Name Changes! You may not feel ready for any more earthshaking changes in the world right now. But these are easy ones–we hope. Because After the Purge is now After the Plague, and the Pandemic/Endemic Diary is now Eve and Michael’s Meandering on the WayDiary.
And speaking of the word “meander,” we remember the time when we were on a long bus ride in Turkey. Along the way we caught several glimpses of a river called the Büyük Menderes. We later learned that the ancient Greeks called it the Miandros. Greek travelers who saw it were struck by its extremely winding nature. Back in Greece, people started using the word figuratively, to describe anything that moved indirectly or aimlessly. Eventually this usage came into English as the word meander. About ten years ago a fellow named Jeremy Seal decided to float down the Büyük Menderes in an inflatable canoe. He’s written a book about the experience and also posted a slideshow.
Saturday, June 11, 2022
Rain off and on today. What a difference from Nevada. Our yard is spiraling out of control. Cocker Spaniel sized plants are turning into St. Bernards.
Sunday, June 12, 2022
Cloudy and damp, but only raining a tiny bit. M mowed the lawn, front and back. Including time out for a necessary nap, it took him all day.
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
We went into the forest today and hiked the Vineyard Mountain Trail. We saw tons of wild iris, way more than we had seen in previous years. We used to be happy if we saw a dozen in a season; we saw many dozens just today.
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
E went for a tour of a native plant nursery run by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. On her way home she took a side road so as to go past Sarah Helmick State Park. Near the park she came to a stop. A mother skunk was shepherding five tiny babies across the road. The process kept the mother skunk very busy, as she had to keep circling them to keep them together. The crossing was slow, but it looked to E as if they were going to make it.
Friday, June 17, 2022
A somber day today. In the morning E spoke to a longtime friend, who revealed that she had just gotten a cancer diagnosis–a bad one. And in the afternoon E went to the funeral of another friend, someone that she had known since her early days in Corvallis. Either you die, we say to ourselves, or you watch your friends die. Some choice. E says that there were a number of children at the funeral. The young ones so cute, the older ones so handsome…
Sunday, June 19, 2022
We went back to the Luckiamute State Natural Area today. This time we wanted to take the trail that goes east toward the confluence of the Willamette and South Santiam rivers. The first half of the hike was easy. It went along the edge of a field, much of it covered with wild flowers. The bees were going crazy over the yellow and white ones
The last part of the hike went through a riverside forest. That was a little harder. In some places the trail was flooded and we had to detour through the brush.
Finally we came to the place where the rivers come together. It turns out that just before the Santiam flows into the Willamette it splits into two channels. Here’s a Google Maps satellite view.
The arrow in the satellite photo shows where we got to today. Below is a photo that E took from that spot. She’s looking across the Willamette to where the smaller of the Santiam channels comes in.
You may notice that there appear to be sandy beaches in the satellite photo. There are no such beaches in E’s picture. That’s because the river levels were much higher today than they were when the satellite took its picture. We’re imagining that the amount of water passing by here today must be more than what flows through all the rivers in northern Nevada in a week.
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
For the last week or so we’ve had a long stretch of clouds with cool, damp weather. And now–just when the calendar says it’s summer–suddenly it is summer. Sunny and warm today, with more of the same in the forecast.
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
What a year it has been for flowers! And what a year for weeds! Mornings are still cool–nice conditions for working outside. E is heroically thinning the good apple tree, M is working on the watering network, and both of us are weeding. We are not used to the heat though, so even though it’s only in the 80’s, we spend the afternoons resting inside.
Thursday, June 23, 2022
Tertulia this morning with R and J. They’ve just come back from a trip to San Francisco, during which 1) they had the catalytic converter stolen from their Prius while it was parked at a motel, and 2) they attended two performances of the San Francisco Opera. One of the operas was Don Giovanni and the other was a modern work inspired by (gasp!) The Dream of the Red Chamber. They loved Don Giovanni; they weren’t so sure about the other.
The Dream of the Red Chamber, a.k.a. The Story of the Stone, is a vast and immensely popular 18th century Chinese novel, one that M wrote about extensively in the very early years of this blog. To see his description of the novel, click here, here and here. The same material–with fewer typos–is also included in The Last Bookshelf.
