Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Joseph Stewart State Park

(+many insets!) Steve and I weren't looking forward to it but the morning finally came after ten glorious days at LaPine when we packed up and moved on. I soaked up every sight and sound on my walk that morning, oh, how I love that beautiful park! We couldn't go directly to our final campground and instead drove less than two hours south to the privately owned Crater Lake Resort. What a pleasant surprise! It was very spacious for a owner-run park and the park was filled with trees--not at all like the usual parking lot that we usually see at these places. But it gets even better! Right on the Rogue River Trail! There is a connecting trail from the park that leads to the Rogue River Trail, which is a 37.5-mile trek which is very popular with backpackers and hikers alike. Steve and I have been on sections of this trail through the years and it's a total winner, so I was totally delighted to discover that our campground was virtually right on top of it! (By the way, I found a really neat pdf that shows the trail and all the highlights along the way. I also found a page that talks about the trail and has some nice pictures as well.) The afternoon we arrived, Steve and I enjoyed an hour's walk along the river and though we were sad that we were only able to stay here for a single night here, we were really happy we got to walk along the Rogue on a travel day! Before we left the next morning, I spent a lovely hour speeding at a fast clip along the trail so I could see more than I did the afternoon before. I had time for a few pictures too and have included the ones I processed as insets. Wonderful Joseph Stewart State Park The distance from Crater Lake RV Resort and Joseph Stewart is literally twenty minutes so we were parked and set up in no time! This park holds a warm place in our hearts. Located a mere 45 minutes from our home, it's the second place we went to when we first started our RV adventures back in 2019! We've been all over Oregon since, and to Canada's Vancouver Island too! When we got our current trailer (our second), we took it to Joseph Stewart for a 3-day stay to test out our new rig in a campground setting. In both cases we'd only gotten to stay for two or three days so having five nights/six days was a real treat. All of the campground loops are huge and spacious and there are enormous meadows everywhere, dotted with conifers and maple trees. We love the wonderful bike path which goes around a deep forest loop and--if you've got the energy for the return trip--down a long, lovely path to the boat launch and day-use picnic ground. There is a marvelous trail that overlooks Lost Creek Lake too, and strolling around the campground loops is fun as well. It's just a super place! The bummer was that on the day we arrived, a heat wave descended on the west coast. The temperature soared to well over 100 degrees and we were stuck inside during the day where we could keep cool. I got my morning bike ride and walk in as early as possible and still, by 8:30am it was already heading to 80 degrees! UGH! Today's Picture My main picture today shows the gorgeous, huge meadow next to the bike path with a lovely group of oak and maple trees that tower above. Today's Insets I'm sharing a pair from my walk on the Rogue River Trail that include one from the trail and a pair of images of some of the pretty foliage I found. From Joseph Stewart I'm sharing a very wide pano of the lake and some of the beautiful things I saw on my walks! I hope everyone is doing ok! It's very smoky here from wildfires in the area and hot too. Ugh! But we're off on our trip very soon now, just buttoning up last things and getting our live-in buddy moved back in again while we're away! Explored on 7/13/21; highest placement #8.

(+12 insets!) (Please scroll down to Today's Pictures for inset information) OMG My Eyes! Turn Off the Light! I was awoken this morning to the lights blazing overhead and the beep of power coming on in the house. In my bleary state I thought to myself, "Oh wow, we must have had a power outage." At the same time I was happy that the power was restored before we got up. We'd had a wind advisory last night, though it wasn't windy enough that we noticed. I guess it depended on where you were because the power lines came down somewhere. Starting the Day with Pumpkin Though I was so rudely awoken, it was a good time to get up, so up I popped! Pumpkin and I started our day as usual--she supervising my shower and laughing at me--and we whistled together as I dressed. While I prepared her cage she checked out the extremely interesting space between the bureau and the wall where I'd set her down, turning her head to peer with one eye into the dark abyss that so fascinated her. The funny gronking sounds she made to express her opinion made me laugh, and she followed suit, which made me laugh even more. What a silly bird, and how I love her! :) Downstairs in the kitchen, I deposited Pumpkin onto her custom perch that Steve made--complete with food and water cups--where she enjoyed nibbling on warm, moistened seed-filled bread. While she looked out the kitchen window with great interest, she kept an eye on my activities as any proper supervisor should do. Whistling back and forth, laughing together and making silly sound effects, I made my coffee and got her food bowl ready. She's had this healthy blend for the nearly 20 years of her life with us since she was just 6 months old--a mixture of carrots, celery, bell pepper, corn and apple, topped with wheat berries, red pepper flakes, another piece of bread and a pecan--her glowing feathers and excellent health show that we're doing something right! :) Nothing but the best for our darling feathered