Westport & Seattle

We had noticed an Oceanspray processing plant near our campground in Westport, so when 20 miles away Cranberry Lane showed up as a parallel side street on our GPS...  it was worth a quick detour.  While we had seen flooded cranberry fields in Massachusetts near harvest time, we had never seen the fields early in the growth cycle.

Not only were there cranberry fields on cranberry lane, but they were in bloom.  It may have been a cloudy day and only in the low 60s,  but I would say we were pretty darn lucky.

We were on our way down to visit the replica of the Fort that Lewis and Clark stayed in during the winter they lived on the Oregon coast before starting back east.  The fort was nestled in a forest of very massive evergreen trees and was built according to the plans in the expedition diaries.  Apparently they encountered the same kind of gray, cool, rainy weather we have been enduring (furnace on every night and some days).  When a sunny day came in the spring...  they were out of there heading back east.  In the meantime, their accommodations were spartan, but at least provided some comfort.  They "gave" the fort to their Indian hosts when they departed (some gift, considering they had built it on Indian land, using trees from the indians' forest).

Given the rainy weather, it was appropriate for our next stop to be a visit to one of the temperate (as in not tropical) rain forest in the Olympic National Forest.  The Indians considered the forest to be the dwelling place of spirits.  They may have had the guy pictured below in mind, or was that merely a log with moss on it?

The rain forest displays an expected lushness, but what was unexpected was how much fallen timber is a crucial part of the ecological cycle.  Since forest trees are massive, it takes many decades for them to rot.  In the meantime they become "nurse trees" for new forest growth.  We saw many example of nurse trees, but this nurse stump was even more dramatic.

The next couple of pictures are an attempt to capture the scale and richness of the rain forest environment.

With all the fallen trees, there are also some spectacular examples of uprooted root balls.  Dotti's presence in this picture is to establish scale, not to comment on died (or dead) roots.

After puttering around some local museums, walking beaches, looking at light houses, enjoying really fresh fish (right off the boat) and even doing laundry (yes, even on vacation clothes do get dirty)...  we set off for Seattle.  More precisely, we camped in Everett, WA which is just down the street from one of the large Boeing aircraft factories.  We did the tour... and saw the building where 747s, 767s, 777s, and 787s are made (the 787 is the craft made from composite material).  First a picture of the plant.

All the large aircraft under construction on the floor of the factory (no cameras allowed) and parked around the building gave the illusion that the building was smaller.  Let me put it in perspective:  the footprint of the building is 98 acres.  Those doors in the side of the building are each 90 feet tall and 350 feet wide (a little larger than a football field) and it is 1/3 mile across the narrow side of the building.  This is the biggest building (by volume) in the world. 

The following day Dotti and I took a ferry to Vashion Island to visit John and Joan Thompson.  John's parent where very close friends with Larry's parents (also being active in the same church) so John and Larry spent much of their adolescence together.  After they both went to Muskingum College, they lost contact.  By the way, Joan lived a mere two blocks from the Humms, so she was no stranger either.

The reunion brought back a flood of memories,  more catching up than we really had time to accomplish, and a reminder of how deep common roots can be.  We reluctantly left after a wonderful day's visit and hope we do not wait so long to meet again.

Downtown Seattle is a fascinating place, and while we were exploring the street market, the library (what an architectural marvel) and museums, we happened to walk past the Seattle Symphony Hall.  We were struck by two coincidences that our Rochester friends will appreciate.  First, they still had banners up praising the final season of their beloved maestro last year.  (We did the same in Rochester with Christopher Seaman leaving at the end of last season.)  And in the entry hall hangs this chandelier (which is very similar to one that hangs in the entry hall of Kodak Hall which opened last year.)

Finally, our trip to Seattle was made even more special by being able to join a friend from national conferences of the American Education Research Association.  Gerry Gillmore and I shared a common interest in implementing fair, reliable instructional evaluation techniques.  In fact, Jerry was the author of the Instructional Assessment System that we used for many years at SUNY Brockport.  We knew many of the same people (actually, Gerry introduced me to them) and also shared an interest in finding the best restaurants from varying cultures when we visited convention cities.

Gerry and his wife, Paula, shared a delightful evening with us in their home joined by their daughter, Anova.  As much as we have enjoyed the sites across the country, we have found renewed contacts with old friends to be the icing on the cake. 

Tomorrow we start our trip east with a drive to Spokane, WA.  We have enjoyed the north-west coast and hope to return soon. 



