The scenic route.  Tomorrow I will show you my most favorite place in all of Portland! I have had many an email asking me if I made up my mind, of course not, we still have a March 16th North Carolina trip planned and the town we are visiting is coincidentally called the ‘Portland of the South’. We aren’t making any big plans until we have seen everything and made a copious checklist of pro’s and con’s. It’s amazing what happens when two type A, neurotic individuals meet and marry. I think if we have a child he/she may become the Big Lebowski and ask to be called ‘Dude’, just super mellow and stoned all the time, let’s hope not, but just sayin’.

If I had my druthers I wouldn’t have been shooting all my photographs out of a moving vehicle, but my husband was on some sort of mission that meant he must make it to Oregon in the time he had calculated or he would implode (at least that’s how he acted). I was really surprised how quickly crossing into Oregon made the weather leap from sunny California to frosty and foggy. It really seemed like a matter of minutes. This photo was taken near Mount Shasta, I think, don’t ask, I can’t read a map in the car because I am susceptible to motion sickness.  On our first road trip together we took a winding coastal road and when we came to a smooth plateau I nearly tucked and rolled out of the car so my then boyfriend (now my husband) wouldn’t witness the horror of me throwing up all my innards, I swear I lost a kidney that day and maybe even a lung, it was not pretty. What was pretty was the ride up to Oregon, if you ever have the opportunity to drive from California to Oregon you will witness some of the most scenic views that you ever did have the pleasure to encounter. There were booming vistas of snow peaked mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, blue skies and even angry stormy ones.  Each mile seemed more beautiful than the next.  I hope you allow me to indulge you with this trip.  I am going to show you tomorrow my most favorite place in all of Portlandia.  I think some people can probably guess what it might be, no?

 

I would really like to promise that this will be the last weathered barn upload you would see from me, but I can’t. I shot a lot of them from Northern Cal to Portland, OR. I never was really close to them either, which was a shame because I would have loved to been able to inspect a little more.  I shot exclusively with my 50mm prime lens, which is not exactly the most ideal lens for landscape photography.  I also shot mostly out of a car that was going over 80 mph. I find that I shake on solid ground, but am quite still in a moving vehicle, go figure.  I was playing with the tilt shift effect here but may have gotten a little heavy handed (it happens to even me, a third degree Black Belt in Photoshop). I couldn’t get enough of the large expanse of sky all around us, I guess I am so used to living in a place with towering cement skyskrapers that the sky had become a novelty. I am happy that I still had the ability to take it all in and gawk like a teenager who had a Kardashian sighting. It was that good.

I will be editing a photo a day for the remainder of 2012::Project MMXII, this is my ‘after’, you can view the ‘before’ here. Read more…

Petaluma, CA.  I am sighing as I write the words out, it was so magnificent that I find it hard to articulate. Words like charming, quaint and bucolic come to mind, but if you keep driving you might meet the ocean and call it majestic, beautiful or better yet God’s Country.  I wanted to find a realtor stat and not even venture North to Portland.  The California Coast had me at sheep, worn barns and ocean. Did I mention the ocean? I read that Petaluma has more antique dealers per capita than anywhere else in the United States (maybe the world?), it really did not disappoint, for what I read finally was truth. Darn internet with it’s falsities, raising hopes and smashing them equally as fast. Petaluma, well, Petaluma was just as expected, maybe even better, is that possible? I actually don’t know if I could live there, firstly it’s a little expensive for our meager budget (California real estate wise) and even though it boasts both a Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, it is a bit rural. I have after all watched quite a few horror flicks in my time and now fully regret it. I totally encourage anyone to visit, if you love nature and the idea of a treasure hunt you will be in heaven in Petaluma. I know I was.