child! Soon we returned upstairs so she could have her breakfast. Apparently I wasn't moving fast enough because she strained towards her cage as we approached and hopped off my finger to turn and dance back and forth as I put her food cup in place and closed her cage door. I smiled as she gronked in happiness and dove into her food. What a doll. Before I left the room I opened my laptop to play a music playlist from YouTube that she seems to really enjoy-- "Happy Hawaiian Music" ...but wait... No internet. Hmmm, that was a problem…without her music, Pumpkin gets very fussy and yells very loudly to let us know that her tunes aren't playing. I checked the network and…yep. No dice. What was going on, I wondered. Solving the Mystery of No Internet Wandering into our game room, I noticed our router and modems were off…no power anywhere. Flipping the switch on the power strip didn't do a thing. My computer was on though, but I had no internet. Odd. I wondered if the fuse had popped and some of our devices were on that one? I went to the basement to check the fuse box. Everything was fine there. The last thing I wanted to do was wake up Steve for his assistance but if I didn't, Pumpkin would soon start yelling, which would wake him up in a much less-pleasant way. Cringing inwardly, I opened the door to Steve's bedroom (we sleep separately because he snores and we finally realized it was the best solution so we could get a good night's sleep) and gently roused him. I was relieved that he didn't mind the wake-up as he wanted to start his day anyway. He confirmed the internet situation and was soon in the game room to investigate. Peering at our computer setups, he saw the answer and said, "Two of the three UPS's (Uninterruptible power supply and surge suppressor) are off…must have happened with the power outage." He pressed the power buttons on each of them and they beeped and whirred back to life. A few moments later, everything was back to normal and Life Could Resume! :D Today's Pictures This is my last set from Joseph Stewart State Park--my second set of pictures from my metal-detecting adventure, along with my other treasures from home. My main picture is a bit of a mystery because I'm not exactly sure what it is. Could be the button on a shirt, the closure at the top of a child's pants, or maybe even an earring. There's a little hollow post centered in the back and I cannot figure out what it might be. Pretty though and a fine metal detecting prize to share today! Insets include the other finds at the park--four recent pennies, a gloriously rusty tack, a buckshot ball used with a shotgun which I processed like a planet, and a broken zipper pull that I found buried near our trailer. The pictures I'm sharing from finds at home include plenty of fun prizes! Another view of the Winchester 300 casing, a Hamm's beer can advertising the exciting aluminum can, a bent fence-keeper wire, the largest piece of shrapnel I've found, care of Camp White, a spoon found in the dirt next to our road, a pair of dimes, four bottle caps found at a rest stop at Rogue River, and finally, a motorcycle chain rusted into position! Pam, thank you for the lovely prize you mailed to me…it arrived yesterday and both Steve and I were very touched by your festive gesture. :) Here's hoping that Santa brings you something wonderful towards your recovery! *BIG HUGS on this COLD DAY* from Janet and Steve! Explored on 12/06/19; highest placement #13.

(+10 insets!) (Please scroll down to Today's Insets and Final Thoughts about Photography at Joseph Stewart for added picture information) This will be my last set of nature pictures from our trip to Joseph Stewart State Park (I have another set of metal detector finds to finish off my trip pictures). My main image is one of my very favorite macro subjects! For the Love of Mushrooms Have you ever gone out with the specific intention to find mushrooms? They aren't always easy to locate! On my first outing with my macro lens, I kept my eyes open for mushrooms while I took pictures of leaves and other things but I didn't see any. I wasn't really focused on them at the time though and I figured there were plenty of them in deeper forest locations. The next day, Steve and I went on a favorite walk which took us past the edge of a thick stand of trees. Ah-hah! That's where they were hiding! There were bunches of them just off the side of the path and a little while later I came back with my camera to take pictures. One of the things that made it hard to find them were all of the leaves covering them up. I kept my eyes open for curious lumps in the piles of leaves I saw and often revealed a wonderful prize underneath with a careful brushing. When I take pictures of mushrooms, I do a lot of preparation beforehand. I remove anything I can that obscures or detracts, especially from the background. All it takes is one stem behind a subject to totally ruin an otherwise lovely bokeh, so I'm fastidious about making the scene as tidy as possible. I've learned though that taking time beforehand will make it much easier when I'm processing the image later. The mushrooms I found at John Stewart were almost all hiding under leaves and I wanted to share that experience if I could. As I uncovered them and cleaned up each scene, I tried to keep a leaf or two exactly where it was if it enhanced the image. As I revealed this mushroom, I got a huge smile on my face. Cuddled against it was a partially disintegrated black oak leaf. Wearing this leafy cloak of courage, the brave little mushroom turned to peer up at me and my huge, imposing camera. It watched curiously as I cleared the area, carefully pulling bits of grass and twigs out of the way. I cooed gently to soothe its trembling when I reached down to remove a bit of dirt