Ending a trip and getting ready for the next one

We decided to drive home on Hwy 84 through the Columbia River gorge so we could stop at the Bonneville fish hatchery which is just below the Bonneville Dam.  It’s a huge facility and the most of ponds were filled with 4” baby fish.  Big fish happen in the fall.  We were surprised when a blue heron took flight from one of the cages near us and landed on another cage before taking flight.  I had no idea they were so huge!.  Alexia was entertained by feeding the trout, then told us that her hands smelled like fish!

The grounds are well manicured, absolutely beautiful and very unhatchery like.  This little house holds the viewing window so you can watch the sturgeon swim in their pond.

Reflections on the Sturgeon Pond.

We stopped at the Peter Skene Ogden rest stop so see if anyone was bungee jumping.  It’s a very steep and deep canyon.

There were jumpers and there’s someone at the bottom of the bungee in fact. This gorge was cut by the Crooked River.

Alexia plays Pokémon and wanted to go down to the Old Mill District Sunday afternoon for the Community Pokémon day and also their celebration of two years as a game.

There a lot of people walking around, staring at their phones, and also a lot of people sharing information and giving advice.  There were also a lot of people floating the river.  It was over at 2:00 and I was ready well before that to leave.  My dogs were barking!

She asked me if I would mind giving her a knitting lesson again to see if maybe she could get it this time.  I started trying to teach her four or five years ago and still had her yarn and needles.  I think it’s all the hours of flute practice, but she got it.  Her first try had a number of mistakes so she asked me to show her how to cast off and then we started again.  She has about 8” knitting since yesterday and last night when Ian said goodnight, she told him that she was going to bed to but first she needed to finish her row.  Spoken like a true knitter!!

Yesterday was my volunteer day at the High Desert Museum and she’s so skinny that the costume she wore last year still fit her.  We were on a lunch break with with non-period appropriate brown bags - oops.  It was 97 degrees, the hottest day of the year so far, and we ended up leaving an hour early.  After all, we’re volunteers!

She pointed our this sign to me.  It’s new and tickled my funny bone.

She asked if we could go back to the museum today since it’s been years since she’s gotten to see the exhibits.  Miss Emily was going to light the wood stove at the Miller Ranch House and bake cookies today which Lexi was anxious to see.  Emily is getting better with her wood stove cooking, and in spite of them being rich and very buttery, Lexi ate four of her them.  We both love that museum but after being on our feet for almost four hours, we decided to skip Summerfest, a craft festival in downtown Bend.  We had planned on that this morning but when she pulled the plug on that plan, I wasn’t sorry in the least.  It’s 93 degrees. My dogs are barking again!
She and I worked in the community garden of our church this morning and she wants to go to church with me tomorrow morning.  We’re going to Redmond after lunch so she can see Uncle Matt and Aunt Julia’s new house and pack our bags sometime in between since we need to leave Monday morning at 7:00 for Tacoma.  We didn’t get a housesitter until Tuesday so that’s a relief.  It’s been a busy week.

Portland Trip, Day 2

The Japanese Tea Gardens far exceeded my expectations.  Even with the many visitors I had a feeling of privacy, rest and peace.

I was inspired by the deliberate placement of color and shapes, something I hope to be able to apply here in our high desert yard.

We walked over the koi ponds on wooden walkways.  The fish were huge!

Reflections on a koi pond!

Alexia really wanted to have tea in their tea house which was absurdly expensive but the experience was absolutely worth it. I’ll forget what we paid for it but I’ll never forget that we did it.

When we left, the line for admission snaked around the ticket building and down the street.  Boy was our timing good.  We walked the 1.3 miles back downhill to the Goose Point Max stop - ouch my feet! - and stopped for a late lunch in downtown Portland at the Rock Bottom Brewery.  The Max ticket is for all day so you can get off and on at will.  Our ticket doesn’t say “Senior” it says “Honored Citizen” - so special.  We saw this guy from our table, doing his part “Keep Portland Weird.”

We got to MacKenzie Stadium a little before 6:00 for the 7:00 DCI show.  The first band was from the National Guard for the national anthem, and The Battalion from Salt Lake City were cued up to be the first performance band of the evening.  Parking is always the problem so people continued to pour in through the first couple of the nine competing bands.  Grandson Logan’s performance was our reason for the trip.  All the rest of frosting.

