come dine with us

I left you as we were about to experience Napa Valley, California. I have already shared budding spring vineyards, but I was particularly taken by the ones on hilsides as seen here. (I hope you are clicking on the pictures to enlarge them.) Again, they were all around the inn where we stayed. I neglected to tell you that in the garden outside our door (see video below) were olive trees. I neglected it because we didn't figure it out til we were leaving and I wondered what those black things were that I was stepping on... Hmmm, they look like ripe olives. Look up (See pic) "Wy Marge, I believe I'm standing under an olive tree.

We then went next door to the Freemark Abbey Winery and sampled their goods and asked if there was a small winery we could tour (we didn't really want to walk that much). We were sent to the next town of Rutherford to the Elizabeth Spencer Winery. It was small, but actually only a tasting room. Well, next door to that was the St. Helena Olive Oil company tasting room... that's right, an olive oil (and vinegar) tasting room. There is a picture of the sign here as well as one of the photos we took inside the building. A really cool place. And they cure and filter the olive oil in the back of the building. They had little bowls of bread crumbs beside the oil and vinegar samples. They also make balsamic vinegar, better than any I have tasted. Notice that we were at the St. Helena Olive Oil Company.... in... Rutherford. We apparently missed their St. Helena branch. That is where the Wine Country Inn is located.


So after this we said goodby to the wine (and olive oil) country and headed for "normal America". (We gave up on the winery tour.) Today, we are in a Hampton Inn in Woodland, California. We won't go into why we are here and not Sacramento as we thought we would be. Let's just say, we are happy here and resting up for the trip home. We are still discussing a visit to Placerville before leaving California. So why the title "come dine with us?"

With this info about wine, vinegar, and olive oil, it seems fitting. Also, although we will probably find some nice places to eat, since February 4, we have eaten in more original, super, eating establishments than ever before. As we said, Corvallis was replete with them.. Did we tell you about "Local Boys", the hawaiian campus favorite at Oregon State (look it up). Funny thing... They didn't serve pineapple. We midwesterners seem to have a strange view of other parts of the world. It was delicious. There was the China Blue which served some of the best Chinese food we have had, but the highlight was the personalities of the server and the manager. The elegance of Le Bistro in Corvallis and the Columbia Gorge Hotel were phenomenal. Shawn's on First, in Albany, Oregon wasn't much for decor, but the food was really tasty. We have had more variety of fresh seafood than we usually get in Florida. Of course we were here longer. And I have finally had lamb that I liked. And I really like it. It seemed that everyone we met had at least one favorite place for us to eat. Honestly, we were overwhelmed and couldn't get to them all. Can't think of any "bum steers" that we got. I mustn't forget the "food Fridays" at the vet school. I don't know about other vet schools, but I do know that at the University of Illinois and Oregon State University, the radiology group seem to lead in food days. And what is a food day? It's basically a "potluck" where people bring food and eat... Sometimes there is a theme (like St. Patrick's day, when Fuge brought Irish Stew (yum)) and everything was green (but we ate it anyway.) He also brought his great salsa a few times, Carol was always good for Mexican Chocolate among other things, and Becki surprised us with some really good dishes, not to forget the students who were no slouches at preparing food.

With all of this good eating, I believe my farts have even taken on a certain bouquet!

Out my back door

When Greg tied "mendocino county line" to my downer post, I didn't realize what it touched off. First, after driving and driving last evening before we got to the eastern Mendocino county line, that was in my head. Then came the thought of the long western border to Mendocino county... the Pacific where ... duh.. the sun sets on the US. I believe that is about the western most point in the continental US. This morning after probably my first cheese souffle (and boy was it good and of course "organic"), I stepped out our back door to snap some pictures. Here are just a few. The ad said there were vineyards surrounding. There are literally vineyards surrounding the lodge; on 3 sides. and on the other side is the Freemark Abbey Winery that we passed through last nite on our way to the Silverado Brewing Company to eat. Remember the connections post? On the way back to the room, I was composing this post in my head and "out my back door" came to mind... Thanks Greg for the stimulus! Here comes another snarl of connections. I recently passed on to some a "misheard lyrics" that Susie Otis passed on to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHIop4mhRro
Then it hit me that the same group did "out my back door". My mind went wild at that point. I remembered that Stevie Jay on WDWS had mentioned that John
Fogerty http://www.johnfogerty.com/news.html, used to play at the Red Herring http://www.openingbands.com/intelligencereport/venue.race?VenueID=8&view=pastshows
I hope I quoted him correctly. An interesting point is that in the mid - late 70's we actually stopped in at the Red Herring one evening, but I'm sure John was long gone by then. Oh when you look up the Red Herring, check out what street it's on.... Where have we been?? There's a little song we used to sing in youth group... "Happiness runs in a circular motion, thought is but a little boat upon the sea. Everybody is a part of everything anyway, you can have everything if you let yourself be". So here we are from Illinois sitting in wine country, and I look up the lyrics to "out my back door".. It starts with "coming home FROM illinois". Then he describes this stuff that shows that he surely had imbibed too much wine or ate too many mushrooms. Who am I to judge? Maybe he really saw that stuff. Well, just in case you think I may be suffering from similar dillusions, here are the pictures to prove it. Ain't technology grand? Even in the hands of a novice!

