Meandering on the Way

Monday, June 6, 2022

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. 

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. 

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. .

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.

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

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. 

Monday, May 23, 2022

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. 

(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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

Monday, May 9, 2022

More rain and clouds. The grass is growing like crazy and many lawns in the neighborhood are looking shaggy. Only the lawn service lawns are neat and trim. The professionals work in all weathers; residents who mow their own wait for better days.

Tuesday, May 10. 2022

And here’s a better day now, bright sun from early in the morning. They say we’ll have two days of sun before the rain returns. Very good, says M, one day for the back yard and one day for the front.

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

As promised, we got sunshine today also. There was lots of mowing going on up and down the street. But, more importantly, E made her first rhubarb pie of the season! It was delightful! 

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Back to rain. Hard and steady with gusts of wind. Pretty nasty, actually. Across the street, lawn service workers in heavy rain gear are making an inordinate amount of noise… 

Friday, May 13, 2022

We went to see the new Corvallis Museum. It’s not terrible.

Sunday, May 15, 2022

E went off to Portland today and met A at the Saturday Market in Vancouver, WA. She was expecting some kind of farmers’ market like we have here, but no, the Vancouver Saturday Market runs more to upscale crafts than to upscale veggies. The two of them had a great time looking around at all the pretty things and clever ideas. They had lunch at a place near the market and then went to A’s house for tea. E came home with a wall mountable planter to go next to our front door. It’s meant for succulents and is quite pretty. Plus, it came wrapped in several pages of a newspaper called The Epoch Times, which had a number of catchy headlines, as for example 1) How the Specter of Communism Rules Our World, 2) How China is Using Amazon to Destroy Democracy, and 3) The Infrastructure Bill is the Royal Road to Communism. There was also an ad for a new book about how we know the earth is flat. The book is titled–cunningly enough–The Flat Earth. 

M, meanwhile, went “shopping” up in the mountains and came home with some rocks and a few pieces of wood with which to decorate the back yard. The first rock supply yard that he came to was relatively small and featured mostly gray rocks. M likes gray, so he picked out three examples, with his main selection criterion being that the rocks had to be small enough for him to pick up and carry.

Later on he came to another place that specialized in rocks that weren’t gray. He picked out a couple of those too.

Once he had his rocks, M was free to enjoy the scenery. Here’s Canyon Creek in its springtime glory.

And finally, the photo below shows where M turned around and headed home. This is Willamette National Forest Road 2024, which goes up along Two Girls Creek over toward Road 2032. To M, this infrastructure does not appear to be part of the royal road to communism, but you never know.

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Breakfast at Bodhi’s today. We’ve been there five or six times now and have been frustrated that only once did we find chocolate chip scones. What’s wrong with these people? Their scones are very good, but lately we have been forced to try all sorts of weird varieties. Finally, today, we realized something important: all their scones taste pretty much the same. And they’re all pretty good. 

After breakfast M left for Day 1 of his Porsche tour of central Oregon. Day 1 was spent getting from Corvallis up to the The Dalles in the Columbia Gorge. M did a part of the trip on what is now called Historic Highway 30. Completed in 1922, 30 was the first auto route up the gorge. It was built to facilitate tourism and features a number of lookouts and viewpoints. Here’s the view from one such place, near the town of Mosier.

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

E was halfway through breakfast when she noticed something quite disturbing: there was no glass of juice next to her placemat! Worse yet, no one had even started making the coffee! Staffing shortages strike again. 

M breakfasted on bad yogurt and a stale donut, then left The Dalles and headed east to Arlington, finally reaching the area that he wanted to explore. As planned, he went south down OR Highway 19, then crossed over to OR 74 on a nameless east-west rural connector. Wonderful road.

In Hepner M bought a sandwich at a grocery store deli, then took OR 207 south to Kimberly. From there he went east to Long Creek. Beautiful scenery and trafficless roads. Lots of curves. Warm enough and dry enough to have the top down, at least for a while.

From Long Creek, M went south down US 395 through John Day to Burns. This was a road he’d driven several times before. Parts of the route can be very fast. 

