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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Sun, Sun, Sun, Here it Comes.....

Sadly no motorcycle content in this post since we've been experiencing freezing fog for the last 10 days and it didn't lift until yesterday morning.  Yes, over a week with temperatures ranging from 25˚F (-3.8˚C) morning lows and 35˚F (1.66˚C) daily highs.

Monday was a holiday here in the USA so I had the day off.  Troubadour and I decided to drive to the coast in search of sunshine.  It was rumored to be 55˚F (12.78˚C) and sunny at the coast, while we've been socked in with an inversion.

We left the house at 11:00 am and pointed the car west.  Not much of a destination in mind other than Newport and maybe Lincoln City.  I had the camera out and took a few photos of the scenery heading over the pass.






And sure enough, on the other side we saw blue sky and sunshine.




And suddenly the frost was gone from the trees and the roads except for the occasional ice in shady corners.




We arrived in Newport to brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures.  The Thai place we wanted to go to for lunch was closed so we headed 22 miles north to Lincoln City in the hopes that Jasmine Thai was open, and it was.  No food porn pictures though.  It was fine, but nothing exciting.

We stopped at a few shops in Lincoln City and slowly made our way back down Highway 101.  The ocean was brilliant with the sun hanging low in the sky.  Troubadour happily stopped at several waysides for photo opportunities and to soak up some sunshine.

Just outside of Depot Bay the tide was looking rather low.

(Depot Bay, Oregon)
And we also stopped at Gleneden Beach State Wayside Park to take a better look at the ocean.



(Troubadour at the Gleneden Beach State Wayside, Gleneden, Oregon)


Then we stopped further south at the Boiler Bay State Scenic Viewpoint - the ocean looked a bright blue looking north.

(Boiler Bay Scenic Viewpoint, Oregon Coast)




And with the sun shining bright, looking south was quite different.


We arrived back in Newport in the late afternoon with plenty of time to go walk the beach and watch the sun set.  We parked at the Vietnam War Memorial Walkway and Don Davis Park, took a few pictures, walked a bit, took some more pictures, walked a bit and took even more pictures. I've posted these pictures in the order they were taken as the sun was setting.

(Metal sculpture, Newport Oregon)



(Troubadour checking out the sunset)








(Photo by Troubadour)


These were the highlights from watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean as seen from the beach in Newport, Oregon.  We took several hundred photos Monday afternoon, but I managed to whittle them down to the above favorites.  Different zoom rations seemed to produce different color highlights and I was quite pleased with the results.

There is nothing like a little sunshine to lift the spirits.  Please come back and play again soon Mr. Sunshine.

- Au Revoir

"Never waste any amount of time doing anything important when there is a sunset outside you should be sitting under!" - C. Joybell C.
.

52 comments:

  1. Nice pictures. We've got lots of sunshine here but when the temperatures are hovering around -40 with the wind chill it doesn't seem quite as welcoming as the Oregon coast.

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    1. Thank you. I much prefer our temperatures. I've done the -40 think before, several times. I think I am too acclimated to Oregon weather to do it again.

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  2. What an excellent day! Nice to see some actual color for a little bit, get out of the dreary black and white world of frozen fog for awhile. Beautiful images. But Troubadour looks like he is on the WRONG side of the fence in one! Naughty! Dangerous!! :)

    And I love the song!!

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    1. We were pretty happy to see the sun. It lifts the spirits after being socked in for 10 days.

      There was a break in the fence a few feet from where he was standing so you could get to the beach so the only rebellious thing he did was leaning on the fence perhaps.

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    2. C'mon...supposed to keep the bad boy image...smirk

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    3. Well, in the photo of Troubadour checking out the sunset I ignored the "stay back - dangerous cliff" sign to get there. I was standing over a 100 foot, no wait, a 1000 foot drop with jagged rocks below. My blatant disregard for the sign and my own safety didn't go unnoticed by the long arm of the law so I ran, jumped over a sea wall and clambered down to the beach. I could hear sirens in the distance, they were coming for me!
      I'm too pretty for jail!

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  3. Just add a foot of snow to the first 5 pictures and it would kind of look like here... Very cool sunset pics!

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    1. Ummmm no thank you on the snow. While I love seeing snow pictures I like that it stays in the mountains and ski hills around here. I don't have to shovel rain.