from its head. The warm sound of my voice must have been strange but it relaxed and appeared to be happy now. There! Everything was just perfect and I crawled backwards to compose and capture a set of images. While I clicked my way through apertures, I thought about the nice time I had taking these pictures of mushrooms. So many different kinds, sizes and neat groupings. As I gazed back at the darling mushroom and its little leaf, I knew this was my favorite one of all. Today's Insets and Final Thoughts about Photography at Joseph Stewart The fun subjects never ended as I wandered around…the first inset looks a lot like a cluster of grapes but it's actually a dried bunch of flowers on a bush, magnificently lit up in the autumn sunshine. I was so happy to get the chance to get some fall pictures because I didn't go out on any seasonal photo shoots. I had hoped there would be some nice pictures to find at Joseph Stewart and I sure did hit pay dirt! You will see lots of leaves that I liked (including one sitting next to the water hookup valve at our site), another colorful meadow scene, a pine cone, and even a stump that was totally covered with lovely bracket fungus! I didn't spend too much time with my camera while we were at the park--perhaps an hour at most?--and yet, look at all of the wonderful things I found. What fun it was to relax and melt into my passion. :) Pam, I'm hoping that you're feeling better today…I know you said it's been very painful after your procedure. Wishing for a day of comfort and anticipation for the next steps in your recovery! *BIG HUGS* :) Explored on 12/04/19; highest placement #2.

(+11 insets!) (Please scroll down to "Today's Pictures for inset information) Trip Talk: Little Upgrades and the First Two Projects: Our Bedrooms! Our new trailer is going to be a perfect way to travel around the country! That being said, we need to upgrade some things before we are satisfied with its current state. Steve's done lots of little additions around the place, such as adding felt dots and rubber bumpers to doors so they close quietly and don't bang into walls. We noticed they neglected to put caps on the recessed screw holes here and there so we got those. Lots of things like that. But also, there are four projects that we planned on right away: our beds, the coffee bar/charging center, and our computer/gaming stations. Today I'll cover the beds! The Beds: Steve's (You can see the location on Inset 1 and look at "A") First off, we needed to upgrade the sleeping situation. The first and easiest fix was the master bedroom. It came with a king-sized mattress stuffed into a queen-sized space, ugh! How ridiculous to stand in there trying to find room next to that silly bed! Steve quickly fixed this by sawing down the bed's platform to a proper size. When we put a queen-sized mattress in place of the ginormous king-sized bed, suddenly it was like a breath of fresh air! For the first time since we've owned the coach, the master bedroom FEELS like a master bedroom! Sheesh. We are astonished by the propensity of people who want everything to be LARGER. What type of person would WANT a king-sized bed? They are entirely too HUGE! The Beds: Janet's (See Inset 1: "B") The second part of this equation was my bed. The Avalanche has a new and rare layout called a "mid-house bunk room." Ordinarily this is a double-decker platform ("bunk house") located in the back of the coach, which is what our Grey Wolf had. I used the bottom bunk as my private little nest and I loved it in the beginning. However, by the time we got back from our six-week Vancouver Island trip, I was DONE. All of the sideways wriggling in and out of the foot-accessible-only bed got to be intolerable, especially at three in the morning when I needed to make a bathroom run. I couldn't even sit up completely unless I wanted to bang my head. No amount of coziness could make up for that cramped and totally annoying sleeping situation. This became a defining criteria for choosing our full-timing rig. The perfectly tiny bunk room in the Avalanche is located half-way between the back and front of the coach and is even has *gasp* actual doors (as opposed to curtains)! It came with an attractive couch which folded out to entirely fill the room with a classic, uncomfortable, temporary bed. No thanks. I did sleep on it when we stayed at Joseph Stewart State Park but we also put a gel-foam topper on it to make it reasonably comfortable. No worries...we had a plan! We took out the couch and in its place, Steve built a platform to fit the 38" x 72" space. When completed, there will be three spacious drawers underneath, but for now the frame is in place and it's absolutely perfect! What about the Mattress? At first we were at a loss. Custom-made anything almost always means sky-high prices and that's all we could find as we combed the search results. Finally I found pay-dirt! The Military Supply House makes mattresses of any size with a zillion options, all at a totally affordable price. We paid about $230 to get mine made and when it arrived, we were both totally blown away. It's gorgeous, soft but supportive, impeccably made and sewn, and best of all, it is EXACTLY the right size! We were so impressed that we're ordering another one in queen size for Steve's mattress! (The temporary mattress in place right now was borrowed from our guest bedroom so we could go to Joseph Stewart.) A Perfect Room for Janet The difference in that petite room is amazing. It's no longer an awkward nook with a little sofa in it that folds out. Now it's got an exactly-sized bed with lots of room to move around. There's a spacious countertop on the opposite side and I'll be able to add a chair to sit and use my laptop. With this arrangement I'll be able to write and work on