Florence Oregon and Environs

We drove to Shore Acres State Park to see the botanical gardens left from a timber baron's home. His mansion is gone, but the formal gardens and the caretaker's house is still there.

 

We started with the ocean viewing area because we were hearing sea lions. Instead, we were awestruck by the view. We just stood there watching the waves crash against the most unusual rock forms.  

Shore Acres State Park

I know I was puzzled over this landscape. Did it happen all at once or over time from weather and sea?

One woman walked up to us and said, "Don't you sometimes feel like you have just walked into another world?"

We could only nod a yes.

But, wait! Where were the sea lions? We could hear them. Maybe in a cave or in a nook? Dan usually spots them swimming, but not this time.

Hmmm.... We followed a path along the shore...no sea lions, so we decided to go see the gardens.

We have seen trees like the one below a couple of times during our travels along the NW coast. It looks like a twisted pine tree until we get close to it.

Monkey Puzzle Tree

Then we would see the needles are leaf-like and very thick. The sign called the tree a Monkey Puzzle Tree. If I had a yard, I would love to have one of these trees for my garden.

The gardens are gorgeous! The Rangers do a great job of keeping up the formal gardens. I took a lot of photos. I don't want to overdo the photos so here's a sample of the pond, the roses, and the dahlias.

Oh, and we finally found the sea lions further down the road. They were all over the rocks and some were swimming (little black spots)...:0) They were barking so loudly that it was echoing down the coast a couple of miles away!

 

We drove into old town Florence on a weekend and stumbled upon a car show.

Our plan was to take a walk and do a little window shopping. Florence was bustling with a small Farmer's Market and a car show. We bought some fruit and Poblanos. Then we saw the small pies...okay, I had to have the small peach/blueberry pie. Such an unusual combination and yes, it was gooood! Sorry, no photos of the pie, but here are some of the peaches that might end up in another pie....

The car show was fun and interesting. I love the colors on the ones I posted here. Very eye-catching, don't you think?

Even the dogs were having fun. There were two of these gentle giants, but the other one was behind a car being petted by another admirer.

 

We walked down to the bridge at the west end of town. This is another of Conde McCullough's bridges except this is a draw bridge. The two bigger obelisks on this side have control rooms for the draw bridge.

There is so much detail in each bridge and each one is very unique. Even the under side that most travelers never see has a lot of thought put into the design. I love this cathedral looking arches.

We drove a bit eastward to view some new areas.

On Umpqua Scenic Drive along the river, we saw a couple of herds of Elk in the Wildlife Viewing fields near Reedsport. They were very close to the fence just grazing and totally ignoring all the people taking their pictures.

 

The males were in one field and the females were nearby in another field, but not close enough to see each other.

 

I'm so happy that I took along my 500mm lens and with some cropping, I got some great photos.

Smile!

The best part was watching the young bucks practice fighting. Even though, they were not fighting all that hard...no rearing or running, more "Push Me-Shove You". We could still hear their antlers banging together once in a while.

Had enough? Yea, me too. Same time tomorrow?

Next post will be from the Escapees co-op in Sutherlin Oregon, and after that we will head southbound on I5.