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  4. Trobairitz:

    I loved those photos, even those highway ones have a familiar look to them. I liked the white dusted trees, we don't have them in the city.

    Going to find the Sun on a day off seems like a good thing to do. Glad you could enjoy a day without fog. Our fog also disappeared a day ago but our rains have returned. Our next Holiday Monday is February 11th, I hope the sun will come out for us too

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    1. Yep, the highway ones are Highway 20 so you have been through there a few times.

      It was nice to find sun. It is weird how the valley weather and coastal weather are opposite. In the summer our heat pulls the fog and mist off the ocean and it is cloudy and cooler over there and while we are having the crappy weather in the winter they are having sunshine.

      What holiday do you have in February? When we lived in BC, I remember going from New Years to Easter with no holidays in between.

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    2. Trobairitz:

      Monday, February 11th, 2013 is our FIRST FAMILY DAY.

      http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/05/28/bc-family-day.html

      other provinces have had this Holiday but not BC. For some reason Family Day is February 18th everywhere else. Our Family Day is 1 week earlier. It is a new Holiday for us, before there was nothing until Easter

      bob
      Riding the Wet Coast
      My Flickr // My YouTube

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    3. Nice to see BC finally getting with the times.

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  5. I also enjoyed your photos including the frosty trees along the highway. There is a name for that type of frost but I don't remember what it is.

    For us, it's just like the last photo. That is snow, right?

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    1. Snow? We rarely see snow. Well usually only once a year that anything sticks for a day or so anyway. The frost on the highway and trees is from the fog and mist freezing.

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  6. Love the pictures of the frosty trees makes me feel cold though while its high 20s degrees.

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    1. High 20's seem nice. Great riding weather. Glad I could cool you off with some wintery pics.

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  7. What a beautiful set of photos.

    The frozen trees are just beautiful. They have such an ethereal look about them. And the sunsets... <3

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    1. Thank you Fuzzy. It was odd how all of a sudden there was sunshine and blue sky. Like someone had drawn an imaginary line and said sunny here - not sunny over there.

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  8. Loving the photos. Especially the snowy/frosty trees!
    The pugsley would be nice on those beaches, maybe you guys need a couple?

    On another note, what is a nice warm vegan recipe? Right now I've been having some nice stews and stroganoff, balmoral/Braemar chicken and some pheasant. My wee sis is a veggie but a vegan foodie's cookbook would make interesting reading for a carnivore like me.

    Keep it safe.


    Mike

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    1. Hey Mike. Don't think Brad didn't mention the Pugleys while we were walking the beach. It came up and we were thinking of your great beach shots on the bike.

      Cookbook? What is a cookbook? Aren't most recipes online now? Kidding - I still use my cook books quite a bit. The three vegan ones I have are "Vegan on the Cheap", "Slow Cooker Vegan" and "Happy Herbivore." There are a lot of them out there.

      Tater tot casserole is a favorite cold weather comfort food. I don't know if you have tater tots (some countries don't sell them) but they are little frozen rounds of potatoes. Here is a link to the recipe on my food blog.

      http://trobairitztable.blogspot.com/2012/09/tater-tot-casserole.html

      Another recipe that is quite hearty and good for cold weather is Lentil and Portobello stew. A thick hearty soup that is rich in flavor and the chucks of mushrooms mimic chunks of meat.

      http://trobairitztable.blogspot.com/2012/10/lentil-and-portobello-stew.html

      Also if you go to my food blog and scroll and look at the links on the left there are 25 vegan food blogs listed and they are all full of recipes.

      I'll be interested to see if you try a vegan recipe and if so if you liked it. It is hit or miss with them, they are either really good or really bad. If they are in a cookbook though they've been tested out and should be good.

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  9. Trobairitz
    Oh my! Lovely shots and a fantastic way to spend a Monday in January. Thanks for bringing that coastline and those sunsets back to the Midwest.

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    1. Thank you, it was a great afternoon. Didn't appreciate driving into the freezing fog in the dark, but Brad always gets us home safe.

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  10. Your pictures are breathtaking! It's good to see sun on a cold winter day. I can hardly wait for summer & warm weather.

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  11. There's something totally mystical about the fog, frozen trees ... loved those pics the most. Sounds like a great day and sunshine at the other end to boot.

