More from Cave Junction

I met someone who told me that UFO's were real.

I told them I didn't agree, but that Bigfoot really does exist ......




and that dogs are taking over the world .....




but I couldn't convince them I was right.

The Oregon Caves

The caves are the main tourist attraction in the Cave Junction area: the caves give the town its name. It is well worth going to them if you get a chance.


I'm not quite sure why there were vents in the stone walls, but I did think the sticker was well positioned.









Here are some photos from the caves:

The Californian Redwoods

We borrowed a truck from Ray's friend Daniel and went down to the Californian Redwoods.


The soil changes between Oregon and California, which is why the redwoods only grow in their area. During the drive there is a quite sudden change in the vegetation.


Here's some photos to give you an idea of what Northern California looks like:

























We only had a day so we didn't get to see all of the redwoods. We went to stout grove which is one of the northernmost groves. Apparently the trees get even bigger as you head further south.


These trees were simply amazing to see - its best to let the pictures do the talking here:






























































I even found a new home! Its a bit draughty, but I got some great tax breaks because of how eco-friendly it is.

Portland

Ray and I hired a car and went up to Portland for a couple of days.


We stopped at an Indian casino on the way. Gambling is illegal in Oregon except on Tribal land. The sculpture in the photo below is a huge bronze, it was inspiring to think of the work involved in a project of that size.






The scenery was awesome, lots of wide valleys bordered by mountains. Along the way we passed towns like Hugo.










Allegedly there was once a mining town called Waldo - it now seems to have disappeared.




Portland has an interesting road network.











While in Portland we went to Powells world of books, which was absolutely awesome. I think it is the only bookstore I have been to where they give you a map when you walk in. They also had frequent loudspeaker announcements asking identified people to re-unite with their group at specified locations. As expected, I bought too many books.



This is possibly the biggest flag I have ever seen.











Apparently the Americans are well beyond us in terms of IT technology: I've never even heard of the inernet but would like to find out what it does. Drop me a line if you know, please!











Some of the coffee shops in the US give free refills on coffee, so you only need to pay for the first cup. I'm keeping an eye out for bars that operate the same way with cheap beer / wine.

Cave Junction 2

This is a local beer with an interesting approach to marketing.














There is apparently a move afoot by the government in the area to cut down on the number of shrubs in the forest, in an effort to reduce the risk of fire. Could be a good time to start a career in lawn enforcement.




We went on a guided hike on a new trail that had just been opened up close to cave junction. This car was at the start of the trail. I think the owners may have been a tad optimistic in their choice of activities.










Here are some photos from the trail:

Cave Junction

Here is Ray's House in Cave Junction, which is near the Oregon-California border:




The house itself is about 15 minutes walk from the town of Cave Junction itself. You can see the woods from all sides of the House which is very cool, especially when it is snowing. Right now its quite cold enough for real snow and we only have slush. Oh, and mud. Yuck. At night you can hear choruses of frogs singing.



Cave Junction itself starts here and then follows one of the highways which intersects the road in this picture. It only takes about 15 minutes to walk from one end of town to the other There is a store named Taylors that sells all sorts of cool sausages and meats, plus a couple of nice Mexican restaurants, and a coffee shop called Coffee Heaven. Plus the other usual amenities. The town is in the Illinois Valley and is close to the east fork of the Illinois River. One of the rocks in the river has been graffiti-ed and apparently when there are high school etc reunions people write the year that they graduated on the rock. Its a really pretty spot nestled in the woods near the mountains.








This cat lives at Ray's house. He squawks at people in sustained bursts most of the time that he is awake, and could benefit from an off switch. Obnoxiousness on four paws is not a bad way to describe him.








Ray has been helping her half brother Glenn fix the transmission on his truck so we haven't been able to go too far afield yet, but next week we plan to rent a car and head up to Portland, which is in the Northern part of Oregon. I went to help them yesterday and Ray introduced me to an alleged local delicacy: the giant pickle.





I have no plans to introduce the giant pickle to New Zealand.





We worked on Glenn's truck at one of Ray's friend's houses. These are the windows at the back of the shed at that house. As you can see they are quite thin. This has been included because Ray once woke up on the couch in the picture and saw a cougar walking around on the other side of the windows! Luckily we didn't have the same experience.