Oregon Coast

We stopped off on the Oregon Coast Near the Oregon Dunes on our way up to Smith Rock State Park.
It offers some really diverse conditions.

First off, the beach is often broken up by mountains.

Makes for interesting hiking.

And because of the rock intrusion they have to add more light houses.

And when you do get down to the ocean you will often find tidal pools.

Right next to all of this is forest.  The dogs enjoy exploring the mini-caves created by the rotting trees.

And the trails are often shaded and cool to walk.

A little bit further south you get into the actual "Dunes".

The dogs really enjoy running in the sand.

We had a lot of fun playing in the sand, but decided to go for a little dune buggy ride.

It's still pretty cool this time of year.  So when we decided to watch a sunset we had to dress a little warmer.

Mother nature didn't care about the temperature and managed to paint another wonderful sunset.

St Patricks Day and the Testicle Festival

Ok, the festival was actually on the 15th, but close enough to celebrate St Patrick's Day.  The location is Virginia City, NV, famous because of the Cartwright's on Bonanza, at least for us older folks. 


Being St Patricks Day we had to dress up to match the event. Don't we look Irish?

A leprechaun at play!

So we headed on over to Virginia City, NV where they where having the Testicle Festival/St Patrick's Day Celebration.

They put on a nice parade with a number of classic cars.  This one reminds me of my Grandfathers Pickup.

I think it would be a lot of fun to belong to a Jeep Posse.

Barbara was thinking about joining the Irish until I told she would have to die her hair red.

Here is a service you don't see advertised often.

This banner really caught our attention.

We learned that these woman adopt wild donkeys and care for them.

After the parade I had to live up to my t-shirt.

Barbara was keeping up, it helped her choke down a couple of Rocky Mountain Oysters.  They weren't really very good.  I will take fresh Lamb Fries any time.

We mingled with the natives.

And admired the old buildings.