my photography without distraction. What an upgrade!! The situation I had in the Grey Wolf quickly began to drive me crazy. I'd wriggle into my lower bunk bed, crawl into place, turn over to sit down, drag my computer onto my lap, position my mouse next to me and finally I'd open the laptop. It was such an ordeal to get everything properly set up that getting back out again was really annoying. Granted, it was a wonderful, cozy place to hang out but once I was there, I didn't want to move...it was too much effort! So you can see why I'm so over-the-moon with my wonderful little bedroom in the Avalanche! (Note: you may wonder why I'm in the little room and Steve is in the master bedroom. This is because Steve is 6'2 and I am 5'4. He cannot fit into that little bed but it's the perfect length for me. I also wanted to have my own space for writing and creating without being disturbed. The master bedroom doesn't have a desk area. The situation is absolutely ideal for us! Oh, and in case you didn't know this yet, we sleep apart because Steve snores and we prefer restful nights!) Today's Pictures It's another installment from Joseph Stewart State Park! The main picture was the view we saw from our coach every morning, can you believe it?! Stepping just outside, I took this picture of gorgeous light and shadows streaming through the trees that surrounded our trailer. How amazing it was to be here, and yet the park is a mere 45 minutes away!! The first inset today is a graphic to show the layout of our Avalanche 365MB with areas noted for the projects we're working on. (I'll talk about the other projects in a later blog.) The rest of the insets are more subjects that I found while I was blissfully wandering around with my camera. You will notice lots of lovely fall leaves, but also mushrooms and even a ridiculous sign on a path sprayed on by someone who has dyslexia! ENJOY! Pam, today it's such a bright and beautiful day, I can't stop smiling when thinking about the hopeful situation for you that's coming up. There is nothing like hope. Now there is a large sprig to grasp onto and I'm so glad!! Have you recovered from your procedure and feeling better? I'm wishing the best for you and sending lots of *HUGS* your way! Explored on 12/02/19; highest placement #7.

(+6 insets!) (please view large!) For info about the pictures today, please scroll down, down, down to "Today's Pictures". Trip Talk: Taking Time to Relax on a Trip Steve and I know all about the problems of trying to pack too much into a trip. Even when we specifically built in extra time for a destination or made sure to do less, we still felt stressed out over the desire to see more. It's made us realize that when we travel, we need to spend a lot more time at each place so we can relax and enjoy ourselves. This tradeoff means we won't see as many places but we'll feel much more satisfied and happy with each destination. It's important to have the freedom to say, "Today we're just going to hang out and do nothing." So, when we went to Joseph Stewart State Park, we made no plans except to relax and enjoy ourselves however that meant. It helped that we'd been there before and knew what to expect. Neither of us felt compelled to visit all that the park had to offer. We just did whatever we felt like with no agenda. The Joy of Being In the Moment with my Macro Lens... It was GREAT! I got to spend all the time I wanted to creep around with my macro lens and just "be." I took my camera out on several outings that were just for me--my very favorite situation! When I can just do whatever I want and have no constraints on my time, I open up and just drift around, exploring without any worries. Sometimes I just stand still, listening and looking around to see what captures my attention. It's one of the ways I find special subjects, but the only way I can do this is if I'm free to let time pass without worry. Scoping Out Subjects! One day Steve, Pumpkin, and I went on a wonderful walk (we have a "front-pack" carrier for her that allows her to be outside but still be protected ) and as we strolled along, Pumpkin whistled and carried on happily as she looked around and munched on her food. I kept my eyes open for macro subjects because I planned to return with my camera. I got more and more excited as we found countless mushrooms, interesting leaves, and plenty of other things. After we returned to the trailer I bounced out the door with my camera to retrace our steps. I made sure to take my walkie-talkie with me so Steve and I could stay in contact. Out there our phones had no signal so having those walkies was a great alternative. The range is also very impressive--seems like I can be nearly a mile away and we can still reach each other. Is She Dead? I spent about an hour wandering back to all of the things we'd seen, blissfully taking pictures as I went. At one point I was splayed out on the ground in the middle of the path--a common position for me, lol! I was focusing on a group of darling mushrooms when I heard the campground hosts approaching in their atv. The second they saw me I heard the atv slow down as they tried to figure out if the person laying there was alive or not, heh. I knew what they were thinking so I immediately sat up and moved around so they didn't worry. Reassured, I heard the atv speed up again and I crawled over to the side of the path, grinning to myself. We all waved and said hi as they drove by and I couldn't help noticing the look of relief on their faces. About ten minutes later I heard them returning from their little trip and moved off the path again so they could drive by. I wonder how many crazy macro photographers they've encountered as camp hosts? Probably just me I'm guessing, judging by their reaction! Magic Happens When You're