Twisp of Fate

I couldn’t write about this in advance, for fear of spoiling the surprise – but last week we flew down to southern California for a long weekend and 60th birthday celebration with best friends.   We had air miles to use and figured, why not?  It was planned out in advance with her husband, who picked us up at the airport and dropped us in downtown Redlands where they were going to dinner at a wonderful restaurant, “The Farm” or Farm Artisan Foods.  So we were waiting when they showed up for dinner, and she was really, truly surprised and delighted.

The weather was gorgeous all weekend – low 80’s, sunny, a nice break from the still-chilly Methow Valley.

On Friday we had a lazy morning, then headed out to the beach at Balboa Peninsula.  We walked on the sand along the shore, then took the little ferry across to Balboa Island on the way back:

On Saturday we headed off to Palm Springs for brunch (not a long drive from Redlands), then spent the rest of the day up in Joshua Tree National Park.  It was rather hot there, in the 90’s, but we managed a short hike at the southern entrance at Cottonwood Springs.  There were a number of things in bloom – ocotillo, various cacti, yellow bushes all over the place (sorry, my plant id skills are lacking here).  All sorts of flora and fauna.

fauna - Western Chuckwalla lizard

more fauna

beavertail cactus with blooms

hedgehog cactus with blooms

As we drove north through the park, the day lengthened, and when we came upon this wonderful patch of cholla cactus, the light shone through their fantastic forms in the most striking manner:

We stopped for another short hike and a beer at the fabulous White Tank campground, named for the rock formations there.  What a great place to camp, amongst those rocks.  We hope to go back some time and see more of the park and camp there.

Read Full Post »

We have returned from a road trip with our little camping trailer, down to Sacramento and back for a family wedding.  It was great to get away for a while, see some sights (even though we had to keep moving each day) and have what amounted to a family reunion down in Sacramento.

Near John Day, Oregon (southeast Oregon) we pulled into a state park, circled the loop to find a spot, and spotted another Aliner trailer.  So of course we decided to camp in the adjacent spot.  After we set up, I walked over and realized it had Florida plates.  Gosh, didn’t the guy we met at Capitol Reef National Park in Utah (back in 2007) come from Florida?  The one who gave us the grand tour of his Aliner and more or less sold us on the idea?  And didn’t he tow his trailer with a Jeep Cherokee…HEY, this guy has a Jeep Cherokee the same color!!  It’s the same guy!!

Aliners at Clyde Holliday SP near John Day, OR

That’s us on the left, Jack’s rig on the right.  He is a retired schoolteacher and travels the country for months and months at a time, doing a lot of digital photography.  We had a nice visit and all marveled at what a small world it is.

Also in John Day, we visited the Kam Wah Chung & Co. Museum. To quote from the link I gave,  “Preserving the legacy of the Chinese workforce in Oregon, the museum contains artifacts and displays that share some of the trials of everyday life of these people.  Chinese businessman Lung On and herbal doctor Ing Hay worked out of this building. Dr. Hay administered care to the Chinese gold-mine workers, pioneers, and others from the John Day area and beyond by using traditional Chinese remedies.”  Part of the museum is actually the building where they lived, operated a general store, medical office and apothecary, social center for the Chinese community, quasi-bed&breakfast, etc for decades, and when it was locked up in 1948 everything in there remained untouched for decades more.

So what you see now is what was actually there, although cleaned up and protected now, of course.  Even dessicated fruits and glasses of juice that Doc Hay left on the altars throughout the little building, the day he left.

John Day also had a wonderful knitting, spinning and weaving shop:

The owner’s tastes and mine definitely align.  The knitting yarn selection was good but not tempting to me, but I did get into some trouble back in the book department:

Came away with some new weaving titles, and a great little book called Twist & Knit, self-published by Miriam Felton.  Follow my link and read the review from Knitter’s Review.  It’s geared to handspinners who want to get the most from a few hundred yarns of a special yarn, or those of us knitters who may indulge in a few skeins of something fabulous but worry about starting a project with it and not having enough to finish.  Very well done little book.

