Showing you Oregon,one post at a time. Did you know that I post the links of many of my stories and articles on the sidebar? When you have extra time, please scroll down to see more. At the bottom of this page there are links to many other blogs that I enjoy.

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Hello, friends, thank you so much for stopping by. I really hope that you will enjoy your visit to Oregon Gifts. Due to spam, I am not accepting comments from anonymous people. Please email me at: oregongiftsofcomfortandjoy@hotmail.com if you are unable to leave a comment on here. I write back through email when I can.

My words and photographs are copyrighted, and may not be used without permission, even on Pinterest.

~ Kathy M.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Hiking Proxy Falls:


Last week, Cary and I drove up towards the Old McKenzie Highway to the Proxy Falls parking lot.  Neither one of us had ever hiked the trail before.  

There was a hand drawn map on the board letting you know that the trail was a two mile loop between the upper and lower falls.  Apparently, there are actually two separate falls on the loop.




For some reason, I didn't grab my phone or any water out of the truck before we left.  Only my big camera, a sweatshirt and I was wearing my hiking boots.  Half -set up for the occasion!



The trail was well made and maintained and as far as I went (to the mid-level viewpoint of the lower falls) it was a gently sloped with many short switchbacks.



The one exception to this was a small slide not far from the beginning of the hike.  That is wear we saw this cute little frog.  This being our first time, and Cary's leg was bothering him, he decided to not go any further.  Not because of the frog, but because he was worried that the trail was going to be unstable and that he might not be able to easily maneuver it.

I could hear the falls in the distance and told him that I wanted to keep going, and that I would be right back.  Kinda not smart, since there was only one other car in the parking lot and I had no phone for texting, but everything worked out okay.  I walked quickly so that I could hopefully get there and back without worrying Cary too much.



 The fall colors were beautiful.




There were very few signs, and a couple of options.  There is an upper loop, which takes you up to the Upper Falls, but when there was a fork on the path, you weren't sure which way to go.   Thankfully, somebody had done two things for direction.  They buried some small rocks in the middle of the path, and laid some branches into an arrow pointing towards the other path.  I trusted their instructions and headed to the left.  I could hear the sounds of the falls in the background.  Looking back on it, if I had kept to the right it would have probably taken me to Upper Proxy Falls.


Soon, I ran into a couple of young women and their dog.  I asked them if they had brought their phones, but they hadn't.  There was a sign that said, "Upper Falls" and "Lower Falls".



We headed towards the lower falls, and there was a place to stop and take pictures, so that is what we did.  I took these:


 The falls were very tall, wide and beautiful.








Then I said goodby to my new friends, and they kept going lower to complete the whole loop.  I turned back and went the way that I had come.




I was gone about 45 minutes total.  Cary, who is a bit of a worrier, was just starting to wonder when I would be back right when I showed up.  I want to go again sometime and take the whole loop and see Upper Proxy Falls too.

If you ever get the chance to go here, do it.  It was gorgeous.

Hugs,

Kathy M.


At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
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Sunday, September 28, 2014

Janet Biles Art featured at Takoda's Restaurant in Rainbow, Oregon:


When Cary and I stopped by the local pizza place/restaurant next to our RV park, there were all these beautiful ceramic tiles for sale.  My friend Sandy had helped the artist, Janet Biles, cut slabs of tile to make more of these on Monday.

I don't know Janet, but I really liked her art and thought that I would share it with you on here.  If you would like to contact Janet, her email is Janetbiles@aol.com  





















Enjoy your day!  I will be back soon with some very beautiful pictures of the places that we visited last week.

Hugs,

Kathy M.


At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Up the McKenzie ...

 
 Hi!  Just a short little note to let you know that we are enjoying our trip so far.  We arrived on Sunday afternoon and have just been relaxing.  

Yesterday we went out to breakfast at The Rustic Skillet , went to the store, and walked around our new neighborhood.  I took these pictures from my phone, put them on FB and then copied them into Picasa.  Where there is a will, there is a way!  I took many more photos with my big camera, but will wait until we get home to process those.  



Cary is looking handsome on the trail.  There are quite a few places to take a walk around here, and there are beautiful streams and ponds.



The manager of the RV park, Jim, has a green thumb.  This garden was new to us, as we haven't been here for nearly two years.  There are flowers, veggies and art on the other side of the lake.  I'll do a whole post just on the garden soon...



We walked over to the river, a couple of blocks away and I really like how the moss hung down from this tree:



Today we are going to do some exploring around the area, and my friend Sandy is going to stop by to say hello.  Tomorrow, my kids and grandson are coming up for dinner; they live about 45 minutes down the road.

It is supposed to start raining hard tomorrow for a day or two, but we are set up fine in the 5th wheel.  This RV park has full hook-ups, cable and wi-fi, and we have an electric fireplace so it shouldn't bother us any.

I hope that you guys are all having a wonderful week.

Hugs,

Kathy M.

Oh, I won a gift certificate from Carol Kilgore a couple of days ago! Thank you, Carol. You can read about her and her brand new book, Secrets of Honor, on Hart's blog by clicking here.



P.S. - Sandy and me:



At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
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I LOVE THE STATE OF OREGON.

I LOVE THE STATE OF OREGON.
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