Not Rushed I continued my macro walk for a while longer until I felt creatively "full". I was about to turn around when I noticed glinting from a large conifer in the distance. It appeared to have many sawed-off lower branches and though I couldn't see from where I was, I wondered if it would be worth taking a closer look. My curiosity about the glimmers I saw got the better of me and I strolled over to investigate. What was that I was seeing?! Why, there was sap oozing out from every sawed-off branch! All around the tree, the resin formed countless beautiful golden droplets that seemed frozen in place. They were actually dripping very, very slowly , but even warm weather wouldn't make the sap drip fast enough to watch. At least that's my experience. I've seen resin droplets on trees when it's hot and though the sap is more liquid in appearance, it drips too slowly to see. Taking a closer look, I was totally blown away by the beautiful globules. Though the sun was just about to drop behind the trees, I'd caught the light at exactly the right moment and some of the droplets were glowing in the last beams hitting them. Working quickly, I evaluated the best droplets to photograph before I lost the sun. Around the tree I creeped, clicking away and hoping that I'd be successful getting at least one crisp picture in each set. As I composed my pictures, I couldn't keep myself from exclaiming, "WOW!!" I've seen plenty of resin droplets over the years but I cannot recall every seeing so much on one tree. The poor tree was probably suffering, with so much of its "blood" flowing out through the cuts all over it. Hopefully the pine beetles don't get to it before it can recover from the damage. In any event, the sap did allow me to take dozens of pictures that show how incredibly lovely the droplets can be. Today's Pictures I'm sharing a total of seven resin pictures from my visit to this wonderful tree. It was tough to decide which one to lead with…let me know if you have a favorite! Pam, I thought I remembered a picture you took of pine sap so I looked it up… wow! Three awesome posts, two of which are super cool collages! I love that you appreciate these natural jewels as I do. This tree would have you yelling and screaming when it got too dark to take pictures! :D I really would have loved to go back the next day to take more pictures but it wasn't in the cards. However, I'm mightily pleased with my results of about 10 minutes of frantically getting pictures before the light left! Been thinking about you all day…so happy about the news and so is Steve. I have my fingers crossed for improvements in the future! So glad for this win! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 11/26/19; highest placement #4.

(+13 insets!) (please view large!) For info about the pictures today, please scroll down, down, down to "About Today's Main Picture". And yes, I know, I know…War and Peace…get your coffee or fall asleep! Trip Talk: Metal Detecting is Great Fun! About six months ago my younger brother got his hands on a metal detector, something that I was curious about too. Soon he was sending me pictures of his finds and relating the fun adventures he went on to get them. I couldn’t get enough! I was always asking him for updates--what did he find today?! I just loved the idea of snooping around with an odd-looking device, hearing beeps and then digging up something buried for who knows how long. No matter what Brian found--junk like nails, screws, bottle caps…or extra cool prizes like lost jewelry, coins, or even military medals--I was bouncing up and down to congratulate him on his treasure. A couple of weeks into September, Steve surprised me with an early birthday present…a metal detector! In all truth, he actually didn't have it for me then because he wasn't sure which one I wanted. We decided to get an inexpensive one from Costco to find out how much I liked this hobby. Immediately I was digging up my own treasures, all on our own property! Almost everything was metal junk--nails, screws, wire, lumps of melted metal from past fires in the area--but I also found fun stuff like a dog collar, pennies, nickels and dimes, and even a fork and spoon! Since it was obvious I really enjoyed this hobby, we returned the cheap version and bought a much better metal detector which hobbyists really love. And I love it too! :) Strange Bits of Metal…or Are Those Meteorites? While I was out looking for treasure, I also found bunches of odd, extremely corroded metal fragments. Sometimes as deep as a foot underground but mostly close to the surface or laying on the ground, these bits of metal were spread out seemingly everywhere on our 26 acres. I found them in the meadows and in the forest, on our hill and all around the house. As I continued to dig them up, I pondered what they might possibly be. The only thing that might make sense was shrapnel…but…HOW?! Since when was our property a war zone? The more bits I dug up, the more perplexed I became. Hopping on the internet, I began to look for clues. I knew that our town, White City, was home to the WWII military installation, Camp White, but it didn't answer my questions. It was a dozen miles away and totally remote compared to the bustling area just north of Medford. Then I discovered a popular, nation-wide metal detecting forum which had a place where I could introduce myself. Along with my greeting, I asked if anyone had thoughts about the metal shards featured in the picture I included. I crossed my fingers that somebody could help me out. Lo' and behold, one of the friendly folk spoke up and announced that he knew EXACTLY what I had and where it came from. How could he know so definitively? He lived less than a mile from me and his property was covered in these shards too! Initially