Escape to the Middle of Nowhere WA

Project #3 for being MIA in May: Camping Trip with the Nordic Club gang.

Once the snow is done (though I don't think it will EVER be really done this year) we look for other sources of adventure. Last year we kicked off the 'off' season with a trip to John Day Fossil Beds. This year, we decided to follow the Ice Age Floods. Lloyd and Fred planned us a three night camping trip to Palouse Falls and environs. The weather forecast was awful for the weekend. We were leaving early Thursday morning May 20th. The night before it was COLD, RAINY (snow at 3500 ft) and WINDY. More of the same was on the way. No one was calling it off. We were taking our pop up camper, so as long as the tenters were game, so were we.

We took our time leaving the Gorge, stopped along the way in Wallula Gap for a geology lesson, then had a lunch stop at the Marcus Whitman historic hotel in Walla Walla. The old part of the hotel is neat, but the food in the restaurant was forgettable. I wish we'd gone across the street to Jacobi's, where I'd eaten last fall during the State Democrats meeting. Much better food. And less expensive. Anyway, we made one more stop at the last grocery store for miles in Dayton, then headed in to the Lyons Ferry Marina on the Snake River to set up camp. KOAs are not our first choice in camp grounds but there weren't a lot of choices, especially since the vancampers needed hookups.

The four tents were up the hill from us and the van campers next to us. The weather held, and we set up a group dining area by merging our picnic tables between the two of us.

Skip brought down the Coleman tailgater grill, and we cooked ourselves a fantastic kabob dinner.

Ole brought his trusty guitar and we had a group campfire up the hill, singing every song we could think of, and of course, his Austin Lounge Lizard standards Old Blevins and Paint Me On Velvet. We crashed at the 10 pm quiet time. It was cold. I wore several layers to bed that night, including a hoodie.

The hikes on Friday were easy but interesting. Fueled by a hearty pancake breakfast, we went first to Lyons Ferry State Park across the bridge from our camp. We hiked to a viewpoint where you can see an archaeological site, the Marmes Rockshelter, where the oldest (10,000 year old) human remains in the state were found. There's a diked area to the center right of the photo, with a cave at the waterline where the remains were found. Cool.

Then we drove to the 200 ft. Palouse Falls. The weather looked threatening, but didn't act on the threats. We were treated to great views, and some friendly marmots.

Back at the camp, we feasted on grilled salmon steaks and salads. Meal planning is very important to us campers. Then another campfire/singalong. The campground was filling up, it being Friday night. We resolved to camp midweek if at all possible. It was cold again, but not as bad as the night before. It rained a bit overnight, but cleared by morning.

Who can go out exploring without one of Yolanda's breakfast burritos (on homemade tortillas) with homemade salsa? Not I. Some crazy people ate two. Not I. Friday's adventure was to return to one of the trails at Palouse State Park and hike the steep loose trail to the bottom.

Not being one to risk life and limb for such an experience, decided to stay above and photograph the journey.

As the insane ones made their way to the train tracks, I just KNEW a train would come. Yep, one did. Just as they made it to the next part of the trail. After getting a few shots in, I returned to the park and did Ken Ken puzzles (conveniently left in the car) until they returned. Not that I'm a wuss or anything, I truly just don't like steep trails. I know it's easier coming up. But if I fall on the way down and break my neck, how the hell am I gonna get up? See what I'm saying?

The second part of the day was fantastic. After a scenic drive through Devil's Canyon, we went to Juniper Dunes and climbed to the top. Great fun, great views and great Big Sky! Actually ran into a group that was leaving as we arrived, a nordic ski club from nearby Pasco. How crazy is that? We made it back to the campground for our final dinner (chili and leftovers). It was getting even more crowded, with noisy tenters long after we'd put out the fire packed up the chairs and guitar. It rained and gusted wind all night long. I don't think anyone slept much.

