Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: scenery

(+2 insets!) (please view large!) :) I'd like to say THANK YOU to everyone of you who's visited, left comments and stars, even though you know that I am so short on time/or don't have a connection for commenting and yet, you still give me attention. It means more than I can say. You really are the best. *BIG HUGS* Ok, there is a point when the weather becomes a burden to our festive plans! And so I say with great gusto: RAIN, RAIN, PLEASE GO AWAY! Although the forecast called for mixed overcast and sunny conditions, today has turned out to be grey and cold with a constant wind and drizzle. This has translated to no fun outside. :( Can't take pictures and walking on the beach is out, it's really very miserable out there right now. MEH! It's a shame because our campground is awesome, as is the area where we're situated just north of Lincoln City, Oregon. We are staying at another state park and like Joseph Stewart State Park, Devil's Lake has lots of tent sites set far apart with plenty of trees and grass between each spot. The whole campground sits in a beautiful, lush forest setting. Cement trails weave in and out around the park. They lead out to the lake on one side and a boardwalk trail makes its way out very close to the ocean on the other side. That's right. We are within walking distance of both an enormous lake AND the ocean! Top that! :D Well…it WOULD be awesome but the weather is not cooperating with us unfortunately. I haven't seen much of our campground because of the weather. Boo. :P We've made the best of our situation though. Writing, working on photography, reading, cruising on the net (only on our phones though, there's no wi-fi here); Steve has actually been able to play his favorite game (World of Tanks) to pass the time, which has made him happy. And of course our meals are always a delicious highlight. I have to tell you about our lunch! We finally had pancakes in our RV! The quintessential camping breakfast, heh, we decided to have them for lunch just to be unpredictable! :D Now, you may think pancakes are no big deal, but Steve and I live a ketogenic lifestyle, which means we don't eat regular flour or sugar. However, it took the keto way of eating to find a pancake recipe that's better than any we've ever had in our lives! We use almond flour in our pancakes and the results we get are BETTER than a "normal" pancake…they are light, fluffy and incredibly tasty. The syrup that Steve came up with is absolutely to die for…the sugar version we use is 60% erythritol/40% monk fruit and it's the same sweetness and flavor as sugar, only it has zero carbohydrates! The flavoring can be one or a combination of the many extracts we have but our favorite lately is caramel…it's just so yummy! Oh, and the base is…BUTTER! Because our syrup uses non-standard sugar, when it cools, the butter separates from the sugar part and the syrup will harden into a more delicious version of the maple glaze on a donut! In other words, these pancakes are a slice of the most decadent heaven! The best pancakes either of us has ever had!And there are only a few carbs instead of literally DOZENS. (The average person should really only have 50 or less per day total) Anyway, we had a MOST DELICIOUS meal! :) After lunch we went on a walk down to the beach via a raised boardwalk trail that led over a wetlands area complete with marker signs. Really pretty. The trail was short but sweet and ended at a lovely little pond. I was excited to see some lily pads with pretty yellow flowers which I was able to photograph. These would be my only pictures of the day, captured with the help of Steve holding my umbrella. A short road took us up to the main highway that hugs the coast. On the other side was the ocean with its enormous beach, complete with angry, pounding surf and high waves. Not a day to be out there. We walked over to the barrier and looked out to the sea with its white caps and misty horizon, topped with storm clouds. Maybe tomorrow will be nicer. Instead we crossed back over the highway and tucked into a cute little kite shop nearby, enjoying the lovely designs and pretty colors of the countless kites on display. We wondered what else could we do on this rather yucky day. We could make more fauxtato salad, that's what! We drove to a grocery store, got supplies and returned to our RV. We had a really nice time working on the recipe together and it turned out perfectly. Can't run out of that staple, it's just too good! Today I'm posting the sunset from Devil's Lake when we walked out to look at the lovely view last night. I strolled out to the end of the little dock and turned around to show the dock and the trail leading from the campground to the lake. The insets are a pretty shot of little Maple leaves that I saw in Florence when we were driving here. The other picture shows Steve at our Devil's Camp site! :) Pam, I'm glad that your property escaped damage from the storms and tornadoes. That's so scary. You know, people who have never lived in "earthquake country" (I'm talking about San Francisco, specifically) are totally terrified and seem sure that earthquakes will hit at any moment and all of the buildings will immediately crumble. Since I've never lived in tornado country, the concept feels pretty frightening to me. However, I am going to guess it's a lot like earthquakes. Yes, they happen. No, they don't destroy everything in the entire state. You just don't want to live in a "tornado alley" if you can help it, and in any event, you'd likely be safe enough for the most part anyway. Am I close? Anyway, I hope all is well with you my dear! *BIG HUGS FROM DEVIL'S LAKE!* Explored on 5/23/19; highest placement #2.

