Clatsop County

The last time I was up here was in 1994 or 1995.  This was before kids, gainful employment, or much of an internet(thanks again Al Gore!).  We went to the coast as a romantic weekend, probably with an article from the Sunday Travel section of the Oregonian.  We went to Astoria to stay at the Rose Briar Inn, which was a small hotel in an old Victorian house.  There was a mix-up and our 2 night stay had a problem with the 2nd night.  As a remedy, we could either move to an inferior room or stay in a sister hotel in Cannon Beach. We chose the latter, as we felt Astoria didn't have that much of interest.

About all we remember from that trip is me standing on a rock on the beach and a sneaker wave caused the ocean to rise up around the rock and I fell in fully clothed and got mostly wet just before checking into the Cannon Beach hotel.

Fast forward to 2010...We could not remember the names of either hotel or what we did on our last visit.  We hit Fort Stevens to look at the wreck of the Peter Iredale (1906 shipwreck visible in low tide), Battery Russell (WWII era bunker ruin), and in Astoria visited the Astor Column (my 11 year old son kept calling it the Astro Tower).  Seeing these sites began jogging memories of our past visits.  We found the Astoria hotel, that is now some kind of home for women.  Walking along the beach in Cannon Beach, we found the Cannon Beach Hotel that we stayed in long ago, still here as a hotel.

Fort Clatsop is a re-creation of where Lewis and Clark spent there winter at the mouth of the Columbia River before heading back east.  It was a little stockaded area with small rooms that appeared to be a cold, dark, and wet area to spend a winter.  Earlier this year we visited the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center that allowed me to visualize the hardships early pioneers dealt with coming east to settle in Oregon, and contrast that with Lewis and Clark (should be Clark and Lewis) and think about how they had very different challenges than the wagon trains that followed.     

Returning to the this place brought back a number of memories that had been lost and made some new ones that I will probably forget before too long.  Like telling my in-laws I was excusing myself to go to the Fortress of Solitude... 

Astor Column in Astoria

Battery Russell in Fort Stevens is fun to explore



Fort Clatsop is a replica of where Clark and Lewis spent a wet winter




The beach at Cannon Beach looking at Haystack Rock



Tillamook County

Cows.  Tillamook County is known for dairy cows, and more by smell than by sight.

We stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, and as soon as we stepped out of the van we were punched in the face by the smell of dairy waste.  Oh, and it was raining.  The factory was not operating at the time of our visit, so there wasn't much to see (although people wearing white suits with hair nets walking around isn't the height of excitement either, is it?).  What was open that day was a gift shop, cheese tasting area and ice cream shop.  We, you know, bought some postcards, sampled some, like, cheese and had, ahem, a little ice cream.  Then we put Tillamook in our rearview mirror.

Up to this point I was thinking Tillamook County is kind of low on the 30-something county scale; above Polk County but way below Curry County.  A few days later was passed through again and this time picked up some brie from the Blue Heron Cheese Company, along with a baguette and some Italian salami...if you know what I mean.

We had this food,a full tank of gas, and Throwing Muses was in the tape deck.  Yeah that's what I said; a tape deck.  VW is usually slow in adapting new technology, just to make sure it isn't a flash in the pan.  A Highway 6 sign caught my eye and I decided that since we have not been this way, we will today.  Highway 6 follows the Wilson River into the Tillamook State Forest.  The grown ups up in front got to recalling something about the 'Tillamook Burn' and wondering aloud when it happened, how it started, etc.  It's hard to inspire children with a bunch of maybe and sort of facts about a possible fire that occurred maybe where we were, or maybe not.  At this moment of wondering, the Tillamook Forest Center magically appears. 

1964 photo shows the lingering effects of the fire.  No trees.

Newer photo showing trees have returned.

I never knew it existed, but it is there to tell me the history of the Tillamook State Forest.  The 'Burn' occurred in 1933 due to logging in extremely dry conditions and the fire was huge.  The burn was actually multiple wildfires at 6 year intervals, becoming known as the '6 year jinx'.  The state forest was created by foreclosures, due to loss of timber and the Depression.  I was inspired by how Oregonians worked together in replanting the burn and making improvements in firefighting.  The last fire was in 1951 and it was much much smaller than the previous fires. 

If just one person reads this and enters the cheesemaking profession, my blog is a success.  And I hope that no one starts a huge wildfire to bring people together because of this blog.  

Crook County

Crook County is not home to the Hamburglar, as some have suggested.  It was the home of Les Schwab Tire Centers empire.  But when the old man passed on, the grandkids moved corporate over to Bend, leaving Prineville as a city without a tire magnate. 

I had a meeting in Prineville a few weeks ago.  I stayed at the western-themed Stafford Inn.  The hotel room was bedbug free and the room was nice.  And just like the Old West, they give you a warm cookie at check-in.  Right next door was the Pioneer Steakhouse, where I was determined to have me a 16 oz ribeye steak, served up medium rare.  The food was excellent, to the point where I was full, but I kept on going.  Steak doesn't keep, I told myself.  Not enough to box up so I better just eat it up, I told myself.  I am so full I am going to die, I told myself.

The following morning, I couldn't eat anything.  I was still full.  I had some mediocre hotel coffee and headed over to the library for the meeting.  My boss was with me, and he kept asking for weeks leading up to our meeting, "have you seen the Crook County Courthouse?  It's awesome!"  He asked again. 

Lunch was interesting.  The host liked to go to a thrifty sandwich place.  We all thought cheap sandwiches sounded tasty, so we went.  The group is made up of environmental health specialists, and some of them inspect restaurants in their respective counties.  One of the guys looked up and saw a sewer pipe right over the sandwich prep area.  It looked watertight, but it does give one pause to consider that one drop leaks from that pipe, it is on my lunch.