Lemonade

Lest I leave you down in the pits where I may have pulled you with my last post, I should quickly continue the saga to let you know that the bad day didn't last long. We had a good night's sleep in that cozy little room. The organic breakfast was delicious (we are in California). After breakfast, we set out to explore the village. Of course we had to check out the Blair House, pictured here. This was Jessica Fletcher's house in the "Murder She Wrote" series. Of course, one of Georgia's favorites. In fact they were doing some kind of marathon while we were in Corvallis and we watched several reruns. Among the pleasant things we did was to have lunch at the Bayview Cafe where we ate on the upstairs balcony overlooking the bay. (bet you guessed that one). Here is Georgia with one of our many bowls of clam chowder with fresh clams (not all at once). We stumbled onto an artist who grew up in Missouri and did a historical book of Mendocino with his paintings, which will now be a coffee table book at our house. It's so much more interesting when you get to talk with the people about the background, etc. That's the way it was with the lady in Gold Beach, Oregon. The last thing we did in town was to check out the Mendocino art gallery where we happened to be the last people to view the showing, since it was to be dismantled tomorrow for a different showing. There were pieces there from $50 t0 $8000. Reminds me of the guy who had a $2000 hound that he got in trade for 2 $1000 hounds... Long story... value is in the eye... However, some of these things really were neet. We said goodbye to the Ocean and headed inland. After all the twisty turney roads we have been on over the past couple of months, I can't say we weren't ready to spend some driving time with solid ground on both sides of the road. We still had to do some of that, but the turns were larger and along the road now there were vineyards. We were out here 19 years ago, but didn't get this "deep" into wine country. Honestly, the grapevines here are like cornfields in Illinois, only some are on hillsides. It is the time of year when the mustard fills some of the vineyards. A pretty impressive sight.

This morning we booked a room at the Wine Country Inn http://www.winecountryinn.com/

Well, the disappointment from last nite has melted away. In defense of the Sea Gull Inn; it really was nice for what it was. As I said, the website didn't lie, but we had been used to something with a little more pizazz. We found that Jim and Ayla had just bought the place and moved from the foothills last June. They offer something nice for folks who don't want to spend so much money. Well; the Wine Country Inn is a special place. We got in after dark again, but the garden outside our french doors is lighted, there is a mature, blooming sweet potato (oe???) (for we hoosiers) vine covering the entrance, etc, etc, etc. We walked through the path to the Abbey winery next door with empty barrels stacked high (hopefully we'll get pictures tomorrow) and on to the neighboring Silverado Brewing Company where we had yet another delicious meal. I almost got the whole crab, but settled for the fresh grilled salmon... then people at the next table got their crabs... we'll see what tomorrow brings... Oh, the salmon was deliceous.

I forgot, the room... Decorated in French Country. I thought Georgia would faint right there. And one of her favorite pictures on the wall. We lit a fire in the fireplace and settled in. Tomorrow, we'll see what this place called St. Helena in Napa Valley has to offer, then head out further east. We expect Placerville to be part of the next day's adventure.. If you don't know the significance of Placerville, CA, you'll have to wait.... or look it up yourself. til then...

SPLAT!

