So the same afternoon, after checking out Lafayette Locks, I ended up at Rogers Landing.

“One of Oregon’s premier boating facilities on the majestic Willamette River, this park offers expansive parking and a three-lane boat launch. From land or water, Rogers Landing is one of Yamhill County’s top recreational resources. Many enjoy strolling the docks at sunset or scanning the skies for blue heron, osprey, kingfishers, or migrating geese. Located on the river’s “Newberg Pool”, the park is especially popular with water skiers. In spring, fishermen brave the rain to catch salmon near Ash Island, just south of the park. Rogers Landing will be a key stop on the Willamette River Water Trail, a route that will tour canoers and kayakers from Corvallis to Wilsonville, with opportunities for hiking, camping, and exploring along the way.”

It was a nice place to stop and take a break before starting my drive home. I miss my boat sometimes, but it was a lot of work to tow and take care of.

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A few weeks ago on my day off I went for a drive in the afternoon to explore. The beginning of this post is supposed to have a number of photos of places along my drive. Unfortunately I forgot that my camera was still in bracketing mode from the night before, so I ended up with exposures all over the place. Only every 9th photo had the correct exposure so I just deleted them all except for the first one you see below. I learned my lesson.

So eventually far from home I saw a small sign for Lafayette Locks and decided to take a look. I love to check out little out of the way corners of the world and if possible, share them. I found it interesting that this little noticed spot on the river used to have a dam and locks.

“Listed on the National Historic Register, this 7.1-acre park features the remains of the old locks that once permitted boats to navigate up the Yamhill River to McMinnville. Meandering paths and picnic areas, under a canopy of ancient Douglas-fir, allow for nice views of both river and locks.”

I get mad every time I see that people have left trash in some natural place like this. Who leaves fast food garbage on the bank of a river? Dirtbags. Yes, I picked it up.

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Continuing from the previous post, these photos are of the recent Zepperella show at Berbati’s Pan in Portland, Oregon. They are an all female Led Zeppelin cover band. I think the best thing about Zepperella was to see that having a great time on stage is not just for kids. The lead singer was old enough to make me feel young, and she still did a great job of selling sexuality and the classic music. Live music is not just for 21 year olds. Get out there and enjoy, everyone.

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A few weeks ago I was on my way to go visit friends and go out with them, but they decided to stay home so I went to downtown Portland to find something to do. I found two female bands playing at Berbati’s Pan. I have decided to divide the night into two posts because I have not been posting much lately and this makes it look more like I have been doing something.

The first band was Witchburn. They did have one guy in the band. They sounded great and had a lot of charisma, especially the lead singer. Go see them if you have a chance.

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Yes this post is very late, as my brother’s birthday was on July 11th. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I have various reasons for the delay including the all important and honest, “I lost the power cable for my laptop.”. I really did and have searched for it for days. Some of my photos, including these below, were only on my laptop and had not been backed up to external drive yet.

I found a power cable today that fits my computer. It is also HP but is for one of my printers at work. It powers up my computer but puts out twice the voltage that the correct cable does. Yikes. The screen flickers a bit occasionally but it worked long enough to access, Photoshop, and upload these photos. I then immediately shut down my laptop. Do not try that at home boys and girls. I am now using my work computer.

So…Happy Birthday Dr. Morrisroe.

These photos are especially for my mom and sister who live in different states and could not be here for my brother’s birthday. I hope you enjoy these.

When I lived with Dennis he spent a lot of time right there in that position. I suppose I do too, right now for instance. I miss my old apple cinema HD display sometimes. I don’t have a good video card or dvi output in my current laptop though so Dennis gets better use out of it.

My dad. He drove all the way from the coast to Portland to meet us at Dennis’ and brought gifts and the cake.

Waiting for the bridge to go back down so we can cross to east Portland to go eat.

