Central Oregon roamings, the end - buildings of past and present

Throughout my 5 days driving around mostly in solitude on backroads throughout Central Oregon I mixed in my travel time with hunting for a favorite subject of mine: abandoned buildings or historic buildings being preserved. It made the journey time between other photographic attractions a joy!

The first thing that jumped out at me was a stunning abandoned Locust Grove Church, built and opened in 1895.

(above: Wheeler County/Fossil; Crook County/Prineville; Sherman County/Moro)Then as the week progressed I continued by hitting many county courthouses - I love the rich historic old buildings that shine in the smaller population counties east of the Cascades! I wish more of "the big cities" would have their old original courthouses still like you see so much more in the Inland NW.

Toss in a number of abandoned homesteads here and there, and I had a nice collection of buildings to bring home with me! Thanks for letting me share all aspects of my Central Oregon trip, as this marks the end of my talking about that trip. A much more enjoyable way for me to share how much I enjoyed the trip than to just toss out a few locations and photos that I visited! Now I need to get on with "all of the other places I've been since June" - stay tuned!

Just one photograph....

So yesterday I departed for what was long ago planned to be a 4+ day photography road trip to photograph many things in the Ochoco/John Day Highlands, with the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument being the key here. Long story short I'm back not 18 hours after leaving, many hundreds of miles driven, due to a family emergency. Alas, that is what can happen to the best laid out plans sometimes! I planned the details of this trip for the better part of 5 weeks! Leaving early this morning to get back to the home fort, I did pull off the highway climbing out of the Columbia River Gorge toward Goldendale...the wildflowers in the eastern gorge desert climates are stunning and totally prime right now. Don't believe me? Just look at the ONE image I took on the hundreds of miles driven trip that was 4+ days cut short. Shot out my truck window none-the-less, from the shoulder of the road near Dalles Mountain Road.

I promised myself a return next May to retry this again - I know first week of May always treats me right for these!

Heading to Yakima

One of my favorite winter visits east of the Cascades begins tomorrow as I head toward Yakima for what has been for three years now an annual presentation for The Cascadians. What a fun group of people to go and see each January! While I'm going to give a talk on the fun hiding in my book Day Hiking-Mount Rainier, I always enjoy this presentation journey even more as I add photography hunting into the mix driving there and back. Of course somewhere in there is a drive through what has to be one of my favorite roads in Washington State - the Yakima Canyon.

Hopefully this year I'll enjoy the luck of a clear cold morning like these images from last year to make me do the happy photographer dance to yet again!

(photos: ice jam in the Yakima River near Roza Creek; lonely Canyon Road through the Yakima Canyon)