Week 40 in the 52s...Country Roads

A day of warm sunshine with just a hint of coolness in the air, and brilliant Fall colors equally as mesmerizing as the beauty in Spring blossoms...

I tossed the boys in the car after lunch yesterday and headed into Oregon's outback.  I don't know my way around these country roads, so every bend and turn was a new experience.  I drove for over two hours, meandering and backtracking and stopping for photos whenever something caught my eye.

Down my mountain and into the valley.  I turned off the main road and headed west...

After several miles, I found myself on one of the few straight stretches in the whole journey and glancing to my right, I saw this farm in the distance.  The remoteness of the location, the cattle placidly grazing in the sun, reminded me of a place out of time; this prospect would have been exactly the same to the early settlers...

As I pulled back onto the road and drove for another mile or so, I came upon a totally unexpected sight.  I parked the car and burst out laughing--remember, I'm in the middle of nowhere--because next to a mailbox was a sign at the edge of the road advertising a concrete business and up the long, twisting dirt road were these wondrous creatures...all made from cement...

The Welcome Sign...

The Creatures...

 

I walked amongst giants for a few minutes...

 

 

There were many more--full-size cowboys on horses, and buffalo, and other things further up the road I couldn't make out.  I didn't want to intrude, though it would've been really interesting to meet the person behind the art.

 

More miles, more sunshine and around a bend I discovered an abandoned apple orchard.  Dozens of gnarly old trees, choked by weeds and long forgotten.  I stood next to the fence and wondered who had planted them, and why the orchard had been forsaken.  Each tree was laden with fruit, boughs bending under the weight.  It was sad and seemed so wasteful...

This little Towhee dropped in to chirp at me while I was contemplating the orchard.  Maybe the fruit isn't wasted after all.  Deer, birds and other wildlife might have raucous midnight bacchanals when the apples ferment...

The boys were getting restless just about the time I discovered I was across the river from the county park.  After some wrong turns and extra miles I'm sure a local wouldn't have had to do, I managed to find my way there.





The river, through a grove of birch and shadows.  (I took another shot of the sun glinting on the water, but posted that one to Shot of the Week...)

The last wild rose on a bush.  The fragrance was rich and heady, like spice-filled dreams of exotic places...










While the boys sniffed and snorted, no doubt filling their own heads with the scents of raccoon and squirrel, I spied these pale, delicate 'shrooms just beginning to poke their little heads up out of the grass...










After looking down at the mushrooms, I lifted my head and realized I was standing under a chestnut tree, though these pods aren't ready just yet to release the nuts so they can be roasted over an open fire...







My last shot of the day...blue water sparkling in the sun on a most beautiful Fall afternoon...

This turned out to be a really great adventure in the 52s.  I explored unknown country roads, laughed at mythical beings, imagined wild parties, smelled intrigue in the heart of a rose, and reveled in the stunning beauty of the natural world.  It couldn't have been a better day...