So M made it to Burns in a timely manner and found his motel. He’d got a good deal on his room by going through a booking site called Traveluro. It was so cheap that he was worried about whether it was for real; but it all seemed to work. After checking in, M got a message from Traveluro thanking him for using them and wishing him all the best during his stay. He then got another text from Traveluro congratulating him on having chosen to visit ‘Burnsville’ (!) and reminding him to be sure and visit Culzean Castle as well as the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. Foolishly, M skipped both of these and visited a Mexican restaurant instead.

Thursday, May 19, 2022

M got up early and headed even farther south on 395. He wanted to see Lake Abert again.

Then it was time to turn for home so as to be back in time for H’s birthday dinner at Sybaris. He got back to Corvallis around 3:30. His three-day trip covered 912 miles. At $5.65 a gallon for premium, the fuel bill was $185.  

And how did the dinner at Sybaris go? It was wonderful. H had sole, M had vindaloo sausage, and E had pasta primavera. The sauces were all delicious and everything came with early spring vegetables: paper-thin snow peas, tiny asparagus sprigs, spicy greens, and more. Did we sensibly forego having an appetizer and then all eat too much for dessert? Yes we did.

Saturday, May 21, 2022

E went to a weed pulling party this morning, answering a call for volunteers from the Benton County Soil and Water Conservation District. The setting was Mary’s River Park in Philomath and the main targets were Himalayan blackberry and English ivy. E went after ivy. The most interesting thing she learned was that ivy does not flower on the ground. Only when it gets high in the tree does it produce flowers, and then seeds which are easily scattered by the wind. So severing vines from their roots is an effective way of deterring the proliferation of ivy. E enjoyed cutting and pulling vines, and when it was over, she was delighted to sample the donuts generously provided by our host.

Meanwhile M went to a baseball game with R. They went to see the OSU Beavers, who have been doing very well this year, despite a late season slump. The opposing team was from UCLA, a school where M was once a graduate student. OSU won, 9-3, and ended up finishing second in the Pac-12. 

M and R sat in the right field bleachers, their usual spot. Here’s what it looked like. Two of the buildings visible here bring back memories. In the late 70’s, M and E had offices in the older building in the center. In the 90’s and 00’s, M, E, and R were all based in the somewhat uglier blue building on the right.

Sunday, May 1, 2022

We went on a Sunday stroll in McDonald Forest in search of wild irises, but all we found was this cute little Douglas squirrel.

Monday, May 2, 2022

The time has arrived for our trip to Central Oregon. We spent the morning packing up and rolled out of town at 1:00, planning to spend the first night in Terrebonne, a little town just 135 miles east of Corvallis. We left home in a pouring rain, but the forecast was for a drier day tomorrow. And besides, we’d be on the other side of the mountains, which is a much drier sort of place than where we live. So off we went, confident that we were headed for better weather. After about an hour of driving, we noticed that we hadn’t found it quite yet.

It wasn’t bad, really. After another hour we were on the other side of the mountains and looking around for our sunglasses.

Terrebonne, Oregon is just on the edge of Smith Rock State Park. It’s small but bustling. Smith Rock is the birthplace of the sport of modern rock climbing and was long considered to be the world capital of that sport. There are hundreds of climbing routes at a wide range of ability levels. It’s also a great place for hiking and we’ve done that once or twice. But our destination this time was a place called Gray Butte, which is well east of the park in an area of no interest to climbers. The plan was to spend the night in Terrebonne and drive to Gray Butte in the morning.

So all we had to do tonight was check into our hotel and then find a place to have dinner. Neither task was all that easy. Our lodging, called the Smith Rock Resort, turned out to be nowhere near the park or the town. It was, rather, twelve miles west of Terrebonne. When we finally got there we found that the resort cabins were in a long line between the Crooked River Gorge on one side and a vast golf course on the other. We were in the last cabin in the line, which gave us some fine views. The gorge side looked like utter wilderness, while on the south side we could see gophers and rabbits capering among scattered golf balls on the driving range. We didn’t have much time to take in this somewhat bizarre scene, cuz we were hungry and the nearest good food was 17 miles away in the town of Redmond.

Eventually we found that Hola restaurant now has a branch in Redmond. Oh boy. Hola is a Peruvian-Mexican chain with a good vegetarian selection and mighty nice drinks. E had a signature pisco sour and M had a paloma made with Jarritos grapefruit soda with tajin on the rim of the glass. Thus fortified, we returned to our cabin and noticed a nearby sign pointing to something called the Crooked River Gorge Trail. Well, we had to at least take a look at that, so we bundled up and went off to explore. After just a hundred yards we came to the edge of gorge, which turned out to be quite a sight.

