Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Eel Lake

(+2 insets!) (please view large for the most adorable view!) Bucket List Shots Do you have an actual list of pictures you hope to take some day? I don't, because it would take a lifetime to list them all! However, when I find them out in the world, I am catapulted star-ward and over the moon! Steve and I left Harrison Beach a few days ago and arrived at Tugman State Park several hours later. This is one of our favorite spots with its beautiful Eel Lake, skirted by two outstanding trails that we adore. My first morning I went to the end of the wonderful 1-mile long trail that leads out to a bench on a point where one can sit and enjoy the lovely view. When I arrived, my motion disturbed a family of geese--with BABIES!!!--and I wasn't quick enough to get decent pictures before they were too far away. I stared, cooing and in love, at the fluffy babies and their attentive parents. Maybe I'd see them again, I hoped. The next day I was all-consumed by macro photography and as luck would have it, didn't see any geese, though I did hear them. Yesterday though, I took my Sony bridge camera with it's marvelous 600mm zoom lens and crossed my fingers. Soon I got to the park's wide-open meadow with its picnic tables, gazebo and playground. The dock sat peacefully at the edge of the lake and I wandered over to the water to look at the view. Jackpot! Just then I spotted motion in the water. OH!!! The goosey family was there!!! And LOOK at how ADORABLE they were! One parent in front, a stream of fluffy babies, and then another parent. They motored along and I had my camera out and clicking away like a fiend. Then I noticed more movement...ANOTHER FAMILY!! OHHHHHH!!!!! So many chickies! I counted...one, two, three...four, five, six...SEVEN! My lucky number! I moved along with them very quietly and slowly, hoping they wouldn't swim away. The first family I spotted did swim away, but the second family wasn't worried about me and they swam closer and closer! In fact, the goslings emerged from the water at the boat ramp and walked around, their parents right there to keep an eye out for danger. Conveniently, there was bench and I sat there taking pictures and resisting the urge to coo at them out-loud! :D They all began to move towards the bank where I was seated and to my delight, up onto the grass scrambled a baby! And then two...three, four! One parent in the water with the other goslings, one on the grass with the adventurous kids; I sat, completely enchanted, and watched the little ones plucking at the grass and running around. I got to experience this magical scene for about ten minutes before one by one the goslings plopped back into the water, popping up like fluffy yellow corks, and rejoined the other chicks and parent, and the other parent slipped into the water behind them. Off they went and my beaming smile followed them as they cruised away. "Bucket List: Goslings and family"...COMPLETE! :D Hooray!!! (I have a couple of insets of the babies too! :) I hope you guys are all doing great! Explored on 4/24/21; highest placement #1.

(+5 insets!) Photography is an Opportunity for Never-ending Education! I've always been a curious little monkey with a passion for nature. But the moment I I began taking pictures so many years ago, that fascination brought a new interest and opportunity for me. I wanted to know more about the things I took pictures of--what a great way to learn more about the world around me! That passion to learn is one of the countless reasons I love photography. Normally, we see something interesting that is soon forgotten. But with a picture, we can investigate freely. What a great way to educate myself! And, with online communities like ipernity, I have the opportunity to share what I learn with all of you too! :) Today's Pictures On my daily walk around the edge of Eel Lake at William Tugman State Park, I got to enjoy seeing the pretty water plants that floated just off-shore in one spot. I didn't know exactly what they were so today I spent some time educating myself. The main picture is the disintegrating leaf from a water plant called Western Water Shield (Brassia schreberi) . It does look like a shield, doesn't it?! This plant is well-established world-wide without a definitive origin and listed as an Oregon native. It can be invasive though and grows massive carpets of floating leaves over ponds and lakes. The flowers are small and purple but sadly weren't in bloom when I got my pictures (Here's a Google Search if you'd like to see what they look like! :) I adore water lilies and any other floating plants so I really enjoyed taking pictures of this plant. I loved how the leaves looked as they disintegrated, with fiery colors in the leaf holding on to the very end. I've got several others as insets to show a close-up of a pretty pair of leaves, and how they carpet the area where they grow. I'm also sharing an image of another water plant called a Spatterdock (Nuphar advena) that has several pairs of mating blue damselflies on it! A shame I couldn’t get closer but they are still quite visible! Last but not least, another picture of the lovely water at the shore. I never tire of the twinkling, abstract quality of the moving water…isn't it beautiful? :) Thank You!! Thank you so much for your visits, stars and comments…but also, thank you for providing me with such a wonderful experience when I see what you're sharing with everyone today! I love my virtual trips around the world, holding your hand and peering through your lens! What fun…you guys are awesome and so inspiring. :) Please take care of yourselves and stay safe, dry and warm! :) Explored on 2/16/29; highest placement #3.