This is the restaurant Dennis picked, La Calaca Comelona. It means “The Hungry Skeleton” and was very enjoyable. They had a nice outdoor area in back. It was like having dinner in someone’s back yard. The menu explained that they don’t serve burritos because they did not exist in authentic Mexican cuisine. The food was very good and it was great to eat with my dad and brother.

We had to wait a while to get in so I took a few extra photos. Oh, and I stepped in dog sh** kindly left by one of the many greasy hipsters with unnecessary dogs. Only a little though. What is so stylish about looking dirty and wearing clothes that don’t fit?

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As you can see a couple of posts ago, I spent the evening of July 4th at my friend, Jeff’s house. I had a good time but I do feel very bad that I was not at my dad’s house. He had invited me a long time ago but was very understanding because he wanted me to have a chance to meet single women. I thank him for that. The morning of the 5th I was feeling quite poisoned but still did my best to get to my dad’s. I drove from Jeff’s to Forest Grove, took a shower, and then drove to my brother’s house in Portland. This in itself was quite a feat because I was in bad shape and tired beyond belief. From there my brother drove me the three hours plus to my dad’s, south of Yachats. I thank him for the ride.

This is the view from the lower deck at my dad’s house.

This in my dad’s back yard. Until recently this are was just a sloping hill with weeds. My dad and his wife have been working very hard out here. There is now a great area to hang out complete with fire pit. I am sorry that all of my photos are from the 6th instead of when everyone was visiting the evenings before. I felt too tired for photography when I first got there. They had people visiting for three days. I told my dad that the bench looks like a Luck Charms commercial. The leprechaun kind of creeps me out.

Click here to view the rest of this post. There are 202 more photos. This took me a long time.
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I spent the night at my friends’ house in Cedar Mill for the 4th of July. They got a permit to close the street again. Thank you very much for the hospitality, Jennifer and Jeff. (I try to be fair and say it the other way around sometimes.) It was a very good time.

I used my new sb-800 flash (I have been using sb-600s) that I bought with the gift certificates I received from my dad and mom for my birthday. Thank you very much. I also used my Lightsphere II (clear) diffuser for almost every photo you see here including all of the daytimes shots. Indoors it is used pointing up to bounce flash like usual but also illuminates softly from the front to fill in dark areas better than bounce flash only. Outdoors I point it forward with the inverted dome in place for more direct flash but without the harshness I would get with bare flash. It may look silly on my flash but it makes people look much better in the photos and I am sure they appreciate that.

Yes I know, “What is with the cats?, right? They are Jeff and Jennifer’s new kittens. I think this makes five cats now but I am not sure. I saw them on the couch rolling around, grooming each other, and cuddling when I first walked in and couldn’t help taking a few pictures. Life looks pretty darn good for them.

See? There is more to see here than just kittens. Jeff and Jennifer, two wonderful people, one great couple, and my friends.

Click here to see the rest of this post. There are 98 more photos and they are worth it. Good times with good people.
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These photos are from weeks ago, two days before my birthday. I have been hesitating to put them up, but what the hell, this is my life and I went to the effort to take them. As many of you know I have posted photos from Angel’s Rest in the Columbia Gorge, east of Portland, Oregon before. It is by far one of my favorite places in this whole area. I would like to thank Jennifer for going with me this time. She often complains about outdoor adventures and is not a fan of exercise. I was afraid she would want to give up part way and go back, but she did not. She really enjoyed the hike and for one day we got along very well. It was nice to have company and she did a great job. Since that day things have changed very much but at least we had the one beautiful afternoon and evening. I will try to remember things this nice way.

You may notice that this is not Angel’s Rest. When we got to the parking lot to start up the trail, I realized I had forgotten to stop for water so I drove a little farther on the same road to see if I could find anything. To my great surprise, about a mile up the road we came to Multnomah Falls. I have been right around the corner a number of times and had no idea it was there. I got the water and Jennifer bought an ice cream cone (which she promptly got on her white shirt) and I ran up the path to take a few quick snaphots of the falls. Now that I know it is there I will go back when the light is good (or the ice) and take good photos.

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