believing these strange, heavy chunks to be from a meteor, my new friend wrote to a university professor. Following the advice he got, he bought a test kit which would tell if the fragments were indeed other-worldly. However, the results were negative. Back to the drawing board, he then found out about Camp White and dug further until he discovered the answer we both so badly needed. He was delighted to tell me what he learned! Camp White purchased the entire area where we lived and it was used for artillery exercises! For miles around, the land was heavily bombarded with all kinds of ammunition, missiles, bombs, and the like. After the war was over, an effort was made to use bulldozers to turn the soil in heavily-hit areas and bury much of the shrapnel. One detail shocked me: the area was also littered with unexploded ammunition and signs were erected to warn people of the danger. The last unexploded ammunition was found years ago but it's likely there are more, which is really chilling to think about. Over the years, memories of Camp White's use of the area were gradually forgotten and today it's fair to assume that most residents have no clue what's scattered around on their land, or where it came from. Just like I was saying in my last post, most people--myself included--put history on the back burner and so the rich history of where I live is lost to the majority of its inhabitants. Once Again, History is an Important Key to Full Understanding When I finally learned what I'd been finding on my property, it hit home in a big way for me. I held a piece of shrapnel in my hand and thought about how it came to be here. I read the articles online about Camp White and watched the documentaries I located. For the first time since we moved here a dozen years ago, I finally felt like I knew this place. No matter how many picture's I've taken, or exploration I've done, or people I've met…it was these pieces of metal which gave me a true understanding of where I lived and one of the important stories in its history. It's a funny thing to realize how important history is. It's something we've been told all our lives but it's so easy to brush off and ignore as a waste of time. Especially if you really don't understand WHY it makes a difference to your present self. This lesson added another speck of wisdom to my life and I am so happy to gain this knowledge--and a true reason to learn about history! About Today's Pictures: When Steve and I stayed at Joseph H. Stewart State for a few days, I made sure to pack my metal detector! In fact, I'd made sure that it was ok to use my cool new toy there. (If you're interested, here's the Oregon State Parks page on metal detecting. There are laws against using metal detectors in many places and a million rules about what you can and can't do, what you can keep, what tools you can use, and how to conduct yourself. I was delighted to learn that it was ok to use my detector there because most parks are off-limits. In this park, I was allowed to detect at my campsite and any unoccupied sites on our camping loop. Also, I could snoop around other areas within the loop so long as I was respectful about keeping everything neat and tidy. I had a wonderful time cruising around and digging up all sorts of stuff. Of course I found plenty of junk--nails, screws, wire, aluminum foil, pull-tabs, etc--but I also found neat stuff too! In fact, I found so many fun objects that I'm going to share two sets of pictures over the next few days. Half of each set will include pictures of prizes I found at Joseph Stewart, and the other half will be pictures of stuff I found on our property. You may need to stifle your laughter over the "artwork" I've created from some of this stuff but I couldn't help myself! :D Hopefully you guys enjoy the show! Main Picture: One of the places I snooped around was the wonderful little playground in the center of our "A" Loop, which was a large, beautiful meadow dotted with oaks, maples and conifers. The second I saw that playground I couldn't WAIT to get over there with my metal detector!! In front of one of the swings, I got some high-quality "silver" beeps from my detector and after some digging, I discovered a pretty little bead from a necklace or maybe a bracelet. "OH! I wonder if there's more!" YES, THERE WERE!! As I searched the area, I found four silver-plated oblong ferrule beads and three more of the round, textured beads. HAPPY DAY!! Insets from Joseph Stewart: a bottle cap, hair clip, a child's ring, an electrical spade connector and a button cell battery. Insets from home and nearby: a selection of shrapnel found around our property, a piece I call "Cowboy Art" (a circle of baling wire that somebody squeezed into this fun shape!), a cookie dough press form, a corroded penny, a fish hook and swivel (found at the edge of the Rogue River), a fork (in the front yard! :D), a flattened pencil top and a Winchester 300 casing on end. Pam, I know you expressed an interest in metal detecting, and I don't blame you--it really is a lot of fun. But it can also be really boring when you find a dozen pieces of junk in a row. Or when you dig and dig and can't find the prize! The nice thing about better metal detectors is that you can make it ignore metals common in nails and screws, but you still find the better-quality ones which are made of mixed metals. You can see by my presentation here that I am delighted by my otherwise silly prizes…a grungy bottle cap is cool? YES IT IS!! :D I do wish we could play together with this detector! :D Just imagine the artwork we'd come up with for our piles of nails and screws! :D :D I hope you're having an ok day my dear, my thoughts are with you!! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 11/24/19; highest placement #4.

