here we... chapter 3

We left you as we were settling in at the Lodge at Suttle Lake. http://www.thelodgeatsuttlelake.com/

We hadn't eaten since about noon (except for a spare Frito or 2). So we went to the Boathouse Restaurant. As they say out here, it was a little "spendy", but boy was it good. Ranks among the top 3 meals we've had, maybe forever. Georgia had pan seared duck breast, and I had redfish baked "Louisiana style". The main part of the dinner was good, but the garnishes were exquisite.. In home talk, that's "really good". Although we had plenty to eat, we had enough room for desert. For the first time that I remember, Georgia got really gutsy and went with something besides New York Cheesecake... Chocolate Cheesecake. I went nuts and had Creme Brulée. Georgia tasted it and said it was as good as what she had in France. To me it was exquisite. In home talk... Oh! When we were preparing to head down to see Sahalie Falls, we were feeding each other lines about running into bears as if they were facts; demonstrating how full of ... we both were. So what was the name of our room at the lodge? Bear Track! After dinner we wandered around the lodge. Most of the pictures on the wall were of Native Americans in settings we would consider "natural". Very impressive. There were also carvings all over the place by this guy in Sisters. If you remember, Sisters is only about 20 miles from Suttle lake. At our annual trek to the Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County, Indiana, we typically see chain saw artists knocking out bears, eagles, etc. Well this guy is goooood. Take a look at this brave and horses. There was also a sculpture of a brave and buffalo that impressed me. (Not a wood carving.) I have seen versions of this before. It always moves me with the raw power, hope, and dispair of the situation.

Again, because I want to use several pictures here, I will break and save the trip to the HooDoo ski area for another post.

Again, I'm tired of wrestling with spacing here, so this stuff may be spread apart a bit. I'll comment to try to bring it together. We start with the "outhouse" with male and female designations (native style). There is the boathouse and the door to our "bear tracks" room. Most of these pictures were actually taken Sunday morning... in the daylight. A view down Suttle lake from the dock in front of the Boathouse Restaurant. and a view of the crystal clear water from the dock. The next 2 are in the lodge and the next in our room, then the carving and sculpture. That's it for this. Next HooDoo.

Sunday morning

here we go again; chapter 2

In effort to see some new stuff, we did some backtracking, but the weather changed between up and down so we got to see more variety. We brought 58 back to Eugene, then out the McKenzie Highway (126) I had hoped to make a different route via the Aufderheide Memorial Drive, a forest service road that isn't maintained in the winter. Everyone says it's beautiful. We stopped at a Ranger Station on the way up to Salt Creek to check it out. The Ranger's words were pretty clear; "you won't make it over". So back to Eugene and out again. The trip up 126 was awesome.

http://www.el.com/to/mckenzierivervalley/ We stopped at a country store because, as usual, I thought we should have been where we're going by now. Nope, about another 20 miles (it was actually 27 miles, but who's counting.) Oh, again, the advice was, "you can see the falls, but don't try to go down into the parking area, park along the road. They don't plow it out in the winter." Right again. Here are some pictures as we trekked across the waist deep snow to get to the viewpoint. I stepped where "no man had been" and found out how deep the snow was. Fortunately, I had just slipped on my trust LL Bean extreme weather boots. Georgia had donned the tallest pair of her new cowgirl boots and away we went. A family was there when we got there, but had gone before we headed back to the car. Our car was along the road with the flashers flashing (so no one would hit it). As we were returning to the car, we heard a snowplow coming down the road, then the scraping sound stopped. Pretty soon, we saw the driver who had stopped to make sure we were OK. We assured him that we were merely old and slow and he went on his way. Somewhere on this page, you will see pictures of us, the falls and a video of the falls. Then we'll take you another 20 miles to the Lodge at Suttle Lake where we had reservations for the nite. It was dark by the time we got there, but we had been by there before, so had no problem. Chapter 3; the lodge, what an experience for us.

Here we go again

Feeling like we missed out on something last weekend, we set out to plan a little more for this weekend. We are finding that Oregon is more than the space between California and Washington. Yesterday morning, just 2 blocks from our "house" was this bush. We have learned that if it's raining in the valley, it's snowing in the mountains. As we photographed this bush, it was raining. Since we missed out on Silver Falls state park, I tried to work in some visits to waterfalls. The first was to go south to Eugene, then head up into the Willamette National Forest to Salt Creek Falls. http://www.naturalhighs.net/waterfalls/falls04/SaltCreek.htm

I have to take a short side trip here for those midwesterners like ourselves who will naturally mispronounce Willamette. You can't get away with it here because Corvallis is in the Willamette Valley, there is the Willamette River and basically, around here if it isn't named "Cascade" something, it's "Willamette". So go ahead say it, you know that Chicago suburb.. Will - a - met, right...... WRONG. it's Wil LAMB et. Actually, there's no "B" but I wanted to be sure that you said it like lamb. If you need a tag, remember that there are lots of sheep in Oregon.. I was going to stretch it a bit by going with "Wool lamb it". Which is like it sounds sometimes. OK, back to travel.