Prineville's recent coup was facebook is building a huge server center.  It is giving this rural city a big boost with construction jobs for the next few years, and will create a few jobs maintaining servers and filling vending machines. 

So as the Hamburglar once said, "Check out Crook County prices.  They are so low, it's a crime."    

Hood River County

I spent a cool fall Saturday on the Fruit Loop in Hood River County.  What is a fruit loop?  Is this where they make the cereal that is so popular with the kids?  It is in fact NOT where Toucan Sam makes healthy cheerios. 

It's a loosely organized group of fruit growers and wineries who got together to do some marketing of what they have to offer.  And so I guess I'm lemming enough to need a little marketing to get me over there. 

We drove through the small boutiquey town of Hood River.  It looks both quaint and expensive.  We kept on driving. 

The particular weekend we were there was Heirloom Apple weekend, and Mt View Orchards was hosting their very own Edelweiss day.

First stop was Whitehouse Winery.  I was very hungover, and wine was the cause.  I did not want to be here.  Looks nice and my friend Jon bought a few bottles from them to restore his wine supply. 

Next was Draper Girls, whose claim to fame on the tour loop is they are the only provider of un-pasteurized cider.  That is exactly the type of intestinal adventure I was looking for.  I picked out the oldest one that was sitting in a warm spot and the bottle was bloated...no I didn't.  $3.50 a pint is about as much as a beer, so I picked a fresh cold one.  Verdict: among the best I have had in Oregon, not as good as cider from the Bay State.  I bought some apples here, too and they were about $1//# and the quality was good.  They probably had about 15 varieties out for sale, (no McIntosh) and I picked out some Rome beauties, Newtown Pippins, and Empires.

Mt View Orchards had way more varieties for sale and were priced in the 70 cents/# range.  The apples were not displayed to be appealing, with lots of stems and uglies.  People here were buying large quantities.  Edelweiss Day meant a tuba guy/yodel lady for music and sausages and apple strudel for lunch.  Dee-lish!  In hindsight, I should have bought a bunch of apples here.

I give Hood River County a thumbs-up and I will be back.  More apples and there's also a brewery, Double Mountain that I need to try.

Columbia County

Legend has it that Columbia County was named after the ill-fated space shuttle.  Legends tend to make the mundane more sexy, and regrettably my money is on Columbia County being named after the river on which passes by.  It's even spelled the same, so unless the river was named after the county, which was named after a blown up shuttle, then I just can't buy into the legend.

So it's October, and I have about 10 counties left to visit.  And the kids have soccer games every weekend and, um, it's October.  I needed to schedule some work meetings around the state, and Portland couldn't accommodate my free parking mandate, I turned to Columbia County and surprisingly, there was a small amount of free parking.  By a small amount I mean a buttload of free parking at a very nice building in St Helens.

As luck would have it, St Helens also has a Burgerville, which is my favorite fast food place.  I went there for lunch and had a pumpkin shake with my lunch.  One thing Burgerville does is on their receipt they include nutritional info and even have suggestions for healthier alternatives to what you order.  Oh and Columbia County was nice, too.  

Malheur County

This trip came on the heels of Harney County.  Malheur touches Idaho to the east and Nevada to the south and east.  Once again this is sagebrush country.  And once again, this is a beautiful place.

We were headed to Owyhee River, specifically Three Forks, which requires traveling over 30 miles on a gravel road.  One of the highlights of the drive in was seeing my first dead cow, very bloated with feet up in the air.  Regrettably I didn't get a picture.

It was a long drive getting out to what was to be our campsite.  It was in a gorge that you drove in to.  We expected a campground and there was no campground.  There was a river bar and a vault toilet and nobody there.

We set up the tent right along the river for the kids and adults slept in the SUV.  It was amazing.  The only detraction was the feeling that a sniper could take you out at any time.  I spent the entire evening catch bass after bass and the kids joined in.

Getting home from here was tough.  Another 30 miles on a gravel road that included a short stint in Idaho.  We got gas in Jordan Valley, which is in the mountain time zone, and drove 500 miles all the way back to Eugene.  It was then that I realized with absolute clarity that Oregon is 75% sagebrush country, but 75% (at least) live on the wet side of the mountains. 

Harney County, Part II

Part I of Harney County was climbing into the Steens Mountains and taking in amazing views. 

A bit of confusion was caused because Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is in Harney County, not Malheur County.  Just outside of Fields, we were thinking we were crossing into a new county, which was our goal.  It worked out OK, but my gubernatorial support may be dictated by the candidate that will change that name to Harney National Wildlife Refuge. 


Milkshakes inside


Fields: It was a 9 year old girl birthday day and the party consisted of getting a shake at the Fields General Store.  "The best burgers and shakes within a 100 miles." Knowing the remoteness of the place really enhances the slogan.  The shakes were great.

Clean living!

Alvord Hot Springs: This is a roadside attraction not to be missed.  We had the place to ourselves.  Long ago, someone constructed concrete pools and piped in hot water in.  There is a changing area clad in corrugated sheet metal and an indoor/outdoor pool (indoor also clad in sheet metal).  After several days in the desert, it was very refreshing to clean the dust off.  The 'seats' in the pools were upside down washing machine drums.

Alvord Desert

Alvord Desert: An old dried up large lake bed provided a safe place for our 3 kids (ages 13, 11, and 9)to drive under heavy supervision.  The 9 year old birthday girl was first and she sat on my lap.  She was content with driving maybe 100 feet.  The oldest went next and she was white-knuckled and topped out at 25 mph.  The middle child (the boy) was the most comfortable with driving and went as fast and far as we would let him.  The oldest child was white-knuckled in the backseat and wanted him out. 

