The long road home

We left you on our way to overnight in Bend, Oregon. We were pretty tired and planned to just stay overnight and get back on the road Sunday morning to finish our weekend quest. We had planned on a Hampton Inn, but it seems the Hilton group is very rare in the northwest due to some company policies that don't fit with many of the inns in the area. When I called, I got the Bend Inn and Suites which used to be a Hampton. It was supposedly the same, only the name changed; "to protect the innocent" Anyone old enough to know where that line comes from??? We arrived about 3pm. The road (97) up from Crater Lake was straight and smooth. They guys who checked us in were great. The room looked like a Hampton, but there was a smell. Georgia with her fantastic sense of smell recognized it from the room we had in Truckee, California in April of 2008. The stuff they sprayed really kicked up her allergies. We debated our course; decided to buy some spray that she could tolerate, spray it and go sit by the pool while it did it's job. Problem is, the pool gate was locked and the little kid who was in the parking lot said we needed to get the manager to get in. Went in to the desk and Kevin (I think) said, how about we try another room. We didn't think of this because we assumed the rooms would all smell the same. We went to the room next door and it was much better; we felt tolerable. It seems the degree depends on how much is used and for some reason room 219 got an extra heavy dose. It worked out well and we got a good night's sleep. I'm getting ahead of myself. We went out to find some dinner and in a really cool mall found a good looking Italian spot called: Carino's (http://www.carinos.com/) A different place for us, but really good.... again. Neither of us were very hungry so didn't finish our meals and weren't in a very good spot to box it up. Oh well... We went through Sisters (their rodeo is next weekend, but we plan to be on the coast then). We had been down this road several times before, but it looks different with the green and flowered growth. Besides Crater Lake, Becki said the Robert Aufderheide Memorial Highway was also a good trip. It runs through the forest long a fork of the McKenzie river and a fork of the Willamette river in the Willamette valley. I tried to research it online to see how long it would take. That is confusing because it is part of the cascade scenic byway that starts near Portland. We decided to stop at the Ranger Station along 126 and find out before venturing down the Aufderheide. I also asked several people along the way, but no one seemed to know what I was talking about. I'm getting ahead of myself again. Just after leaving Highway 20 on 126 we came across Sahali Falls. We visited here in March of 2008. See the post for March 2, 2008 to see the pictures. At that time, we didn't know the walkway seen here was even present because we walked over it in snow; probably 8 feet deep. This little shelter only peeked out of the snow at that time. We then found the ranger station who said we could do the Aufderheide in about 2 hours. Although it would take a lot to top Crater Lake, it was a really nice scenic drive. To make it more informative, at the ranger station, we checked out a CD where 2 rangers narrated the trip. We learned a lot more that we would have by just driving through. There was some difficulty however. First, we could find no way to pause the CD. We looked at the owner's manual and every button on the dash. This is important because the narrators would say, "Now stop the CD until you have reached milepost XX" or " stop the tape while you ..... then restart it when you are safely back on the road".. Finally we figured out how to make it work. We would kick out the CD, then when we restarted it we had to go through a bit of a ritual to pick up where we left off. It was also a bit difficult because while trying to enjoy the view, we found ourselves searching for little brown posts (the mileposts). We learned to use the odometer, but of course the mileposts were going backward relative to the odometer. We missed a couple of important sites, but again we saw more that we would have without the narration. Sometimes we did feel like saying " shut up, we just want to enjoy the scenery". The history of the area was about as interesting as the scenery. Again, my facebook friends will see more pictures where they are easier to post.