So off to Salt Creek Falls we go. as we hit about 3000 feet, the snow starts. By the time we get to the sign to Salt Creek Falls, it is coming down heavy. Just like it was our first nite in Oregon. Georgia was in heaven. We found the sign, started to turn down the road and Whoa!, maybe not. The road hadn't been plowed out. Although there were tracks and we had bought 2 sets of tire chains (blessed all wheel drive), we didn't know how far it was and that first little dip looked pretty steep, so we were concerned we might get stranded, with no one around. Oh, there was a car (empty). Since we didn't get to see the falls, we took some pictures of Salt Creek as we came down to start the second part of this trip up along the beautiful McKenzie River. We didn't get pictures along the McKenzie, but if you can take this video of Salt Creek, multiply it about 6 times, then change to color to aqua green. you pretty much have the McKenzie. Because I haven't yet learned how to manage lots of images gracefully on this site, we're goint to break the trip up into pieces. Next; up the McKenzie to Sahalie Falls.

hiccup, hiatus, respite, break, recovery

We thank you who have come on this whirlwind travelogue with us. This weekend, however, it seems to have caught up with us. In my 3rd week at the OSU vet hospital, I finally caught the local version of the respiratory crud. Georgia is feeling punky too, so we decided to lay back a bit. We have material to go to Silver Falls State Park which is only about one hour away, just in case we feel up to it tomorrow. http://www.silverfallspark.org/ Today, we layed around the "crib" and I worked on a final exam for the radiology course. Only one practical question to go, then the written. That puts me about in the middle of it. With traveling on the weekends, and discovering the great local cuisine weekday evenings, it doesn't leave a lot of time for the "behind the scenes" part of my "job". This is one of the days when one of my favorite signs seems appropriate.

perspective

A step away from the travelogue to expose my weakness in one of the very things that I teach against. In my radiology teaching, I tie together 3 observations that I have made.

1. Most people think they can't read radiographs (x-rays)

2. You will see on a radiograph what you want to see

3. What you know about the patient doesn't change what is on the radiograph

I use these three facts to demonstrate how the general medical or veterinary population misleads itself when trying to interpret radiographs, and encourage students to concentrate on what they actually see. Well, the last couple of days I was interfacing with someone back home (J:) I have taken out most of the boring part, but have included the interchange below to demonstrate how easy it is to mislead yourself. We start with (J:) asking a simple question. (S:) is of course me!

J: How do you like the IU22?

S: Sorry, don't know what you're talking about. My sister called me during the Illinois Indiana game last week to complain about the poor sportsmanship of Illinois... Problem was, I didn't even know they were playing. I'm sure that if Illinois was doing better, I would be more attentive, but aside from the weekend jaunts, I seem to be too busy to pay attention. I assume you are talking about basketball, but don't know... Please fill me in and I'll give my opinion. thanks

J: I saw a position announcement that says they (Oregon State) have a Philips IU22 ultrasound machine. That is what we're looking at here to replace the ATL. It seems to be getting very good reviews and I was curious if you've had a chance to use it and how you like it.

S: Wow, dufus here. I knew it was a Philips, a "grandson" of the ATL at Illinois. Of all of the machines I have used away from Illinois, I like it best... probably because it is most like the ATL. I think the images are comparable. I probably don't know enough to "put it through it's paces". For everyday use, the 2 features that are plus and minus are that the keyboard is "under" the control panel and slides out. You use it very seldom during the exam unless you want or need to put in manual text labels. There is also a touch screen for labeling, etc. You hit the "annotation key" and the correct set of labels comes up for what you are doing, you just touch it. One little thing that annoys me (again most likely my lack of understanding). For instance, you have the liver label up, then go to the spleen, you have to first hit, erase text or when you label the spleen you will have liver and spleen. Not a big thing. If I remember correctly, with the ATL, the new label replaces the old unless you intentionally move the cursor. That could be set up also. The probes are pretty much the same. The up and down adjustment are the same. So to answer your simple question.... yes, I like it. duh!! I thought Eric Gordon's number was 23....

J: Thanks. Who's eric gordon?

For some reason, I though he was talking about something to do with Indiana basketball, while the machine he was asking about was something I was using every day without knowing the model number. As you can see, once I know the subject, I had lots to say.

To quote a philosophical giant in music;, "you gotta watch what you're doin!"