Eugene, Portland, & Westport

After leaving the Crater Lake region we traveled on to Eugene, which became a base for exploring the central coast of Oregon and the wine region of the Willamette Valley.  Two features of the central coast are the Sea Lion Caves and the Sand Dunes.  The picture above is inside the cave which was formed by volcano lava which was then washed out by the sea.  It makes a perfect place for the Sea Lions to breed and live in cold weather.

The Oregon Dunes are slowly turning into "grasslands" as the grass that was planted to stabilize them continues to encroach on the dunes.  The miles and miles of dunes along the Pacific shore used to migrate to the extent that they would take over small towns.  It was thought that some stabilizing grass would slow that process, but alas, it threatens to change the very nature of the dunes.  There is even some forest on part of what was once dunes.

Oregon has begun to develop a wine industry, particularly with the Pinot Noir grapes.  The Willamette Valley is dotted with wineries all the way up to Portland.  One winery we particularly likes was the King Estate Winery which is partly pictured below.

The winery, tasting room, and restaurant look particularly impressive as the structures rise out of the vine covered hills.

While in Eugene we had a pleasant evening with Dot's childhood neighbor from Wappingers Falls, NY.  Below is Lois (Dot's former neighbor), her husband David and Lois's son, Joey (Larry is in the striped shirt). 

After leaving Eugene we traveled on to Portland.  This picture is showing the city from Washington Park with Mt. Hood in the background.  Portland has many parks, many artisan breweries (even one that specializes in sour beer),  and many cars which all seem to want to be on I-5 at the same time that we do.

Washington Park has a zoo, rose gardens (still in full bloom), and a Japanese Garden which is pictured below.  Although the park is only a block from a bustling city, it is also set apart on a hill so that it is quite peaceful.

Two former Brockport students now live across the river from Portland in Vancouver, WA.  Allison and David Wetchler have been friends since the days when David haunted the computer center and Allison was president of the ski club.  Dinner at Beaches provided an opportunity to share old memories and pick up some useful hints on exploring the area.

Among our explorations was a Sake brewery (yes, there is very good sake being produced in Oregon),  a look at Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose"  (a HUGE experimental cargo plane made entirely from plywood), and a trip up the beautiful Columbia River Gorge.  One highlight was the fish ladder which permits salmon to swim upstream around the Bonneville Dam to spawn.  You will notice no fish jumping...  because there are openings in the walls forming the steps so the fish can swim up the ladder while staying under water.

Oregon is not only wineries, hazelnuts (filberts), majestic scenery, and breweries.  It also has Lavender farms.  Below is a picture of a field of lavender.  Who knew there were so many products that could be made from such a scented plant.  The owner of this particular farm is a retired pilot from Eastern Airways and he got into lavender by accident when trying to find a way to protect his irrigation rights.  Mercy.  I had always thought of this part of the country as being very wet...  but it turns out that irrigation is critical for farming here as well.

Another of the Columbia Gorge's attractions is Multnomah Falls, which is the second highest year-round waterfall in the nation (620 feet).  It is a long way to the top.

With a long list of things we still wanted to see and do in Portland, we moved on to Westport, WA.  After moving in this afternoon we explored our coastal neighborhood, and no surprise...  we found where the fishing boats bring their catch...  and had really fresh fish for dinner tonight.

Some of the friends of Robin have been inquiring about how she has been doing.  Up until last Saturday she has shown remarkable resilience.  She can no longer fly, and her walk is more like rolling onto her side and pushing with her left leg.  But she gets where she wants to go, and even manages to play.

Sadly, last Saturday she had a series of seizures which left her with even less mobility.  She did not eat or drink for a couple of days, then began to rally.  Today she is showing determination to carry on.  She actually is using many of the happy sounds from her vocabulary, and has solved (mostly) how to stay attached to Dotti as Dot moves around the coach.  Robin is certainly an inspiration in pluck.



Of Hot Rocks and Birds

When driving a back road near Mt. Bachelor we passed what looked like a slag pile left over from strip mining.  This is common in some parts of south eastern Ohio where Larry grew up.  But not something to be expected in an Oregon national forest.

Not only was this not expected here, but it went on for miles.  We had noticed that we had passed a campground entrance just before the piles began, so we did a U-turn and headed down a narrow gravel road.  Of course, we found friendly campers by a secluded lake who explained that we were looking at a lava flow that had blocked off a stream and created this lake.

Had I known what we would learn over the next couple of days, spending time investigating lava flows would have been high on my "bucket" list.  Fortunately we found resources to enlighten us.  At a nearby national park we found a lava butte that was the source of another field of lava covering 6 square miles.  Looking down into the ash cone we could see the crater that was left after the volcano cooled:

The field of lava is immense and has very little vegetation even after 6000 years.  Yet the boundaries between the lava flow and the original terrain are quite crisp.

