Quest, Journey & Pirate at the Pumpkin Patch - Sauvie Island
What a great day! I decided to go to Sauvie Island to see if I could find some good photo opportunities. Seriously, I knew we would find good photo opportunities on this beautiful island. We go there fairly often.
Sauvie Island is the largest island in the Columbia River. It is about 26,000 acres. It is actually one of the largest river islands in the United States. Before I moved to the northwest I really hoped to find a place to live on Sauvie Island. I did find a perfect place but I was not ready to move yet. By the time I was ready, there was nothing available, that was right for us. I am glad we are close enough to visit often though. It has lakes, and beautiful fields of flowers, sheep, cattle and too many fields of crops to name them all. It has some historical old homes and some lovely new ones. It is just a wonderful place.
The picture above was taken at the Pumpkin Patch. It is located at Kruger Farm http://sauvieislandfarms.com/ At Kruger farm there is the best farm market! On this visit we just bought some carrots and plums (even though I had lots of them on my trees), but these were a different kind. I also bought some corn. I normally buy more vegetables, but since I have a garden growing this year, I did not need as much. I sure needed the Marionberry Cobbler I bought though! I baked it when we got home and it was incredible! I would have bought a pie, but they are huge and I have to eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner, for days... it is rough, but someone has to eat it. The cobbler is smaller, maybe 4 days. The dogs got a taste!
Kruger Farm is wonderful. They have outdoor concerts in the summer and they also have a huge maze in the corn fields. They have hayrides, pick your own flower fields, and I could go on and on, but it would be better if you check the website link, where everything is listed.
Pirate and I scouted around the farm market, for the best place to take a few pictures.
Only one dog gets to help me find the right place because bad manners are catching and it is easier to remind one dog. With two or three dogs, I get an overload of suggestions on which way to go.
I finally settled on the pumpkin patch a bit away from the market, where there were a lot of people who looked ready to come over and visit. We are sociable - it is actually the opposite, some of us are sometimes too sociable. Also, it is too hard to keep their attention with a lot of distraction.
My boys have a good "stay", I consider it one of the most important commands, not only for pictures, but for safety. They are all good at it, but if either Pirate or Journey starts to get up, it is not easy to stop them in their tracks, verbally. All went well with our photo shoot though. I thought it might be interesting to post what it looks like when it does not go well.
Lost Quest in this one.
"We have to close our eyes, mom, the sun is too bright."
Pirate: "I need to come give you a kiss, mom".
"Ok then, I won't even look at you".
Sometimes you just need to give up and move on to something else. After the photo shoot we went on to drive around the island for a while.
Looks like the beginning of a BIG bird nest.
Pumpkins, and more pumpkins....
This is the Multnomah Channel, it borders the south side of Sauvie Island. There are areas on this channel where there are many houseboats, and boat docks. It is smooth and a good place for bird watching in addition to the boats and houseboats.
The roads are narrow; but they are good roads and very scenic.
The North side of the island is the main part of the Columbia River. It is busy with large ships and barge traffic. Fun to watch something so huge silently slip by. There are several beaches on this side of the island. Clothing is optional on one of them. (No pictures.)
Photographer unknown on above shot.
Interesting variety of ships on the Columbia River
Although vacant right now, I happen to know that this nest belongs to an Osprey, (thanks to some shared information from Rachel Pass). I have observed this nest on various visits to the island. (Picture below is from a previous visit.)
It was such a nice day, but time to head home. We traveled home via Highway 30, headed west, on the Oregon side of the river. Then when we get to Rainier, Oregon, we cross the river over the Lewis & Clark bridge and from there, up into the hills to our home just outside of Kelso, Washington. Hope you enjoyed the trip.