Crater Lake Oregon

It has been said that the better things in life are worth adversity to gain them… or something like that. Because our previous trips to Oregon have been during the winter quarter of school, some of the highly recommended sites to see were off limits due to winter road closures. This trip we hope to see some of those sites. We planned the prescribed 5 hour drive from Corvallis to Crater Lake for Thursday, then to Bend on Friday. Down the Aufderheide Memorial Highway on Saturday and back to Corvallis Saturday nite to rest up to start work on Monday. Georgia woke up Thursday with a terrible toothache. She did have hints of tooth problems over the past few weeks, but didn’t have time to get to the dentist. Oh well… So, what to do? We relied on our contacts in Corvallis to find a dentist. We found one and they worked us in. Tooth root abscess (es)… He gave us a prescription for penicillin, and we are to call next week to start at least one root canal ablation process. Now to get the prescription filled and get on the road. We could have filled it at a Rite Aid here in Corvallis, but thought it would take some time to get through the system, so we went to “our” Walgreens in Albany. Crater Lake is southeast of Corvallis and Albany is of course north. We finally got on the road about 4:15 pm with the promise of a 5 hour trip and the probability of driving up mountain roads in the dark. Our directions were from Google maps. We were driving down highway 97 and saw a sign to Crater Lake…. Our Google directions, however, said we were to go another 20 miles before leaving 97. Now a dilemma. We were ahead of schedule, but should we follow this road sign with no guidance from there but road signs or follow the Google directions. We decided to follow the Google directions with the idea that if it didn’t work out, we had time to come back and follow the signs. My advice to you if you are every faced with this dilemma; follow the road signs. With our experience in Sisters in 2008, we weren’t sure. (See Post: "Cascades Revisited" Sunday, February 17, 2008) We found a road at the prescribed distance off to the right. It was gravel.. hmmm… about ½ mile it turned to a one-lane dirt forest road. We did finally see the prescribed road number on a wooden sign by the road, so kept going. After about 5-6 more miles down this twisty-turney branching road, some of the directions seemed more vague. When it said, take a slight left for 0.4 miles (The Dodge Charger we were driving didn’t give tenths of miles on the odometer) we weren’t sure if it was “here” or “there”… Finally realizing that at any moment, a bunch of “rednecks” in a pick-up truck and loaded gun rack could block us in, we decided to bail and “get the hell out in the Dodge” (Sorry, a little play on words). Fears and prayers were flying until we finally saw the stop sign at Highway 97. We drove back up 97 to the Crater Lake sign which directed us flawlessly to the Lodge. It was still somewhat light and we only had to drive through one or two clouds as we drove around the west rim of Crater Lake to the Lodge on the south end of the lake. The Lodge is at about 7200 feet above sea level and there was snow everywhere. In fact the road we came in on had just opened 3 days before our arrival. Some roads are still closed. It is roughly 1000 feet down to the lake which is the deepest fresh water lake in North America. Why is it called Crater Lake, you ask… right? Apparently it was once a huge volcano: Mount Mazama. The top of the volcano had caved in, creating this lake in the middle of the crater. A small volcano in the southeast corner continued to erupt for a while to form Wizard Island which is in many of the pictures. We believe the view up here was worth the hassle, although with Georgia’s tooth, knee, back, and foot, enjoyment is a relative word. The amazing thing is that the appearance of the lake changes almost constantly. It reflects the cloud formations and we saw it from a clear morning sky through complete cloud cover; in fact Friday evening you couldn’t see the lake because it was filled with clouds. Once here, Georgia said, “can we stay here 2 nights??? Having an extra day before starting work, we made changes and got the last room available for Friday night, then changed our Bend reservations to Saturday night. After our Thursday ordeal, I missed the sunrise, but Georgia said it was gorgeous. Our room looks out on the lake. Friday sunset was “clouded” therefore no spectacular colors. Saturday morning the lake was still clouded over at sunrise. I don’t feel too bad; a professional photographer we met was there for his second attempt to photograph Crater Lake at sunrise. The last time his alarm wasn’t loud enough and he slept through it. This time, he had neglected to do his normal equipment checklist and left his camera in the car overnight. His batteries were too low to do what he needed and some parts of his system froze up. In June, mind you. He said, “I’ll be back” (no Arnold accent though). We also discovered another culture of people. Very few of the workers here are local folks. Many have transplanted for the season, while others are “resort workers” who migrate from National Park to National Park with the seasons. Because the drive up the mountain can be “testy” there is a dormitory near the lodge where workers live. One lady from Texas sold her home, bought a small motor home and is working from scenic lodge to scenic lodge. She had planned to work at all of them until she found out that there are 395 National Parks. Many are kids just out of college. One such couple got together in this life. The guy is from North Carolina who was working in Hawaii where he met his girlfriend. They have since worked in 8 countries in Europe and when the season at Crater Lake closes this fall are off to Australia. Another couple are from Alabama (it was obvious they weren’t Oregonians.) This past year his mother passed on, he lost his job, and the restaurant where his wife had worked closed down. His only living relative (his uncle) had moved to Oregon and worked as a bellman at the Crater Lake Lodge. This couple came out as newlyweds last December and they both work here. He is a bellman and she works down the road at the Annie Creek Resturant and Gift Shop. He had told us their story Thursday nite as he helped us get checked in. Then Friday, we drove down to the Anne Creek Resturant for lunch. Rene came to the table and when she said “Hey”… I said, “you’re not from Oregon, are you from Alabama?” She said, “yes I am”. I said, “is your husband a big guy?” (Couldn’t remember his name.) She said, “Yes he is”. Then we told her that he had helped us the night before and he told us she worked there… It is fun to help the world shrink by making connections. We met people from Ohi0, Michigan, Colorado, Portland, Tennessee, and Florida. But as we were leaving we ran into folks from Dublin, Ireland. Georgia really enjoyed talking about McPhersons, Scotland, and Ireland with the Irish gentleman. On the way down, we stopped several times to see what we had missed coming up at dusk. The clouds of course were different moment to moment. At one site, we saw a pair of skiers who were zipping down a steep slope, then trudging back up. They had to be at near 8500 feet. We thought the air was thin at 7200 feet. Crater Lake is quite a story. Phenomenal in fact. You can find your own websites if you're interested. The trip up 97 was easy. We arrived at the Bend Inn and Suites about 3pm. That's another story, soon to come. My facebook friends can see 125 pictures we took at Crater Lake.