Oh, perspective: The picture at the top IS of 2 bull elk. Here we are surrounded by mountains where there are many signs for deer and elk crossing. This picture was take along the road just north of Mulberry..... Indiana.

ps

Sorry, I can't pass this up. I just typed this and Georgia was watching American Idol. I finish this, and go over to sit down and watch... just in time to see Amanda Overmyer and see that she is from....... Mulberry, Indiana... If I'm lyin, I'm dyin! How many people in this world even know where Mulberry, Indiana is. How's that for perspective??? I'm ending... again.

Oh, one last note on perspective. Take a look at this last picture and see how it differs from the one at the top... It's perspective.

Cascades day 2

This will be a quicky, just the essence. We left Bend, Oregon for Sisters, Oregon. On the way, we believe we finally identified the 3 sisters. Of course we passed the vista point and took this shot out the side window as we whizzed down the highway. Be sure to click on the photo to get some idea of their majesty... and see my reflection in the window.

Then we got to the town named for them, which is quaint and full of shops. We were hungry so we stopped in at Bronco Billy's. This place was originally built as the Sisters Hotel at the turn of the century. The inside is rough western motif, including a poster of Clint Eastwood as ..... Bronco Billy. We did a mix and match meal of a great salad, vegetable soup that was essentially beef stew and in Georgia's words, "the best nachos I've ever eaten". Shredded beef is always a hit with me over hamburger. Geogia had her first cherry limeade... Sonic doesn't serve cherry limeade (although they think they do). We had more food than we could handle, but boy was it good. We went upstairs to look around... Georgia has pictures she might share later. Then we shopped a bit. An authentic Russian (yes Russian) shop where they had hand made items from those painted nesting dolls to table runners and wall hangings. This Russian lady married to an American from Eugene, OR. imports this stuff from her home community where her sister and friends do the work. Quite an experience. We then found a western store that of course, had a sale going. I replaced the hats I gave Blaine with one that fit me. Georgia finally got her cowgirl boots, although with the help of the clerk, we all decided that the pointy toes were not in her best interest. Fortunately the clerk was wearing round toed boots. So Georgia of the west rides again; and won't damage her feet further while doing it.

Somewhere along the line, we came past this place that had lots (and lots) of horses... Georgia has the pictures. Well, remember the howling coyote that was along the road in Wyoming? Take a look at these horses that were in the same pasture as the real horses. Yup, these are made of the same sheet metal as the coyote, and a few other pieces of roadside art we have seen. The horses are really cool because at first you think they are running along with you, then you see that they don't move..

For me, that's another weekend. We ended up coming down the mountain in the dark and got "home" about 7:30. We have all week to decide where to go next weekend... The weather was fantastic this weekend.. can we hope for the same next weekend???

Cascades revisited

It's another weekend. No emergency duty, no duty period. Yes, this retirement life can grow on you. Since our last weekend trip to the coast, the passes in the Cascades have opened. Remembering the beautiful, but trying nite that we crossed the Cascades 2 weeks ago, we decided to go back to see what it looks like in daylight. Our destination was Sisters. (You may have to go back a few posts for the lowdown on that place, but you can just google sisters oregon and find out about it... if you don't already know.) Sisters is about 2 hours from Corvallis when the Santiam pass is open. We went the long way around 2 weeks ago because it wasn't. For short, it's named for the 3 mountain peaks; Faith, Hope, and Charity. Every time we came around a corner one of us (me) would say, maybe those are the sisters. I do believe we saw them, but didn't get pictures. Will try again today.

The further we went, the cooler (not colder, cooler) it got and the more snow we saw. We stopped by this gurgling stream (video at the end). I was overwhelmed by the moss growing on the dead trees. I was nervous about standing still for very long, fearing I too would be covered with moss.

We reached a place called Tombstone where only a week ago, the highw

ay
camera showed nothing but snow. We also found that where we barely had 2 lanes of road 2 weeks ago, there were 4-5 lanes of road. So here we are at Tombstone, very close to the Santiam pass. We weren't kidding the snow was 10 feet deep. If fact the ski reports claim they have 140 inches of snow pack.