(+10 insets!) For photo info, please scroll down to "Today's Pictures". Trip Talk: State Parks RULE! Until Steve and I got our first trailer, neither of us had ever stayed at a state park before. Honestly, we didn't think they would be anything special. Knowing that state parks often don't get proper funding, I imagined that the campgrounds would be plain, simple and boring--just a place to stay which was close to park trails but otherwise forgettable. How much more wrong could I be? Joseph Stewart State Park was the second place we went camping at with our first rig (the first spot was a private campground at Upper Klamath Lake) and I'll never forget our reaction when we pulled in to the campground. The park is very wide-open and carpeted with literally miles of mowed meadows dotted with oaks and conifers. The view as we drove into the area literally took our breaths away--it seemed like a rich country club, not a state park! How could such a gorgeous place be a mere 45 minutes from our home? Where were the run-down campsites and over-capacity outhouses? Not here, that's for sure! We would come to learn that RV-friendly state park campgrounds are extremely well-designed with campsites which can often accommodate even the largest rigs. They arrange the sites around one or more very large, one-way loops with lots of space between spots and angles which are easy to back a rig into. In fact, some camping spots are known as "pull-throughs," which means you just drive into the space and park! When you're ready to leave, you just drive out and off you go! How's that for easy?! Our first visit with the Grey Wolf was so much fun that we knew we'd be back many times. What's not to love about the place? Right on Lost Creek Lake, one can go boating, fishing or swimming. Photography opportunities are everywhere! There are miles of biking and hiking trails which showcase the gorgeous local. Just riding our bikes around the three loops was great fun and a really super way to see all of the different RVs staying there. We wondered if all state parks were this spectacular. We would learn that more times than not they are just fantastic. Another fabulous thing about state park campgrounds is how INEXPENSIVE they are! Nightly fees range between $26 and $34, which is a lot less than the average private campground fee of about $45. Think about the price of staying at a motel or hotel--good luck finding a decent room for less than $75/night! (The maximum number of nights you can stay at a campground is 14 in any 17-day period. So you could leave for three days and then return for another 14 days!) State campground staff are also amazing! They are super friendly and helpful and whenever there's a question or problem, it's easy to find someone for assistance. We also learned that state campgrounds are run by hosts who are RV campers too. They aren't paid but instead get to camp for free during their stay in exchange for a part-time work schedule. What an incredible way to save money while enjoying a park! Steve and I will definitely be signing up to be campsite hosts down the road and look forward to being part of the park system. Are there any downsides to state park campgrounds? Ok, yeah…that. As amazing as they are, almost every campground we've stayed at has no internet or phone coverage whatsoever. Our first stay was pretty annoying because it didn't occur to us but we got comfortable with the idea once we realized that state parks are black holes for data. Other than that, it seems that state parks are the absolute perfect place to stay! Our second stay at Joseph Stewart State Park was every bit as wonderful as our first visit. In some ways it was even better because we'd been there before and knew what to expect. It's such a pleasant place to be and I hope that we will be back many times in the future! Today's Pictures My main picture today shows one of the breathtaking, expansive meadows found everywhere at Joseph Stewart State Park. The autumn show was mostly over but I still managed to get plenty of seasonal images and you'll notice that many of my insets feature a favorite subject: LEAVES! :) You'll also see one of the many mushrooms I found, a pretty park bench scene, the husk of a cicada (I think), another scenic view, madrone bark, another maple "bat", and a "flower" on a pine tree where the cone had broken off, leaving wooden "petals" behind to enjoy! Pam, I wonder what your favorite season is? It's so hard for me to say…I'm crazy about whatever is current--well, maybe with the exception of the end of summer when everything is dry, grey-brown and listless. But then the leaves begin to turn and suddenly everything is glorious again! :) BTW, thanks for your lovely remarks on my latest series, it makes me so happy that you enjoy my pictures so much! :) *BIG HUGS from southern Oregon* Explored on 11/19/19; highest placement #2.