It had to come.... the day from hell!
We woke up this morning to rain. I mean rain. I don't think we have seen this much rain since last summer. Yesterday was nice. After making a wasted trip 25 miles north to Port Orford and back, we found a great gallery that a lady had in her basement. Georgia had a ball and will probably fill you in at some point. The gallery even had flying pigs.. (I resisted the urge.) However, we spent quite a bit of time there and only got to Crescent City, California. We fortunately found a Hampton Inn there and got a night's rest in familiar surroundings. We ate a late dinner at the Harbour View Grotto. Grotto (merriman: an artificial recess or structure made to resemble a natural cave.. Seems by use to be a european name for a restaurant).. Anyway, it turned out to be a real find. Georgia had prime rib and I had fish and chips. We were able to order from the "light" menu and had just enough. Now, here is the fantastic thing. My fish and chips was fresh red snapper. Here is something that is most likely as new to everyone as it was to Georgia. I fell "in love" with red snapper on Panama Beach, Florida somewhere in the early 70's. We were high school youth leaders at the time and Jim and Charlotte McNeil were junior high leaders. We did a combined outing to a large cabin they had on Panama Beach. That was the first time I saw really white sand and encountered horseshoe crabs and torpedo rays. (I digress, yet again) Well, one afternoon we went to the dock and bought several red snappers off the boats. Charlotte chopped them up in what appeared to me to be really big pieces and deep fried them with hush puppies. I had never tasted better fish. Now here is the secret. Ever since that time, when I am near an ocean, I order red snapper, trying to recapture that fabulous flavor. Well, last night at the Harbour View Grotto in Crescent City, California, I cam the closest I have ever been to getting the taste of Charlotte McNeil's red snapper. That was last night. If you remember, I started talking about today. We decided we could make it to Mendocino. We went on line and after dealing with several full B&B's and others with shared bathrooms, we ended up at the Sea Gull Inn. We were too tired to book a room last nite, so got at it this morning, under a bit of time pressure, but at least we left this morning with a place to lay our heads tonite. As I said, it rained, and rained, and rained. We went through the National Redwood Park which was impressive, but not nearly so as the California State Humbolt Park. We had been there 19 years ago, but driving down the "avenue of the Giants" was still impressive. So far it was just dreary and rainy, then to get the Mendocino, we left 101 to follow California 1. I should interject here, that a couple of days ago, I believe I OD'd on scenery. Just another fantastic seashore or mountain scene. Another 20 mph hairpin where you feel like you are going to drop of the edge of the world, either into the ocean or into a deep cravass. Well, highway 1 was just that. By the time we crossed from Leggett to Inglenook, I thought I would have a nervous breakdown. Oh, I haven't mentioned fog... fog, fog, fog. At times we didn't know if the drop off on the side of the road was ocean or cravass because the fog covered everything. Therefore, sightseeing also was, shall we say, limited???? Finally perserverance paid off and we found the Sea Gull Inn in Mendocino. We looked at each other..... Let's just say that this was a very good job of internet presentation. There were no lies, but some fantastically chosen words and photographs. The yard full of flowers was fantastic and Jim the innkeeper was a nice guy. The room was cute and cozy and appeared clean, but the bathroom was "a bit" small. After the places we have stayed over the past couple of months, I have to say we were disappointed. Oh well, it also was one of the least expensive rooms and it is clean and confortable. We'll make lemonade tomorrow. Did I say that since January, the highlight of the trip in Georgia's mind was to be in a knock-out B&B in Mendocino. Mendocino is one of Georgia's favorite spots on the whole earth. Remember the whale watching??? Well life happens. but all in all the trip is still good.

connections

Tell me if this isn't the life! Here I sit on the patio of our room at what turns out to be a world class lodge, overlooking the Rogue River about 7 miles from the mouth where it joins the Pacific Ocean... sipping on a cup of coffee... (I have sipped more coffee here in the Northwest than ever before.. You can't help it, theres an expresso vendor in every parking lot.)... I'm chronicling our experiences of the past couple of days. I skipped a couple of days as we were down mourning the untimely loss of TJ Hogan.

We did get things worked out, however to stay here in the Tu Tu Tun lodge (look it up) for 2 days which allowed Georgia to recover a bit from being road weary, and for me to visit with an old friend and collegue for the University of Illinois who now lives in .. are you ready??? Rogue River, Oregon... with his wife Kathy and 2 Malamutes. I had a great visit with them and Kathy sent me off with 2 pieces of delicious 3 berry pie that she had just baked... I knew it was delicious because I had a piece with them before leaving. Connection 1 & 2 (with Brendan McKiernan and Rogue River).