A photo cannot do justice to the concept of six square miles of Lava...

Oops, Larry's shading hat strap got in the photo, but you get the idea.  We were able to hike over this lava field (the astronauts used it to train for the moon landing) and another that I'll mention in a minute.

Dotti and I have seldom missed an opportunity to explore caves open to the public around the country.  But every cave we have entered has been carved by water.  As a part of this park there is a mile long "cave" that is a lava river tube.  It was really formed by a hot, molten lava flow that emptied out of the tube as it cooled.  We hiked about 3/4 of the length of the cave with a propane lantern.  Obviously we could not get pictures in such faint light, but we did snap one as we approached the entrance on the way back.

About 25 miles from the Lava Lands Visitor Center is another Lava flow that was produced at much higher temperatures, so the silicone actually turned into obsidian.  The native Americans living is this area used obsidian to fashion tools and to trade with others because it was valued for its hardness and its ability to be formed into sharp strong edges.

Lava flows were not on our agenda, but have proved to be a fascinating study we welcomed.  As we travel roads we never know what we will find.  Like the eagle nest on top of an electric pole (with two chicks in the nest).

Or the High Dessert Museum that had an open air raptor display.  We were within five feet of raptors who flew in for bits of meat.

Tomorrow we pack up and head for Eugene, OR for a couple of days.  I'm sure we will have more stories to tell.

Arrived in Oregon

We were at a very nice campground in Idaho when Dot and Robin were out for a morning walk.  I caught this picture of them resting in an arch:

We were camped along the Snake River which I have mentioned as one of the anchors for the Oregon Trail.  As we moved westward, the Snake kept getting wider and deeper.  If you think of highways that follow meandering streams, you will recall that the road often changes from one bank to the other.  With bridges, that is a trivial (if somewhat expensive) event to take advantage of better terrain or a more direct route.  When the settlers were traveling along the shallow Sweetwater River they crossed several times for just those purposes.  As the Snake got wider, crossing became more complicated.  By the time they got to Western Idaho it was a major problem.  TheThree Island Crossing of the Snake pictured below presented just such a dilemma:

If they stayed on the south side of the river, they took a much longer and much more rugged route.  If they successfully crossed the river, the route was shorter and smoother.  Even with the three islands to aid in the crossing, it was perilous.  Many perished in the attempt.  Many chose to follow the more difficult southern route.  And many successfully crossed with the assistance of friendly Indians.

The settlers followed the Snake until they reached Farewell Bend on the Idaho- Oregon border where the Snake turns north and carved out the impassable Hell's Canyon.  Dot and I spent the large part of a day traveling to and around Hell's Canyon but we could not capture its immense, rugged beauty in a picture. 

Instead the settlers followed Burnt River and the Powder River basin into Oregon.  We were able to find some of their wagon wheel ruts just north of La Grange, Oregon:

These depressions in the ground occurred because as each wagon train passed they moved the biggest rocks or fallen trees from the "trail".  Those that followed stayed in the same path and would improve it a little more. Before long thousands of wagons, cattle, people, and horses had made their way along the same narrow path.  The result was a permanent depression in the soft soil.  This is even more evident in sections of the trail that are more wooded:

At this point we decided to leave the Oregon Trail and head west through the mountains to reach some hiking trails between Crater Lake and Mt. Bachelor.  This day of mountain driving was probably the most difficult and the most breathtakingly beautiful of any day we have traveled in the coach.

A surprise awaited us in Crescent, Oregon.  The temperature drops below freezing at night, then climbs into the 70s and 80s during the day.  As we drove up to Crater Lake we had two more surprises.  When we drove up to the ranger booth at the park entrance, the ranger was wearing a bee-keepers hat.  When I handed her my park pass I felt my arm was in an "OFF" commercial.  Mosquitoes thrive in the high dessert when Spring is late and the melting snowfall produces a lot of moisture.  The second surprise was as we gained elevation:

Oregon's mountains had record snowfall this year (nearly 650 inches).  Only 1/3 of the loop around Crater Lake has been cleared.  Each day they clear about 1/4 mile of additional road.  They claim that the 30foot by 30foot by 1/4 mile produces quite a lot of snow to move.  But the lake was worth the trip:

Crater Lake is 5 miles wide and 6 mile long, and 1950 feet deep.  It has no outlet and is fed only by rain and snow melt from its own basin.  The intense blue color in the picture is its true color.  Our skiing friends will appreciate knowing that a few miles away at Mt. Bachelor they are still skiing.  Dotti and I road the chairlift and to prove it we have this picture at the summit lodge with the Three Sister Mountains in the background.

And so we will leave you with smiles on our faces until our next posting on this adventure.