There was a signboard with a map showing a loop trail that descended to the river level, then ambled along the river for a while, and finally climbed back up the very spot we were on. The map did not say how long the trail was. Well. It was a little late in the day, but the days are pretty long in May and we had at least another two hours of good light. We couldn’t actually see the trail, but it seemed like it would have to be steep and maybe rougher than we’d prefer. But the whole place was beautiful. So the pisco sour and the paloma looked at each other and decided to go for it.

So, yes, the trail was a little steeper and rougher than we would’ve liked, but still passable and of course quite beautiful. Also, we found that the trail had a place where you could choose to go all the way down to the bottom, or you just go along the river at fifty or so feet above the level of the water. We saved strength and time by choosing the latter. (But now E says we have to come back again some day and go all the way to the bottom.)

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

We slept fairly well last night, despite the overly large pillows and the memory foam mattress whose memories were mostly bad. We made our breakfast in the room from things we’d brought along. It was a little after 9:00 when we got everything repacked and headed for Gray Butte.

The route took us back to Terrebonne and onto a road that went east around the southern edge of Smith Rock Park. By the time we turned again, this time onto a route called Lone Pine Road, we had left the climbing terrain behind. After seven more miles we turned left at an unmarked turn-off for a narrow track called Road 57. At that point, as we rattled across an old metal cattleguard, we put aside our printed guidebook and started navigating by using the Avenza App on M’s phone. (In our limited experience with back country navigation, Google Maps is better than Apple Maps, but neither is as good as Avenza.) 

After half an hour of pretty rough going we arrived at the trailhead, which is located at the site of an old homestead. We wanted to look around a little, but first it was time to hike. The trail looped around the north flank of the butte, climbing steadily but gently. There were wildflowers everywhere. The dry, bare earth and lichen covered rocks made a great setting. 

After about a mile and a quarter we began to get glimpses of snow-covered Cascades peaks in the distance. 

The big peak in the video is Mt. Hood, 70 miles to the north. We could also see the top of Mt. Adams, 120 miles northeast. To the south we could see Mt. Batchelor, Broken Top, and the Three Sisters. Here’s a photo of two of the Sisters, about 40 miles southwest..

It was 11:00 A.M. when we started down, making it just about lunchtime when we got back to the trailhead. There were no remnants of any structures at the homestead site, but there were a striking number of large dead trees that didn’t look like natives.

The poplars may be long dead, but the apple orchard still survives.

Julius and Sarah McCoin first homesteaded here with their four children in 1886. They planted the Lombardy poplars to provide shade for the house and a windbreak for the apple trees. We had lunch in what was once their front yard. The family raised sheep and horses, operated a freight business, and planted over 100 apple trees. Sarah McCoin died in 1888 and from then on the McCoin children had to manage alone for weeks at a time while Julius drove his 12-horse freight wagon on a route between Prineville and the Columbia River. One source reports that when Sarah died, the eldest child was nine; another source says thirteen. Both sources say that the two youngest were three and five. 

During the mid 1930’s conditions made it impossible to make a living in the area around Gray Butte. In 1936, the McCoins, along with hundreds of other homesteaders, were forced to abandon their properties. An appeal to Franklin Roosevelt led to a program under which the federal government paid the families for the land they were leaving, thus giving them assistance in starting anew somewhere else. Since then the land has been administered by the U.S. Forest Service. All of the structures on the affected lands were removed as part of a CCC project in 1938. 

In the 1980’s, Forest Service rangeland specialists Ecker and Ketrenos pruned the apple trees, which was critical to extending their lives. A few trees have died over the years, but many still bear fruit. 

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

We’ve just spent the night at the Balch Hotel in Dufur, Oregon. There’s not too much happening in Dufur–population: 639–but the Balch is a really amazing place. We’d like to go back some day. For now we must be off again, back to Corvallis.

Thursday, May 5, 2022

Rain.

Friday, May 6, 2022

Rain. In the evening E went to see Mamma Mia with H and T. This marked the resumption of live theatre performances at the Corvallis High School following two years of shut-down due to COVID.

Saturday, May 7, 2022

Rain all day. But in the evening, ice cream!