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    1. It was really neat driving and seeing all of the frozen trees. Living in the city we didn't see them in town, not that big of trees anyway.

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  12. What the others said: marvelous scenery, beautiful pics. The powdered trees, the beach, an oh the sun. I had almost forgotten how that looks like. I have a hard time to pick a favourite but if I had to, it would be the sculpture with the sun shining through. Thank you letting me tag along on your day off.

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    1. Glad I could share with you Sonja. And that is my favorite picture too. I don't know why but I liked it. I had to hold the camera way up higher than my head to line up the setting sun with the break in the sculpture, but at least it worked.

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  13. Oh my goodness! I NEEDED that! LOL

    What an absolutely breath taking experience to ride from the lacy snow-laden fir trees into the sunshine along the sea coast.

    Like riding into Paradise!

    I knew I always wanted to visit the Northwest, but now you've gone and reminded me why I MUST visit the Northwest!

    Thank you for the awesome tour!

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    1. Come on over anytime. Deb. The Pacific Northwest is waiting for you.

      Glad I could share.

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  14. Great pics and it does look a little frosty so I'll let you off having left the horses in the stable...

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    1. We had 3 friends ride over on their motorcycles Sunday and they reported how icy it was going over the mountain. Even commenting on the layer of ice on their jackets and visors by the time they got home.

      No thank you. The ride on new years with white frosty roads and freezing temperatures was enough for me.

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  15. What a lovely day out you have had...it has lifted my spirits to see the beach views too. Thank you...

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    1. I am glad it could cheer you a bit. Have your freezing temperatures lifted at all? Hopefully you are at least seeing sunshine with those temps.

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    2. The temp today is about -20, still really cold but yes the sun did come out! Thanks for asking!

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    3. Damn, that is cold. Glad you got to see some sunshine though, it helps doesn't it?

      I remember driving to se my mom in Edmonton and it was nice and sunny driving out there and we didn't realize until we got out of the car at a gas station that it was -30 out. It looked so nice out with the sun shining and we were warm in the car.

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  16. I love the sunset photos....:-). But I love the ocean ones too...Well, I guess I love all pictures of sunsets and oceans. It looks like British Columbia in those frost ridden shots you took. Nice pics though......love it!

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    1. Thank you m'lady.

      I think you might be missing BC and the pacific northwest. How long before you are coming home?

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  17. Stunning photography!!

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  18. Amazing pictures of the sun Brandy and it's bound to make you feel warmer after the ones above, I did love how those first shots just seemed to feel warmer as they went along.

    Great post, and looks like a lovely day out :)

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    1. Thank you. We were so happy to see the blue sky as we were driving.

      Had a mixture of sun and rain today. We did manage a ride to coffee, it was raining by the time we got there and was just misting by the time we rode home.

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  19. Such beautiful photo's, love the progression from the winter landscape to the sun and eventual sunset! The seaside is another favorite place of mine too. I especially love the coastal town, Ballito which is 7 hours drive from where I live. Our bike trip there is going to be a future blog of mine...
    regards
    Lorelle

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    1. Thank you for the compliments. Looking forward to that Ballito blog post. I love how the blogs bring other places of the world to my computer screen.

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  20. Unleashed the R1200R yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks. Snow vanished, replaced by rain and wind - easy peasy. Air temp gauge was flashing `3C` at me for the entire blast. Luxury!

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    1. Hooray for melting snow. Glad you were able to get out for a ride even if it was chilly.

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  21. Just catching up. Wonderful photos.

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  22. WOW. You got some gorgeous captures. I loved the icy trees with blue sky backdrop, but they just kept getting better, and better, and better! Amazing. I want to be there NOW. With the sun still up. And no rain. Those sunset and ocean shots are just amazing.

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    1. Thank you Kathy - you are too kind. I wish I was playing in sunshine too.

      We had the third driest January on record but not much sun here in the valley, jut a lot of fog. And now our rains are back. At least it is warmer though. Woke to 44 degrees this morning.

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  23. I typed a bi, long comment but is disappeared. I LOVE all of the pics. I thought the icy trees with blue sky in the background was my favorite, but they kept getting better and better and better. Wow. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. It didn't get lost. I have the blog set up so that I have to approve any comment on a post older than 10 days. It helps cut down on random spam coming in.

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