If you look at mapquest, you will see that there is a rather direct route from the nearest town (Gold Beach) to Rogue River via Grant's Pass through Agness. Brendan said, "don't go that way, go into California and back up the Redwood Highway." I checked it out and found that although this route was farther, it was only 1/2 hour longer. Oh, he said that was the road the Kim's took. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/06/missing.family/index.html Oh, connection... I found out this morning that they were on their way to Tu Tu Tun.

On my way up, I followed the beautiful Smith River, seen here. Now we are going to digress a bit. Remember back about my fear of being too excited about seeing whales??? Nuf sed. The weather has been too rough for boats to go out. I was standing beside people in the whale observation station over the past couple of days who say, "thar she blows" (not really, but a 2008 version of the same.) I saw nothing. I did find out that there are actually resident whales that live in Depoe Bay, but they were apparently not at home. Best time to see them is summer and fall when they feed in close... Probably check them out in the fall.

So back to the "wildlife hunt". So far we have seen deer (which we can see back home at Lake of the Woods Park) and lots of interesting birds, but no whales, bears, elk, etc. Until my trip back to the lodge last nite. There along 101 was a herd of elk grazing, just outside the seaside town of Smith River, CA (connection) which by the way is the self proclaimed Lily bulb capitol of the world. Then as I wound along the Rogue to the lodge, I spotted a flock of wild turkeys which seem to be rather plentiful here. Ah! My wildlife longing is satisfied. We ate dinner overlooking the bay as the clouds of the day were clearing.

Today the sun is shining, my bride is rested and we will head south into California to explore through redwoods and coastline. Our next "planned" stop is Mendocino, CA, although we probably won't make it on this day. Two more connections for this post. On the way up and back , I crossed several forks of the ILLINOIS river and went through the ILLINOIS valley. Apparently it is one of the wild rivers here. I'll have to check to see why it is named Illinois. And for the last connection, somehow Brendan, Kathy and I discussed Carle Clinic at Mahomet.. She used to work there and we had to go clear across the country to visit with them to find out that The GP that Georgia and I have been doctoring with since before we moved to Mahomet is Retiring ... April 21, 2008. Fortunately, Georgia has an appointment on April 14, but odds are, I will not get to see him again. Here we go again, trying to find a doctor with which we feel comfortable. Dr. Dunn was the best and we wish him the best, although he is disobeying a direct order from Georgia... that he couldn't retire as long as we needed him. As we leave, here is a little video of the cottage outside our door, centered on the property at Tu Tu Tun.

last day issues

The locum and teaching at the Oregon State University Veterinary College has come to an end for this visit. I finished the last of the reports, turned in my key, and said a few goodbyes to wrap it up. The final day carried a lot of emotions. The day it'self was full, with the longings to get home tussling with the enjoyment of the visit and knowing what we DIDN'T get to see and do. On top of that which is normal when you spend extended time in a beautiful place, it was also my 66th birthday. However, my bride was suffering from her allergies to the point that she had to do nebulization treatments and stay indoors... Remember, we told you, the flowers are beautiful here.... In addition, I got birthday wishes via cell phone from the kids, but one of those also carried the terrible news that the oldest cousin of Rod and Jacque's kids was killed in a car accident that morning. So our prayers are with the Hogan family as they work through emotions that put our piddly issues to shame. The day ended with me going to Georgia's favorite italian restaurant (where we ate our first meal in Corvallis as well as spending Valentine's Day evening) as a treat from "Fuge" (Richard Fucillo) who had been my "keeper" and taxi while working here. Carol and Becki, the other technical folks in Radiology were not able to join us, but Fuge, his lovely wife Dawn, and Vicki (from Eugene) who has put up with my dictations for the past 7 weeks had a really nice meal and visit. Fuge wanted to order a meal for Georgia, but I though (since we had pizza left at home) that she would appreciate a piece of her favorite;;; cheesecake. But when it came time for dessert, they didn't have cheesecake, so since I was only a block or so from the New Morning Bakery, I stopped in there to pick up a piece of New York Cheesecake for her.

Today, we do last minute errands, wash clothes, clean the apartment and pack. Tomorrow we will be on the coast in search of whales and other delights. I got the bug for a "real" camcorder. The little videos I have posted so far are from my Kodak digital still camera video feature. I was going to burden you with my first effort with this camera, but it is a high def camera and I haven't yet learned how to scale them down to fit the blog.

