Last month while I was out in Oregon for Adrian and Anna’s wedding, I was able to spend a few days with some family members on the Oregon Coast! Here are a few fun silhouette shots we got at a sunset near Manzanita, Oregon.

After spending a fun weekend with friends in northern Minnesota, I was driving back to Fargo on Monday morning and drove by a spot where I saw several bald eagles! I’ve never had any success getting shots of them before, but I just happened to have my camera and my 300 mm lens with me! I pulled over to the side of the road and to my surprise and amazement, they all set down on trees right along the road and posed for me! I hope you like these! I am super thrilled!

I spent the week with my family in Minot, ND. Since the last time I visited, my parents got a cat! His name is Tigger! While I wouldn’t say I am a cat person, this is one cool cat! He is extremely soft, extremely people friendly, and crazy! I took a few pictures of him! I hope you enjoy!

Tigger knows how to open cabinet doors, and sleeps in the cabinet when my dad works at his desk.

Tigger peeking out of his home!

This past weekend, I finally had a chance to get away from the routine of every day life and go camping! It was a very relaxing trip. It rained on Saturday, but a couple of in-house geniuses set up a tarp over the fire just before it started raining, which made it so we could all sit around the fire all day in complete dryness! Aside from a mild complication of my cotton sleeping bag touching the side of the tent in the rain, and therefore soaking the bottom foot, it was otherwise a very nice camping trip! I came back relaxed and ready to attack my week! Here are a few shots I took.  Of course, the pictures are a little heavy on the adorable Rowdy, but he’s just so adorable I couldn’t help myself!

When we pulled up to the campsite!

The Jore Fam, getting ready to relax.

Rowdy had such a blast on this trip, even though at times he got himself stuck!

Another dog on the trip with us, Mini!

Noemi and Kobe

I found these little colored dots in many places growing all over the leaves. They certainly were beautiful, although I don’t know if it was healthy for the tree or not.

We found time to play some volleyball, and after the game Brad and Pablo tried to play a little “soccer volleyball!”

Pablo enjoying the fire!

The weekend before last I spent some time with my friends while I was in Cloquet, MN, and we headed out to a nearby state park, Jay Cooke State Park. My friends made sure to tell me to pronounce Cooke “cookie.” Were they teasing me? Probably, but how do I know?

We had a lot of fun!  We followed a small stream up a long ways and found some very interesting waterfalls and fascinating rocks that had been eroded by hundreds of years of steady water flow. We also found a set of walls going up a hill that we weren’t able to figure out? Who knows! This first shot is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

This is us walking up the riverbed just enjoying ourselves, looking for interesting rocks and little waterfalls.

We found these old stone walls. They weren’t part of a building, as they were every so often about every 20 feet all the way up a hill.  Maybe bridge supports? We just don’t know! We did know they were old. One of the pictures you can see a tree growing off the top of the stones! It didn’t even have any soil and the tree looked several years old!

Megan and Tiffy found a log balanced on little hump and found that they were able to use it as a seesaw.  None of us could believe that it worked as well as it did.  Here they are having fun!

We found some honeysuckle growing along the river.  I had never had it before! It was very sweet and delicious!

This past weekend, I spent an afternoon out at my friend Laina’s place! I had to visit her when I found out she had just gotten a pet raccoon! She found her cat outside playing with something, and she found a brand new baby raccoon, so young its eyes hadn’t even opened. She adopted it! Her other pets get along great with it, the dog even snuggles up with it! He is a curious little guy, and so cute! When you rub his neck, he chatters/purrs. And he kept climbing up us.  Another thing I thought was cool is that raccoons don’t have “paws.” They almost have hands! He had 5 separate toes, and would splay them open as he tried to climb!

Matt must have been hungry! He kept trying to catch a chicken! He failed miserably, they are fast when they want to be!

Shanrell didn’t have too much success either!

Back in February 2007, I had the opportunity to take an unbelievable vacation to Honduras and visit some friends of mine that live there. I spent part of my time on a little island just north of the coast of Honduras named Roatan.  It was pretty touristy, but you need to spend a few days doing that, right? It was absolutely amazing snorkeling and lounging on the beaches. My only complaint? It was recommended that you not bring expensive camera equipment to Central America, as it could make you a target! I did the best I could with my Canon Powershot A540. Here are my favorite pictures from my trip to Roatan!

Yes, that’s me!