The Oregon Garden

On the day after arriving in Corvallis, we decided to keep it light. The nearest thing we hadn't seen that was available now that winter was over is the Oregon Garden. Pretty cool place. I'll put a few pictures here and a bunch on facebook for those who venture there. The garden appears to be primarily cared for by volunteers who love to garden and take advantage of the chance to work in really high end environment. It seems kind of like the "Idea Garden" at the U of I, managed by the "Master Gardeners", but maybe landscaped a bit more. Met a pair of professional photographers there, taking pictures of flowers. He is from England and She from Minnesota. Their website says they chose Cottage Grove, Oregon to live out of searching 3 continents. Says a lot for Oregon. Cottage Grove is just south of Eugene. They do some nice work. their website is: http://www.julieandbrinsley.com/

Here is the Oregon Garden site: http://www.oregongarden.org/

Return to Corvallis

We have returned to Corvallis for another, but shorter stint at OSU. After a wild and wooley family conglomerate birthday party at our house, we had one day to prepare for our flight from CMI in Savoy to Portland via DFW in Texas, then drive to our "home away from home" at the poultry building of the Corvallis Depot Suites. We didn't really wake up until we had set in DFW for 3 hours waiting for our connection to Portland. Being a murky, sleepy morning, we pretty much just sat in our seats in the little plane that took us to Dallas. The rain had subsided by the time we flew out and I was dying to try out our new camera to be sure it was ready for the big event when we circled Mt Hood near Portland. Georgia and I had talked about it and someone from North Carolina who was going to Philomath (near Corvallis) to visit their children and grandchildren said that the last time they flew to Portland they didn't come near Mt. Hood. Oh,oh, whale watching revisited! (If you don't know what that means, you will need to go back to some prior posts (2008) to get the connection.) With nothing else to do on the four hour flight, we took turns snapping pictures of clouds and every once in a while, the terrain below. Chesteen Chappell, the science teacher at Silver Lake High School would have been proud of both Georgia and I as we recognized the various cloud formations and called them by name. Cirrus, Cumulous, Cumulonimbus, etc. Problem is for most of the trip, clouds were all there was to see, but we thought they were pretty neet. My facebook friends can find more cloud pictures there. (if you want).