Imagine a day being a kid that begins with milkshakes, then hanging in hot springs, followed by driving on the desert?  I never had a day like that, but my kids did! 

Polk County

I spent my Labor Day Sunday on my bicycle.  I started in Sherwood in Washington County, pedaled though Yamhill County and even passed through Polk County.  One of my Japanese friends, Takahiro Kazahiro, decided to bike from Milwaukie (Portland 'burb) back to Oregon State in Corvallis.  We drove and thought he was crazy.  Then we thought he was dead in a ditch when he didn't arrive and it was late.  Well after dark he finally showed up. 

It must be said that Polk County is primarily an agricultural community.  The towns are pretty small and my bike ride was almost all past farms of varying sizes and crops.  Grapes for wine is in the foothills and regular farmy-type farms on the valley floor.  Fruit stands abound and the peaches sold there are amazing!

Over the summer we made an effort to visit an old company town (mentioned in my Washington County post) that was abandoned in the 80's and was inaccessible due to fire danger.  That was the best I could think to do in Polk County.  The bike ride was a spontaneous challenge that presented itself.  My goal was riding at least 100 miles from the Portland area on the west side of the Willamette River.  By Polk County I was peaking.  I felt good and had made good progress.  Between Dallas and Monmouth there is a bike path that parallels Highway 99W that puzzles me, as the road is the same width before and after and the traffic isn't any heavier.  Yet here is this path.  And they just re-paved it. 

Monmouth has a Burgerville, which is a local burger fast food chain that sells locally grown/processed food.  Monmouth is also the only dry town I know of in Oregon.  I hit the town at lunch time and had a turkey club with an iced tea that was just what I needed.  I don't think my being geeked out in lycra was too welcome there, but no one said anything.

There you have it.  Polk County has it all: Burgerville, unexplained mysterious bike paths, and people who don't like lycra. 

Jefferson County

Fishing on Olallie Lake with Mt Jefferson in the background.

Our destination in Jefferson County was Olallie Lake which is just west of Mt. Jefferson.  The lake has good fishing and motor boats are prohibited, so it was quiet on the water.  The campgrounds are on the lake, but no drinking water is available.


There is a resort on the lake, too, which had no electricity so camping staples like ice and cold beer are not available.  They also did not sell firewood, but wood was plentiful in the woods (irony unintentional).  What was sorely lacking was insect repellent.  Mosquitoes were incredibly hungry and quite a number were around.  Our 7% DEET was laughable.  Evidently they had 10 cans with 40% DEET and one person snapped up all 10 cans.  They went into town and bought more the next day, and was again an instant sell-out.  The boat rentals were cheap and we caught a few nice rainbows while trolling in the row boat.


We avoided the mosquitoes in two ways.  One was staying in either our tents or our very large screen room.  The screen room finally earned its keep!  The other was taking the kayaks out on the lake, along with renting one of their very nice wooden row boats.  Avoid is a relative term.  Our youngest counted over 45 bites on her and the number of bites generally decreased with increased age. 


One of my standby pieces of camping equipment is an old pair of Montrail hiking shoes that are long overdue for the garbage can. I take them camping so if they get destroyed I won't be too disappointed. What makes them prime for the garbage is our now-deceased cat peed on them. They only smell after sweating in them all day; a small price to pay for comfy shoes, no? They may have made the difference in the number of times I was bitten. 


Final call: Olallie Lake is a gem.  It would be ideal later in the season (like August instead of 2nd week of July) when the bugs die down.  The campsites were full when we were there, so getting a site could be challenging when the bugs are gone.

Jackson County

The last piece to the southern Oregon puzzle was until recently Jackson County.  I finally crossed something off my list that any semi-educated Oregonian should attend: Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival is celebrating it's 75th year, so it's newness is not an acceptable excuse.  It's mostly been the drive and laziness.  Of course, having kids make it difficult to a degree.  They are old enough now, but now eating out for five and hotel costs make it a challenge.

The in-laws took the kids, so I seized on the chance to get down there.  Planning was a lesson in Ashland's high cost of living.  Your vanilla hotel is well north of 100 bucks and expect to shell out at least another 100 for Shakespeare tickets.

We managed to find a budget motel with character that allowed pets.  Our dog got to come to Ashland, which is a challenge at times.  The weather was mild (no rain either) so the dog could hang out in the car for short stints of eating and watching the play.  Walking around, we appreciated the nooks and alleys in the city center, although the dog was not allowed in much of it.

The play!  The play was Twelfth Night, a comedy, that was great.  We saw it in the Elizabethan outdoor theatre (a replica of a 1600's London jobber).  If you were late, you were shut out until intermission, and if you were late coming back from the restroom you didn't see how it ends.  It was still funny all these years later.  I was unfamiliar with the plot until we arrived, but I imagined the wordplay could be elusive to an amateur reader.  The comedy was the timing of phrases, double-entendre, and plays on words.

Visiting Ashland for a play was a first, surely not the last.

Marion County

There is a place that sounds magical to the ears: Opal Creek.  I occasionally have read articles about Opal Creek in Sunset magazine, newspapers, or perhaps also AAA magazine.  It sounds magical.  Old growth trees along a small creek set in the Cascade range.

So it made the cut list for 36 county must-see list.  Perhaps I would have been more moved if the weather wasn't so damn hot.  And if the road wasn't closed and not having to take a windy hilly detour road.

But we went on a hot, dusty day and took a hilly detour.  One thing we joked about in the car was that the detour was fake and we were going to be robbed and left with nothing and all wearing barrels from suspenders.  Kids love that crap.