Sunday, May 8, 2022

Rain and clouds. But also, flowers for Mother’s Day!

Friday, April 8, 2022

Today we went to a place called the Luckiamute Landing State Natural Area and walked through the gallery forest along the west bank of the Willamette River. In olden times, so we are told, gallery forests grew on both sides of the Willamette as it meandered its way through the lowland prairies of the valley floor. Most of this gallery forest has disappeared because modern farmers saw no reason not to extend their fields all the way to the river’s edge.

Besides some riverside forest, the natural area also includes a former agricultural field that is in the process of being restored. At the edge of the field native plants are still thriving. The plants above are yellow mahonia and red flowering currant. This mahonia, by the way, is Mahonia aquifolium, which grows to a height of eight feet. It is not to be confused with Mahonia nervosa, or Mahonia repens, both of which only grow about a foot tall. How do we know that these are not to be confused? Because, alas, we have spent a lot of time being confused and we still aren’t quite sure which ones we planted where in our back yard. 

And of course no walk would be complete without finding an overturned school bus rusting in the woods.

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 

Yikes! We woke up to see snow falling; huge wet flakes that melted on contact, at least in our neighborhood. We had planned to walk in the forest today–rain or shine–so off we went.  As we walked up into the Oak Creek area, we gradually gained 500 feet of altitude. Here’s what it looked like up there.

Saturday, April 16, 2022

Now, today, it’s mostly sunny. We extricated the Porsche from the garage and drove up to Independence for dinner at the Pink House Cafe. The Pink House offers fine food and the possibility of having dinner in an upstairs bedroom. We tried that once, but we were unnerved by the number of eyes staring at us from the doll collection in the corner. Since then we’ve stuck to the main floor.

Sunday, April 17, 2022

And then it was Easter. The Andees came down for dinner accompanied by their canine pal Frankie. E made soufflé and salad and stuff–including marinated radishes served with pre-dinner sherry. After dinner we had Easter candy, some of which is shown below. 

These have a core of fudge surrounded by a chewy marshmallow shell covered with coconut. To serve, remove and eat the faces; then slice the bodies crosswise. What a culinary wonder! But maybe once a year is enough.

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

It’s been rainy and cold. And more rain is forecast. This gets tiresome after a while. Out in the forest the rain was steady and the temperature was about forty degrees. But boy was it green out there. 

And a bumper year for fawn lilies. 

Friday, April 22, 2022

The one sure thing about death is that when a person dies, somebody has to deal with the body. Ideally, the surviving family could just do it themselves: dig a hole and bury it or maybe throw it in the ocean somewhere. But most people would rather hire someone else to deal with it. And who are we to go against the stream? So off we went down to the mortuary and talked to a woman about pre-paid end of life plans. It took about and hour and a half, but we got a lot of information, including two estimates, one for cremation and one for green burial. 

For a long time it had seemed to both of us that cremation was the obvious way to go. But cremation is not exactly earth friendly. First of all, cremation ovens are powered by fossil fuels and each cremation releases about 540 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That’s equivalent to burning about 24 gallons of gasoline. Plus, a human body is almost 25% carbon. Presumably, a lot of that also goes up in smoke, so to speak. 

Most of our conversation was about money. Basically, we listened to her explain, in some detail, just how it was that they could justify the total costs, which were, as you might expect, almost beyond comprehension. But in the end we knew that actually it all makes sense, especially to anyone with a degree in marketing. One thing we noticed was that there were two fees related to the actual burning of the body, which she said would take place in their own in-house crematory. The larger of the two fees covers the cost of taking the body to the crematory location, burning it up, and collecting the ashes into a container. (Container sold separately.) The smaller fee ($295) was called a “Crematory Service Fee” and covers the cost of everything else that the crematory does. Except that the crematory doesn’t actually do anything else. Death is such a mystery. 

But hey, not everything is mysterious. One fee involved in a green burial, for example, is the extra $550 that you have to pay to address soil subsidence. In a “traditional” burial the newly buried body lies in a sturdy casket inside a concrete vault, with everything built to last. In a green burial you’re in a flimsy wooden box or an even flimsier shroud. The whole idea is that none of it is meant to last. But what happens as the body molders away? The soil on top of it starts to sink. That leaves a body-shaped depression in your plot. Oh-oh. In a well-run cemetery this is unacceptable and the maintenance people will need to remediate the problem by adding more dirt. This adds cost. Plus, if you don’t buy an expensive casket and a vault, the funeral home loses out on the profits to be made from those items and how can that be fair? The $1,500 cost of the shroud is also easy to justify. We’re not talking about a used bedsheet from Goodwill. These are top quality items, purpose-built, with handles. If someone else offers to sell you a shroud for $299, ask ’em if it has handles.