After coffee, it was time for more yard maintenance. M mowed and weeded. E weeded, fought the mite wars, and planted a new Russian sage. Then, after a suitable period of rest, we went to Ba’s Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. Delicious. Still a fairly limited menu, but all very good. And, finally, they have their beer/wine license. M had a pFriem pilsner.
Sunday, June 26, 2022
A memorial gathering was held today for E’s friend and yoga teacher Susan Meyer. E helped plan the event and had spent part of Friday helping clean up the venue, an old schoolhouse out in the country. She also made biscotti for the crowd, using a recipe that Susan had given her. When teaching yoga Susan often used to read poems at the beginning and end of each class. At the gathering E read two of them: When I Am Among the Trees by Mary Oliver and Unfolding Bud by Naoshi Koriyama.
Items on display included two cane chairs that Susan herself made.
Is that a spelling error in this picture of the old schoolhouse? Or did they just run out of em’s?
So, that was one thing. Closer to home, today was also Becca’s birthday. She would have been 47. A number of E’s friends and relatives called or sent messages to let her know they were thinking of her. Late in the evening, E and M shared a small piece of chocolate cake to mark the occasion.
Monday, June 27, 2022
Another very warm day, downright hot. We did our weekly shopping and a few chores outside. M has started a painting project in the garage. Everything was pretty normal–right up until about 4:00 PM, at which point E started on a rhubarb pie. It’s in the oven now and the aroma is wafting down the hall toward the study. Salad and pie is the menu for tonight’s dinner…
Left home at 8:22 this morning in a steady downpour. The rain eased when we got to Tombstone Pass. Going up to the next pass, we went by the Potato Hill snow park. Funny to see the trailhead with no snow. Then came Lost Lake, which was definitely not in its lost phase. It was as full as we’ve ever seen it. There are patches of snow here and there, but it’s melting fast.
Stopped at Sisters Bakery around 11:00 to stock up on delicacies for tomorrow’s breakfast.
Departed Sisters at 11:10, headed for Burns, with EC driving. The trip was not without difficulty. EC had to buy gas twice, and also pass other vehicles at least 4 times, not to mention driving straight through what should have been her lunch hour. How could this be happening? We finally reached Burns at 1:35 and went to our favorite picnic park. After a very nice lunch of MW’s finest sandwiches, we took off again towards Winnemucca with MW at the wheel, thank goodness. Beautiful country with strange plateau formations rising out of sagebrush flatlands.
Arrived in Winnemucca around 6:00. We stayed at Scott’s Shady Court, which we remembered dimly from days gone by. It’s still lovely: a large property with dozens of big trees situated in a residential neighborhood a few blocks away from the main drag. The Shady Court first opened in 1923, a time when automobile travel was just getting started. It began as one long, low building divided into a row of ten or so “housekeeping” units. Three of those old units still exist, tucked way in the back and long unoccupied. We peered in through the dusty windows to see how they were laid out. Each unit had a narrow, doorless “garage,” a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen. There are no furnishings or appliances now, but we could identify the kitchen by the old porcelain counter with a built-in sink. These days the Shady Court consists of five such long, low structures, all seemingly constructed in different eras. There must be about seventy rooms all told; only seven or eight were occupied on the night we were there. One nice thing about the Shady Court is that all the buildings–older and newer–are single sided, which means that every unit can have a window in the rear as well as the front. We loved having that natural ventilation, not to mention hearing the birds sing through the open windows.
On this visit we stayed in a unit that we think was from the seventies. We’re at the far left.
Back in the 1990’s we stayed in one of these older units. Since then they’ve been repainted and named after saints. We’re betting, though, that they are pretty much the same inside, especially as to size, which was tiny.
The property was operated by several generations of the founding family for 97 years and then sold to the present owner in 2019. The present owners are a father and son. They are very nice and we wish them good luck. They will need it.
As you may have guessed, we feel some affection for Winnemucca. The main street is pretty bad, as it is in all of the little gambling towns along I-80. In Winnemucca the casinos are mostly small and maybe a little shopworn with names like The Winners Hotel, Lucky J’s, The Roadhouse, The Sundance, the R&L Casino and Lounge, and Parker’s Model T. But the rest of the town is just a place where people live, mainly working people, some of them in new homes scattered on the hills around the town and some of them in the old town, in small, tidy houses built on ridiculously wide streets.