It was a nice hike despite the heat and we got to see an old mill that had an interesting, albeit short story.  The road to the mill was along a steep road, and the mill operated for about 2 years.  When the second log truck fell off the side of the mountain, they decided it was a good time to shut'er down.  They left a lot of bits behind that helps bring the site alive.  There a mineshaft along the road that provided a chilly draft that was welcome.

Opal Creek lumber mill relic

One of my continuing challenges in 36 counties is always having to keep an eye on the clock.  I have a job that I need to get back to.  Just when I am getting into exploring an area, it is time to move on to the camp, another site or back home.  On this hike, we had to turn around at the mill and head to our campsite instead of seeing more of the place.

All natural air conditioning!

Lincoln County

I went fishing in late May with my son, a friend and her husband on the Siletz River near Moonshine Park.  It was my first time (and only time so far) fishing for steelhead.  My preparation required obtaining and salmon/steelhead tag, to the tune of $25.  I got up at 3 in the morning and Evan & I headed to Moonshine Park.  Memorable moments include a large nocturnal bird, perhaps an owl, flew into the top of our windshield.  My tag doesn't allow the harvesting of owls so we hope it managed to survive the grazed windshield. 


Moonshine Park is a Lincoln County park that is quite a ways up the Siletz River (east of Siletz) and is not that easy to find.  We were meeting at 6 at the park.  I paid the day use fee only to discover we were leaving the park to an undisclosed location nearby.   We fished for a few hours in a drizzle with nary a nibble on anybody’s line.  We parted ways a little after 9.  We suspect our intelligence was flawed (somebody telling a fish story?) and the steelhead did't start running yet.


Evan & I headed to Yaquina Bay to try our luck at clamming and it was a minus tide.  We got there after the tide started coming in and I did not have a very good rake to look for cockle clams but I did have a small shovel to look for gapers.  I did manage to find a cockle clam (small) and a few butter clams (small).  So we went to the fish cleaning station with 3 small clams while others were cleaning much a more impressive collection of clams.


We took them home and ate about one small bite each of clam.    

Harney County Part 1

Kiger Gorge in the Steens Mountains

Harney County is big.  You could probably 20 Rhode Islands in Harney County.  But why would you want to?  For the Naragansett Beer? 

We had 2 very good days in Harney so I will break it into 2 parts.

We arrived on a Friday night at a campground in the Steens Mountain.  The campground was at over 7,000 feet above sea level.  Coming from the west, it doesn't look like a mountain and it isn't looking like you are that high up.  It is sagebrush and juniper trees all over and then this campground, Fish Lake, is very lush and covered with aspen trees. 

Saturday we drove the Steens loop.  First stop is Kiger Gorge which is about 9,000 feet and pictured above.  It left us awestruck and maybe disappointed that we never came here before.  We hiked around and took some pictures of us on several overlooks that you wouldn't want to lose your balance or trip as it's a long way down.

Viewpoint looking east from the Steens with the Alvord Desert in the distance.

Next stop was an overlook that I understand is the highest road in Oregon.  Below were views of Mann Lake, a center pivot irrigated field and the impressive Alvord Desert.  To the west was Whitehorse Lake which is several thousand feet below and only accessible by hiking down.  We didn't but we'd like to next time.  Being that high does leave you short of breath without much effort.

The loop has a sketchy stretch that was a bit of a challenge and causes more than a few flats.  We felt lucky to get through unscathed.

Inside the round barn, that is round.  See?

Last stop was the Peter French Round Barn that was built in the 1800's to break wild horses.  The barn was round, as if you couldn't tell from the title.  Exterior was Juniper wood and the interior round wall was stone.  What a great design.  Interior room was a stable and the horses were broken in the exterior loop.  It was quite cool inside, so the stones made for a good heat sink.

 

Union County

Downtown Union.  

I like to pronounce Union like onion.  Pretty funny, huh?  Let's see if it stays funny.

My wife's Uncle Jack was from onion County’s namesake city, onion.  About 5 years ago, I did a bike trip that included passing through onion (and picking up some beer at the market to take to the nearby Catherine Creek Campground).  

     Since that time, I have yearned to stop in town and take it in again.  As mentioned in previous posts, we had a very wet stay in Wallowa Lake State Park.  Taking the tents and screen room down and loading got us soaked.

     I'm giving up on onion; my sides are killing me! Hahahahaha!

 

So we were wet and cold and when we drove into Union.  The town is off the interstate and aside from the Union Hotel and new cool looking bar, there is not much to draw tourists into town.  It is beautiful and very well preserved from what it used to be.  Unfortunately, we were still wet and cold.  And it was still raining when we pulled in.  So we jumped out and snapped a few pictures of downtown.  I look forward to visiting on a better day and poking around properly.

Oh and I got gas in La Grande that gave us better mileage than the gas we got in Eugene and coffee in the Safeway Starbucks that certainly lifted my spirits.  Prior to drinking the first cup of coffee I was thinking that racing home to Eugene was a better option than exploring the City of Union.  

The park in Union beckons.  Come play!

Ready?  Onion.  Hahahahahahaha!

 

Douglas County

Willy looking in on the viewing window on the North Umpqua Dam.

Douglas is a very big county, from the Pacific Ocean all the way to the Cascades.  We stopped by the North Umpqua Dam off Highway 99 to view the very large salmon and regular-large steelhead heading through the fish ladder.  The dog did not care for the metal stairs and metal grated landings that goes to the viewing window.  We were  really in awe of the monster fish that passed us by, as well as the teeny tiny fish that were hanging out with the big guys.

Kids being in awe of big fish.