(+1 inset) (Once again, sorry for the length of this post--I'll be doing this whenever we are out in the RV. If you want to know about the picture, just scroll down to the bottom. :) ) It's Tuesday night right now and I'm about to go to sleep…Steve and I went on a bike ride after lunch that turned out to be quite exciting! We were entertaining the idea of riding around Lost Creek Lake, which is supposed to be about 20 miles. However, we weren't sure if that was a very wise idea, given that we've only just started to get ourselves back into shape and our last ride at home was only 8.5 miles. We thought we'd start off by riding on the bike path that led down to the camp marina, just a few miles away. Funny enough, the path we took actually led the wrong way and brought us right back to our campsite! We couldn't stop laughing as we turned around and tried again, this time choosing the correct turn that we'd missed. Through lovely woods and over narrow wooden bridges, we made our way down to the marina and stopped to look in their little store. It had the bare minimum of supplies, all at twice the price they should be--big surprise…not! :D The marina was small but fun to see and I got a few pictures while Steve relaxed outside the store. While I was taking pictures I discovered the paved but lumpy single-track path that went along the lake and soon we were bouncing along the trail and enjoying the adventure. However, we soon realized that there hadn't been any maintenance done this season and we found a few poison oak branches that we narrowly avoided. Even though the trail was there, it became more and more worrisome as we continued. Many downed trees across the trail required us to carry our bikes over them, more and more poison oak was in the pathway and finally we couldn't even avoid the leaves which brushed against our arms as we rode by. There were many places that I couldn't ride my bike over--roots and rocks in the path, unexpected steep spots, bridges that could not be ridden over, etc. Then we encountered a spot where erosion caused a tree to fall into the lake, taking most of the trail with it. We could walk our bikes past the missing trail but just barely. Beyond that, a very steep hill going down and around a curve…and that was enough of that. Our nerves were shot. We'd hoped for an easier ride and this was just too much. We both ended up with poison oak on us and when we got back we took turns taking showers and we're hoping that we successfully washed the urushiol oil off of our skin before it's been able to give us rashes. Time will tell…keep your fingers crossed for us! Dinner was delicious barbecued New York Steaks and more yummy garlic-and-herb-spiced asparagus and Portobello mushrooms sautéed in butter, but I added green onions this time…NOM! Desert was brownies we made before we left on our trip…so tasty! :) We relaxed for the rest of the evening--Steve in the hammock outside with Molly, me working on my pictures inside with Pumpkin…such a nice evening! Finally we watched a show and got Pumpkin settled in for the night before diving into bed ourselves. :) Goodnight all! :) --------- I'm so happy that I'm able to upload pictures…I was really worried about it because the signal is nearly non-existent here. Thank goodness Steve's phone signal is working! We are going to look into a signal booster for the future. It's really important to us that we can hook up to the net. For now, I'm just hoping that I'll be able to upload a couple of pictures each day! As I sit finishing up this post, I'm outside at the picnic table, listening to the birds and feeling a warm breeze dance through my hair. Steve is chilling in the hammock which he set up in a pair of nearby trees, Molly is relaxing in her outside pen and Pumpkin is chortling to her music inside while she enjoys the view outside through the blinds. What bliss. (Heh, a Red-Breasted Robin just ran across the site, under the hammock and over to some trees…lol) This morning Steve and I hopped on our bikes and did a repeat of the ride we took around the park on our first evening, which included a lovely 3-mile woodland bike trail. You can't beat a meandering trail complete with dappled light and a couple of narrow bridges to cross! We even surprised a fox along the way, such a beauty. The forests here are a mixture of deciduous (Maples and "leaf-shedding trees") and evergreens like pines and cedars. Because of our nearly non-existent internet connection, I'll only be posting one extra picture along with my main picture. Today's picture was one I took yesterday when we walked out to see a view of the lake. The tiny beach had this magnificent stump on one side which made a nice focal point. I am also including a really lovely picnic spot with a lovely Maple tree overlooking the meadow. I have lots of other pretty views of the camp ground but they'll have to wait! :) Pam, have you done any camping here in the US? We are coming to realize that this RV camping business suits us quite well, heh. It's one thing to read about its popularity and why people enjoy it so. It's another thing to live it. Yep. We love it. I hope that you have a good day…you'll be in my thoughts my dear! :) *BIG HUGS* Explored on 5/9/19; highest placement #5.