Our favorite place to eat is The Martin Hotel, which was founded in 1913 by French immigrants Augustine and Elisee Martin. During much of the twentieth century, many sheepherders and stockmen in the area were of Basque origin and the Martin Hotel became their home whenever they were in town. After Augustine Martin died, the restaurant and hotel were owned by a succession of Basque families. Many of the current menu items are based on Basque recipes preserved from that era. Today the Martin serves a six course meal with standard sides and your choice of entrée. Seating is family style, so you always get to meet some new people. This time we got to talking with a farm wife from Utah who was in Winnemucca visiting her brother.
The current structure was built in 1920. It is located on the corner of Railroad and Melarkey streets.
The main entrance is on Railroad Street.
Behind the cute façade on Railroad Street, the structure extends northward down Melarkey Street. During Prohibition, a speakeasy operated on the second floor. When it was raided, revenue agents poured out barrels of whiskey onto the ground. Legend has it that residents came rushing outside with spoons and cups as a whiskey river flowed down Melarkey Street.
When we came outside after finishing dinner, an Amtrak train was just pulling up to the tiny Winnemucca Station. We were excited to see it because we were passengers on that same train back in March.
We drove 478 miles today. Note to selves: That was too many miles for one day. Seriously.
Tuesday, June 7, 2022
The day’s plan was to go up to a place called Paradise Valley and see what we could find there. Having heard us mention Paradise Valley, one of our dinner companions at The Martin–a UPS driver by day–had suggested we might want to go to Mount Hinkey as well. The owner of the Shady Court had suggested we might want to stop in at the Paradise Valley saloon and get Nita to make us some lunch. So, we filled up with gas and off we went.
A little less than an hour later, we were in the tiny town of Paradise Valley. We easily found the saloon, which did not look inviting, and also a lovely little square called Firemen’s Park. There were two roads out of Paradise Valley. A helpful sign showed us that one went north to Mount Hinkey and one east toward a place called Chimney Dam Reservoir. We headed north. The road was unpaved, but it was wide, level, and smooth–at least for the first few miles.
Mount Hinkey is the mountain with the snow on it. The road to the summit goes up to that little notch just to the right of the peak. From down here, the road that leads to the summit is the one that goes straight ahead. Nice road, eh? The road that veers off to the left goes to a place called Solid Silver, at least according to a weather beaten sign. In some ways, this is an even nicer looking road. Too bad we couldn’t go check it out.
We continued on the nice, smooth main road. After a while it turned narrow, rough and steep. We climbed and climbed, and eventually we arrived at the summit, elevation 7,850 ft. .
Should we continue down the other side? No, we had other plans.
We needed to go down the road we had just come up. This would take us back to Paradise Valley, which we knew was hidden under that bunch of trees in the left center of this photo.
Here’s the biggest building in the town of Paradise Valley. Once it was the Micca Saloon. Another time it looks to have been the Korral Bar. It looks pretty empty now. The current town saloon is down the street more in the middle of town . The new saloon is in better shape than the old one, but not by a whole lot. It is also a lot smaller.
We had some snacks and fruit juice with us, so we didn’t actually have to go into the Paradise Valley saloon for lunch; but we thought maybe we should. It was an old wooden building, once painted a sort of beigey color. It didn’t have a sign, but there were some tables and chairs out in front and it just didn’t have the look of a residence. Also, there was a big gravel parking lot next to it. We pulled in and parked. As we were getting out of the truck, we noticed a short older woman out in front wiping off a table. As we approached, she gave us a less than welcoming look, then turned back and went inside, closing the door behind her. Not surprisingly, we were somewhat hesitant at this point. But it seemed that M had made up his mind. He opened the door and in we went.
We entered to see an eight-stool bar along the right side of the room. In the center, there were two tables. On the left wall was a big old velvet couch, seven or eight feet long with a high curved back and dark wooden arms. But before we could really look around, we had to deal with Nita. She was standing behind the bar looking skeptical. M started rambling about how Chris, at Scott’s Shady Court, had told us we really ought to drop by here because Nita made a great cheeseburger. “The grill menu’s on the whiteboard,” said Nita grudgingly and pointed toward the far end of the bar where the board was located. Now that was definitely a thaw in relations, not enough to make anyone real comfortable, but a start. We dutifully walked farther into the room and examined the board. There were four items: hot dog, hot dog with cheese, hamburger, cheeseburger.
