I spent all of my teen years in this area and consider it to be the ultimate in river scenery. Had I grown up in any other Southwestern Oregon area I am sure I would have felt the same way about the Mckenzie, Willamette, Santiam, Rogue, Illinois, Klamath or other beautiful rivers. This is one of my special places. All photos were taken with a Sony Mavica 85 (1.3MP). This album has been completed and no more photos will be added.

This temple is visible from I-5. It is a very beautiful building nestled among tall Douglas-fir trees making it somewhat difficult to photograph. The visitors' center's friendly staff will provide you with information and answer questions. I apologize for the poor quality of the photos. The lateness in the year and the bright later afternoon sunlight made it difficult to take good pictures. All these photos were taken with a Sony Mavica 85 (1.3 MP).

I have been here many times in the past but when I came here to get some better digital photos the building was being evacuated because of an anthrax scare in the mail room. For a mere moment I fantasized that everybody was running out to greet me or wish me a belated "Happy Birthday" as I was going up the steps. No such luck. Going inside was now out of the question. I had never seen so many fire trucks, police cars, ambulances and news cameras in one place before this event.
Of course, they never found a problem in the mail room but everybody got to go home early and I went home disappointed. I will return.

We went to Ontario, Oregon to investigate the death of Lynda's biological father. All we knew was that he had been shot by police in January, 1980. Because it was Labor Day and the Ontario Library was closed, we went to the Ontario Police Department first. They had no recollection nor record of the incident (a Malheur County Deputy happened to be there and heard the conversation) but they did make a phone call and referred us to an Ontario mortuary to check out a file they had there. It had been edited and was incomplete. We went to the Ontario Library the next day and made copies of the articles in local newspapers regarding the incident. According to newspaper articles, three different agencies were involved in the shooting: the Nyssa Police Department, the Malheur County Sheriff's Office, and the Oregon State Police. Reading further we found out that the Ontario Police Department had been the non-involved investigating agency. We went back to the Ontario Police Department with copies of the articles and they still insisted that there was no record of the event nor recollection even though some of the officers were still working in the department. We went to the Nyssa Police Department the next day and made an apointment to see someone there the following day. When we went in the young officer at the desk said that the chief of police who was an officer at that time of the shooting was gone that day and he "tried" to reach him on his cell phone but couldn't. He did say that all the records should be there except there were some that had been destroyed in a flood some years back. We went to the Malheur County Sheriff's office in Vail and they said they surely would have kept a record of the incident which should be available but they would have to search for it and would call us when they found it. Needless to say, they did not call. We called them a day later and were told that no record existed. The "Blue Wall" was impenetrable at this point. We did talk to the Apple family mentioned in the newspaper articles on whose property it had happened and they were cooperative in giving us details abouth that night when "all hell broke loose" with gunfire from all directions. According to the Apples, he was drunk with a rifle over one shoulder walking back to his home next door and never got the opportunity to react to the order to put his gun down. We were later able to get an autopsy report from the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office. He was shot in the back of the right thigh and front of his right hand which was down at his side and that shot broke his thigh and nicked his femoral artery. Another shot hit him in the back of his left thigh and broke that bone also. He died 45 minutes later in an Ontario hospital which was only a few minutes away by ambulance. It turns out that they had shot a falling-down drunk (alcohol level .19) twice in the back of the legs. Nobody in these small-town agencies remembers the incident. We went seeking information and had all parties been forthright in providing it we would not have pursued any action. The obvious cover-up upset us and made us surmise that there probably were problems brought out by the Ontario investigation, perhaps even involving disciplinary actions against the officers. Some of the local citizens we talked to did remember. We consider this a police cover-up. We could never contact the Apple family again - they would not return calls. We are sure they got the word to not talk to us any further. The statute of Limitations had caught up with us so there is nothing we can do about it from a wrongful death angle. If we had names of the shooters, we would try to get murder charges brought against them. We have no names. Pursuing this any further would be cost-prohibitive to us and it really wouldn't change anything. Rightfully or wrongfully, he is still dead.
I took these pictures in a nearby area when we needed a break from the frustration of dealing with these agencies. All were taken with a Sony Mavica 85 (1.3 MP). This album has been completed and no more pictures will be added.

This is an album of photos that were taken in 2005 with my Konica Minolta Z-2. I have recently been updating them and decided to post them on Fotki. I also added a map of the area which is a modified photo of a MapQuest product. This album has been completed and no more photos will be added.

One of the beautiful places to see is Multnomah Falls, one in a series of falls that launch water off a high basalt cliff in a display of grandeur. It is on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and is THE place to go when in the Portland area and you want to get out of the city. This album has been completed and no more photos will be added.

Vernonia was founded as a timber town with the Oregon American Sawmill and Banks-Vernonia Railroad to ship logs and lumber in and out. We ate at the Cafe 47 which turned out to be a very good choice, after all, who could resist "Awful Good Food"? The owner/cook (Bob) and a waitress (Kris) served us well with delicious food. We actually took my daughter and her husband there the next day (Sunday afternoon) and unfortunately they were closed so we had to settle for a place down the street with just plain awful food. We also stopped at the Mill Pond Park where logs used to be dumped from the railroad (later trucks) and then moved into the sawmill for processing. All that remains of the mill which closed in 1956 is the superstructure of the dry-kiln used to dry the lumber. The rest has gone into history except for a few concrete foundation blocks. The resulting park is delightful and well-used. This album has been completed and no more photos will be added.

Fishhawk Lake is a beautiful hideaway on a reservoir in Northwestern Oregon, not far from Vernonia but remote, nonetheless. Residents own their properties and belong to a homeowners' association. There were some for sale: tempting, but too far from our home base. This album has been completed and no more photos will be added.

These photos were taken at or from the Pittock Mansion in the West Hills, Portland, Oregon. This album has been completed and no more photos will be added.

These Photos were taken at the Calvary Catholic Cemetery on Skyline Boulevard in Portland, Oregon. This album has been completed and no more photos will be added.

These photos were taken in the community of St. Johns, Portland, Oregon. We were driving in some areas we had not visited in some years and we decided to go through the St. Johns district. We spotted the McMenamins Theater & Pub Movie Pavilion and since the McMenamin brothers are know for developing great restaurants in historical buildings we stopped to eat. Later, near sundown, we visited Cathedral Park which offers great views of the Historical St. Johns Bridge. It was too late to get quality normal photos so I settled for what was available, mostly silhouettes of the bridge. This album has been completed and no more photos will be added.

I chose a longer route to travel from home to Roseburg in order to re-visit this natural wonder. Many years had passed since I had been there but it was as beautiful as I remembered it being. I was fortunate to have good weather while I was there which accentuated the colors. This album has been completed and no more photos will be added.

These photos were taken during a short visit to my hometown to attend a 51st high school reunion. The countryside and rivers fascinate me after a long absence and I found them beautiful in their own way. Living in the dry Southwest has it's weather advantages but I always appreciate a short visit to the Northwest during it's summer season. Yhis album has been completed and no more photos will be added.