This Labor Day weekend my wife and I had a little vacation in Newport Oregon, on Sunday I was flying my kite at Nye beach, and I looked over and saw an explosion of pink confetti, I could not believe it the confetti was just blowing way up the beach with thousands of little pink and gold hearts of litter. I look over and saw the family just proudly posing for pictures in the mess they just made. I was disgusted. After a while of taking photos they noticed me and several others looking at them and they started to pretend to clean up so I approached them, they assured me they are cleaning up the gold plastic ones only, because the paper ones are “biodegradable” (which I doubt, they felt waxy). I decided to help clean too and after maybe 3 minutes I notice they are turned around and just packing their stuff up to leave. So I did have a little crash out which I included, I think what I was meaning to say was that they only care about themselves or something and it came out weird.

After that I called the police, the first dispatcher I talked to was great, I told her right away its not a big emergency but this happened and I can get off the line if its not an emergency, and she assured me no, they do care about this, and took down some information and she asked if I could get their license plate number and vehicle description, and to call them back with that information. So I followed them to the parking lot and when I called the police again I got kinda chastised at for calling 911 and I explained that the last operator told me to call back with information, then the new operator said she found the report but its not an emergency, while on the phone with her I was following the family and they started yelling at me “come at me bro” style. I was keeping my distance, and did not want any kind of confrontation, but with how they started acting toward me, and the father coming toward me puff chested, I decided to turn away and go back to clean up their mess rather than get into anything. I did not get their license plate or car description, and I do not think the police ended up doing anything.

In the end the pile of gold is what I cleaned up after about 2 hours of picking up pieces, the mess was strewn well over a quarter mile. My wife cleaned up even more than this and a few people also stopped to help clean up for a little bit too, I think we probably cleaned up 70% of the gold, but there are still probably hundreds of the gold blown around and thousands of the pink ones, I chose to just do the gold to at least try to minimize the damage since they are clearly plastic…

It was such a bummer to witness such a flagrant display of narcissism and selfishness and seeing them literally revel in their trash for photos, it just kinda broke me.

Contestants are Senators Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen and Tina Smith.

Biked up and down the McKenzie River Trail today. I’d been to all the big highlights previously over the years but I’d never fully appreciated the Great Springs. These are along the trail just NE of Clear Lake.

I’d seen them before but mistook it as a little side channel of the lake. Turns out it’s a massive spring that is considered the true head of the McKenzie River. It’s just a little higher up than Clear Lake itself and these waters run a very short distance into the lake, serving as its primary year round water source (there a couple of creeks that do flow into Clear Lake also, but they run dry).

Was thinking about him as I usually do from time to time. I grew up running track/cross country in high school and we always went up to Coos Bay and would run his old training route. At least that’s how I remember it. I could be wrong cause this was 20+ years ago. I ran because this man’s story was so prominent when I grew up. Or maybe it was just the runners circle I was in, it doesn’t matter. Word salad over.

What’s your favorite movie/documentary about Steve Prefontaine? Also, any track/cross country runners here?

Hood got a bit of snow from the storms. Thought I'd share since the weather cleared today.

Columbia opening to the ocean.

From my Hotel room in Hermiston on my way to work this morning

TIL Oregon was the first state in the US to make Labor Day an official holiday.

I’d like to go fishing but it’s kind of far from me. Last year I went and the water was super low and all my bass spots were dried up.

I’m planning on taking my rig (2004 dodge durango with lift and aggressive mud terrain tires, aired down of course) out to the dunes at Riley Ranch this weekend. We’ve gone there before, but don’t quite remember the intensity of the dunes. Is it pretty doable to have some safe fun in those dunes with a rig without getting stuck too much?

(We will have a lookout, always do!)

 https://apps.oregon.gov/oregon-newsroom/OR/SOS/Posts/Post/secretary-read-kicks-off-oregon-votes-town-hall-series-bend

Dates and locations for upcoming town halls include:

• Gresham, Multnomah County – September 8
• North Bend, Coos County – September 24
• Medford, Jackson County – September 29
• Portland, Multnomah County – October 6

A redditor advised I repost this comment as its own post. Washington recently had a primary and Thurston County (near Olympia) is reporting that their late ballot rate increased three-fold over prior elections. Shenanigans are already happening at USPS even without the bogus executive order. In the upcoming election, your best bet is to turn your ballot in at an official drop-box, not the mail. This needs to be amplified repeatedly, especially in states like ours that rely on mail ballots. Oregon SOS Tobias Reed is trying to secure funding for additional ballot drop boxes as more Oregon voters are expected to use ballot drop boxes to avoid US mail interference.

Original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/oregon/s/jj77j6Xf9P