This is the front of a steam-powered tractor from about 120 years ago. In those days, farm equipment like threshers, plows, etc. were either pulled by animals or, if the farmers had enough money, a steam-powered tractor like this one from Case. They ranged from about 10 horsepower to 150 horsepower--- incredible numbers for the time. They ran just like steam locomotives, complete with the familiar whistle. But what I really like now is the wonderful bird on the front. They really knew how to make machinery look great in those days. Throw some more wood in the firebox!

 

Big sky, big mountain (Mt. Hood), and a very large orchard-- This is north-central Oregon, about 15 miles south of The Dalles (city) and the Columbia River. I don't know what's growing in the orchard, but I do know that cherries are the most prominent tree fruit crop in Wasco County. It could also be Apples, pears, or peaches-- but the area near The Dalles is a major producer of sweet cherries.

 

Dead trees in an empty field...

 

It's the light that always takes you there...

 

The secrets to the Cosmos are behind this door... Or maybe not.

 

It was 90 years ago that this truck rolled off the Ford assembly line, all shiny and ready to go to work. Now the windshield is gone, the tires are flat, and I doubt that it's moved at all for a few years. It was a handsome, heavy-duty truck for its time.

 

Another magical spot-- a waterfall in the rainforest.

 

The trees are so tall, they make the cattle look tiny!

Big tree, little shack!

 

The old tractor and the old shack-- they belong together.

 

It may be old, it may be tired, but it's still the first thing you see...

 

Hidden...

 

This is the OLD Columbia River Highway, deep in the Columbia River Gorge, on the Oregon side. With just one lane in each direction, it parallels the Union Pacific tracks.

Nightwings... The contrail from an unknown jet is lit up by the setting sun.

 

Way up in the hills on the Washington side of the Columbia River...

 

Watch your step...

 

It's hard to believe there really are places like this... Oregon's Latourell Falls, in the Columbia River Gorge

 

Big and powerful-- The amazing basalt formations on the Washington side of the Columbia River!

 

The Mountain, the River, and Stonehenge! Washington's replica of Stonehenge is a monument to the fallen in the First World War. It's over 100 years old. Oregon's Mt Hood is in the distance, and the Columbia River separates the two...

 

It looks like the train tracks go through a tunnel carved in the wall of a castle! A magic tunnel!

Looking across the Columbia River to the Washington side, as a mile-long BNSF freight train heads west past some of the most interesting rock formations in the Gorge...

 

Freedom!

 

Throught the mists of time--- It's the late 19th Century, or the early 20th Century, and there's a fire in your little town. The volunteer firemen run like hell to grab the hand-drawn firehose reel. You can see the nozzles parked at the back of the handle. They didn't have fire trucks, but the lucky ones had some equipment-- like this thing to carry the hoses. I snapped this one in a little museum just west of The Dalles, Oregon.

Standing alone...

 

A very sturdy little bridge for cows-- and the occasional human.

 

This old water wagon was the only way they had to irrigate crops high in the hills of Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington in the early days. Wheat and hay relied on the weather. And yes, that is a cow skull hanging from the wagon.

 

No school today...

This is the old wooden grain elevator in the ghost town of Boyd, Oregon. If you'd been there a hundred years ago, you would have seen a train siding on the right side. It looks a bit like a medieval armament, doesn't it...

 

Here it comes...

 

Tygh Valley

 

Giant wind turbines, giant sky, and what remains of the old house on the Goodnoe Station Road, a few miles north of the Columbia River.

 

Just south of the Columbia River, looking north to Mt. Adams on the left. To the right of Mt. Adams you can see the tip of Mt. Rainier. Big mountains, big sky, big everything!

 

Mine! Mine! It's all Mine!

 

Hidden away on a dirt road, this old shed is now just a shelter for some of the woodland animals--

 

The late-afternoon sun is reflected by the water in the lake onto these trees in a way I've never seen before! The effect is amazing!

 

I love bumblebees!

Another path...

 

Just checking things out...

 

Look up! There's so much to see!

 

Who, me? I think Beauregard would sit in your lap if he could.

 

Oh look! It's Beauregard, the bull, coming to say hello...

 

Abandoned, doors locked, nothing in the window except a spider web--- The Ship Supply Service on the Cathlamet waterfront has sailed away.

 

Like the poet said-- What is so rare as a day in June...?

 

The barn in the Dell-- in all its gothic glory!

 

This is a very important part that keeps things from bouncing out of control. But no one remembers where it goes... Life is funny that way.