Saturday, May 30, 2009

Land of the Big Trees!

Clare and I headed up to Olympic National Park for the Memorial Day weekend to camp and hike among the big trees. We had a great time up there! Clare had never been there and it had been years since I had visited that area so it was pretty exciting just to be there. The Hoh Rain Forest was the highlight for sure. That's where we got our hug on with this Mammoth Hemlock.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Rally-America Oregon Trail Rally

I headed up to Hood River Oregon today to watch the third day of the Rally-America, Oregon Trail Rally. It is an on road/off road car race that is being held up in the mountains near Mt. Hood. The racing was exciting and the crowds were into it. Car rallying is now an X-games sport so it is pretty popular. Most teams seem to be sponsored by some sort of energy drink! No surprise I guess. The cars are pretty incredible. They are mostly Subaru's and Mitsubishi's, with the occasional Ford Focus (don't ask me why), and all are modified with roll cages, beefed up suspensions etc. The cool thing about these cars though is that they all must be street legal (lights, signals, even license plates!).

Shooting pics of these flashy cars was loads of fun. There was dust flying everywhere though so tonight I'm hanging out at home, cleaning my camera!

Friday, May 15, 2009

More Rally Action

More images from the Oregon Trail Rally...
Sliding sideways into the turn!
Almost seems too clean for a rally car!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Camping on the Metolious River

Clare and I headed out of town this weekend and went camping near Sisters Oregon, on the Metolious River. Despite some persistent drizzly rain we had a great time, and the tent kept us nice and dry. We took a nice hike at Smith Rock State Park, and another hike along the river.