The Pacific Northwest!

[luzula]

I and podfic_lover are currently in a motel in Brookings, and tomorrow we're heading towards the Redwoods. Here are some photos of our trip through the Pacific Northwest so far. Basically we are hiking around in nature reserves, and also meeting up with fangirls, and I love it! Although my cold is still not gone. /o\


podfic_lover is disappointed that American motels do not actually look like they do in Supernatural. The most quirky one we've stayed at so far was yesterday--it was cheap and a bit seedy, but hey, it had chickens in the back yard! We fed the chickens with bread crumbs from the window.


Okay, so I hope you know that when I say "photos of the Pacific Northwest", what I really mean is "photos of plants of the Pacific Northwest", because that's what I tend to photograph. This is lettuce lung Lobaria oregana, which is a lichen I find very cool. There are benefits of an oceanic climate.


Shore pine Pinus contorta, living up to its name. Probably the tree most hated by Swedish environmentalists, because it's planted as an exotic in large plantations by forest companies. It's fascinating to get to know it in its native habitat, and I quite like it now.


A baby seedling of seashore lupine Lupinus littoralis, with the cotyledons still on it. (Yeah, I had to look up cotyledons--in Swedish we call those "heart-leaves". They're the first leaves that grow on a seedling, often looking very different from the later leaves.)


Evidence that everything is larger in the US (the country is larger, the mountains are larger, motel beds and restaurant portions are larger, the squares on the waffles are larger). This particular instance shows a big tree stump with a blueberry bush on it. In Sweden, blueberry bushes never go higher than your knees.


Sea lions! Wow, they are so cool. They're like a cross between a seal and a dog or something--so much more active than seals. I could watch them for hours (and I probably did).


Flowering salal Gaultheria shallon, which is a new genus for me. Pretty, yes? I have also fallen in love with madrone, which is just an incredibly beautiful tree.


Ugly clear-cuttings: not just in Sweden. This is in the area of Mt. Hood.


I will end this with a picture from the Oregon aquarium of a sea otter sucking its own cock. Fun times.

Comments

[mackenziesmomma.livejournal.com]

Those are some lovely pictures! Ah yes the Salal and Madrones did you know that Madrones only grow within 50 miles of salt water and are deciduous but instead of dropping their leaves they drop their bark?

(Can you tell I've lived here too long?)

[mackenziesmomma.livejournal.com]

Also *points up* THAT was NOT the icon I asked for LJ! NOT THE ICON! (I asked for this one *points sideways*)

[luzula]

Really? You're not thinking dirty thoughts about trees? *g*

[luzula]

No, I did not know that about madrones! Hmm, I'm wondering why, though--I mean, usually trees drop their leaves because they're too costly to maintain over the winter (and there's less sunlight for photosynthesis anyway) but why would you drop your bark? It's very pretty bark, though.

[mackenziesmomma.livejournal.com]

I think that it has something to do with their growth process as well as their family and such. (Here is the wikipedia page about madrones: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbutus_menziesii)

A lot of trees actually shed bark we just don't realize it (paper birches for example shed like *crazy*)

Oh! And as you are out walking (because its getting to be that time of year) if you accidentally come into contact with a stinging nettle and don't have aloe on your person you can use a slug to neutralize the sting. (I apparently pay WAY too much attention to the "weird shit in nature" lecture series)

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

I did not know about the 50 mile range. That is fascinating. It made me go measuring distances on maps, because I thought for sure that some places I've seen them (Zenia, California, to pick one of those most familiar to me) were surely farther than 50 miles from the ocean, since it takes more than two hours to drive there from the coast... but nope. Innnteresting! :-)

[mackenziesmomma.livejournal.com]

I did not know about the 50 mile range.

I didn't either until I went to Northwest Trek a few years ago. That was where I also learned about the slug goo for stinging nettles thing. *nods*

I thought for sure that some places I've seen them (Zenia, California, to pick one of those most familiar to me) were surely farther than 50 miles from the ocean, since it takes more than two hours to drive there from the coast... but nope.

You have to take into account that it takes so long to drive there because generally roads aren't straight they take you this way and that way and the other way to get where you wanna go. *nods*