One last treat was a quick trip down Peoria... yes, Peoria road to the Country Bakery which Vicki told us about Friday nite. It was there just as she said, however, by the time we got there, all that was left was some bread and cookies... well, we couldn't leave empty handed... The taste was good enough to become another reason to return.

Weekend 6: WOW!

For the first weekend, we decided to leave after work Friday nite and stay 2 nites in the Columbia Gorge Hotel. I can't give the whole story here, but essentially, in 1921, Simon Benson, a timber baron built this place soon after Highway 30 was extended as a scenic passage through the gorge. I find it interesting that Highway 30 runs essentially from Pennsylvania to Portland, mostly as the Lincoln Highway and runs through Warsaw, Indiana, 12 miles from my childhood home of Silver Lake, where Georgia and I met. So, I guess he built it for us. Really, he built it on the southern brim of the gorge, overlooking the Columbia River so that people could come to enjoy the beauty. What a place, with it's gardens, stream and waterfall. You look down the waterfall to see a train track running along the river. It's worth a trip to the internet to look up Columbia Gorge Hotel and Columbia Gorge. While you're at it, take a look at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, the Highest mountain in Oregon. The lodge is at 6000 feet, where the trees stop growing and the summit is over 11,ooo feet. Well, we were going to try to stay Friday nite there, but they were full. That was the protection of God. As you can see, they had a big snow storm there Friday nite (while we were driving to Columbia Gorge Hotel). Now this is snow. The lodge was built as part of President Roosevelt's work program where he gathered artisans to build it. Such craftmanship!

There was so much snow that the lodge was half covered. They had this little covering over the entrance so you didn't have to wade snow up the steps. Notice that the snow covered the windows on one side of one of the restaurants. I'll let Georgia show you most of the architecture while I go on to the next day. As you'll see (in case you haven't figured it out yet,) I am really impressed by waterfalls.

For much of the gorge, Interstate 84 and US 30 are the same road. However for 20 -30 miles US 30 deviates to become a scenic highway where you can actually drive by many waterfalls. The first falls we saw was Horsetail falls, named so because it looks like a Horse's tail. Supposedly, if you hike to the top, you can go upstream a bit to find "Ponytail falls".

Then came Multnomah. This was something else. As you can see, there are 2 parts, with a walking bridge.

The video is taken from the bridge. Notice again, the water on the lense (how can you not notice?) By the way, Mr. Benson (CGH) donated much of the land for the parks housing these falls.

Before heading back for home, we made our way to the Vista House atop the gorge where you could see in all directions. The only downer was that it was really cloudy, so it limited our vision. In the picture that looks like clouds only, that is Mount Hood covered by clouds. On the Vista House is a plaque commemorating the guy who built the road so that people could see all of this beauty.

Weekend 5 revisited

Here I sit at 7am Saturday morning on our 6th weekend in Oregon. After a good nite's sleep in this fancy place where the turn down service included heavy terry cloth robes, a dolop of really rich chocolate and a bottle of Voss water for each of us. The restuarant hasn't opened yet for breakfast, but I have had a really great stroll around the grounds of the Columbia Gorge Hotel (http://columbiagorgehotel.com/) which is listed as an historic place because it was built in 1921 and I am surely sitting in a chair that either Clara Bow or Rudolph Valentino sat in on their stays in this really elegant "country inn". Because this post is not about this weekend, I will save the pictures of the onsite waterfall and the millions of daffodils as well as the view of the Columbia river (below) from the rock and flower gardens that surround this place. I wanted to catch you up on last weekend. If you read Georgia's post, you knowthat we went to the Japanese Garden and Powell's Books in Portland last Sunday and got our first look at Mount Hood. (Today, we are going there. It's about an hour from here.) What you don't know is that Saturday, Georgia wasn't feeling well, so about noon, said, "Honey, why don't you go ahead".. After some discussion, I decided to go. so I went to Silver Falls State Park.... YES.... finally got there. I saw several falls, but there were about 7 more that would have required several miles of walking and I didn't want to take the time, since I believe I saw the best. Then, I went to West Linn, a Portland suburb to visit with the familiy of Jen (Podolski) Tepavich who finished our radiology residency program a few years ago and came to "Portland" to work at VDIC, a specialty imaging group. http://www.vdic.com/default.asp. Got to visit with Jen and her really nice husband and super cute daughters. I was even offered a Nemo blanket to make me feel at home while I was there. It was great to see Jen again as well as "that guy" who used to show up with flowers and lunch and all that stuff that made the rest of us guys look like oafs. From my short observation, I think she got a good one. A really neet family.

