The Oregon Trail

929 words

My sister wanted a garden. My wife and I wanted a road trip. My sister lives in Oregon. My wife and I live in Montana. Add those all up and you've got yourself a timelapse.

The trip was about 12 and half hours of driving, one way. The opening of that video was taken after about 12 hours of driving, so I was a bit punchy, and my pitch was a bit off too, but it worked out. Google told us it was 739 miles, but I swear if felt closer to 750, but that's just me. I setup my Nikon D300 (which is currently broken, so I'll be without until it gets repaired) on the back seat of my truck and took a photo every 30 seconds with my intervalometer. Yeah, use that one in scrabble and you're going to win. I used an HD Flip Mino for the actual video stuff. I think my favorite part was the Columbia River Gorge. It's Gorgeous.

If someone held a fish to my head and made me use one word to describe Oregon I'd say "GREEN". My goodness, it's green. My sister calls seeing the sun a "sun break". I call it "what's that bright thing in the sky that isn't dropping water on me?"

We had a wonderful time with my sister and brother in law. We even had time, after building her garden, to take an afternoon and visit the local nature preserve called "Tualatin Hills Nature Park". They have dozens of trails that wind through these super old growth mossy forests. It's very peaceful in there, you can't hear anything other than the nature, and the occasional biker calling out "on your left", so just make sure you step to your right and you'll be ok.

I took a lot of photos while we were in there, so I'll just post them here and if there's something to tell about it I'll tell said something. Take this fern for instance, I have nothing really to say about it. So I won't.

SLUGOSAURUS! They have these slugs there in the park, of the likes I've never seen before.

I had to get pretty close to him, on my belly, in the mud, to get this shot. It was worth it, please tell me it was worth it!

They are massive. That's my brother in law's hand, he's a big dude. He was a bit reluctant to put his hand so close to the beast, but I told him he's be paid handsomely for it. So please send a check to him. Oh wait, he's not in the book, so just send me your money instead. I'll make sure he gets it.

They almost have a tortoise shell pattern on their bodies.

"Look at that big butt crack!" said my little sister nearly poking my eye out pointing behind me. The photo doesn't really have the same effect as being there, maybe if I poke myself in the eye... oh yeah, that was it, go ahead, poke yourself in the eye. Now you see what I'm talking about, or maybe you don't. Sorry about that.

I don't know what this was, other than very cool.

Just pretty colors. I love how the "bokeh" blurs out the background. Very pretty colors indeed.

I probably spent more time trying to get a decent shot of water drops, way more than I should have. I fell behind from the group by a good 4 or 5 big trees. With the macro lens, my depth of field is really small, like the width of the tip of a pencil that's sharp. So trying to control my breathing and compensate for the gentle rocking I was doing, I finally got a decent shot. Way to go Wobbles, you got one in the bank. Just bring your tripod next time Jeremy.

Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock! Sorry, my iTunes library tossed that in there while I was writing. These are some of the steps they so thoughtfully placed in the mud. If they weren't there I don't know what I would have done. Probably just walked through the mud, but you just never know.

If you've never stopped to check out the tiny details on ferns now you don't have to. You're welcome. ... that's the jingle bell rock!

It's so wet in Oregon that the moss grows on anything that doesn't move.

This is what happens when you take a photo of a pretty white flower.

This is what happens when you take a photo while hanging the camera around your neck with manual focus set to very close.

I love the symetry of this, the purple petals are on a 120 degree rotation along with the leaves, but they are just offset perfectly. This is very pleasing to look at. Just look at it, aren't you pleased now?

Yellow flower: Check!

Green leaf: Check!

Lucky shot of spider going to said yellow flower: CHECK!

We really didn't have many people in the nature preserve with us, other than those bikers "on your right!" Make up your mind man. This is the type of walkway they have throughout the really boggy stuff. It's such a great place for a stroll.

Someone was feeling the love there and decided to let us all know by carving a heart in the trunk of this tree. I'm glad they did so I could end my post with it. I love my little sister and we had a wonderful trip to see them. Amy, if you read this, that heart is for you.

intervalometer

4 Comments

Of course the Columbia Gorge is your favorite part. It's my favorite too, and especially in the spring. As for your shots, they say Oregon all over them and I love them, thank you for sharing. P.S. I live about 20 min. south of your sister, so I'm kinda biased to Oregon.

Posted by: Mary Gobet | 06/12/2011 at 06:32 AM