Happy Halloween!
Photo taken in October 2004
Ashland Daily Photo - A picture a day from beautiful Ashland, Southern Oregon USA in the Rogue Valley
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Halloween, Granite Street
Photo taken October 2004
Granite Street in Ashland is famous for its catering to trick or treaters. Many houses get very decked out. One in particular (shown in tomorrow’s entry) turns into a haunted mansion. Children are invited in for a tour by the witch on the porch. Only some come back out. Expect to hear some screams.
Sporthaven Beach
Although not quite as pretty or secluded as Harris Beach, which we found on Sunday, Sporthaven Beach, just south of the harbor in Brookings was still very nice on Saturday.
Chetco River – different focus
Today’s picture is the exact same as yesterday’s. I took both from the same location within 10 seconds of each other. The difference is that in yesterday’s I focused on the trees and in today’s I focused on the sky.
Chetco River
On a map, Ashland doesn’t look far from the Oregon coast. Birds can probably make the trip in fairly short order. Unfortunately for those species forced to take cars, there are two mountain ranges in the way so it takes a couple of hours on a roundabout course which first takes you quite north of your destination (Grants Pass) and then quite south of your destination into California. The drive is beautiful though–especially this time of year. For part of the drive you are along the Smith River with incredible views of the fall colors lining the banks. Unfortunately, we didn’t stop to take pictures this time.
Once we got to Brookings, Oregon we headed up the Chetco River for a cabin in Alfred A. Loeb State Park. A 30-second walk from the cabin afforded the above view.
The little ripple in the water is from a fish hitting the surface to get a bug. It was dinnertime for the many fish in this little part of the Chetco River.
Harris Beach
I just got back from two days in and around Brookings, Oregon. I have been to the Oregon coast many, many times, but this was by far the best experience I’ve ever had there. Usually it is windy and/or cold and/or raining and/or foggy. And usually it’s not just one of those; pick two or three and you’ll have a better picture.
Not this time. It was beautiful. No wind. No clouds. No fog. 70 degrees both days.
I’ll have some more pictures from the trip during the next week or so.
Ashland Cemetery
I am a big fan of cemeteries. I find them extremely beautiful. Ashland has one of the older ones in the west with graves dating back to 1860 and many of the gravestones coming before 1900. There is no better time of year to check out a graveyard than autumn.
“Famous” people in this graveyard include the Wagners, J. C. Tolman, Lindsay Applegate, and Abel Helman. You probably haven’t heard of any of them unless you are from Southern Oregon though. Much in the area is named after the above people.
SOU Soccer
Taken a while after yesterday’s photo, the clouds have now given way to some blue sky and the snow is rapidly melting on the top of Grizzly. Dennis Dunleavy is catching the SOU Soccer team in action.
Snow dusted Grizzly Peak
A couple weeks ago we had a few cold days which resulted in a bit of snow on the nearby peaks. If the trees on the top of Grizzly Peak, pictured above, look a bit strange to you it is because of a fire that charred them six years ago. The contrast of the black and white is kind of cool. In spring, with late snow dustings like the above you can see a nice mixture of black, white, green (from grass), yellow, and purple (from wild flowers).
I’ll have to post some pictures of the valley from up on Grizzly Peak from prior hikes I have taken one of these days. It’s a great hike, just not this time of year as the back road is in the shade and likely covered in snow even if the front side looks dry.
Lithia Park’s Japanese Gardens
I haven’t made it down to Lithia Park this October, which is a shame since I’m sure it is gorgeous right now. I took the above photograph last October (on the 14th to be exact) in the Japanese Gardens. You can see some more pictures from that day here.
We have a couple of Japanese Maples in our backyard that turn colors later than all other Japanese Maples in town. One of our Japanese Maples goes the last week of October and the other doesn’t give up its green until about November 10th.