Well, we’re still thinking about it. But meanwhile, moving from death to death’s opposite, let’s go into the back yard and look at some spring flowers. It’s tulip time these days, with phlox and mountain daisies in supporting roles. One of our photographers took advantage of a brief moment of sunshine.

Monday, March 14, 2022

Got home from Eugene airport at 2:00 AM this morning. Hmm. Weren’t we up at 2:00 AM Sunday morning also, back there in the SLC train station? Probably best not make a habit of this. Over the course of this day, we did some grocery shopping and some serious resting.

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Went to B and B’s for dinner. There was a cake to help extend the celebration of E’s birthday. Also salmon. We got a nice picture of E and B sitting on a new couch.

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Went for a two-mile walk in the forest today. Nice to be back outside. 

Thursday, March 17, 2022

We visited two different plant nurseries today, and somehow found a few things to buy. The selection of natives at Garland’s was disappointing, so from there we just got a white rose, a bargain shelf tulip, and some pansies. We had better luck at Home Grown Gardens, where we were very happy to find camas, a small Indian plum tree and some interesting looking spirea.   

Friday, March 18, 2022

Going to the plant nursery is one thing–it’s fun and not too strenuous. But if you buy plants…then you have to plant them.

In the afternoon we had PF over for “Tea at Three.” 

Saturday, March 19 2022

We both worked in the garden workday, weeding and planting. The three camas lilies are now in place, along with two yarrow plants and one new, out-of-phase tulip. 

Sunday, March 20, 2022

E tried out one of our four free antigen tests today and came out negative. Then she went off for a dog walk with some friends. There is a new baby in J and B’s family and E is eager to meet her. 

Monday, March 21, 2022

We are headed to the mountains to hopefully do some cross-country skiing. Conditions get iffy in the spring, but we thought we saw a window of opportunity. The weather forecast called for new snow in the night and early morning hours, changing to rain by noon. And so it turned out. We left Corvallis at eight and got onto our skis at 10:00. Lovely conditions: four inches of new snow, light snow still falling, no other humans in sight. 

The skiing surface was really nice and we had a blast for the first hour and a half. At that point we noticed that the light snow was turning into the predicted light rain. That would have been the right time to turn around and head back. But, oh no, we instead decided to push on to the Brandenburg shelter where we could have a nice lunch out of the rain. The ski surface was still nice and we were dressed for rain, so it seemed a plausible idea. We had forgotten that the last mile was the hardest part of the route, a half mile uphill followed by a moderately difficult half mile traverse. We eventually got there and had a nice lunch, but it was a bit of a struggle.  

Afterward, we had a three-mile slog back to our car. Even though the rain continued, the snow surface stayed pretty good, a little soft, but okay. The bad part was that we were getting tired. Around the halfway mark we decided to rest a little. We lay down in the snow and put our feet up. We don’t remember ever having done that before–lying on the snow in the rain. The air temperature was 40ish, so we stayed warm. It was really quite nice–but not nice enough to linger for long. 

Once back at the sno park, we revived ourselves with a thermos of coffee. Then we were off to the town of Sisters where we had reserved a room at the Sisters Inn. The Sisters Inn doesn’t look like much from the outside, but we found that the rooms had been much refurbished since our last visit. A nice surprise. We then had dinner at the Sisters Saloon and Ranch Grill, which is located in a 1912 building that once housed the Hotel Sisters. The decor was interesting; the food was just okay. 

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

We both slept about ten hours and awoke feeling surprisingly good. We decided to get ourselves over to the Sisters Bakery to get breakfast. E suggested that we walk the three quarters of a mile to the bakery; M said that that would be a great idea…for an alien life form on an upside down planet in a galaxy very far away. However you get there, of course, the Sisters Bakery never disappoints. Following breakfast, we zoomed back to Corvallis in time for E to make it to her HEPAJ meeting at 1:00.