      To top it off we drove through downtown Roseburg on Highway 99 (instead of the interstate) to take in the city.  I used to work in Roseburg and it is nice to pass through.  We regaled the kids with the story of half of Roseburg being leveled in the 1950’s due to a fertilizer truck exploding.  The county is beautiful and there are a lot of places worse to live, though many of the cities in the county are poor, now that timber is not the industry it once was.  Whether due to over-logging or Spotted Owl is debatable, and truly not worth debating with me.      

Coos County

The plan: visit Shore Acres State Park and hike to Cape Arago lighthouse.  We read up on how a lumber baron bought the Shore Acres property over 100 years ago, which overlooks the ocean.  It has a formal garden and in winter they have tons of Christmas lights.      

Cape Arago Lighthouse through the fog.

What really happened: we drove to Shore Acres and saw signs that animals were allowed in vehicles only.  The dog wanted out.  So we ran to the observation building at the ocean overlook and was impressed with the view and ran back to the van.  We then went to an un-named day use area and walked the dog to a view point where the above photo was taken of the lighthouse.  We ate brie on crackers at a Coos County park overlooking the ocean.  


The contrast in temperatures from where we live inland and Coos County was dramatic; upper 90's in Eugene and low 60's along the coast.  As we drove inland the oldest child was calling out the outside temp reading from the van as it went up driving home. 

Washington County

Polk County will not be seen at it's regularly scheduled time due to a Washington County special report.

We went north for a Polk County adventure.  Our destination was a company town that was abandoned around 1984.  A gate across the road (speculation was the fire danger level caused the road to be closed) set in motion my back-up plan: Head to Forest Grove to visit McMeniman's Grand Lodge.  It was originally built in 1922 to be a rest home/ retirement community for aged Masons and Eastern Star members.  It is "re-purposed" as a hotel, bar, restaurant and for weddings.

I was looking forward to walking the grounds with the dog and then enjoying dinner with a few beers. An employee notified us that pets are not allowed anywhere on the grounds.  We later saw the sign that also forbade picnics.  We took that to mean that having fun for free on the property was not allowed. Fair enough.

It's much smaller than Edgefield but it felt similar.  Friday night appeared to be bustling with several weddings in stages of production.  Dinner was pub-style mini-pizzas and burgers in the outside dining area.  Beer was a tasty seasonal Copper Moon ('it's in the IPA style but not as hoppy').

I used to drive around Forest Grove in the early 90's and haven't been back since.  It has grown a bunch, but the downtown is still worth a visit.  They had 2 old theaters that appeared to still be in operation: "The Forest" and "The Grove".

Driving back to Eugene down 99W was the cat's meow.  The setting sun's long shadows brought out long shadows of windrows of hay, clover fields, mountains and trees.  I do miss those old days of working for Agripac, when I spent a summer in this area.

Curry County

Low 50's and high winds on the Oregon Coast!

So far Curry County on Oregon's south coast ranks near the top of my list.  Why, you ask?  Consider the following:

• I visited the western most porta potty in Oregon and possibly the entire mainland west coast.  No other county can beat it, since Cape Blanco juts out 5-6 miles into the ocean.  
• Our stay near Port Orford at Humbug State Park was great.  We loved the beach and went on a nice hike up Humbug Mountain.
• It was great fun and Allison was very giggly and everything I said was funny. That made for a great campfire time. One night it came out that Evan told his sisters his inner-girl was coming out. He denied it and we were all laughing. In the morning we learned the backstory: the girls were teasing that Evan was a girl’s name and he finally said ‘fine my inner girl is coming out’. Belly laughs for breakfast!
• Campsite was pretty tight but neighbors were quiet and friendly.
• Eugene weather was in the 90’s and the it was 70’s at Humbug and low 60’s elsewhere on the coast. 
• Cape Blanco was fogged in and in the 50’s after 11 and the wind was blowing 30 mph. We ran to the gift shop and opted not to take the guided tour. The staff became less friendly when we didn’t buy anything and listened to the tour guide without paying. We took some pics of the lighthouse and ran laughing about the wind back to the van.

Wallowa County

Snake River Valley, as seen from Hat Point, Oregon.

 
Wallowa County, in the northeastern corner of the state, is not an easy place to get to. One does not happen upon this area unless one is intending to visit.  The Wallowa Mountains and associated lake and rivers are a 9 hour drive each way from Eugene.  We arrived late on a Friday to our campsite at Wallowa Lake State Park.  First impression? Our campsite was tiny and not in the most desirous location. The weather forecast called for a nice Friday and possible showers the next few days. We can handle a few showers.   

Saturday: Marla kayaked the lake in the morning while the kids and I went to the river and threw rocks in and tried to make a dam. The weather was holding so we headed for Hat Point. It was 30 miles to get to the dirt road. The dirt road was another 22 miles.  The first 7 miles or so were rough going, very steep, washboard roads and one lane that it for 2-way traffic. After that, the road conditions were much better. The payoff is the view from the fire tower was amazing. See the pic above.  You just had to earn the view by driving over 4 hours round trip for the pleasure. 


Evening came and the weather became a little less certain. I figured that most of the evening it looked like rain but since it didn’t, it won’t. I awoke to thunder and lightning at 1:30 am and a steady rain on the tent. It started far away. Marla & I held each other as the thunderstorm slowly came right over us.  The echoes ripping through the mountains and over the lake was so loud.  11 year old son slept right through it.

Sunday: It was still raining at dawn and seemed like a good time to get up. Our air mattress had a puddle underneath it, but we weren't floating yet. Letting the water out of the tent, packing up and leaving was the best option, especially when a park ranger said the weather was not going to change. On our way out, we stopped at the grave of Chief Joseph to pay our respects to the man whom the city of Joseph was named.

