Darlingtonia ......eeeek!

Our trip to Crater Lake was on Wednesday and Thursday of our last week at the lighthouse.We had a few things we wanted to do before we left this area. One of those was to visit Darlingtonia which is just outside of Florence.

What drew us to it? It is a bog with meat eating plants. They were growing in abundance. Meat eating sounds pretty scary but they are selective as to what kind of meat they eat......insects only. That is a relief to know, huh?

Are you ready to see them. Here they are?

These signs will explain how the plant attracts its prey and the digestive process of the plant.

It brings to mind the Little Shop of Horror doesn't it?

The bog may be a bit intimidating but the walk to it is very lovely.

 

By this time we had done just about every thing we wanted to do before we ended our stay at Washburne Camp ground /Heceta Head lighthouse. We  had but one more place we wanted to go. Ono's in Yahaits. People at the camp recommend this restaurant from the first day we had arrived. 

We had the recommended dish...fish and chips. We agreed, it was great.

More What To Do......Part III

The Rogue Gorge was created by the same volcano that made Crater Lake. We just happened upon this right before we found Beckie's as we were returning from our trip to Crater Lake.

In the early 1900's as tourist were making their way to visit Carter Lake they stopped by here to view this beautiful , roaring, dangerous chasm.

It is deepest where I took the this picture. In the early days people would stand at this edge and look down. It was scary enough for me to take thie picture with the railing in place! 410 gallons of water flow each minute at this very spot. The average temperature is 44 degrees. Native fish do not grow to a large size because of the cold. Again, the river is very loud here.

In this same area is nature's Rock Graden. Douglas fir grow in the rocks. The roots are reaching down to the river.

This was a fun find. This is a living stump. When they cut this tree down they did not know its roots were already grafted to the tree beside it. Evidence of its growth is the bark seen on top!

 

All of theseamazing works of nature were in the same area.

Another fun find on our way home was this cute little restaurant. Gary kept seeing signs advertising it which said : Go to Tolly's and leave with a smile. So we decided to take a detour to the little town of Oakland to give it a try.

 This greeted you as you walked in.

The chairs were all wing backs with dollies on them.

It was one of the cutes restraunts I have seen. The sandwich was yummy too and the presentation was equally impressive. Needless to say we did leave with a smile.

Camp Ground Friends

One of the highlights at the end of the day was gathering around the campfire to share the days events at the lighthouse. Let me introduce you to our fellow hosts.

Joe fromOregon. Becky and Terry from Illinois . Newbies like us.

Karen and Ken from Texas. Graduates of Oregon State. Fifth year as host.

Jim and Nancy from Colorado. They volunteer several months each year and have for several years.

Bess and Terry from North Carolina. Terry was campground  host and maintenance. They are experienced volunteers. They gave us lots of good tips for long term camping and how to be vegans!

These campfire gathering were always a fun time.

We went to the lighthouse one night the week before we left  it was  a perfect evening, clear and no wind. We each brought our favorite beverage and gave a toast to our month together. It was just a special  moment.

A beautiful sunset as we went up to the lighthouse.

The lens at night is magnificent. It sparkles like an expensive piece of crystal. The darker it got the more outstanding the lens, beams and ocean became. It was just a great experience. Thank you my friends.