After a minute we sat down at the bar and M ordered a cheeseburger. Then E had to negotiate a meatless burger for herself. You might think that Nita would have been annoyed by this, but that didn’t happen. Apparently she was a woman who appreciated a challenge where cooking was concerned. When she was done, E was quite pleased with the result–a grilled bun with cheese, lettuce and tomato, kind of amazing. M found the cheeseburger excellent also. E asked Nita what the bar’s hours were and how late she had to work. Nita said they stayed open as long as the customers wanted to stay, sometimes till midnight or later. But then she added, “But that’s only if they’re drinking. If they’re just bullshitting, we throw ’em out.”
To continue the day’s adventures, we took the other road out of town, the one that led east into the sagebrush. The area is not densely inhabited. At first we passed a few scattered ranches. By the time we were ten miles from town, however, it was pretty much just us and the sagebrush. We came to a number of road junctions, none of them with any signage whatever. With the help of a pretty good map, and we made to Chimney Dam Reservoir without undue difficulty.
From Chimney Dam Reservoir we had a choice of two roads. M leaned toward the one, E toward the other. M finally saw that E was right. E is good at map reading; M is better at noticing and reading signs. As we set out on the correct road, M noticed a yellow sign with black letters. “Road not maintained.” it said, ” Travel at your own risk.” Which is what we did. And it was fine.
We loved seeing these horses seemingly in the middle of nowhere. They didn’t look wild, but on the other hand, they were running free on the open range. Nevada hillsides like this are green for just a very short time in the spring. Most of the year, they’re parched and brown.
A few miles past the horses we came to an abandoned ranch. If you look closely, you might be able to see the house in the middle.
Not having seen another vehicle for over an hour, we were heading south on Kelly Creek Road when we noticed a huge mining operation to the west of us. All we could see were huge piles of tailings. Only the uniformity of the piles made them stand out from the natural landscape. Soon the road turned east and we left the mine behind. A while later, we caught our first sight of Kelly Creek. We knew from the map that we had been going parallel to the creek, but we’d never seen it. But now suddenly it was right in front of us running quite swiftly across the road. That gave us pause, but it was less than a foot deep and the truck crossed easily. More dirt roads and several hard to decipher junctions followed. We had many miles to go at speeds of 25 to 40, so it took several hours. E was very relieved when we got back to pavement and got up to 70. We arrived in Elko around 6:00, both feeling like we had again done a little too much driving. We ate leftover Basque food in our hotel room and later went across the street to take a walk in a beautiful park where we found majestic trees and a group of old log buildings from the early days of the European invasion.
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
On this day the goal was to go up into the Ruby Mountains and spend the night in a tent. Thankfully, this involved very much less driving–just 35 miles or so, all on pavement. We arrived at the Thomas Canyon campground at about 10:30. We hadn’t reserved a site, but there were a couple of good ones available. The area was spectacular. As soon as we settled on a spot, we packed our lunches, put on our hiking shoes, and headed up a nearby trail.
It was beautiful, and it would have been nice to go up to where the trail entered the snowfields at about 9,000 feet. But at 8,400 we were having a lot of trouble getting enough oxygen. We decided that where we were was a good place to sit down and have our lunch. Then it was back down to the campground to set up our tent and have a rest. We made a dinner of Amy’s soup, Albertson’s French bread and a bagged salad, followed of course by cookies and a crazy sunset.
When the sun was gone, the moon came by. It wasn’t full, but it was fat enough. M talked E into a moonlit drive just eight more miles up the main canyon, to a place called–appropriately enough–Road’s End. The road ended at a large circ amid some craggy peaks. There was a wide, empty parking lot and a rushing stream that came out from under a snow field just a few hundred yards away. We got out and walked around a little, but we didn’t stay long. It was darn cold and our sleeping bags back at camp were calling to us.
Thursday, June 9, 2022
Here’s a photo of E sleeping in while M was out trying to video the quaking aspen as they quaked.
We survived the cold night in our little tent. Had a nice breakfast in the surprisingly warm morning sun. Packed up the tent and gear and headed off westward toward home. We stopped in Winnemucca for lunch at McDonald’s and for gas at Fast Eddie’s. But Fast Eddie’s pumps were acting sickly, so we moved on to Chevron. After that we had a long drive on Oregon 140, heading westward and ending up in Lakeview, Oregon at the Fremont Inn. Deluxe suite with a flush toilet and everything. Okay dinner at nearby El Aguila. No aspen, no sagebrush, all roads paved.
