…please come back another day!

The typical Memorial Day weekend was met by high gas prices and some uncharacteristically sour weather. The high lakes are still snowed in and frozen.

So what was I to do but accept an invitation from Trygve and head to the Metolius?

Well, I met up with Trygve and found him and his buddies headed into what I thought was a section of river that was not worthwhile of the hike. I managed to talk them into following me into a different section that I felt would be a better area.

Boy, was I wrong.

I hadn’t been to this area in a couple of years. It sure changed! There used to be nice logs in the river that provided nice habitat for the fish that we long for, but on this day the river was flowing hard and fast – with no obstructions to be found.

We hit a few spots, and spotted a few fish, but nothing came to hand. The hike was most excellent though, even during the almost consistent downpour.

We did manage to make a few images in spite of the weather…

Hopefully Trygve will post one or two of his.

Despite the conditions, it was still a great day.

Gary

My son Braden finished third out of a field of 28 in his first ever Junior Varsity golf tournament!

I am so proud of him!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to witness the event. Hopefully next time…

In my search for wildflowers to photograph, I have learned that every Mother’s Day there will be glorious displays in the Columbia River Gorge. This year was no exception.

I met up with Kim at a campsite that was near the plateau on Friday night and proceeded to make plans for an early morning trip on Saturday. Kim is a longtime commercial photographer, and I hoped that he would give me insight into that world.

We arrived at the parking area at around 5:15. To our amazement, there was a lot of activity. Apparently, BMW had hired a crew to shoot a commercial for their next year’s ad campaign. There were vans, trucks, and RV’s all over the place. Not to mention the two cars that were constantly being covered up to avoid any “spy photos” being taken.

Well, we got a few anyway, just for fun. I thought they were going to ask us to see our pics, and then delete them, but Kim and I managed to get out of the area unscathed. It was very interesting to see how much “crew” was needed in order to shoot the video.

Kim and I headed back to our camp and uploaded our images from the day. The wind picked up and I found the area around our campsite full of Cottonwood. Those little puffy things that they produced were really paying a toll on my allergies. Since we rose at 4AM, Kim and I decided that a little down time was in order. Just after we came back to life, I got a call from my friend Mike. He was headed to the plateau with is wife and two young children. This was all the motivation that Kim and I needed to get going again.

We met the Gamby family at the parking area and headed uphill to a great area that was full of flowers. Of course, we had to avoid the poison oak first…

Makena was full of energy and was an absolute delight to watch (and try to photograph). Cameron wouldn’t look at me long enough to get many images. But… it was very fun!

Look at those eyes! What did she just discover? I want to see it too! If only us “adults” could look at the world with such open eyes…

Making the images of the kids reminded me of the days that I took my family to the same spot when my children were young.

It was indeed an excellent weekend.

Gary

Wishful thinking on my part, or is it actually happening?

I have finally started seeing some buds on the local Aspen. I hope this is the start of a new trend.

Gary