We did learn something on the flight. Passing over the Great Salt Lake of Utah, we notice that there was a straight east-west line across the lake. The water north of the line was a different color from that south of the line. Last nite I looked it up to find it was the causeway for th Southern Pacific Railroad that runs right through the lake. Because of the division with most water coming into the lake from the north, there is different environment in the two parts of the lake, thus different algae, thus different colors. Now we know! http://geology.utah.gov/utahgeo/gsl/lakedivided.htm

From there, we started recognizing mountains, some with snow at the peaks. I got the window seat after Georgia used the "little room" and was ready to scan the horizon for that familiar peak that I had missed on our last flight into Portland (I had left the camera in the stow away compartment.) (See post from Early Feb 2009). About that time, the pilot said it was cloudy in Portland. I recognized the cascade mountains as they came into view. Then through the din I saw it rising up. We were taking the same route we had taken in the winter, but I appears the clouds will mess up the pic. I took a couple, saying, "at least I'll have something." Then we swung around the other side and it came into clear view. Got it!!! The trip was a success already.

We landed, got the one checked bag (Oops, it was too full to fit the criteria for carry on.), and headed for the car rental area. All was cool til we got to the Thrifty desk. (We used Dollar last time) There was no one at the desk, but a sign said to go to the "shuttle island 3". A blue phone was on the desk. I picked it up and someone answered. I told him there were two parties waiting to pick up cars. He said to go to the island and a shuttle would be by every 10 minutes. About 20 minutes later it did come. The other party waiting for a car was a couple from Bedford, Indiana who were going to Sandy, Oregon for graduation of 2 grandchildren. We had time to visit with them quite a bit. Found out he was also a Purdue graduate ('53).... and they had a Cannon Rebel camera like ours. For those who don't know, I dropped our Kodak on our last trip to Oregon and it hasn't really worked correctly since. The Thrifty site was away from the airport. Once we got there, the people were great and they hooked us up with a blue Dodge Charger. All is well. We needed to pick something up before going to bed last night, so we stopped at the Woodburn Mall that we had often seen on our trips between Portland and Corvallis. We had seen the beautiful spring everyone had told us about including honeysuckle hanging out of trees all along the highway and some really intense yellow flowering bushes. This mall was insane with these huge petunia plantings, including a petunia tree. As we got off the highway and into Corvallis, we noticed that the azalias and roses in yards were just gorgeous.. and everywhere. People were right; spring/summer is beautiful here. Of course our first stop was at the New Morning Bakery where we got chicken salad, etc. for supper. We settled in, digging out the boxes and suitcase we had stored in the shed at the Depot. We're ready to roll. We feel right at home, knowing that our neighbors and family will keep a good eye on our "other" home... the one with the mortgage payments.

