House Of Koenig

Just got back from checking out the Eugene Christmas Lights Show. It’s the best light show in town. It’s so popular that like tonight, the traffic was backed up around the block and it took a good 30 minutes to actually get the car up in front of the display. Once you get there you tune your car radio to 89.3 FM and enjoy the show. It’s all computerized and the lights dance to the music. There are over 41,800 lights and flicker and flash in perfect timing to the music. It really is spectacular. Follow the link above and check out the official site. There are videos of the display in the “My movies” section of his website.

Woke up this morning to snow on the ground and temperatures in the low 20’s (F). Here is a quick snap of the view.

Tonight I took my boys on a tour of some of the Christmas light displays around town.  Here are a few photos of some of the more spectacular displays.  You can actually take a limousine tour of the displays throughout the city.  We probably saw 5 different limos cruising the neighborhood. I’ve always thought that it would be fun to fill a limo with friends and family and enjoy the lights.  More photos can be found on my Flickr site.

Today was our annual pilgrimage to find the perfect Christmas tree.  Under cloudy and at times rainy/snowy skies we headed out with Grandpa to Northern Lights Christmas Tree Farm When we arrived we first scouted out the small store where they sell trinkets and wreathes as well as hot chocolate and cookies. My boys were interested in the animals around the farm which included cows, pigs a lone goat and 3 turkeys. After looking at the animals for a bit my oldest son reminded us that we were here to get a tree, not look at animals. So we boarded a trailer pulled by a tractor and headed out into the wilds of the farm to find the perfect tree. First we checked out the Canaan Fir but they were still pretty young and not very full. Of course every tree we came across the boys wanted to cut down calling it the “perfect” tree. But I wasn’t satisfied with anything we had seen yet. So we moved down to the Noble Fir section to see if the perfect tree was hiding down there. Since it had rained the ground was very muddy and our boots soon became twice as heavy as mounds of mud caked them. We realized that the search for the perfect tree wouldn’t be easy. Suddenly the clouds parted and a light shined down from the heavens and lit up one tree in the field. It was the perfect tree. We quickly marked it as ours when Grandpa put his red baseball cap on the top. Grabbing the saw we started the chore of separating the tree from the soil that had nurtured it for so long. Our tree turned out to be 10 years old which we calculated by counting the rings in the stump that was left behind. Soon our tractor returned to bring us back to farm headquarters where our tree was shaken on a device to remove all the dead needles and any other thing that may be hiding in the midst of the sea of green needles. Finally our tree was pulled through the baler which makes the tree easier to handle by wrapping up all the branches in twine. Our quest complete we headed for home with our catch resting in the bed of our pickup. Another successful Christmas tree hunt complete.

I shot this sunset at Waldo Lake during a family camping trip. Waldo Lake is a large natural lake, approximately 31 miles east of Oakridge and 70 miles from the Eugene, Springfield area. Waldo is located at an elevation of 5,414 feet in the Oregon Cascades. This was a 30 second exposure shot with a Canon 20D. Later that night there were some big thunderstorms that rolled through the area. We heard what sounded like a freight train off in the distance that seemed to grow closer with each passing minute. The sound turned out to be heavy wind that soon hit the trees surrounding us. We laid in our tents in the dark with the sound of heavy rain, the occasional flash of lightning and the trees swaying back and forth, creaking like an old wood floor. We huddled in our refuge hoping the top of a tree or a large limb wouldn’t break off and crush us in our sleeping bags. Eventually the storm gave way to a gentle rain and the sound of water droplets on the nylon skin of our tent put us to sleep.

The second in a series of shots from the Aufderheide Memorial Drive in Oregon. This one is of French Pete Creek. We followed along the French Pete Trail #3311 into the Three Sisters Wilderness.

French Pete Trail

As promised in my previous post I am putting up an image taken yesterday from my Aufderheide Memorial Drive photo shoot. This one was taken at French Pete Creek. Come back tomorrow for another image from this shoot.

Spent a great day out shooting photos along the Aufderheide Memorial Drive, specifically French Pete Creek (It is said that this stream, which is an important tributary of the South Fork McKenzie River, was named for French Pete, an early day sheepherder, who ranged his band in this area) and Roaring River. While most of the leaves are gone the creeks and rivers were still beautiful to shoot. Over the next several days I’ll be posting a few photos as I go through a process them. Hopefully there will be at least a few good ones to share.