An executive decision in the morning: no one wanted to cook breakfast in the wind. We'd had it. Coffee, yes. Muffins and scones, yes. Enough to get us on our way. The tenters did not take care in being quiet packing up. With quiet hours 10 pm-6 am, they were well within their rights at 6:10 am...payback for the all night partiers, heh heh. We hit the road, but had to drive all the way to Umatilla to find breakfast. A sign by the road pointed down a side street to a hotel and restaurant...it was the first thing we'd seen in hours. The Desert River Inn and Tumbleweed Saloon looked good to us. The breakfast menu was fantastic. We all ordered different things and everyone was happy.

Great way to end the trip. Several cars went to The Dalles after that, and we crossed the river at Biggs Bridge to finish the drive home on the WA side of the Columbia.

More photos can be found on the club's Picassa site.



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The List

Whenever I have a big decision to make, I use The List (apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan). You know, fold a paper in half. Put pluses on one side, minuses on the other. It usually makes the decision clear. The last time I used The List, it was when the job was taking us back to Houston. When we left Houston the first time, in 1985, after 3.5 years, the plus side for leaving was long. If you're not from Houston, it usually is. But all things are relative, so after nearly 6 years in Nigeria and 5 years in New Orleans, the plus side for Houston was pretty dang good. These days, I'd be hard pressed to find any good reasons to leave where I am. Good thing I don't have to.

There are other times where The List can come in handy, Elections, for example. You have two candidates for, say, County Commissioner of a large rural county. I want to vote for the person who has the best experience in matters financial, managerial, legal, and social and who has made a significant investment in the community. This particular race is non partisan, so the party of the candidate should not be driving the decision, even though it does. I'll call my candidates Mary 1 and Mary 2. And make my list.

Mary 1
18 year resident of county
Long record of involvement on numerous local nonprofit boards, gov't task forces, college forums
Successful fundraiser for food bank capital campaign
Former legal counsel and exec. asst to the warden, federal prison in county
Former law clerk in federal district court, Portland
Two term incumbent with experience in all areas of county management
Parent of a public middle schooler
Endorsed by both area newspapers based on her record and qualifications
Ran a nonpartisan campaign

Mary 2
17 year resident of county
No record of community involvement
No history of involvement in local government
Former tv broadcaster and radio talk show host
Failed candidate for governor
Tea Bag symbol on every sign

I've left out Mary 2's activist experience. It's at state and national levels, and not really germane to the job of county commissioner. Constitution Party politics, and you know, the hot button issues that get people all revved up but don't help much when you're trying to run a county.

Now, all things being equal, I'm going with Mary 1. But then, I'm a practical person. I like my public officials to be the best person available for the job. Lord knows it takes a special person to put up with all that being a public servant entails. Full disclosure: I'd also go with Mary 1 because she's my sister. I've known her all her life. She's smart, fair, ethical, honorable, respectful of her position and constituents, able to put herself in someone else's shoes, and damn, she's funny. She's a can-do sort of person.

You would NEVER know that judging by the 'chatter' from the haters in her county. Arrogant? Nope. Bully? Uh uh. Sore loser? Hardly. Tax and spend liberal? Why, for explaining the impact on county services should state ballot tax initiatives FAIL? For voting WITH the other two commissioners for a levy to deal with the meth problem? This is all they've got. That and the fact that she called herself a goddam liberal for caring about people, publicly taking the Lord's name in vain...someone catch me while I swoon. It's nicer than some of the stuff the other side has written online. This is the same woman who held a food bank capital campaign fundraiser for her 50th birthday, and as chairwoman, did cartwheels (a feat she'd never accomplished) when it hit $1 million. When it hit $2 million just before the election, she started working on her promised back flip. Yeah, I hate her, too. She makes me look like a slug.

The result of the primary last month was a sad commentary on the voters of that county. The sheeple couldn't look past the rhetoric and voted for Mary 2 in numbers high enough to warrant a runoff in November. I hope the 60% of voters who failed to send in their ballots change their minds in November. Maybe they thought Mary 1 was a shoo-in, even though she told them not to take anything for granted. I hope the 1500 people who voted but failed to choose a candidate for commissioner decide to vote in that race in November. And I hope those who chose write ins like George Bush and Minnie Mouse realize that their votes DO matter. That the county commissioner is more important to their daily life than most of the up ballot races they do vote for. Oh yeah, one more thing: I hope they all make their own lists, then use their BRAINS to make a good choice.