another full circle

As detailed in a description of my childhood that I am working on for my kids, grandkids, and yes, great... etc. (depending on how long the interest lasts), the farm I grew up on was reclaimed from swampland around what is reported by "old timers" as a lake that existed in the early 1900's. The farm was primarily "muck" (see picture) which is more black than the black dirt that most people talk about. This dirt is essentially all decomposed organic material, therefore very rich. With all the wonders of the richness of this soil, allowing super crops to be grown, comes the curse of "wetlands". To farm this land, large pumps were installed, powered by gas engines which pumped the water out into man-made ditches. In addition, farming this land requires judicious timing, to get the ground tilled and planted without getting tractors, etc. stuck in the muck. We never went into the field without a log chain to pull out the equipment which invariably got stuck in the muck. To keep the ditches open and flowing, periodically they need to be dredged out. By the time I was 10 or 12, we quit running the pumps, but I do remember the equipment coming in to clean the ditches (apparently supported by governmental programs). Yesterday, I had occasion to return to the farm for a visit. I don't believe I had been back for over 10 years??? The "new" owners who bought the farm with dad's agreement before passing in 1986, had remodeled the house considerably. (I might add, they did a great job.) During the remodeling they found "some pictures". I was able to go and reclaim the pictures of George and Rebecca Kneller (my dad's grandparents). I had also noticed considerable change of the grounds and the fields that I had roamed during the formation of my outlook on life. There were no black fields, but in the field "below the house" there were 2 ponds surrounded by natural growth. Mark explained that the government had apparently wained in interest in keeping the ditches clean, therefore farming the ground was more difficult than ever with drainage decreasing. I may not have this exactly correct, but apparently the prudent move that the Harmons chose was to turn it into "wetlands" and nature preserve. Mark gave me permission to drive back "the lane" to look over the property. What used to be fertile farmland, was now returned to "wetlands" including 5-6 ponds, over 14,000 new trees where we used to grow alfalfa (along with a number of small pine trees). There were deer trails going down to drinking spots in the ditch which is overgrown. (Although I did spot a plethera of stinging nettles which used to plague us as we gathered wild black rasberrys along the ditchbanks.) I snapped a picture of the corner field (see red X in picture of whole farm) where somewhere around 1958 I won 3rd place in the Kosciusko County 4H 5-acre corn club. Sorry, don't remember how many bushels per acre. My first thought was "No, No! This isn't right!"... understanding that I had no right to say what was or wasn't right about this land. As I walked through the fields my frame of reference changed. It was really neet to see the ponds and the cat-tails growing in the fields along with the trees. I began to picture people who were here, maybe 100 years ago who saw it very nearly as I was seeing it. Then I became very grateful that someone, years ago, carved out a place in this swampy land for me to grow up. Just as very few people in that small Indiana town remember who I am, only a few people will know that this small parcel of wetland became farmland and supported for 44 years, a small family of 4 who cared for it and received from it respect, a solid work ethic, and principles of life to pass on to the next generations that could not have been developed in any other place as they were on that spot. Through the years, the ditches will continue to fill in, hunters and wildlife enthusiasts will walk those grounds much as pioneers did, not knowing that this one branch of the family of a German immigrant once called this land "home", farming it from daylight to dusk, wrestling our impliments out of the muck to get the crops in before another rain kept us out for weeks. This will be our little secret. There is a scripture:"do not dispise humble beginnings".... Oh, I am so thankful to God for carving out this little place for us to grow up, then return it to the way he had developed it. I thank the Harmons for allowing me to see it in the "restored" condition. The rich memories developed in each field will live as long as I do, or as I am able to convey them. Gotta stop now... You see, this lump in my throat is about to overtake me.

Our day with BAP

I didn't realize that I hadn't written since we were in Oregon the last time. Spent most of the spring fighting off the rabbits whose favorite foods seem to include young emerging tulips and crochuses. Got to enjoy several of them. the last ones (purple) are still in bloom. At the same time the Alium which we first planted last fall are beginning to bloom. The Chokeberry bushes which replaced the lilacs that drowned out last spring (when our water was leaking and it rained so much) are also beginning to bloom as the redbud on the other side of the yard is fading to green. We had our plans changed a few weeks ago when Georgia wrenched her knee and was laid up for a while. Well, Thursday, we got to keep Brianna and Gerardo's little boy Bruno Alessandro Perez (BAP). We took him with us to get Georgia's allergy shot, then went to the Lake of the Woods walking/bike path where we could roll his stroller easily. It was great to see the blooming woods flowers including the Mayapples which always take me back to mushroom hunting in north central Indiana. As you can see, although he woke up once in a while, I'm not sure how much he enjoyed it, but we did. And all through the day we really enjoyed "playing" with our first great grandson. What a joy he is. Although the perennials in our yard are moving along, I think it might be safe now to start with a few annuals. We'll see, since the weather this spring has been nothing short of wierd.