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Hello amigos! I had a glorious time in Portland with my daughter. What a good sport she was, driving me from the mountains to the high desert to Washington State! We both added many new birds to our life list, as well as other wildlife such as ELK! While we had some rain to contend with, it didn't interfere with anything we set out to do. Bertha managed to capture 953 images, so it may take a while to get my act together as far as sharing some of them on my blog. Don't worry, I will not be bombarding you with photos!

The image below was taken with my iPhone and is one of my favorites. This was from our first hiking expedition at Smith Rock. Nestled between the towns of Redmond and Terrebonne in Central Oregon, it is considered the birthplace of sport climbing, with over 1000 climbing routes of all difficulty levels. We meandered along Crooked River, the easiest of the hiking routes. Smith Rock reminded me of the Grand Canyon and is simply spectacular. I am so glad we ignored the weather forecast. Although it rained that morning, by the time we arrived at our destination, the sun made its appearance and blue skies smiled down on us. I felt very blessed.

Please stay tuned for more stories and images. I promise to catch up and see what you've all been up to as soon as I get my shower and a load of laundry in. Hope everyone has been well!