KenM
Well-known member
August 11-25th. Heathrow to Portland, Oregon. It's been 2 years since our last visit (taken us that long to assemble the necessary ''Air Miles'' to supplement the trip). Wonderful once there by courtesy of Delta Airlines (a really great carrier). However there's always a price to pay...and not just fiscal.
The first downside is rising at 6am, (Wife, Grandson and moi) followed by the all-in transit add-ons...Cab/Airport/Flight to destination (10.75 hrs.), then transfer to my daughters house, and the expectation of a small family get-together (when all we wanted was sleep....as we'd been awake for 20+hours! Only to be advised (though not compulsory)...If I wished? I could join two of my daughters friends for a 6am pick-up on a boat fishing trip to the Columbia River!
Before I could utter ''you must be joking''....my selfish photo opportunism kicked in!...even though I was ''bug-eyed.. and fit to drop.
At 6am Sunday (8 hours behind GMT) hauling myself out of bed at the sound of the alarm!...(not knowing whether I was on land, sea or air) a quick cup of Rosie Lee, before being driven to the boatman's house some twenty minutes downtown, where we swopped trucks for an even bigger 5+ litre truck, which conveyed the three of us, and not forgetting the all important twin engine boat to the jetty. It was here where I realised, just how ''handy'' I was to become in assisting the launching of ''the beast'' from trailer to water. Put it this way...It was a 3 man operation...and I was the pivotal ''3rd man''...Harry Lime springs to mind.
Once in the boat and on the river...birds started to appear, Purple Martins, Glaucous Gull, California Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Killdeer, Eared Grebe and a distant Osprey!...things are looking up I thought, little did I realise that I would soon be unleashing my shutter release on Pandion haliaetus, with dropped jaws and complete abandon.
Getting closer, to be continued....
The first downside is rising at 6am, (Wife, Grandson and moi) followed by the all-in transit add-ons...Cab/Airport/Flight to destination (10.75 hrs.), then transfer to my daughters house, and the expectation of a small family get-together (when all we wanted was sleep....as we'd been awake for 20+hours! Only to be advised (though not compulsory)...If I wished? I could join two of my daughters friends for a 6am pick-up on a boat fishing trip to the Columbia River!
Before I could utter ''you must be joking''....my selfish photo opportunism kicked in!...even though I was ''bug-eyed.. and fit to drop.
At 6am Sunday (8 hours behind GMT) hauling myself out of bed at the sound of the alarm!...(not knowing whether I was on land, sea or air) a quick cup of Rosie Lee, before being driven to the boatman's house some twenty minutes downtown, where we swopped trucks for an even bigger 5+ litre truck, which conveyed the three of us, and not forgetting the all important twin engine boat to the jetty. It was here where I realised, just how ''handy'' I was to become in assisting the launching of ''the beast'' from trailer to water. Put it this way...It was a 3 man operation...and I was the pivotal ''3rd man''...Harry Lime springs to mind.
Once in the boat and on the river...birds started to appear, Purple Martins, Glaucous Gull, California Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Killdeer, Eared Grebe and a distant Osprey!...things are looking up I thought, little did I realise that I would soon be unleashing my shutter release on Pandion haliaetus, with dropped jaws and complete abandon.
Getting closer, to be continued....
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