The day before Thanksgiving my dad and Dave drove over from the coast so we could play golf together at Quail Valley in Banks. I had been there before but it looked a whole lot different. The day before had been beautiful and sunny. When I got up that day I saw it was extremely foggy and wet out. Thankfully it did not rain, but it was way past damp all over anyway. Did I mention COLD? The sun did not come out until it was about to go down, which this time of year is about 4PM.

It turned out alright because it gave me a chance to take pictures in a whole new atmosphere there. I am very happy about this post. I enjoy these photos very much. I hope you do to. To me golf is just an excuse to do some nature photography in a very beautiful place. I know photos of golf sound boring, but give this post a chance. It is all about the surroundings. This post took me at least 10 hours, not counting taking the pictures. Thanks for being here to make it worthwhile.

These thumbnails are just a preview. Click on them to see the whole post. There are 158 photos.

On the way there from Forest Grove I took a shortcut down a long straight gravel road through the farms.

I like this photo. Made large it would be a good wallpaper because it is not distracting. I could put my icons in the sky.

There I am in the freezing soggy morning, not really ready for the day. Even my dad got bundled up. I wore a winter hat and played the whole day with my running gloves on.

There is that scene again. Look how beautiful the course is in the fog.

Told you. Nice to actually have a use for the gloves. I hate running outside in the cold so I just don’t. I am a warm weather runner. I have to go to the gym in the winter for it.

I am getting the timing of the shutter delay down pretty well with my LX-3.

Check out the webby dew. It never went away. I have to run a whole lot to golf and do photos at the same time. It was even worse that day because the power carts were not allowed on the fairways. It defeated the purpose of having one. I spent a lot of time running way back to get the cart and move it up. Walking would have been better. Especially for my dad and Dave who need the exercise.

There is the course in full sun.

It was dark, chilly, and wet as hell out there. Many water features were overflowing. After about two holes our shoes were soaking wet and stayed that way for the rest of the day.

I tried to sneak up on the birds but they were not having it. It did give me photos of them flying.

I think the sign is very funny. I like the series of photos of my dad. In the second one you can see his ball in flight. He always plays bright orange balls. Then it was Dave’s turn.

Dave’s unfortunate lie. He always plays florescent yellow/green balls. Check out the second photo. I told you my timing is getting good. The shutter release is not instant like an SLR.

That is a heron on the course.

It seemed surreal out there in the fog. I also love the rolling humps around the green.

I was very proud of my timing on this. In the first image you can see my dad’s long put falling into the hole.

Yay, more neat birds. These were less jumpy but still walked away when I walked toward them.

Fall had just about fallen into winter. There were just the last stubborn leaves remaining.

Seriously, check out the condition of the course.

 

I am telling you, if you can live through the brutal frustration of the golf game, the course is a wonderland of nature appreciation opportunities. I love it.

Oh right, golf.

Not for long though. Too many wonderful things to look at. I had to run way over to the edge of the course to get the house and the spider wen pine cone.

Then there was the rose. Oh the peachy lone amazing perfectly dew covered rose. I could not get enough of it. I had to narrow it down to just these. I took more. On a sunny day the rose would look more washed out. In the overcast it had rich deep color. What a special sight.

The first blue sky of the day.

I am still a sucker for tree forms and silhouettes.

Swamp golfing.

The first sunny photos of the day.

Then we went right into the very-damned-bright sun.

Oh did I love the old barn/silo scene, even though the sun was coming from the wrong side.

I liked the lone red tree.

It id great to see how places change with seasons. The cattails were finished but the big lily pad type things (obviously not a botanist) were pretty darn cool.

Check out the willow. Great, right? Wonderful yellow in the fall. Can you believe I manage to play golf while taking all of these? I did of course lose again. So what. They don’t have these pictures to show for it.

Again I cannot ignore the bold and dramatic tree forms, and of course the one little red tree.

I love skies. It is fun to expose just for the sky.

Enlarge the first one here and look at the great color the grass turned out.

Me and barbed-wire fences. I can’t help it.

Finally the 18th hole came around. I was ready for dry shoes and socks.

Check out the deep green grass, the wonderful sky and trees, and both guys in the shot. I like this photo very much. It is dark in the bottom half because I exposed to get the sky the way I saw it. I had to brighten the bottom in Photoshop. If I go further it looks bad. Check the photo out larger.

Even at the end the dew was still on top of the grass.

Very long shadows were cast as we looked for Dave’s ball in the rough.

Heading back to the clubhouse there was one last beautiful treat. Check out the gorgeous birch? trees in the afternoon light. I love that.

I’ll bet you didn’t see this coming. I couldn’t help sharing. I love the urinal divider support improvised with a bottle jack. Nice. Also, women rarely see a men’s bathroom. Look what we have to put up with. FILTHY.

Even on the way to the parking lot I found something visually interesting.

In the parking lot there was a guy about my age near my truck with a beautiful late model Mercedes and a dead battery. I moved my truck and got cables out to give him a jump start. Unfortunately he could not find his car’s battery. He had a friend to help, but to no avail. All three of us looked and after removing every cover possible, determined it definitely was not under the hood anywhere. He had to get the manual and and do some research. It turned out to be in the trunk, under a hidden panel way over to one side. Just stupid. That meant he had to take every single thing out of his trunk and put it all on the ground first.

I was glad to help him and it was time to leave. Thank you very much to my dad and Dave for playing with me. I appreciate it. Thank also to you for reading this far. I smile thinking about that. Up next, my post from Thanksgiving.