Epic Road Trip, 2024: Tennessee to Oregon Coast and back

[TNcasual]

One rainy afternoon in Portland we spent time at the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens. It's definitely worth a stop if you enjoy gardens.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

It is a bit tough to see, but that is a bald eagle rearend in the tree in the next photo. I discovered this beautiful bird when I walked underneath the tree and missed being splattered by its excrement by inches. It was a great way to announce its presence.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[TNcasual]

After our time in Portland, we took a mini family vacation to the Oregon Coast. With a homebase in Yachats, we explored up and down the coast from Yaquina Head to Florence.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[agentlossing]

After graduation we spent a cople days exploring Portland again.

We spent some time on the Lower eastside where there is some really nice art on the buildings. While driving around my phone dropped out of my pocket. I realized this about 10 minutes later. Using Find My, I was able to see the phone was not too far away, but it kept refreshing and appearing that it was moving. Fortunately, my partner suggested just retracing our path. We returned to this first image. The phone was pretty much exactly where I stood taking this photo.

View attachment 475500

View attachment 475501

View attachment 475502

View attachment 475503

View attachment 475504

View attachment 475505

View attachment 475506

Great Portland photos! I'm glad the PNW was showing you its rainy side instead of being deceptive and showing nothing but sunshine. It does that sometimes, typically only to visitors 😛

 

[TNcasual]

Day 2 on the coast

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Thor's Well

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[rloewy]

Florence was a lovely place to visit when we lived in the PNW (Might still be, been more than a decade since we visited)

 

[agentlossing]

Florence was a lovely place to visit when we lived in the PNW (Might still be, been more than a decade since we visited)

It still is - as is the whole Oregon Coast, from Astoria to Brookings. It's one corner of America without a very robust highway or rail system to move lots of goods and people through, and so it stays undeveloped by comparison. Living there for so long, I can attest that the living's not easy, as there are challenges (specifically around pay and cost of goods and real estate), but there is an upside to the level of remoteness.

 

[TNcasual]

It still is - as is the whole Oregon Coast, from Astoria to Brookings. It's one corner of America without a very robust highway or rail system to move lots of goods and people through, and so it stays undeveloped by comparison. Living there for so long, I can attest that the living's not easy, as there are challenges (specifically around pay and cost of goods and real estate), but there is an upside to the level of remoteness.

It’s also very beautiful, with great access to natural and wild places.

 

[TNcasual]

Days 3 & 4 on the coast.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

These next ones are at Yaquina Head - a magical place.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[TNcasual]

Let me know if you all are getting tired of this thread 😉

The next couple of days was traveling from Salem, OR to Glenwood Springs, CO and on via eastern Oregon/Northern Nevada/Utah. I will have to say, eastern Oregon in the spring is someplace I would love to spend some time. The area around Malheur Lake and Wildlife Refuge is really pretty.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Of course, you can't take I-80 east out of Wendover without stopping at the salt flats rest area

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[TNcasual]

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[John King]

Loving it, Greg.

On our trip last year, I really appreciated the space in our 2006, SG Forester, as about 1/4 was taken up with camera gear, survival necessities (water, fuel, recovery gear, tools) and my medications ... Having the cargo barrier in it certainly made everything that bit safer, too.

We had a few stretches where there was nothing at all for over 200 Kms, and many roads where passing traffic could be counted on less than the fingers on one hand in any given 24 hour period. It's very easy to die in the Australian outback ...

I'm still keywording the thousands of photos we took.

 

[TNcasual]

Coming across eastern Colorado and western Kansas was a bit more stressful than we had anticipated. There was a constant ~40mph wind cutting across the highway for most of the afternoon. It made driving a bit difficult. So we didn't make it to where we had originally planned. Instead, we found this quaint hotel in Wilson Kansas. The Midland Railroad Hotel was built in 1899 and persisted, on and off, as a hotel until fully renovated and reopened in 2003. If you are ever crossing Kansas and need a place to stay, I highly recommend the historical building.

Wilson itself, however, has seen better days. Economically, it simply is struggling. However, it does strive to create its own identity. Wilson historically has been a center of Czech immigration. Even today they celebrate that heritage though local art and a yearly festival.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

This building was originally built as the local jail.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[TNcasual]

The next day was still in Kansas and a visit to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. I grew up in Kansas, not too far from the Flint Hills. However, I had moved away prior to The Nature Conservancy and the National Park Service establishing the preserve. Since then, I still had never visited it.

Spanning nearly 11,000 acres, the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is the largest preserve of the Tallgrass ecosystem that once spanned much of the central US. It is a beautiful landscape of prairie grasses, wildflowers, a bison herd and lots of other unique features.

Being from Kansas, I like to tout the state as a destination. The preserve is one of the places that makes it one to visit.

Unfortunately, on the day we visited, it was rainy and off and on stormy. Light was flat and didn't make for great photography.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[bartjeej]

Loving the 21:9 aspect ratio for many of these shots! And the tallgrass prairie park I hadn't heard of before but it sounds very interesting!

 

[TNcasual]

I guess I should finish this thread.

After spending a day with family in Kansas, we took a couple pretty uneventful days to get back to Knoxville. The only photography I did on those two days was a quick stop in Cairo, IL. Once a thriving river town at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, it has slowly dwindled over the decades as ferry and trade traffic has ended. Today, it is an economically depressed town, but it still has some of the signs of it's earlier prosperity.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Thanks to everyone for having a look!