Here is a video from behind the south falls at Silver Falls State Park. I went ahead and put all the pictures at the top because it's easier to manage that way. There are some more waterfall pictures, some from a rest stop on the way up Sunday where the flowering crab was in all it's glory and I captured a flower between 3 tall trees. A couple of the Japanese garden, one of the most serene places we've been, etc. Now on to Hood Mountain (after the best meal of the day.... breakfast)..

another hurdle

Today, I finally got the last question for the final exam finished. With the different style of exam, it was a real trial, but it's over. We will finish the course Tuesday. Today, I also did something a little different. Georgia needed the car, and my usual ride (Fuge) was out of town. I went to wake Georgia up to take me in and had a second thought. Last nite, I took these 3 pictures. They are take at the corner of Washington Avenue and 30th street which is the corner of the Vet clinic grounds. As you look toward the vet school, you can see the sign (OOPS, looks like I jiggled) as well as the entrance to the small animal clinic which has only been open for a few years. As you look down the railroad tracks,you can see at the end... the poultry building, where we live. You may need to click on the picture to make it big enough to see the building. If you don't recognize it, go back to Georgia's posting where she shows the pictures of the poultry building.
http://georgia-wintersong.blogspot.com/ "Home in Corvallis".

Anyway.... this morning, I thought, "If I can capture both places in pictures from one place, they can't be too far apart". So, I through my brains (Dell Latitude D520 + accessories) on my back and grabbed my bubba keg full of tea and started out down the tracks. Actually wasn't too bad, and I'm sure my doctors would have been thrilled. Got there in about 25 minutes. Problem was, with the time change, I started in the dark and when I got there the vet school was still locked. It doesn't open til 7:30. Fortunately a student was sitting in the lobby studying and let me in. No big deal, just a little different.

I foolishly agreed to let the students do an extra credit project that is usally graded by the technical staff at the U of I... Well, they're a long ways away and I didn't feel I should impose on the local technologists for this, so I will have one more project before finishing the course... besides giving the final exams. Starting to get those strange feelings. Part of me is missing home, ready to head out... Another part of me is sad to see this stint to be coming to an end. It really does seem a lot shorter than it is.

here... 4

We left Suttle Lake and went 10 - 15 miles to the HooDoo Ski area. Here there were ski and snowboard slopes and lifts, tubing areas and snowmobiles everywhere. Supposedly their motto is "Steeper, Deeper, Cheaper! . Enjoy the pictures . Thirty years ago, we would have been all over this place.

From there we started down. We only had one more quest in mind for the weekend. Proxy Falls. After reading this posting, we just had to try, although the odds were against us. http://www.waterfallswest.com/or_proxy.html

Here's the deal. Proxy falls is on 242 which is a "scenic by way" which is closed in the winter months. However, the estimation was that it would be closed on the "other end" and we might be able to get up the road far enough to see the falls. We saw the road going up to Suttle Lake, but due to the time of day, decided to wait til we came down. So we drove and drove and were sure we had missed it. Then, glory be, there it was. We wheeled around the turn and up this really cool remote road where the Ponderosa pines actually closed over our heads. Our mapquest said that after we turned onto 242 we would go 8.2 miles. Here is the picture we found in front of us at 7 miles. Again 30 years ago, we might have hoofed it the extra 1.2 miles, but at least we saw one of the 3 falls we set out to see. More in the future. Surely Silver Falls State Park is in a more hospitable area.

Along the McKenzie river going up and down, we kept seeing these unusual orchards. When we asked, we were told they were Filberts! Check out this link to see that they most likely are one of my favorites... Hazelnuts. http://www.thenutfactory.com/kitchen/facts/facts-filberts.html

Coming down, we stopped at Belknap Springs Resort. http://www.belknaphotsprings.com/ There are hot springs along the McKenzie and they built pools to which people flock to sit in the hot mineral pools. The neet thing is that at this site, we were able to capture the McKenzie. See if I was right about it in the original "here we go again".