It turns out we couldn't handle a few showers.  

Yamhill County

Once upon a time I worked as a field scout for a now-defunct cannery, Agripac, doing menial tasks for the field representatives, like measuring corn and bean field acreage, pulling corn samples that are measured for sugar, and sweeping plants with a big net for 12-spotted cucumber beetles in bean fields.  The field rep I worked with covered mostly Yamhill County and it was then that I got to know and love traveling around the county.  I especially loved downtown McMinnville, with it's old brick buildings and tree-lined streets.  And just outside of town for many years the Howard Hughes giant seaplane, the Spruce Goose, was stored in a greenhouse building.  The wings were stored next to the fuselage.  Eventually and currently there is a classy aviation museum to house the enormous spruce goose and other planes through history.       

We took a spring break trip on a very rainy Thursday in March to Evergreen Aviation Museum.  We drove to McMinnville to meet the in-laws for a day at the museum.  The question I pondered wandering through there: "Is it worth the effort and expense to preserve this huge plane?" After all, the plane flew once about 75 feet off the ground and was then mothballed by Hughes for a long time before it eventually wound it’s way to Oregon.  I decided that regardless of whether there is historical value, I have been wanting to see it together after seeing it in pieces for so many years. 

Also in the museum, there was a red Corvette of a non-special vintage (like 1985) that was parked out on the museum floor.  It had no labels, real labels.  Taking a rest, I watched several people try the handle, like I did.  It was locked.  I think the museum visionary owned the car before he died.     

We closed the day with a visit to McMenimins (Hotel Oregon) for dinner and a few wines, which is an Oregon-based micro-brewery art-infused chain of restaurants that are often in historic buildings.  They have been crafting whisky and over-priced wines for several years that aren't bad.  This one is in a historic hotel, that they operate, too.  We tried to get in to the rooftop bar, but that was full so we ate dinner in the restaurant on the 1st floor.        

Klamath County

Klamath County fun facts:

• County seat is Klamath Falls (population 42,000 and home of Oregon Institute of Technology or OIT).  
• Home of Crater Lake, which is the only National Park in Oregon.
• Willamette Pass ski area (background in the photo above) is a ski area.  In Klamath County.  Fun!
• It touches, and almost fondles, California!  Fun!

I visited Odell Lake on several occasions in 2010, specifically Shelter Cove Resort, and most recently in May with my brother, Kenny.  We were on a fishing junket up in the mountains and had been wrestling with windy conditions.  The resort staff were friendly, helpful and the rental rates were great and it was mid-week so there weren't too many people on the lake.  We had bald eagles fishing there, too.  They (not the bald eagles) told us what to fish kokanee (landlocked salmon) with, where they were biting and technique to use.  We rented an old motor boat that looked really nice.  From 200 yards.  The wind started picking up as soon as we got on the lake and was still brisk, 50 degrees or so.

The first 90 minutes were as disappointing as the prior day, when we got skunked. I ate plenty of Cheez Its to help keep my spirits up.  Our luck changed when we adjusted our jigging technique. Combined we caught about 10 kokanee, which I understand is delicious. However, we were equipped for catch and release only.  One them came off the hook in the boat and flopped around and got behind the gas cans and trying to grab that little guy was not my finest hour.  I got it back in the lake and I haven't heard that it didn't make it.

Grant County

Grant County is one of the most rural counties in Oregon.  There are about 8,000 residents which equates to about 2 people/square mile.  The photo above is from a bike trip through Grant County in 2009 around the Ochoco Mountains. On that trip, there were lots of beer cans on the side of the road, primarily Keystone and Keystone Light. It was disconcerting to think that we shared the road with mostly drunk drivers, though any drivers at all were few and far between.     

This year, our intent was to pass through on a return trip from the far eastern part of the state.  However, we passed through Mt Vernon at a somewhat late hour and found Clyde Holliday State Park. As luck would have it, there was a 'teepee' available for one night only. This park is situated along the John Day River and was a lot smaller and less of a destination than Wallowa Lake State Park (where we stayed the night before).  The two teepees at the park had a canvas 'skin' on a wooden pole frame over a round concrete slab with sleeping mats. We were advised to put the mats along the edge of the teepee as there's a small hole in the center where the poles come together. It rained a little that night, and the teepee stayed dry; perhaps the cottonwood trees overhead caught a lot of the rain.

We had a dinner at the Silver Spur, which was about the only restaurant in Mt Vernon.  The menu was what you'd expect in a small town; chicken-fried steak, burgers, and the like.  They served breakfast ALL DAY so I had to have eggs, hash browns and kielbasa.  It was a big salt lick; but righteously good! We ended the day with a walk on the riverside trail and a fire until the rain drove us in for the night.



As we left Grant County the following morning, I instructed my daughter to toss out a few of those empty Old German beer cans as a tip of my hat to the Grant County custom. I have never done that before, nor will I do that outside of Grant County.  Probably.  

Benton County

I am a New England transplant who in 1992 moved to Oregon to attend to Oregon State University, located in Benton County.  My plan was to major in Crop Science; people need to eat so that's built-in job security.  Except all my fellow crop science students grew up on farms and I did not.  That put me at a decided disadvantage for crop and weed identification; which is maybe important for a successful farm.  So I went into a major with fewer job prospects: Soil Science.

     

      Corvallis is a very nice city and I loved living there.  However, my job being an hour drive away led me to make the hard the decision to move.  That was 13 years ago.  I rarely visit Corvallis these days and when I do it is always a very deliberate act.  I have been several times this year to enjoy a meal at Nearly Normal's and American Dream Pizza and got my bike tuned up at Cyclotopia.  And I absolutely try to walk through the Oregon State campus to see what has changes since I graduated. 

