Oh, Happy Day!

My daughter's wedding in Portland, OR was the most beautiful setting for a ceremony I've ever witnessed. Yes, some things went wrong, but there are so many moments we'll be laughing at later. Like the judge who was late because he was stopped for speeding; then his iPad died while he read the script my daughter had so carefully written. However, my daughter--planner extraordinaire--made two hard copies just in case.

Our connecting flight home was missed because Alaska Airlines had a mechanical malfunction in Portland. The first two days home I slept more than I've ever slept in my life. So here are the only two photos I've been able to edit. Hope you enjoy!

Jason and Autumn - 9/5/2015

Trillium Lake near Mt. Hood - 9/6/2015

A HUGE "THANK YOU" to my dear friend, Bridget for watching our precious Izzy and spoiling her rotten while we were gone. This was an image that B made up for Autumn's wedding day, along with a blessing. Sweetest thing I've seen in a long time. I am so happy to have a creative and caring friend like B!

I'll be 'round to make the rounds soon!

Benson Bridge

In September of 2010, Double D and I traveled to Portland, OR to see my daughter. I was filled with joy to be with my daughter again. She had many wonderful things planned for us and we enjoyed every moment. It was all nature, all the time. She knows her mama.

I don't know if Benson Bridge counts as a fence, but I just love this footbridge at Multnomah Falls. Since it keeps people from falling into the gorge, I guess you could say it's in the fence family. :) In January of this year, however, a huge rock fell on the iconic bridge and destroyed a three foot section. Since then it has been closed indefinitely. I'm glad no one was hurt and glad that I was able to photograph it before it was damaged.

Linking to TexWisGirl's Good Fences meme. Thank you!!!

Smith Rock

Smith Rock was my favorite destination in Oregon on this particular trip. That day I took about 200 photos with the DSLR and less than 50 with the iPhone 5. It's hard to believe I didn't take more shots. I think I was in awe and simply forgot to shoot! Plus, I was trying not to fall into the canyon. When the weather is cooperating, Oregon is absolutely breathtaking.

I whittled the total number of photos down from 900+ to less than 500, so you will be seeing the Pacific Northwest for some time to come. Without further delay, here is a sampling from Smith Rock. Hope you enjoy! Thanks for humoring me. :)

Edited to add: this is my beautiful daughter, Autumn, with my granddog, Callie :)

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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!