The percussion section includes xylophones and marimbas in addition to the drums on the field.  Only half of the performance is music; the other half is dancers, flag corps and “baton” twirlers who also use wooden rifles. It’s wonderful and exhausting to watch.  When the brass instuments turnEdit to the stands and unload their music full volume, my hair stands on end.  We watched the last band from the top of the stands and then bolted for the car, us and a whole lot of other people.  Last year it took us over an hour to get out of the parking lot.  As it was we got back to the hotel about 11:00.

We stayed at a Best Western by the airport and our suite had a separate room for Lexi, all paid for with credit card points.  It was an easy off and on the freeway, so with the total breakfast they served downstairs we were on the road home by 9:00.  And I can see that I’ll need to finish up with a third post.  This one is long enough.

Quick trip to Portland

We picked up our 13-year-old granddaughter at the California/Oregon state line, halfway between Reno where she lives and Bend where we live, and she’ll be with us for the entire month.  It was July 4th and we quickly realized that few restaurants were opened.  We ended up eating lunch at the Indian casino on the Chiloquin reservation, a surprisingly good lunch.  Ian bought a pack of fireworks at Costco and we started setting them up after dinner.  This is called Poopy Puppy because when lit it produces, well, use your imagination.

Alexia and I walked down to the end of our driveway with camp chairs to watch the city’s firework show launched from Pilot Butte.  A couple of neighbors joined us and Ian stayed in the house with Sammie who was beyond frantic.  There were plenty of illegal fireworks set off in the neighborhood which made for a very entertaining evening but rough on pets.

Thursday morning we were on the road by 9:00 with plans to stop at Timberline Lodge for lunch.  This is the hotel used in The Shining and friends jokingly warned to watch out for the twins!

It is truly on top of the world.  Ian pulled into this space and I made him move the car to an interior space.  The drop-off here is at least a hundred feet with no guardrail.  This is the timberline, no trees grow above it, and many skiers were still enjoying the snow.

Timberline is a WPA lodge finished in 1937 after the six-mile road from the highway was completed.  It was built during the Depression by local craftsmen, many of them over 50.  The furnishings were created by local woodworkers, weavers and blacksmiths.  Many of the original work has worn out and the replacements are still made by local craftsmen.  The Portland Handweavers Guild continues to provide yardage for the curtains and bedspreads.

We got to our hotel by early afternoon and Ian wanted to chill in our room and take it easy.  The reason for the trip was grandson Logan’s DCI (Drum Corps International) performance the next evening.  And that’s when I realized I had forgotten my book, Kindle and iPad.  This was our first trip to Portland and the place I wanted to go was Powell’s book store.  Ian surprised me when he decided that we should go there right then, so we drove two miles down to the shopping center by the airport and IKEA where we parked for free and caught the Max, the light rail commuter train.  Looking at the freeway traffic from the window, I was so glad we didn’t drive in!

Powell’s City of Books is absolutely a destination.  Ian didn’t find any of the books he wanted, but Alexia found two and I found a used copy All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg which I’ve been wanting to read for a very long time.  The previous owner left a note in the front that I have left there:  “I thoroughly enjoyed Rick Bragg’s descriptive writing and his honesty in storytelling.  Hope you enjoy it too.”

Ian’s place to visit was Chinatown for some authentic Chinese food.  For the past 15 years he has talked longingly about a place we ate at in New York, where the meats hung in the window and were sliced fresh for meals.  I didn’t like it then and I didn’t like it this time, but I couldn’t complain since I just left Powell’s.

The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and caught the Max for a quick trip back to Portland.  Alexia’s choice of a Portland destination was the Japanese Tea Gardens so Ian asked if we thought we were up for a 1.3 mile walk from the rail to it.  She was in track and field this spring and thought it would be a breeze.  We didn’t know it up straight uphill!  And it was a warm humid day, holy cow!  We did it but boy were we dehydrated by the time we got to the top.  First we had to walk through the Rose Test Gardens which are flat, thank goodness.

Fortunately is was still morning so wasn’t too crowded yet.  What a magnificent display!

This was one of Alexia’s favorites.  She quipped that it was a whole sunset in a single flower!


To be continued.