Friday, June 10, 2022
We left Lakeview at 9:30 am and drove up past Abert Lake, then Summer Lake, which is mostly dried up. This seems like better cattle country, much greener than the past few days in Nevada. We drove OR 31 through Fremont/Winema National Forest and then crossed the Cascades on OR 58. Around 1:00 E drove us into Oakridge where we could get a very nutritious lunch at the DQ. This consisted of celery & carrots in car as an appetizer and then sundaes in the restaurant: a small hot fudge for E and a medium chocolate for M. Yum. To E’s relief M drove the rest of the way home. We got home around 3:00 and started unpacking and also rustling up a small hors d’oeuvre to take to B and B’s house for happy hour. It was great to see them. We traded stories about our respective travels. Us: three days in the Nevada outback. Them: a month touring the west coast of Italy. Hmm.
E did Zoom yoga today and followed it up with an hour or so of weeding flowerbeds. She reports that yoga and weeding are not completely compatible, spiritually or physically. It might be better to do the weeding first.
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
It took two of us, but the long-delayed weeding of the raspberry patch got done today. It had been years. We are both exhausted. Meanwhile, flowers are popping out everywhere.
Hummock #3
Iris #14
Exploring one’s inner iris
(Camas lily video 5332, originally scheduled for this space, is currently on back order with delivery expected by June 11.)
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Today is our anniversary. To celebrate we went off for a two-day stay at the coast. Our plans for the first day included a dock tour, a nice dinner, and the opening of a new box of Burst’s chocolates, preferably in that order.
Our tour took us to Newport’s Dock #5. Our guide was Angee Doerr, an OSU Extension Marine Fisheries Specialist. Dock #5 is the commercial fishing dock at Newport. In terms of total catch, Newport ranks third among Oregon’s four commercial fishing ports. It ranks second, however, in terms of catch value. Doerr took us around the docks and showed us how the various boats were rigged for different kinds of fishing. We saw examples of rigging for tuna, halibut, hake, rockfish, crab, shrimp, squid, hagfish…and probably some more we don’t remember. Doerr also explained how several fisheries at Newport have achieved sustainable fishery certification. In addition to controls on how many fish of each species can be taken in each season, certification also requires the reduction or elimination of “by-catch.” By-catch occurs when non-target species are caught by accident in the nets or other equipment that fishermen are using. By-catch is an especially serious problem in tuna and shrimp fisheries. In some traditional shrimp fisheries, for example, the total catch is about 10% shrimp and 90% other species. Doerr showed us how the Newport fisheries, working with researchers at OSU’s Marine Science Center, have addressed the by-catch problem for both the tuna and shrimp fisheries. Newport was the first shrimp fishery in the U.S. to be certified sustainable.
It was interesting to the hear about hagfish, which are also known as slime eels. They are very weird creatures and are considered a great delicacy in Korea. Newport has an active hagfish fishery which involves catching them in special barrels and also keeping them alive for shipment to Korean kitchens. In 2017 a truck carrying live hagfish from Newport overturned on the Pacific Coast Highway. The result was a sliming of epic proportions.
After the tour, it was time for lunch. We walked over to Mo’s Annex on the bay front and had ourselves some chowder. Mo’s has been a Newport fixture since 1946 and is very much thriving under the management of the founder’s granddaughter. It is a wonderful place whose menu still reflects its working class origins.
Later on we went to dinner at Local Ocean. M had Moqueca De Peixe, a Brazilian fish stew with rockfish, scallops, wild prawns, and Dungeness crab (all obtained hyper fresh from Dock #5 across the street) plus mushroom, bell pepper, tomato, onion, and cilantro in a coconut milk broth. Stunning. E had grilled hoisin black cod (also from Dock #5), which came with asparagus, green beans, fresh orange, shiitake mushrooms, onion, red bell pepper, yakisoba noodles and sesame seeds. She liked it very much. The owner of Local Ocean comes from a local fishing family and has an MS in Marine Resource Management from OSU.
We seriously doubt that Mo Niemi (founder of Mo’s restaurant) had a master’s degree in anything, and yet the two businesses seem to be part of the same tradition of being deeply rooted in the local community and very committed to the well-being of that community.
Here’s the view from our table on the second floor of Local Ocean, showing the dock area that we toured earlier. If we had taken good notes, we would able to tell you what kind of fish each of those boats is rigged for. Alas, we’re past that now. We’re still good at eating, though.