More Grapes, Please

The next installment of 'why I've been away from the Pahk':
Project 2. Planting Grapes at Energeia Vineyards

We had two planting weekends where we helped our friends John, Regina, James and Lynette plant Albarino grapes at their pear orchard turned vineyard up on Underwood. The young folks at Energeia are pioneers in growing Albarino in the area. They leave their various day jobs in Portland and Husum to plant for their futures.

Unlike some retirees, we don't care to have an estate vineyard for our house wine. We let other people worry about plants, water, disease, weather, equipment, etc. We help them plant and harvest grapes. And join their barrel clubs if they have a winery. It's the neighborly thing to do.

Albarino (or Alvarinho) is a Spanish (Portuguese) white wine grape, presumably brought to Iberia by Cluny monks in the twelfth century.

Its name "Alba-Riño" means "the white [wine] from the Rhine" and it has locally been thought to be a Riesling clone originating from the Alsace region of France, although earliest known records of Riesling as a grape variety date from the 15th, rather than the 12th, century.

The first weekend we planted bareroot stock, as we did with last year's gewurtz (shown right). It's kind of like planting roses. Lloyd worked all day, and earned foreman status. I had a county convention to run so did a short 4 hour shift in the late afternoon.

We were rewarded with great burgers, and the requisite bonfire. James had a good stock of his pear cider available. Wonder where he got all the pears?

It was a pretty raw night, so the fire felt good.
Former pear orchards have plenty of wood to burn.
The embers were particularly beautiful.

The second weekend in May we reversed participation. Lloyd was off installing a watering system with Will at Will's brother's in Hood River. Will comes up from CA for these little projects. So I did the Saturday shift and Lloyd did the Sunday shift.

The plants were more fragile nursery starts, so we had to plant them carefully and set up the grow tubes at the same time. It's a little more time consuming than the bare root planting, but you have more time to commune with your grape plant.

The small plant goes into the deep hole, you cover the roots to just below the first node. Then carefully thread the leaves through the tube, stand the tube upright, push the bamboo stick down to secure it in the dirt, pile up the dirt on the sides to keep the plant cool, and finally, make a watering moat. When you're done, move on to the next hole.

The second annual seafood boil was delicious.
Chef Shaffer can always be counted on for good eats.
James' hazlenut home brew and jug of house syrah were excellent potables.

And the bonfire?
It was scary big.

The biggest yet.
Quite hell-acious, if you ask me.

Anatomy of a Fireplace

Here it is the end of May and I've once again let myself get too far away from the Pahk. I looked over the file of photos for May, thinking, what have we been doing for this to happen AGAIN. Like the Red Sox, who started slow but are on a roll, I'm getting back in the groove.

Project 1. The Fireplace- Start date, March 30
Estimated time to completion: 2 weeks max

Step 1. Remove wood stove, and find it a new home. It's a good stove, but Lloyd just doesn't want to mess with wood, smoke, ashes, etc. Heck, he's retired! He'd rather be building stone walls, or skiing, or camping, or organizing a street festival, or designing websites.


Step 2. Frame in where fireplace will go. Include some bonus seating for our small living room.

Step 3. Box in, wire the outside, and basically stucco it.


Step 4. Decide it's way too tall. Cut down, repatch top.

Step 5. Insert super duper energy efficient natural gas stove unit. Hook up gas lines.


Step 6. Face the box with rock, then lay the hearth stones.



Step 7. Get someone to make the mantel. Meanwhile rearrange furniture.

Step 8. Patch the hole in the ceiling left by the stack removal.

Step 8. Get final inspection. Add mantel.

End date: May 15- Things always take longer than you think they will- Murphy's Law in effect.

Was it too warm to use? Heck no, it was cold all the next week. We used it every night!

Why Did the Turkey Cross the Road?

Well, it didn't actually cross the road, it just wandered through the yard, then headed back down the hill when the dog went outside. We hadn't seen the turkeys for a while, but Lloyd could hear them early in the am when he did his yoga out on the deck. I'm thinking by Thanksgiving, we can fatten them up...


