Photos: One Mile High Picnic Point

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Buckhorn sign

Note: The Buckhorn Lookout is located about 40 miles outside of Joseph, Oregon.

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MayLee, SiowFong, Ma Wee, and Lydia are enjoying a picnic lunch consisting of Subway menu items (MayLee ate a salad, and everybody else ate sandwiches).

Note: For a day trip where we will not be near any restaurants, we usually buy food from Subway or another sandwich shop.

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Lydia laughs at something Auntie MayLee or her mom said.

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Due to the cooler temperatures and due to the noon sun, everybody was wearing their jackets and hats during lunch.

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Imnaha River Valley

Note: "The Imnaha Canyon, which is part of Hells Canyon, from Buckhorn viewpoint, one of three drive-up Hells Canyon view sites in Oregon. The others are Hat Point [which was inaccessible by car due to snow]. . .and Hells Canyon [where we visited yesterday]." (source: http://blog.oregonlive.com/terryrichard/2007/08/hells_canyon_eastern_oregon_sh.html)

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Daughter and father

Note: All of these pictures were taken on June 12, 2010 at the Buckhorn lookout in the Wallowa Whitman National Forest in Oregon.

Photos: Flowers

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Even with two flowers in her hands, Lydia is looking for another.

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Lydia prepares to pluck this flower.

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"Mom -- look at my pretty flower!"

Note: Lydia loves flowers, and she avidly searches for them when we go on out-of-town trips.

Photo note: A short picture name makes it much easier to label the photos on the blog. Canon uses the prefix "IMG", and Nikon uses "DSC".

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With MayLee and Ma Wee observing her, Lydia shows off her flower with a big smile on her face.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on June 12, 2010 at Buckhorn, a Wallowa Whitman National Forest National Forest Lookout Station that is located 5333 feet above sea level in Oregon.

Photos: Hells Canyon Viewpoint

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Lydia is eating a snack.

Hells Canyon Viewpoint

June 11, 2010

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Hells Canyon Scenic Byway sign

On the road towards Hells Canyon viewpoint

June 12, 2010

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Rainbow-decorated hillside

Hells Canyon Viewpoint

June 11, 2010

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Tom is preparing to take some pictures

Hells Canyon Viewpoint

June 11, 2010

Photos: Landscapes

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"Fields of Green"

June 10, 2010

Note: Even though these are not yet 'amber waves of grain", this picture reminds me of the song "America the Beautiful" (Words by Katharine Lee Bates,Melody by Samuel Ward):

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!


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Rainbow at Palouse Falls

June 10, 2010

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Downstream from Palouse Falls

June 10, 2010




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View from Buckhorn Pass

June 11, 2010

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"Rainbow Surprise"

June 10, 2010

Note: As SiowFong was driving back to the hotel after the rain ceased, she spotted this rainbow, gently stopped the car, lowered her window, and took this shot.

Photo note: Timing can be everything in a photo. Because SiowFong was fast, she managed to get this nice picture using her Canon G11 digital point and shoot camera with the saturated colors of the rainbow still present. By the time I took a similar picture ten minutes later after setting up the shot with a tripod, the colors of the rainbow had faded considerably.

Note: All of these pictures were taken in the Palouse.

Photos: Family Photos

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MayLee, Lydia, SiowFong, Ma Wee, Tom

On the way to Steptoe Butte with the Palouse in the background (Washington)

Note: "Steptoe Butte is a quartzite island jutting out of the silty loess of the Palouse hills in Whitman County, Washington. It is contained by Steptoe Butte State Park. . .

