Oregon wildflowers and good friends

It started at 5:30am. I was tired. I stayed up too late watching Anne of Green Gables. But I think it was worth it. I had fun.

I picked up my dear friend Esther around 6 and we started the drive. Last week Esther called me to check in after a walk in the park, and she asked if I wanted company on my drive to Oregon. I answered her question with a "What?". She said..."Well, I thought you might want some company in the car and I've never seen that part of the country." Again I said, "What?" I was shocked at her generosity. But before I scared her away, I quickly accepted her offer. So we made the long trek up to Oregon together. We stopped for my ritualistic road trip breakfast of a sausage mcmuffin with egg at McDonald's (a place I don't usually permit myself to eat). We had a lovely lunch on the river in Ashland, OR and I showed her where the Shakespeare festival is held. We stopped for coffee in Eugene and I gave her a mini tour of the campus where I spent 4 years. It was cool to show her around my old stomping grounds.

We arrived at my parent's house for a late dinner and promptly crashed. The next day my parent's gave her a tour of their property and showed us how to scythe. I'll give you more pics of that later...I'll be spending my vacation scything no doubt...

Then we packed a lunch and went for a tour of some of the waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge. We didn't have too much time, but it was nice to get out and see some nature. You all know how I love wildflowers, and I haven't really noticed the Oregon ones, so I made sure to take some good pics on our hikes. There are lots on my parent's property, which I'll show you more of later in the week. But these will wet your appetite.


Here are some yellow flowers looking a bit wilted...Maybe the extreme heat or time of year, I don't know. But I liked them because the kind of look how I feel these days.Here's a view of the gorge from Crown Point Vista House.And here is another shot of the yellow wildflowers with Latourell Falls behind it.
And here is my wonderful friend Esther and I in the mist of the falls.Flowers and an amazing friend? Can you beat that?