A WALK ALONG JEANS ROAD

Fern Ridge Shores RV Resort, where we're staying, is on Jeans Road, Veneta.  It's a quiet country road along the edge of Fern Ridge Lake wetlands.  The road was named after an area pioneer, William Jean. 

The road is just perfect for an evening stroll, the kind where you pull on your favorite old jeans and just take off to explore and see what you can see.  So when we walk it, I think about it being named for those kind of jeans instead of the pioneer.  

The three-mile long road starts in the middle of the town of Veneta (that would mean there are about four city blocks on either side of it) and it dead-ends just past Fern Ridge Shores.  Our walk is exactly one mile (one way) –   from the docks at the edge of FRS to Zumwalt Park.  Several other areas with public access to the Lake are located within the mile. 

Here are some of the things we see on the way:

 

Succulent blackberries ripe for eating as you walk.

A glimpse of the Lake through the trees at the edge of the road.  You can walk down to the Lake at this point, to extend the walk.

This is why it's called Fern Ridge Lake.  Lush greenery is just part of the scenery around here. 

 

I should cut a few of these cattails and put them in a vase.  They are the perfect RV arrangement, because you aren't supposed to put them in water once they're cut. 

But I haven't had time yet, because I'm too busy bird watching, and (apparently) taking self-portraits of my shadow.

We usually see grebes and ducks and sometimes herons and egrets in these wetlands.  Earlier this month there were hundreds of red-wing blackbirds migrating. 

Out on the Lake there are ospreys, purple martens, and swallows.  We see them when we take the boat out and occasionally from the road.

This little channel is almost at the end of our walk, just before Zumwalt Park.

Here's the other side of the street, as we're coming back:

There are some charming homes, with beautiful gardens and friendly people who wave when they're outside.  One home has an old tractor wheel collection.  It makes an interesting fence row.

 

There is also one "McMansion".  I can never decide if the fence is meant to keep the riff-raff out or the people who live there in.  This house has been for sale for quite a while.  I should point out that this side of Jeans has no Lake View.  You have to come over to the RV Park side to get that!  I know where I'd rather live.

 

Yesterday, a deer jumped across the road not two feet ahead of us.  She had been nibbling apples from this abandoned tree and we scared her.  But I couldn't fumble the camera out in time.   This sign speaks the truth though!  

And then we're back home — this is the boat dock right at the edge of Fern Ridge Shores RV Park (and our boat tied up there). 

It really is a lovely walk.  We are happy out here in the country.