The PENguin Blog

 The last part of our yearly Oregon trip is always a week in Ashland for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Well, as we hit town up popped an email notice telling us that there had been breakthrough Covid infections in the theater company and, long story, all but two of our plays were cancelled.  Fortunately our friends Jannette and Paul still came down to join us for one of our plays and an excursion to our favorite tourist trap in Jacksonville where we shopped and had a fine dinner at Gogi's. Paul and I both got knives at the Carefree Buffalo in town. That to go with the exquisite knife and pen sheaths he had made for me. On Friday, though, the three of us, Sharon, Anna, and me, had the day to kill with no need to be back in time for a play. So we took a leisurely drive around Crater Lake with a number of stops for short walks and picture taking: Apologies for the random order of some of these images, Google says they should be this way and who am I to argue Anna and Sharon in...

The Bandon light.  A brief drive of about 100 miles got us from Smith River to Bandon, Oregon. That left time for a couple of strolls along beaches: Along the dunes in southern Oregon Riders on the sand made us think of Anna, who will be joining us in Ashland on Monday The beach in Bandon The trudge from the beach to our hotel

A Still Life in the Forest. Saturday began inauspiciously. I awakened feeling bad enough that I broke out one of our Covid tests. Thankfully the problem was not that but all the mosquito bites from the day before. Our initial plan for the day had been, as I noted earlier, cultural tourism, but there were not the resources for that, so, with good weather, we decided to head out to Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State and National Park. We're Californians through and through and we have wandered through redwoods for most of our lives.  But this is something different, these are old growth forests, meaning that these areas have never been logged. Some of these trees are at least 2,000 years old and are unmolested, growing densely, wrapped in ferns, rhododendrons, berries, lillies and a multitude of other flora. Almost always when walking in redwoods I aim my lens up, not here. The beauty is in tableaux on the ground. Join me on a walk through the oldest preserved grove in the park, dedicated...

 Friday took us from Little River to Smith River, the current seat of the Tolowa Dee-Ni' Nation. We had hoped to get some interpretive experience of these peoples, but the pandemic has slowed the peoples' cultural outreach. On our arrival at the Howonquet Lodge where we are staying, the clerk suggested that we go out to the mouth of the Smith River where sea lions, pelicans, and cormorants greeted us. This is Prince Island where refugees from the 1852 massacre of the Tolowa hid out from the Americans. These are sea lions, hard at work More sea lions Sharon, watching the sea lions on Prince Island Pelicans (and friends) A pelican on the wing A cormorant, I think

So, for years now we have been staying at the Little River Inn and hiking along the Mendocino headlands and the Botanical Gardens. Only last year did we discover the Fern Canyon Trail at the backend of the Van Damme State Park campgrounds. We began the hike last year from the inn and did not make it all the way out. I was resolved this year to go all the way out and back, an easy (they call it moderate) five miles. With a side trip up another trail, I covered a total of six miles. Yea me!! The only downside to the hike were the mosquitos. Still itchy, bumpy and somewhat queasy almost two days later. Here's some of what I saw: These images only partly capture the magic effects of the light in early morning As the day progresses the light becomes less witchy   Rosa and I stopped for a rest at the halfway point After the hike Sharon and I headed up to Fort Bragg for some (more) of one of our favorite ice creams, at Cowlicks. We stop there at least once every visit. While enjoying our ...