Steptoe Butte is currently recognized as a National Natural Landmark because of its unique geological value. It is named in honor of Colonel Edward Steptoe.
A narrow paved road winds around the butte, leading to a parking area at the summit. Popular activities, besides sight-seeing, include hang gliding and flying kites and model airplanes.
Elevation: 3,612 feet (1,101 m), approximately 1,000 feet (300 m) above the surrounding countryside." (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steptoe_Butte)

June 10, 2010

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Wallowa Mountains Visitor Center in Enterprise, Oregon

Note: "Atop the hill just before Enterprise, this center is a "must" stop for Byway travelers. The large relief map will help you make travel decisions. Get current information on road conditions, campgrounds and recreation facilities from travel-savvy staff. " (source: http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2145/places/15319/)

Photo note: Group portraits benefit from some differences in height among the people in the picture, but too much of gap in height can be distracting. One way to reduce the disparity in height between a child and an adult is to have the child stand or sit on an object that makes that child taller, and this bench served this purpose today.

June 11, 2010

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We are posing with Smokey the Bear.

Wallowa Mountains Visitor Center in Enterprise Oregon

June 11, 2010

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Hell's Canyon in Oregon

Note: "Hells Canyon, North America's deepest river gorge, encompasses a vast and remote region with dramatic changes in elevation, terrain, climate and vegetation. Carved by the great Snake River, Hells Canyon plunges more than a mile below Oregon's west rim, and 8,000 feet below snowcapped He Devil Peak of Idaho's Seven Devils Mountains. There are no roads across Hells Canyon's 10-mile wide expanse, and only three roads that lead to the Snake River between Hells Canyon Dam and the Oregon-Washington boundary."

(source: http://www.fs.fed.us/hellscanyon/overview/index.shtml)

June 11, 2010

Photos: Palouse Falls

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Palouse Falls

Note: "Although Lewis and Clark didn’t quite make it here, they missed one of the state's most beautiful waterfalls. Palouse Falls drops from a height of 200 feet through an eroded basalt chasm. Palouse Falls is the last remaining falls created by glacial floods along the Palouse River before it entered the Snake River. It is most spectacular in the spring and early summer, and particularly beautiful when the sun strikes the spray at the base of the falls and creates a rainbow. If you’re lucky you’ll witness a nesting pair of Falcons darting amongst the cliffs." (source: http://www.experiencewa.com/attraction.aspx?id=255)

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Auntie MayLee and Lydia are walking in the fields around the parking lot towards SiowFong, who took this picture.

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Ma Wee, Lydia, and MayLee are standing against a rail along a path that overlooks the waterfall.

Note: While Lydia's dad was taking pictures of the waterfall from different vantage points, SiowFong, Lydia, Ma Wee, and MayLee were walking on trails at the state park, and SiowFong was taking pictures of their time together.

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Crouching Lydia

Note: All of these pictures were taken on June 10, 2010 at Palouse Falls in Washington.

Photos: Landscapes, Palouse

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Rolling green hills

Note: This topography is typical of the Palouse, which is "a region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of southeastern Washington, north central Idaho and, in some definitions, extending south into northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, primarily producing wheat and legumes." (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palouse)

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Contours of green

Note: "The origin of the name "Palouse" is unclear. One theory is that the name of the Palus tribe (spelled in early accounts variously Palus, Palloatpallah, Pelusha, et al.) was converted by French-Canadian fur traders to the more familiar French word pelouse, meaning "land with short and thick grass" or "lawn." Over time, the spelling changed to Palouse." (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palouse)

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Green belts

Photo note: Sometimes a good photo results from luck. On the way to the summit of Steptoe Butte, which provides a 360 degree view of the Palouse, the clouds looked increasingly ominous as they were moving over this area. SiowFong stopped the minivan so that I could take these pictures while a few rays of the sun broke through the clouds. About fifteen minutes later, the rain began to fall, and the clouds had completely obscured the sun.

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"Undulations"

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Ribbons of green and gray

Note: The gray areas are fields of dirt where the plants have been harvested, and the green areas are fields of wheat that will mature in July and turn into fields of gold.

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"Serpentine Fields"

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Doesn't this picture remind you of a gargantuan golf course?

Note: The ubiquitous rolling hills remind SiowFong of the Lake District in England where we spent part of our honeymoon.

Note: All of the pictures taken above are of the Palouse on June 10, 2010. Tom took the first three pictures around 3:10 PM, and SiowFong took the last four pictures around 4:15 PM.