Spring has sprung in our neck of the woods. The tulips are out in force. The irises look like they might be early this year. Wildflowers galore, though I haven't been out to see them in a few weeks. And we bucked the 'rule' about not planting your garden til all the snow is off Mt. Defiance. The tomatoes are in, seeds for the cukes, squashes and melons are planted, and a few rows of lettuce are in.

We helped the 'kids' up at Energeia Vineyards plant albarino grapes on the 10th, followed by the usual pearwood fueled bonfire. Round two is coming up on May 15th. I think we'll be fully recovered by then. Lloyd was up there all day. I was in Dallesport at our Democratic County Convention until 1 pm, so didn't make it to Underwood until later in the afternoon. We got our delegates elected, our candidates nominated, and our platform discussed and approved in less than 3 hours, including lunch. I still had time to get in about 3 hours of planting. Enough to be sore all day Sunday.

Jamba Marimba is practicing in earnest as our summer schedule begins to shape up. We eagerly await Anita's return from Florida in a few weeks, then we'll be almost at full strength. Almost, because Dick is not well and won't be joining us, sadly. We'll miss our token guy. We've added a new song, and made some improvements on others. Music is seriously good for the soul.

Our latest home improvement project has been stalled due to Murphy's Law. But it should be complete by the end of next week. We decided to remove the wood stove and replace it with a natural gas fireplace. As soon as it's done, I'll get a good picture for you.

I've had two quick trips to McMinnville, one with Keara, after we helped Andrea celebrate her birthday in Portland, and the other last Sunday for Mary's re-election campaign fundraiser. It's just dandy to have a sister I can get to in under 2 hours. Keara couldn't resist Andrea's chocolate fountain and fondue party. It was great to catch up with Tom and Leila, who came down from Blaine for their youngest's 24th.

Keara hadn't been to Mary's in 7 years, and was seriously missing a visit to Red Hills Provincial Dining. Mary had a previous commitment, but Matt and Syd rounded out our table. Here they toast with their bubbly. We had a great feast, as usual. The fresh Alaskan halibut was to die for. Keara savored her short ribs, and sent the doggie box back to Lloyd, who stayed home with sick Brindle. We got up in the wee hours to make the trek to the airport for the 7:20 nonstop back to Boston. I had a private Easter sunrise on I84, and was home by 6:30 am. And dead tired the rest of the day.

Last Sunday's event was at The Horse Radish in Carlton, a wonderful wine and cheese bar. I put my sign assembly skills to good use, and had a blast meeting Mary's friends and supporters. Judging from the turnout, I'd say Mary's good for another term as County Commissioner.

So that's the story. Tomorrow morning we're heading out to a spey rod clinic, and tomorrow night is the Wind River Cellars Barrel Member Dinner. Always a great time. Stay tuned. There will be a few more pics here, but blogger isn't uploading well right now...

So Good, So Good

It was quite an 'opening night' at The Pahk last night. I was watching on teevee, and chatting with both Red Sox and Yankee fan FB friends during the game. We all agree, you can never assume anything between those two teams no matter the score midway. As my dad says, "Never assume, it makes an ass out of u and me." Special thanks to Lil in Ponchatoula. Right after she made a comment about no lead being safe (when the Yankees were ahead), the Red Sox rallied. I hope Joe didn't stroke out. She said he was "yellin' and cussin'".

It was the first ever night opener at Fenway in its 98 years. The last time the Sox opened with the Yankees in the visitors dugout was in 2005, after the Sox had won their World Series since 1918. The Yankees won that one. I liked the result a lot better this time.

They pulled out all the stops, with local Steven Tyler (sans Aerosmith) singing God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch. Then, they shocked and awed the packed house when Neil Diamond came out to sing Sweet Caroline half way through the 8th. His voice is shot, but no one cared. It brought a tear or two to my eye. You haven't lived until you've sung Sweet Caroline (bum bum bum) at the top of your lungs at Fenway with 37,000 other crazed fans. Put it on your bucket list. You can practice here:



Big thanks to Juanita Jean for clipping this from the morning paper. I hope the customers at the World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon don't mind the hole in the comics page.