Down in Sacramento, we met up with my Dad, both my siblings and their spouses, my 2 nieces (one of whose wedding we were celebrating!!) and a whole bunch of other folks, some of whom were from the groom’s side of course.  We had three days of fun together, including a visit to the Old Sugar Mill out on the Sacramento River delta, which now houses a collection of wineries.  We brought a picnic lunch:

On our last evening there, the bride and groom hosted a lovely outdoor reception and dinner at their new home:

Dad and us "kids"

Three of my favorite men

The Shaws with a new addition to the family

Also, Rick showed them how we open wine bottles up in the Methow Valley:

A particularly stubborn cork doesn't stand a chance....

On the way back we camped near Mt Shasta, visited Gretchen and grand-kids and great-grand-kids in Medford, then wandered up through central Oregon and Washington to home in our little valley.

Read Full Post »

We returned Sunday evening from a fast-paced road trip to southern Oregon and the Washington Coast.  We had a great time, despite all the driving – and there’s nothing like a good audio book to help with that!

We stayed one night in Sisters, Oregon on the way down.  This is a pretty little town, with restaurants and art galleries, in the eastern foothills of the Oregon Cascades to the east of Eugene.  We didn’t roll in until almost 9 pm, so everything was closed, but we have been there before.  I found a nice little motel on-line before we left, the Sisters Motor Lodge, a 1930’s era motor court that is nicely updated but has the original flavor.  Their motto, “Cute as a button, neat as a pin, clean as a whistle” pretty much says it all!  Our unit had a nice kitchen, so we were able to fix our own breakfast.  I would definitely stay there again for several days, especially if we wanted to cook our own meals and not eat out.  Plus, there was a wonderful view of the Three Sisters out the kitchen windows:

We drove across the Cascades along the McKenzie River in sunshine with blue skies, then on down to Medford on I-5.

The first evening we were treated to dinner at Pasta Piatti in Ashland, where grandson Brandon is executive chef.  We had a party of fourteen, and 4 generations present.  I didn’t get a lot of pictures, but here is great-grandaughter Eva, who is two years old now, with her mom Sylvia and aunt April:

After dinner we went to Lithia Park so the kids could play in the playground and the adults could visit.

The next day was great-grandson Aidan’s fourth birthday.  The family had a lot of activities planned, so it was a jam-packed day!  We started off at a wonderful farmer’ market in Ashland, where they picked up some food for a picnic and dinner later.  Then we met at a small Ashland city park where the kids could run around and play, and we had a nice leisurely picnic lunch.  Then it was off to the the Family Fun Center in Medford, Aidan’s pick for a birthday activity.  The inside arcade was a bit much for me (lots of noise and flashing lights) but the go-kart run was fun to watch.  Rick took Aidan in his go-kart:

Then it was off to Gretchen & Duane’s house for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Brandon and Sylvia cooked a wonderful dinner, Aidan opened his presents and we had birthday cake.  Rick even played Wii (bowling and golf) which was a first.  We didn’t get back to our friends’ house in Ashland until almost 11 pm, happy but exhausted!

The next day, our last in Medford/Ashland, started out nice and slow.  We slept in, went for a walk, and visited with our friend Denise, who is a print artist (see her website, Drawing on the Dream).  Around noon we hooked up with some of the family and headed off to a wildlife refuge north of Grants Pass called Wildlife Images Education and Rehabilitation Center.  This proved to be a fun and interesting outing not only for the little kids, but the rest of us as well.  We went on the tour, where we were able to see the animals that are permanent residents because they cannot be re-introduced to the wild for various reasons.  Many of them had sad stories, and I was glad to know they had at least wound up in a safe place with a reasonably natural living environment.

I would have more pictures of us with the family, but at this point I need to wait to get image files from Gretchen’s camera.  Here’s Rick coloring with Aidan, though – he’s a very sweet, good-natured little boy (Aidan, that is…)

Thursday we headed north to Portland, OR for the second phase of the trip.  Stay tuned

//

Read Full Post »