Despite being in the process of managing construction of a new home, I managed to sneak off during the first week in September for a trip out of Portland along the Oregon Coast down to Crescent City, CA, and back with a loop around Mt. Hood and the Columbia River.

This was one of the more pleasant trips in quite a while, as the weather was mostly clear and mild. The one exception was at Bandon by the Sea--both coming and going--where we encountered strong winds and heavy fog. But I was told this was fairly typical.

Of the attractions that I set out to capture were the lighthouses (of course), the McCullough art-deco era bridges, covered bridges, the Redwoods, kite surfing, rugged coastal landscapes, and any lake reflections I could find. As with a box of chocolates, we never knew what we'd get in weather and lighting, but we ended up with a lot of sweet rewards.

Great set that brings back many good memories! We love Oregon and this is the first year in the last 9 that we haven't made at least one trip there. We have driven the entire coast, many parts of it more than once. We have stayed in the Heceta Head light keepers house, which is now a B&B; a special experience. My wife is a quilter so we always go to Sisters in July for the quilt show and classes, but this year we were on a cruise and missed it. The area around Bend is beautiful. We're anxious to get back and are lucky to be only about 5 hours from the Oregon border.