Quick Trip

We hit the road last week for a trip to Reno and Kiernan's high school graduation.  We made really good time so decided to stop in for a visit with our old neighbors, Tom and Carole.  This is the house we had built and lived in for 13 years.  Other than the barn there are few changes.  They fenced the entire 11 acres, the trees are bigger and the two horseshoe pits have been turned into an exercise ring for their horses.

It was great to see them.  Tom has recovered with his bout of lung cancer and is there is no sign of the tumor, though he does have to use oxygen after a heart attack.  I think he looks great.  Their house in on the market as they're moving to Winnemucca.

We had no plans when we went down so everything just evolved, like lunch at our favorite place, Golden Flower.  Best pho ever!  I miss my daughter terribly so loved every minute together.  We'll see them in two weeks when we'll meet them in Klamath Falls to pick Alexia up for the month of July.

Kiernan is outrageously funny.  I told him I didn't think he had his gown on right.  He's a very lucky boy in that he's lived in the same house since he started to school.

And he's had the same two friends since first grade.  This is Matthew.

And here he is with his proud parents and Dakota, his other BFF.

We left Reno and Kiernan's graduation party Sunday afternoon for Red Rock Valley.  Our friends Carol and Harry invited us for dinner and to spend the night.  It's big sky country for sure, so different from where we live now with about 80 less sunny days per year.

They invited Tom and Carole for dinner too and we laughed until we were exhausted.  It's the first time in my life where neighbors have become life-long friends.  

We left home Thursday and returned on Monday, an event filled four days!  Kiernan gave up his bed so we could stay with them as there are no hotels anywhere near them on the Nevada/California border.  It was a great visit - great to spend time with my daughter and grandkids and great to spent time with old friends.

The drive was seven uneventful hours and just like that we were home again where deer saunder up the driveway and sleep in the front yard.

Not enough hours in the day!

I was really disappointed that the yarn I dyed in tidepool colors in our painted warp workshop was pretty much unweavable.  The slubs got caught in the heddles and I cut it off in exasperation after completing the first scarf.

I put on a 2 1/2 yard Tencel warp and used the pieces as weft.  I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I've been rather stalled on the knitting front since I finished my NCAA sweater so am playing around with knitting bears from this basket of various colors of Cascade 220 superwash.  One bear down, I haven't decided how many to go.  The pattern is available here.

I've been stalled on the spinning front for longer than I care to admit but our guild program this month was on drop spindles.  I had a spindle with some wool/silk on it and it's been on it for at least a year.  I picked it up and started trying to spin again, to the point that it was full.  I have it plied and am working on the second half of the roving which should yield this much yarn again.  I won't mess up my head trying to figure out what to do with it.  Once it's all spun I'll calculate yardage with my McMoran yarn balance and try to enjoy myself until then.

Our friend Petey is visiting us this week so we've been doing some touristy things. The Metolius River is reputed to be the prettiest river in Oregon so we drove up yesterday to check it and it truly is spectacular.

The minerals in the water make it this spectacular color.  This was at Wizard Falls next to the fish hatchery.  The river is fly fishing only, catch and release.

The hatchery was built in 1947 and has dozens of concrete ponds, some no longer in use, and raises both trout and salmon. Water is piped from the hatchery ponds into this settling pond where the sediment settles down and brings the water into purity standards before being released into the river.  All of these fish are escapees from the ponds. When we walked up, people were leaning over the rails to watch the fish and I was reminded of Fanny Bridge in Tahoe City.

I took this picture after Petey tossed in the handful of fish food he bought from one of the vending machines.  These guys are huge.

This pond was the baby fish, ready to stock streams and lakes.  The water is dense with them as best seen in the foreground.

We wanted to get photos of the Cascades but the forest is so dense up there that it was just about impossible, plus the traffic was pretty heavy at the start of a holiday weekend.  The only picture I managed to catch was this one of Three Finger Jack

On the way home we stopped in Sisters for lunch at the Three Creeks Brewery.  I got a kick out of this sign on the window looking into their brewery.  I'd recommend the fish tacos and Ian gave the Thai Chicken Rice Bowl two thumbs up.

My Yarn Barn order of 8/2 cotton arrived along with the chenille I got from their Mill End Club. I've never woven with it but that's about to change.