We came to a lake up there (Suttle Lake) with a neet lodge, etc. We are sure they were snowed in 2 weeks ago. We might go back to stay there, the deal is that we passed it up because at that time we weren't sure if we would stay up here or go back to Corvallis for the evening. Oh, here's Suttle Lake: http://www.thelodgeatsuttlelake.com/

Here's where our saga turns to "typical". We had these books to tell us what to do and lots of great people have been feeding us info. We stopped by Black Butte Ranch. A really cool contemprary resort with a fantastic view of, guess what.... Black Butte. We got their info and decided to go on into sisters (Oh, if you want to see about Black Butte, you can google it.) By this time it's too late to go back to Corvallis and we're getting nervous about housing for the nite. A B&B in Sisters looked interesting. This is as good as any place for me to complain about the signage in this area. Seems they think everyone is from here. Although the speed limit signs are huge, the street signs (when you find them) are small and difficult for these old midwestern eyes to decipher. OK that's done, I feel better. We found that the best way to get around is to ask a lot. The people we have run into in Oregon are really friendly, talk like midwesterners and are very helpful. (My problem is that I want to see some signs now and then to assure me that I heard correctly.) Coming over 2 weeks ago, several people we ran into at rest stops advised us to go 20 to Corvallis, just as Mapquest had directed us. We stopped in Sisters at a Subway, and this little lady, said, "Oh no! You have to go 22 to Salem because 20 is closed. About 10 miles down the road we came across a policeman in the snow who confirmed that in another 8 miles or so we would see the split and needed to take 22. So here we are 2 weeks later back in Sisters (are you following this????) The B&B in the book is on Camp Pope Road just north of Sisters. We stop into the Subway, and, Yep, she's working.. (safe at last) She doesn't know the B&B, but does know the road. She directs us and when we got to the end of her directions we come to the road which only goes left from there. We drive and drive and can't find the B&B. Finally after driving about 10 miles, we come across a set of buildings that look very much like the description. But it was supposed to be only 1/4 mile from Sisters. The place is empty and in disrepair (we find that the book was published in 2005.) so we drive on another 1/4 mile and.... you guessed it, there is the sign "Welcome to Sisters". The really sad thing is that we drive another 1/4 mile and look across the street and see...... The Subway shop.. I glanced quickly to my left and to my surprise, there is a street sign.... "Locust Street"... I rest my case. We thought we should go over and let her know what we discovered, but then we were getting more nervous about housing and ... the B&B wasn't there anyway. Plan B the Blue Spruce Inn in Sisters. We found it, but there was a note on the door to call this number. We called and got no immediate response, so beat it for Bend, hoping for success. As we were messing around at the Blue Spruce, these guys were prowling around the neighbor's trailer.

OK, now we're really getting nervous. and the sun is sinking. Pretty, but sinking. Not wanting to stay just anywhere, but wanting to stay somewhere, we decided to give it one last shot before pulling into the local motel 6, or something akin. Georgia found in her book... Oh, I forgot to give you the title; "Places to Kiss in the Pacific Northwest, Romantic venues (paraphrased) Yes, Valentine's day extended. So now our quarry is the Pine Ridge Inn in Bend. We pulled into Bend and the first stationary person we found became our guide. He didn't know the Pine Ridge Inn, but did know where Century Avenue was. We followed his directions onto the parkway and off, but when we got to the end of his directions we found no Century Avenue. During this time, Georgia's prayer generator kicked in... "Lord, please help us to find a clean and nice place to stay for the night." was the essence. What to do now. Look, there's a Subway... Went to the door to find al long line of people wanting what they were selling food... Hey, there's a McDonalds with only a few people. (Does this mean Oregonians are healthy eaters???) Went to the counter to ask for help. The manager goes over to the only customers, a nice couple, and asks them. This guy is on it. He points to the round-about outside the window. (Yes, thought we left those in Michigan). Go 3/4 around it and you will come out on Century. Go through the next round-about, then it should be very close on the left. If you get to the 3rd round=about, go around it and come back, because you missed it. His directions were spot on. Next fear comes... do they have a room this late.. Yes they did and overlooking the river, with hot breakfast... and because it's so late we're giving you the corporate rate (30% off). Feeling the hand of GOD on us, I return to the vehicle to tell my bride that we have a room.. Next test.... will it be clean and nice.... Wow! she loved it. Have pictures, but maybe later. Here are a couple of pics from our patio. The river is below through the trees. So now what to eat. The really nice lady at the desk gave us some options, the easiest of which was to walk across the street to the Cascade Lakes Brewing Company. That was really good. A bit noisy with "ski folks" hobnobbing, but the food was really good. and it was easy. While we're sitting there, Georgia checks her phone for missed calls. Seems like she is missing several somehow... So there were 2 messages from the lady at the Blue Spruce Inn, about 10 minutes after we decided to go to Bend. But there was also a message that our oldest son had caught the bug from his family and was really sick. What timeing for us. We had just had some real prayer victories, pulling us out of the depths of dispair to the pinnacle of joy. We were obviouly saddened by this news, but felt confident in our prayers. We trust that he is much better now... If not, we need to know so we can stay on the job.

Today is another day. Back to Sisters to "do the town", then "home" to prepare for another week of work. Oh, these last pictures from our patio were taken this morning.