It's gonna be a LOOOOONG season!

Crater Lake in Winter-CHECK!

Near the top of my list of things I gotta do was something very doable, now that I live on the left coast. I've been to Crater Lake a couple of times in my life, in the summer. A winter trip has always been on the agenda. Fortunately, our nordic club chapter agreed, so a merry band of us headed south to Union Creek Resort for some mid week recreation.


Union Creek Resort is surrounded by the Rogue River National Forest, and fit our needs to a T. Some of us stayed in the main lodge (bedrooms with shared baths, sitting room with big fireplace, game room with pool table) while others stayed in small cabins. We brought our dog, so stayed in pet friendly cabin 1.


We had everything in that little cabin we needed: a comfy bed, kitchenette, table and two chairs, hot shower, and occasional wireless internet. Their excellent website has video of the different rooms and cabins. Elliot and Yolie had a cabin at the edge of the property that had a big campfire ring that came in handy on night 2. But more on that later.

After a half day's caravan drive, we checked in then headed up to the Rim to check out conditions for the next day's ski. There was plenty of snow!

We were treated to sunny blue skies, bluer water, and not a hint of wind, leaving the surface of the lake like a mirror.


Check out the reflections.



Even the jet contrails reflected in the lake. It was breathtaking.


After our scouting mission, we went back down to Beckie's Cafe for dinner. Beckie's is famous for its pies. They looked fantastic, but I must admit after that huge helping of homemade chili and cornbread, I had absolutely no room for pie. Eileen had a piece of Very Berry, and it was. Very. Berry. Our group of 12 took up half of the second service area. The waitress was excellent and cheerful. Then it was early to bed to get ready for the skiing.

I made a pot of Bob's Five Grain Cereal (my very favorite) in my little kitchen, packed some lunch munchies, and some dog biscuits for Brindle, then we headed back to the Rim. The wind had come up a little bit, so the mirror effect was gone, making us really glad we'd gone up the afternoon before.



The view was still great.


We had a good time playing in bowls just a couple miles from the trailhead. Here's Yolie, just before she crashed and messed up her knee a little bit.

Here are some of Ole's finely carved tele turns.


It was so warm, we all took the opportunity to get a little extra vitamin D. Especially Yolie.

Brindle needed a salt lick.

Some people were skiing in tank tops! (Not our group!)


We were tired and hungry so we headed back to our base. After all, the moon was rising (center).



On the menu tonight: community dinner of pasta and sauce, meatballs, salad, garlic bread, potables, and homemade desserts. It was warm enough to set up outside Cabin 15.


The hosts trucked over folding chairs and a table for us, as well as a load of firewood for our campfire.


Ole brought out his trusty guitar and regaled us with his Austin Lounge Lizard covers, including Old Blevins and Paint Me On Velvet, among others. Our goal is to learn more words to A.L.L. songs before the next campfire. We got the blah blah blah part down pat, though.


A storm blew in overnight, and it was slushing out in the morning. The more insane of our group went back up to ski in the blizzard, the rest of us put on our raincoats and hiked some of the nearby trails along the Rogue River.


Right across the street was a trail leading to this gorge-ous place.



Then we headed down the road a piece to the Natural Bridge trail, where we found a huge Doug fir. This is with my camera on the ground shooting up.

Fred and Jan stood by it for scale.

Our last communal dinner was in the 'big house'. Too rainy for another campfire. There was only one allowed by the weather gods. Again, the hosts were very helpful to our group. A big piece of plywood went on the pool table to make a buffet table, and we loaded it with burrito fixings. We had full access to the kitchen and dishes. Yolie made the tortillas, which were wonderful. We had some more songs by the fireplace, and Ole's haiku. He challenged us to write haiku about the trip to share at the next campfire. And so we shall.

Stay tuned for the weekend in Sisters to finish off this road trip entry. It's opening day (night) at Fenway, the Yankees are in town, and it's on TeeVee even here on the opposite side of the country. Gotta go!