(+6 insets!) "I Caught a Salamander!" On one of my morning walks I took a camera with me to capture some of the beautiful things I saw every day at Tugman State Park. I had a specific mission though. I made a bee-line for the Eel Lake dock because I hoped to get some pictures of a wonderful and unusual sight I'd discovered the other day. In the early morning, if you looked carefully, you could see salamanders swimming around! They were so darned cute! This is something I've never seen in my whole life! (I believe these are juvenile Coastal Giant Salamanders, Dicamptodon tenebrosus .) Moving slowly around the wooden dock, I got some neat images of barely-visible salamanders swimming along just under the surface. I guess they must live under the dock…perhaps on the wood? In the mud under water? I don't know for sure but I was full of joy as I saw each one, cooing happily at their cuteness. At the same time as I was there, a father and his young daughter and son were there. Dad was fishing while his kids were laying on the deck with hands positioned over the water. They were hoping to catch salamanders and had a water-filled bucket next to them if they got lucky. "I CAUGHT ONE!!!" I looked over to see the young boy with an ear-to-ear grin, standing up with a salamander held very gently in his hands. He saw me looking with my matching smile and asked if I would like to see his new little friend. "YES!" I exclaimed and asked if I could take a picture. He said sure and I got a nod from Dad before I captured the image you see as today's main image. I love this shot. It clearly shows how gently the salamander is being held and though the salamander doesn't look exactly thrilled, it's not freaked-out, which makes me happy! Before I turned to go, the children said they were going to catch all the salamanders they could until Dad was done fishing and then they would let them go. I couldn't help but look back on my own adventures of capturing little salamanders under bricks in San Francisco when I was their age! :) Other Insets I'm including a salamander under the water, a darling chipmunk that posed for me, and a close-up portrait. I'm also sharing images of a lovely garter snake I discovered on the trail. It was so relaxed that it took about five minutes to slowly make its way over the trail and off into the bushes. :) I hope you're all doing well today! Stay safe, warm and dry on this cold, wet day! HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!! Explored on 2/13/29; highest placement #3.

(+7 insets!) Stop #3 of our 2020 Escaping Covid trip: Tugman State Park Leaving Bullard's Beach after a wonderful week of fun, relaxation and adventure, we headed north for a new campground destination. Tugman State Park would turn out to be so wonderful that it now sits on our list of favorite Oregon State Parks! Family Planning Not Quite According to Plan! Before we found out that campgrounds were open again, Steve's sister called to let us know that things had changed. She lives in California (about 700 miles south in the Los Angeles metropolitan area) and since we had an RV, she thought it was high time we got together for part of our trips. So she and Steve coordinated a spot where we could hang out and that turned out to be Tugman State Park! However, our desire to reserve a nice long stay proved to be impossible. We ended up reserving four nights, followed by a two-night stay at a "glorified parking lot" private RV park, and then seven more nights at Tugman. Not ideal but at least the private RV park was only 45 minutes away. Tugman State Park Located just to the side of the lovely and large Eel Lake, this campground features closely-connected loops that are nested within each other--something that I haven't found in other parks. The result is a fairly compact park that can be a bit confusing when trying to remember where your camping spot is. This campground has three unique and wonderful aspects: two trails which are just a walk from the campground, and of course, the lake itself. The shorter of the two trails is just 1.1 miles but don't let the length disappoint you--that wonderful trail will have me returning forever! It leads in and out of the forest and around the western shore--it's absolutely perfect to start each day with. I looked forward to every walk I went on and just thinking about it now makes me wish I were there! The trail terminates in benches that are perched on a spot that juts just a bit into the lake. Sitting there or standing out and looking at the twinkling lake, there are few places to match this tranquil beauty. The 6.1-mile hike along the eastern shore is outstanding and gorgeous, leading through the mixed conifer and deciduous forest and peeking out on the lake here and there with benches for anyone needing breaks. Finally, the lake itself is stunning and fantastic for canoeing or kayaking, or for those who'd like to try catching a fish. Today's Pictures I discovered that I've only posted a couple of pictures from our stay here so I'll be sharing pictures from our stay in this area for a few days! :) Today I'm featuring the perfect picture for Happy Bench Monday! Would you just LOOK at that crazy bench?! It sits at the end of the short trail I started every day with. As you can see from one of the insets, the view is wonderful! My insets show some of the beautiful things I saw on my walk and I'll be posting other pictures in the coming days to add to this. I hope that you are all doing well. At our house it's very cold, snowy, rainy, mucky and pretty miserable outside, but in the afternoons it's sometimes gorgeous and sunny! Crazy weather! Stay safe and thank you so much for all of your marvelous comments and stars--your visits mean so much to me! Explored on 2/9/29; highest placement #1.