Thursday, May 26, 2022
In the morning we drove from Newport down past Waldport and Yachats to Heceta Head and went hiking–not to the lighthouse but inland up to a little valley called China Creek. Vegetation is lush in these parts.
Even some of the dead limbs of this tree are covered with plant growth.
A wild rhododendron blossom just coming out. Once in full bloom, the petals will be much lighter in color.
At a certain point on the trail, we came to a sign hanging from a rope stretched across the trail. China Creek Trail Closed, it said, Due to Bridge Damage. M wanted to just keep going and see what sort of bridge damage it was. E wasn’t so sure. “What if it’s not really bridge damage at all?” she said. “Huh?” replied M. “They’ve probably been spraying toxic chemicals and they don’t want anyone to know,” E explained. M thought that seemed unlikely. We ended up going around the sign and continuing up the trail. The area turned out to be quite beautiful, rather like a city park with a think layer of moss instead of grass. After we had walked a half a mile or so past the closed sign, we started wondering when, if ever, we would come to the supposedly damaged bridge. At this point E suggested another possibility. Maybe the CIA had established a top secret facility higher up in the China Creek valley. Hmm. After another half a mile or so, we finally came to a damaged bridge. So that was a relief. But wait, what if it was just a decoy? What if someone had deliberately damaged the bridge just to have a plausible excuse to close the trail?! Maybe a flying saucer had crashed up there and the government was trying to keep it quiet. Yeah, that could be it…
After the hike, we ate our lunch at Washbourne State Park, then took a walk on the beach.
The trail leading to the beach at Washbourne.Sand and things
For dinner, we were able to walk over to the Rogue Ales brewery. The restaurant was jammed, so we ate in the bar, which turned out to be very pleasant. After that, we had a little more chocolate and a (very small) bottle of sparkling wine.
Friday, May 27, 2022
Drove back to Corvallis, arriving around noon, just in time to get some takeout tacos from La Rockita.
Saturday, May 28, 2022
E spent the middle of the day volunteering at a Get Outdoors Day event designed to familiarize pre-school and elementary school age children with the natural environment. Normally this event is held at the OSU Research Forest but this year was held in a city park. Turnout was very good, despite a continuous cold rain all day. The kids seemed to really enjoy the various learning activities such as making crowns out of leaves and name tags out of “tree cookies.” There was also an exhibit of animal pelts, one of which was a werewolf according to one enthusiastic little boy.
Sunday, May 29, 2022
We were invited to K and J’s for a barbecue today, so off we went to Salem. K was a college friend of Becca. C, another friend of Becca’s, was also there. It’s so nice for us to be able to keep in touch with them.
Here’s Andrea, having a moment with C’s friend Oliver.
Our hosts
Friday, June 3, 2022
We went down to Eugene today. E’s pal S was having a birthday party. Since it was one of those birthdays when your age has a zero in it, and since at our age, you don’t know how many more of those you’re going to have, she put on quite a spread: rack of lamb, lots of salmon, vegetarian ravioli and more. We got to talk to a bunch of Univ. of Oregon people that we don’t get to see often. It was nice to catch up.
Here’s our friend S in serving mode.
And here’s E, showing her admirable ability to focus on what is truly important.
Saturday, June 4, 2022
M was wiped out today, all groaning and lethargic in the aftermath of his fourth Covid shot the day before. So he did nothing. E, though, went to see a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the Oregon State Parks system. The event was held at a state park just twenty miles north of us. The reason it was held there is that the park is named for Sarah Helmick, a pioneer woman who in 1922 donated six acres to the State of Oregon for the purpose of providing a wayside park for travelers going up and down the Willamette Valley. It was the first such donation in state history and became the first state park in Oregon. It was noted that Sarah herself did not attend the park’s opening ceremony in 1922 because she was 101 years old at the time.
There were a number of information booths and also a number of cupcakes being given away. There was also a cake. E has provided us with a photo of the event, again focusing on issues of greatest significance.
Sunday, June 5, 2022
Spent the day today packing for a road trip to the wilds of north central Nevada. There are about 2.6 million people in Nevada. Two million live in Las Vegas and a half million live in Reno, so the rest of the state is pretty empty. We’re planning to tour some of the empty part. M made us chocolate chip cookies to take along in case we get lost miles from anywhere and are forced to go into survival mode.