      

    One of these trips was back in February, when I went to Corvallis on my birthday.  The reason for driving there was it was my day off, the kids were in school and I needed to pick up a backpack that I left at a meeting in Albany, which could be considered Corvallis' Springfield. 

     I hopped in my wife's 1964 VW Bug with the dog and made a day of it. The Bug is a vehicle that takes some concentration to drive and at highway speeds it is quite loud.  But it is a kick to drive in town when the weather is good, as it was that day.  Backpack retrieved from the Linn County Courthouse, I went downtown Corvallis and hit the Starbucks.  Visiting downtown is a treat.  Unlike where I live, downtown Corvallis has thriving businesses and it is fun to amble around.        

Baker County

Baker County is on the Idaho border and a hell of a long ways away.  What is famous in Baker County?  Baker City is THE most famous place in the county.  In most circles.  Like the circles not in Baker County.  And what sticks with me is Baker City changed its name to Baker and then back to Baker City.  And once upon a time there was a job I briefly considered applying for there so I looked at real estate on the web for about a week before deciding that was a step I don't need to make.       

I visited the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center on a rainy cool day in June. The prior night we got pretty wet from camping in the rain. While that was an unpleasant experience on the whole, being cold and damp sure put the trials and tribulations of those pioneer travelers into perspective. They traveled in all sorts of weather for 6 months with all of their worldly possessions for a land claim in Oregon. Initially the settlers got land in the Portland area but each year they had to travel further south to get to their claim. Crossing rivers with oxen and carriages was a major risk. Carriages overturning, children crushed under the wheels, diseases to take you down were rampant. Kind of puts driving behind a slowpoke in a different category of bad day, don’t it?

The most interesting fact from the interpretive center was very few New Englanders made the trek.  They were content at home, I guess.

Jospehine County

The 4^th of July weekend in Josephine County.  A holiday weekend in a campground...I wish I thought 10 seconds about that before.  But there I was on Friday afternoon driving south down to Lake Selmac outside of Selma.  The weather called for scattered showers through most of the state.  Most of the state does not include southern Oregon and as we drove over the Siskyous down through Grants Pass the clouds disappeared and it was a beautiful sunny day.  

    On our way towards our camp site, we laughed about the first thing you see getting off the freeway is a Caveman.  The high school mascot is the Caveman, and it is in reference to the Oregon Caves.  The city was a big booster of the Caves.  Then driving through town there is a sign across the road stating “It’s the Climate.”  Whatever ‘it’ is, was pretty good.  

    I was warned by a co-worker who grew up in the area that the locals called Lake Selmac “Smellmac”  and was full of whacko hillbillies.  Whatever.  I'm committed to the cause.  We were there to visit the Oregon Caves anyways.  And once at the lake, we swam, kayaked and fished and had a good time messing around.  Several people there said bluegill were good eating. I don't recall ever hearing that before, and I heard it multiple times here.    

    

We were glad to be leaving on the 4th of July as the insanity in the campground was hitting a fever pitch.  We left to visit the Oregon Caves National Monument.  I was struck with fear that it’s a federal holiday and it might be closed.  Thankfully, when we called, it was open and not a bad drive to get there.  


The caves are not dog-friendly, which is ironic as the caves were allegedly discovered by a guy chasing after his dog who ran into a cave.  My wife opted to stay with the dog while I went with the kids into the cave (she visited there a few years earlier).  It is not for the very young or the very old.  One has to be 42” and able to navigate difficult cave terrain.  An elderly woman had to bail from the trip.  The cave is a great place to keep your beer 44 degrees and you go in tours of 16 people, leaving every 15 minutes in peak season.  


It was worthwhile and I am glad I finally visited this natural wonder.  This was a site I had in mind when I decided to visit all 36 counties (along with the Timberline Lodge, Steens Mountains and Astoria).  

Morrow County

I believe when I looked up the top things to do in Morrow County, getting gas at the Shell station just off the freeway is in the top three.  Rounding out the list...tipping cows and kissing cousins.  Actually, that may have been Joey Morrow.

On the day of our visit the wind wasn’t too bad considering how many windmills mark the drive along the interstate.  The sun was shining as we pulled into the Shell gas station at the Boardman exit. I was hoping to stretch the gas interval to nearby Pendleton but a split second decision pulled me off the interstate.  Upon arrival, the dog declared his presence to all who dared smell his urine.  Bugs picked up in other counties were squeegeed off the windshield and our lunch debris was left in the trash as a sign that we'd been there.

This Morrow is home to around 11,700 people, covers a little over 2,049 square miles and the highest point is 1,900'.  The county seat is located in the city of Heppner.  Wheat farming and growing cows is what goes on there.  There's a coal plant that is showering the area with mercury and also a munitions dump with bunkers of deteriorating canisters of nerve gas.

Actually today I was told by someone in the know that there is a nice beach near the Port of Morrow and trails for biking.  I may return to Morrow County!

Lake County

Lake County has been billed as 'Oregon's Outback'.  Much in the way that Coos Bay calls itself 'the bay area'.  In case you are unfamiliar with Oregon geography, Lake County covers a large area that borders California and a bit of Nevada , east of Klamath Lakes and a long drive from the Cascade Range.  Lakeview is the county seat and other notable towns include Christmas Valley and Fort Rock.  It is very rural, has mountains and lakes, as well as sagebrush.             


