A Slice of Heaven

I've found a slice of Heaven here in the little community of Svensen, Oregon, where I've moved to! I'm 8 miles East of Astoria.

Path to a sweet little picnic area on the John Day River.

HUGE trees everywhere!

BEWARE.... Photo heavy post!

I thought I'd post some of my photos I've taken in the last couple of months, as I've wandered about exploring. I make sure and always take my regular camera, besides my phone. My camera takes much better distance photos. 

This area reminds me of where I lived northeast of Washougal, WA which I absolutely loved. I feel like I'm "home" again.

Sunset by Chinook, WA just north of where I live. I take advantage of every sunny day that I can, and get out there to take pictures!

Little cabin by the John Day River. I wish I could rent it! There is a HUGE rhododendron bush in front of it by the road.

John Day River as it meanders here and there.

Meadow by the John Day River, with the sun making a quick appearance.

I'm smitten with the John Day River! Can you tell?

Very historic Fort Clatsop.. where Lewis & Clark expedition stopped and built their living quarters, and then trekked on to the ocean.

Lots of places to hike in this forest!

There are so many wonderful places to explore. In my area, east of Astoria, there are mountains, trails, logging roads, rivers, creeks, camp areas, woods, vistas (on top of Mt. Wickiup by where I live, but haven't gone up there yet), Columbia River views, and little communities along the Columbia.

That is just MY area of Svensen. If I go into Astoria and head south, there are more mountains and waterfalls and Elk, oh so many Elk!. If I head west and then south, I am at the ocean, and can drive down to the touristy town of Seaside, Oregon.

If I drive North, and cross the Astoria Megler Bridge into Washington, there is another enormous area to explore! I have driven up there to the little towns of Chinook, Ilwaco and Seaview. My first photo (above) is a sunset by Chinook.

Elk Reserve south of Astoria.

Did I say I LOVE IT here!

Astoria Megler Bridge in the background... this is the Columbia River in Astoria. The Megler Bridge is 4 miles long and travels North into Washington State.

Looking across the Columbia River to the mountains in Washington (another whole big new fun area to explore!

And of course, there's the ocean!

My and my son, his fiance and her son on Mother's Day. What a wonderful way to spend Mother's Day!

More to come! More to explore! 

Marilyn

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Sparkling water... and grassless yards.

Oh boy did I have a nice week at the Oregon coast visiting my sister! We had such a good time and I got to see the ocean, eat lunch with a view of the crashing waves, and drive to lakes and a river. I was in Heaven for sure.

I didn't take any photos of the ocean as I have so many already. Here are a few from the past couple of years, "just because" I never get tired of looking at them.

I think the most fun was going down south to a little town about 20 miles from Florence (Reedsport) and driving to Winchester Bay to look around. Lots of little RV parks and fish shacks there.. very quaint. Then we went to lunch at the Schooner Inn which is a sweet cafe right on the old wharfs overlooking the Umpqua River. What a gorgeous river! The entire area there was made up of the old wharfs where canneries used to be many years ago.

You know me..... I was SO happy to be on the water!

There were several areas of boat docks and fishing boats.

What a beautiful area. The day was perfect!  And of course, I LOVED the sparkling water.  We even were fortunate to spy an Osprey nest on top of one of the railroad bridge spans.... we saw it from inside the museum next to the restaurant......... she had an old ship's telescope! The Osprey was sitting on her nest of eggs.

By the restaurant, there was a little museum and gift shop that we visited. Out front was a pretty painted seal and totem pole. There is so much history around this area. My sister told me that the entire town of Florence had a festival last year of the painted seals. There were about 10 of them all around town, and several artists had painted one each..... and then on the special day, people could bid on them to buy them. The proceeds went to help update their Event Center. 

Here's the sweet gazebo in Florence, OR Old Towne.......... it overlooks the Siuslaw River, as do many of the business and restaurants that line this street.  More water! I was so happy!

GRASSLESS (natural) YARDS:

My sister had moved to a new place... a gated community of about 800 homes. They are all either double wide or triple wide manufactured homes, and they were just gorgeous. I've never heard of this before, but there were NO LAWNS allowed! Everyone had to have "natural" yards, no grass, nada! I was amazed. We drove all through the community so I could see the natural yards. There were so many great ideas. 

Alot of difference sizes and colors of rock were used.. plus lots of ground cover.

This was all bark mulch plus rock in the middle that was sloped into a "bowl". It was really pretty.

Pretty shrubs everywhere, plus ground cover and grasses. Alot of the yards had little features such as bird baths, windmills, statutes, benches, etc.

This is from Pinterest, but I saw many front yards there very similar to this! I could picture this as being MY back  yard! (and it WILL be if our new lawn doesn't grow more. It's very sparse.) I really like the fire pit, and would have a water feature somewhere too.

The above two photos are also from Pinterest. Love the ground cover... and this photo above... love the bigger rocks (round ones) with the flowers dancing in between.  Sweet garden bench and trees.... sigh.

It was a very nice trip and I had a great visit with my sister, just me and her. Hubby stayed home to take care of our kitties and water the new lawn and flowers. 

Have a nice weekend everyone!!!

~Marilyn~