated "scenic routes" in Oregon, but honestly, some of the most beautiful sights we saw were just along "ordinary roads." This is a view of Tankenitch Lake near the Dean Creek Elk Reserve. And yes, that's a reflection in the water. This shot is pretty much straight out of my camera, but with a bit of cropping. It looked that incredible in person too.


This is Heceta Head lighthouse when sunset was imminent. It was W-I-N-D-Y that day and my tripod was almost blowing over out there, but I managed to get this shot. Like I said, the coastline is just as beautiful and the mountains and inland valleys.

Other than my trip, life has been busy -- scheduling photo sessions, working and finishing the photography website which is now done! You can now see my work at http://www.capturedbliss.com/ I will likely still post some client pictures here as photography is such a major part of my life, but I also started a Captured Bliss blog http://capturedbliss.blogspot.com/ so feel free to visit that as well.

For now, I must get back to work. I've got a bad cold which has slowed down my work productivity significantly today. Eeeks! More soon!