(+ 2 insets!) (Please view large to get a feeling of being there!) Steve and I were busy today doing errands and that's kept us out rather late. While we were driving around we talked at one point about how things are changing for us... You know when you travel for a couple of weeks and you come back and it seems like nothing has changed at your home but you feel like a different person? We are now back after our second trip of four days/three nights away. It doesn’t seem as if that should be enough to make a difference, but it really has. We feel as if our lives are morphing into something new. It is an odd kind of feeling but nice too. Having an RV is giving us a freedom we have never experienced before. We have gained the ability to go wherever we want--and we get to bring our dog and parrot with us. It's a way to travel in a relaxed manner without a time frame if we decided to just wander. After dreaming for so long and saving our pennies to make it happen, it's such a strange sensation to recognize that we are actually reaping the rewards of our efforts. We are a bit shocked to be honest. At the same time, we are incredibly thankful for our good fortune. Today's picture was taken on our last evening when Steve and I went on a long hike so I could take pictures along the way. As we were heading back, the light in this meadow was just so incredible that Steve and I just stood there and appreciated the view in front of us. How the leaves glowed, the grass shimmered, and the way the shadows streamed across the scene. Pure magic. We'd planned on hot-footing it out to the lake to take pictures of the sun setting behind the forest and hills but decided to take the advice that so many have stated: stop hurrying from one thing to the next. Enjoy the moment. So we abandoned our initial plan. Our quick boogie to the lake became a slow stroll back to our camp with lots of pictures as we went. There will be other sunsets but the pretty sights we were seeing now deserved our attention, appreciation and enjoyment. We certainly made the right decision and both of us had a lovely time! I am also including pictures of some ferns taken with my Sony (taken from the bridge in my last picture!) and a bumble bee resting under a stalk of flowers. (Anyone know what they are called?) Pam, I totally loved what you said in my last picture's comments, " The marvelous difference it makes to be able to stay and grow into a place. New insights." You are so completely right about that and it's how we feel! There are so many things in this world which must be experienced in order to understand. That understanding takes a bit of time to settle into as well. Ok...we can do that! *BIG HUGS from southern Oregon! Explored on 5/11/19; highest placement #14.

(+2 insets!) Guess what we have sitting in front of our shop?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! WE HAVE OUR VERY OWN RV!!! Oh what an exciting day!! Steve and I met one of the owners in town late this morning to transfer money and ownership. Then we drove over to their place and painstakingly hooked our trailer to our truck. Steve showed me everything he did just so I know and finally we were ready to pull out. I was assigned the duty of making sure there were no cars coming and then I waited and watched. The previous owners live at the end of an extremely narrow road with a fairly tight turn. Normally this would be a non-issue but we have a long-bed truck with a full-sized cab--about 25 feet. The trailer is 30 feet long. To make it around the curve in their road, Steve had to creep forward, check the angle and back way up to get closer to being able to get around that turn. It took him about 10 minutes of back-and-forth before he was finally able to clear the turn without wiping out the entire side of our RV! Steve drove up the hill and all was clear...until just as Steve was pulling out into the road, a car came buzzing around the turn. And then two more. What are the odds? No cars for 10 minutes and then three in a row! Sheesh. Thankfully there were no problems...the cars waited and Steve was able to get onto the main road. I hopped in and off we went! We drove at a leisurely pace for the 30-minute trip home and when we got to our gate, Steve stopped a good distance away so I could open the gates all the way and he'd be able to make the wide swing onto our property. Maneuvering the trailer into position in front of our shop was quite a time-consuming and stressful challenge. The biggest problem was that our property is extremely muddy and the soil is very soft. This meant that the tires on both the truck and trailer sunk many inches in various places as Steve was angling the trailer but thankfully nothing got stuck. The truck's wheels occasionally spun in place, refusing to back the trailer up, so Steve would have to pull forward and try again at a different spot. Steve's handled long trailers and big rigs in the past but it's been a while. He also needed to retrain himself on the unique and confusing situation of backing a trailer up and turning it 45 degrees. I did my best to help direct him and as time goes on we'll perfect our directing—and we'll find our walkie-talkies too! Our 2016 Grey Wolf trailer is now leveled and hooked up to power! It's totally and utterly amazing to us that we actually own an RV! It's going to take time for us to get used to this huge change, but we are good with it! I didn't take pictures inside yet but I do have one inset of the truck and trailer as Steve finally had it backed into position. I'll post more pictures tomorrow so you can have a look inside! It is Thursday and so I'm posting my Happy Fence Friday picture...it's another one from our wonderful motorcycle trip we took a few years back with our buddy Andy. This picture was taken on a stretch of road between Alturas, California and Klamath, Oregon. There is are endless expanses of beautiful country along the way and I had a wonderful time clicking away from the back of the motorcycle! (By the way, I also included a panorama of today's lovely sky to celebrate RV DAY!) Pam, since my main picture features cattle, I took a peek on your stream for "cow" or "cattle". Instead of finding a bovine, I found FLICKA! I really love this picture of him sitting in the snow. Here's hoping you had a good day! *HUGGGGGSSSSSS*!!! What a doll. Explored on 3/08/19, highest placement, #8.

This image was taken during the month of October, 2011.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and favorites! I am doing my best to return the favor! So many amazing photographers out there, I am awed and inspired by you all. This image was taken during the MeetUp hike to the rear of Mt. Ashland on September 3, 2011.

This image was taken during the MeetUp hike to Crater Lake: Wizard Island on August 18, 2011.

This image was taken during the MeetUp photo hike to Mt. Ashland on August 7, 2911

Mt. McCloughlin can be seen in the distance. This image was taken during the MeetUp hike around one side of Howard Prairie Lake on August 11, 2011.

This image was taken on the MeetUp hike around one edge of Howard Prairie Lake on August 7, 2011.

This picture was taken on our MeetUp hike to the base of Pilot Rock.

This picture was taken on our MeetUp hike to the base of Pilot Rock.

This picture was taken on our MeetUp hike to the base of Pilot Rock.

This picture was taken on our MeetUp hike to the base of Pilot Rock.

This picture was taken on our MeetUp hike to the base of Pilot Rock.

This picture was taken on our MeetUp hike to the base of Pilot Rock.

This picture was taken on our MeetUp hike to the base of Pilot Rock.

This picture was taken on our MeetUp hike to the base of Pilot Rock.

This picture was taken on our MeetUp hike to the base of Pilot Rock.