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

We were both a little stiffer today than the day before, but it was time to walk. We were rewarded with lots trilliums in bloom. Seems like a big year for them.

In the family news arena, we note that A has been appointed to the Washington State Veterinary Board of Governors.

Thursday, March 24, 2022

Tertulia with J and R this morning. We sat outside in the tent at Coffee Culture. The temperature was 41 degrees or so, not unpleasant. While comparing notes on wildflower sightings we learned that there are two types of trilliums in the forest. One type has flowers on a one or two inch stem; on the other the flowers are lower. It’s the first type that are flowering now.

After tertulia M was off to get his implant (diş implantı, as shown in Fig 2 below). It came with what they call an International Implant Card. One side of the card has information about the date and location of the implant plus also the name and address of the implant maker. The address info includes both their post office box number and their street address, just in case M feels like dropping by. The other side of the card has more information about the particular titanium screw that was used and also has the phrase “dental implant” printed in 26 different languages. 

There’s just no telling how useful this card may turn out to be… 

Saturday, March 26, 2022

Walked around the OSU campus today. Just two miles but maybe too far for M. Back home he was feeling listless and had a mild fever.  

Sunday, March 27, 2022

M slept off and on all day. Fever 102. We are starting to worry. M gave himself a COVID test just in case, and it came out negative. But still, he seems to have something. 

While M is out of action, E mows the back lawn.  

Monday, March 28, 2022

It rained for an hour or so in the middle of the day. It was wonderful, soft and silent. Nice time of year.

M has a bit more energy today but is still feverish. E has decided to postpone the lemon merengue pie party that she had planned for Tuesday. Sad. 

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

The Oregon Health Authority has announced 86 new COVID deaths in the last five days, which sounds pretty serious. But is it? Only 13 of the deaths are from March. Twenty-one of them are from January; and 49 are from February. One is from October and two are from December. 

We have no idea what to do with this information. It appears that if we want to know how many people actually died from COVID so far in March, we’ll need to wait at least till the end of May. That seems pointless. At this point we are planning to create one more of our lovely blue charts and then shut down the PD database.

E went down to Grass Roots today and got us a new jigsaw puzzle. We both like the picture. M says it looks like it’s going to be really hard. But that’s probably just because he’s sick. E thinks it will be easy. But that’s probably because she’s actually from another planet. 

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

M made us some Dr Oetker brand instant flan today. It was pretty good. We were a little curious about finding a Dr Oekter product in our store; the brand is very familiar to us, but mainly from way back when. We remember seeing Dr. Oetker products on grocery shelves in countries in Europe and the Middle East. We started wondering: Where did this brand come from? Was Dr Oekter a real person? Well…of course he was. August Oetker (1862-1918) was the German fellow who invented–or at least perfected–baking powder. A former pharmacist, he started a baking goods business which has since grown into a major multi-national known for things like cake mixes, puddings, and especially pizza. 

August Oetker had one son, Rudolph, who was killed in World War I. Therefore, when August Oetker died soon after, the future of the business was unclear. At some point in the 1920’s, however, Rudolph’s widow, Ida, remarried, this time to a man named Richard Kaselowsky, who raised Rudolph Oekter’s son as his own. This child was named Rudolph August Oetker and was of course the grandson of the founder. During the thirties and early forties while Kaselowsky was running the company, Rudolph August was active in the Waffen SS. The company did a great deal of business with the German military during this period, supplying both pudding mixes and munitions. It has been reported that during the war, some Oetker factories used slave labor. 

Kaselowsky was killed by Allied bombing in 1944. Rudolph August Oetker then took the reins of  the company and ran it very successfully until 1981. The company remains today a family-run business; the current CEO is one of the founder’s great grandsons.

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Still working on the new puzzle. It’s ridiculous.

Friday, April 1, 2022

In honor of April Fool’s day, PD herewith publishes another blue chart. It shows the effects of the Omicron surge, which lasted–in Oregon–from early January to about the middle of February. The chart has no data for March because no reliable data are available. Ah well, it’s time for a break from charts. 

Saturday, April 2, 2022

Nice day. E went walking in the forest with N, who proved to be a good luck charm, as they found lots of flowers.

Still working on that puzzle…

Sunday, April 3, 2022

Finished at last! One piece had to be retrieved from a support platform underneath the table, where it had made its way through a narrow space between two table leaves.