What was Lost...now is Found!

I've been home a week and I'm finally sitting down to share! Is it the change in the season or just me, but I feel so behind in everything lately! Mark got home yesterday from Georgia and we sat and went through our pictures and deleted a ton and ended up with 640. It was so hard for me to limit these to share, so I got a little creative here and split my post into two!

Our trip down the southern Oregon coast (Hwy 101) and into California was wonderful! The weather held with sunshine and the only tough part was it was soooooo windy near the beach the entire trip. I literally almost got blown off my feet a few times trying to take pictures. The southern Oregon coast is unbelievably beautiful! I have lived in Oregon all my life and am a beach and water kind of girl, but we have never really seen and enjoyed the southern coast before. The entire drive was delightful...but once we hit Cape Sebastian to Brookings, Oregon it was gorgeous! We pulled over so many times to take pictures, ...but one place called Natural Bridge Cove was breathtaking! The whole trip was a photographer's paradise...everywhere you look is an amazing photo!

The best day journey of our trip was to see the Lost Coast. If I hadn't stumbled upon it on the internet, we would never have seen it. And, I cannot, repeat...cannot, tell you how beautiful this place is. It was THE highlight of our trip. You'd probably think that California's Pacific Coast Hwy. 101 follows the coast from end to end. It's true that US 101 and CA Rte. 1 do a good job of hugging the Pacific, but there is one area of the coast that is so rugged, so remote, that road builders simply didn't try. This area is known as the Lost Coast. Pure wilderness and beauty!

You have country, narrow winding and steep roads, solitude, the mountain range (up to 4,000 ft) with the ocean below, Douglas-Fir tree forest, Oak trees, deep valleys, cattle ranges, hundreds of cows and sheep, wildflowers, beautiful crystal clear creeks and rivers, and then all of a sudden you crest a hill and this breathtaking view of Cape Mendocino comes into sight and you drop down to the Lost Coast with a black sand beach! We got out on the beach for about twenty minutes (again, sooooo windy) and found some shell treasures. We were the only ones on the beach...nobody is around except for the occasional car you pass and everyone waves to everyone! Then you keep going from the coast back up and down winding roads until you come out in the Redwood Forest. These trees are gargantuan!!! This loop was ??? 70-100 miles?...but as the crow flies...it took a good day...6-8 hours. It really is because you can't help but stop constantly to take another picture and just be in awe of what you are seeing. We saw five deer, elk, hawks (lots), birds everywhere and singing away, "California Happy Cows" everywhere, sheep, and the only thing we didn't see was a bear...thank goodness...this is bear country. These are some of the lucky creatures who get to live there. It was so STUNNING...an awesome drive...an awesome day! This place shook me to my core and branded me for life. It was fun to see and be places we've never seen together!

The pictures in the following post are as follows:

1) Southern Oregon Coast - Hwy. 101
2) Cape Sebastian, Hunter's Cove - Oregon
3) Natural Bridges Cove - Oregon
4) Mattole Road - California - road to the Lost Coast...California "Happy" Cows and Ocean
5) Mattole Road - Descending down valley - ocean coming into view
6) Cape Mendocino - the Lost Coast
7) Road by the the Lost Coast...See anyone?
8) Steamboat Rock
9) Lost Coast View
10) Mattole River
11) Valley View
12) Redwood Forest
13) Sunset with Seagull - Brookings (Harbor), Oregon
14) Mark feeding a seagull a Wheat Thin cracker
15) Billboard in Gold Beach, Oregon...I couldn't help myself...made Mark turn around so we could get a picture of it! Does this remind you of one of our friends...Miss Monica...making a funny comment on Grace's
blog!!! ;-))

The kicker of this beautiful place, the Lost Coast, is that Cape Mendocino is one of the most seismically active areas on the west coast. Three tectonic plates come together, just offshore. In 1992, an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale was centered near here!

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day Weekend!!!

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. ~ Martin Buber

SEE POST BELOW FOR PHOTO's...You can click on them to enlarge!

Photos of Southern Oregon and California

A quick note! ;-)

Welcome Friends!


Here is my WIP on some of my Dotee dolls going to Pat Winters for the Comfort Doll Project! I just thought I would whip them up...HA!!! These little gals and everything I do, seem to take longer than my thought of just whipping something up! I do well that way cooking but not, necessarily so, with any art heart! I am very happy with them except I think a few of their faces might be a little big, but I think I can shrink them with sequins/beads! Just need to stitch the top closed and I am finally ready for the best part...to embellish them! ;-)










I'll share with you some shots of the flowers that are just beginning to bloom in our yard! I wish you could smell them! Ah...it's beginning to smell like Spring here! It is certainly a slow start to Spring weather than what we normally have. Colder and more rain than usual. Just wish the weather would truly stay warm for awhile with no rain or sprinkles!


Lavender and Lilac's!















Bluebells and Lily of the Valley just beginning to blossom!












And, here's one of the six little friends that visit each day! We LOVE our hummers, birds, squirrels, and all the wild life in our yard!!! We take good care of them and they return even greater joys to us!!! ;-)










We are off, in the morning, to celebrate our 31st Anniversary, a 50th Birthday, and Mother's Day, by taking a road trip down Highway 101 (West Coast Highway) from Oregon to California! A fun and leisurely trip for us both, full of lots of stops, places we haven't seen...even after living here all our lives, pictures, good food, holding hands, reminiscing, and a little kissing! ;-))

Our youngest son is staying here and taking care of home. We were hoping to see our oldest son, in San Francisco, but it looks like we aren't going to be able to go that far and catch up with him in the 7-8 days we have. We had wanted to get there, but his schedule and our time frame aren't looking very well this time. I feel okay about it though because he is going to fly home over Memorial weekend and be back again for a wedding he is in over the 4th of July! Things happen for a reason! I think scheduling another trip just to see him and enjoy San Francisco together will be something to look forward to!



I'll leave you with the one shot I could get of our Lily of the Valley beginning to bloom! We have a huge patch of them and the buds are on, but no blooms opening yet. Only this one section that we dug up and transplanted last year has begun to bloom so far! Maybe a little more sunshine than the others. I will share the big patch with you when we get home...I'll bet they will be blooming by then!!!



Happy Mother's Day to YOU!!!


Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.
~Oprah Winfrey~


Keep Pursuing Art...Life and Dreams!!!

Starry Starry Night...