My trip to Lake County was to a place called Hole in the Ground with my brother, who was visiting from Massachusetts.  As any respectable Oregonian would do, I take my visitors to exotic locales, such as Hole in the Ground.  Actually we were fishing at Crane Prairie Reservoir and it was too windy to keep trying.  It was too early to return to the cabin we were staying in at Diamond Peak so we pulled the map out and this sounded interesting.    


Hole in the Ground is off Highway 31 about 30 miles east of Highway 97 and a few miles in on a dirt road; near Fort Rock.  It's a large volcanic hole 300 feet deep and a mile wide.  Nearby H in the G is Big Hole, which is a similar feature, but I understand is full of trees, whereas this is mostly devoid of trees, except for the east side, where the above picture was taken.  This is in a very rural part of the high desert (approximately 4300' above sea level) surrounded by sagebrush.  


At the bottom, it looked like the site of some ritualistic activity, there was a large dirt circle at the center of the bottom of the hole.  We hiked down to investigate.  What we found was a 55-gallon metal drum full of trash and had been a burn barrel in a former life.  Quad tracks were all around the barrel with trails heading off to the the rim at several points.  The rusted barrel contained cans, bottles, and some old circuit boards.  And it was absolutely riddled with bullet holes.  We found hillbilly Utopia!  It was a nice hike without a soul in sight.  

Wasco County

On a sunny Friday morning in June, a long drive to Northeastern Oregon I had planned was about to begin.  The trip itself had been in the balance because my son came down pneumonia and strep throat the prior week and it was lingering.  He had been getting better but earlier in the week he was backsliding and nearly missed the entire last week of school.  He did manage to make that last day of school and so we decided the trip was a go. 

We didn’t really have a route planned out, nor did we have a plan other than campsite reservations at Wallowa Lake State Park.  We packed up most of the van on Thursday evening and Friday only had to gas up and buy food for the trip before we could hit the road. We did not leave until almost 10 AM and I was getting restless.  We took Interstate 5 north to Interstate 84 to get gone as quick as possible.

A little history: My wife Marla’s grandparents moved from Detroit, MI to The Dalles in the 1940’s or so.  Her grandfather was a doctor who loved to fish and hunt and this was the perfect place for that.  They had one of the nicer houses in town.  Back when they lived there, there was no interstate and the main connection to the big city of Portland was the very scenic US 30, along the Columbia Gorge.  Her grandparents are gone and there is no longer any relatives living in The Dalles, so I had never seen the house where her mom grew up, or where she herself spent many a holiday or summer vacation growing up.  

I thought it would be a worthwhile stop on our trip to see this place that had a hand in shaping my wife and her family.  As we approached the freeway exit, Marla was becoming increasingly emotional at the thought of seeing the place she hasn’t seen for close to 20 years.  And of course her getting teary was affecting me.  We parked on a sidestreet.  I was expecting something a little more pastoral than what it was.  We were about a block from Fred Meyer shopping center.        

I learned that day that The Dalles has grown a lot since Marla played there as a girl.The house her grandparents owned once had lots of open space for kids to explore and run around.  Now there is an assisted living center and other developments where she used to frolic.  She had no desire to knock on the door and see the inside of the house.  The physical house held little appeal. The stop was good to do as sort of a cathartic experience, and I got to hear stories I hadn’t heard before and gave the kids an idea of how she grew up. 

We stopped at the local DQ for lunch and headed back out on the freeway to continue our trip. While driving through downtown I discovered that I had actually stopped in The Dalles the prior year to eat lunch at a Burgerville while passing through.    
    

Multnomah County

At my office, there is a pool of cars that you have to reserve in advance of when you need one and sometimes they are all booked up. That was the case on a cold day in February for a meeting I had to go to in Portland, earlier this year. However, the Amtrak Cascades train has pretty regular service from Eugene to Union Station in downtown Portland. It is close to my office and the departure/arrival worked in my favor. It was great. I got work done. The scenery was good. The train was on time. And when the kids heard I took the train, they all chanted "NO FAIR!"

I like making things a surprise. It's hard to have expectations when you don't know the plan. So how can you be disappointed when you have no expectations? That is my logic and it may be flawed.

Surprise Spring Break train trip with Marla and the kids! I called it my 'secret plan'.  My original secret plan was to wake them at 4 am and take the 5 am train, but Marla voted that down. Too much packed in for a good time. So the 9:00 train it is! The train was on time and just as scenic. The kids didn't seem as excited with the train and I was hoping they would be. I tried to roll with it.  

We arrived on time shortly before lunch and went directly to Byways Café for a great lunch right off the train. I have been there several times for breakfast and loved it. The place is decorated with kitschy souvenirs; mainly tourist trap plates. During our lunch some really good music from the Kinks was on and very good diner food was provided.

Then we wandered over Powell’s Books and spent hours browsing before taking the streetcar to the tram which goes over the freeway and connects to Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU). We were hoping for a snack or hot chocolate up there but the hospital café was closed by the time we arrived.

We went back down the tram and walked along the river and had a snack at the Riverplace Hotel. The weather was pretty good for March but started feeling too chilly when the snacks finally arrived.

Our train was due to head home around 9 pm and we still had a bit of walk back to Union Station. The kids wanted Italian for dinner and we a nice Italian restaurant with a family connection to Beppe and Gianni’s in Eugene. We had a long wait getting a table (over an hour on a Monday night) but dinner was very nice. Evan gave up meat for Lent and he got some candy from the waitress for being such a good boy. At the train station, we discovered that our scheduled train killed a pedestrian in Washington so we had to take a bus back to Eugene. We got home around midnight and we were grateful for no school or work the next day.

The train is a great way to travel and Portland is easy to maneuver without a car and in many cases is easy without a car. The streetcar is free in fareless square (as are buses and MAX trains) and the tram is $4 round trip.