Portland, Packing, and Putting Things in Order

As we were leaving the Columbia Gorge Friday morning, the rain began.  We had hoped it would “hold off” until the afternoon, but it was not to be.  The hop to our Portland RV Park was fairly quick.  When checking in, we asked for a spot near the laundry as we would be cleaning and packing everything up!  The park is nice, but no fire rings (see later comments!  LOL). 

We drove into Portland proper and decided the art museum would be good for a rainy afternoon.  They had a special Body Beautiful exhibit in conjunction with the British Art Museum.  It was an exhibit of classic Greek statues including the Discus Thrower and many Hercules and Aphrodite statues.  I tried to get David to pose as the Discus, but to no avail LOL! (He made a comment about vandalism that happens to the statues and he didn’t want that to happen to him!)  They also had a Monet exhibit which included the Lily Pond and a few others. The museum’s contemporary collection was large but uninspiring.

 

After walking for what felt like miles in the museum (it was 2 buildings connected by a tunnel and could be very confusing to find your way!), we were ready for beer and a snack.  The Grain and Gristle was billed as Clay and Tracy’s fav so we plugged it into Nuvi.  There we had an amazing sour and IPA from Upland Brewing.  So… soon we were plugging in Upland Brewing into Nuvi.  It was in the basement of a building, so finding it took persistence, but we had plenty of that!  We were impressed with almost all of their beers.  On the way home we stopped by Walmart and bought new umbrellas!

Saturday, the rain had slowed to occasional drizzle so we headed out to the Saturday Market.  They had a special tent set up for Distillery tasting, so I left David in the “day care center” and shopped til I dropped.  I was able to pick up a wedding or shower present for Hope and some gifts and a “rainy Oregon” T shirt and cat purse for ME!  Dave bought chocolate infused vodka for Clay and us!  Come and taste it!!

 

Now we were thirsty, so we once again consulted Clay’s list of places to go.  We started at Hair of the Dog Brewery and while tasting there a couple told us the best sours were at Cascade.  There we got some amazing sours and only tasted about ¼ of them!  We also tasted several of their small plates to balance the brews!  As we were leaving the Market area we saw folks lining up all the way around the block to get into Voodoo Donuts.  Nuvi found us a 2^nd shop near Cascade that, while it had a line, it wasn’t quite as crowded.  David laughed and said his birthday present to me was now complete…. Rogue beer and Voodoo Donuts.  (If you weren't at my birthday party and want to know the joke...use your imagination or ask!)  I threatened to send the picture of him eating the bacon maple donut to our nutritionist!! LOL… They definitely have different donuts.  The ones with the fruit loops and Oreos would definitely give you a sugar high!!  We settled on a peanut butter and chocolate fritter and some glazed and filled ones, enough to keep our sugar levels up through Sunday!!

Dave munching on a maple and bacon donut!!!

Sunday we woke up to dry, but threatening skies. With the Panthers and Tigers having byes, we were having football withdrawal!  At least they weren’t losing!  Clay called us from his DC/VA/NC trip and wanted to know if we had taped the Panther game on our DVR (think about that for a minute…  Clay is in the backwater of VA and calls us in Oregon about the Panthers!! LOL).  We told him, that Cam was having his best Sunday with no fumbles or interceptions and the defense had not allowed a single score!!  After a few choice words from Clay, Dave informed him it was a bye week.

Back at the RV Park, Dave cleaned out all of the compartments underneath and prepped the segways (we learned our lesson and took the expensive batteries off of the units this time!).  He really wanted to get this chore done before rain really settled in as it is predicted to do.  Deb worked on the RV inventory.  We have laughed since the last trip:  every time we couldn’t find something; we would conclude it was in the RV.  We decided to do an inventory, so we would know what is here. The rain seemed to be holding off, so we decided to ride up to Mount St. Helen’s.  Unfortunately when we got to the Lower visitor’s center, the mountain was ensconced in clouds and fog, and it didn’t make much sense to go further.

Monday we finished our packing planning.  We found yet a better and less expensive RV storage unit.  (We passed on the storage condos you had to buy!!! LOL) Our other piece of “business” was to get a wine packing box, since we weren’t having any luck with Nuvi finding UPS stores nearby, we decided to stop into Edgefield Winery at McMenamen’s which was nearby.  It was their first Hotel and Winery/Brewery.  The wine was passable and she threw in a box when we bought a bottle!

Then it was into Portland for lunch and one last brewery.  At the “Lucky Labrador” we laughed at the sign that said, “No dogs allowed”.  I guess the dogs aren’t as lucky as the brew.  The beers were just ok, but the tomato bisque soup was outstanding and much needed after maneuvering through traffic. There is much competition among the brew pubs here.  They all have good beer, most have great beer.  With so many, you begin to expect to be “blown away”!!  At the brewery we asked where the best place to get coffee was , so that  we could get some to take home to the troops.  The place around the corner, Coava was great.  The gardens and Elvis’ 24 hr Church and Art Gallery were the last things on our list.  The rain made the gardens less attractive (though the Chinese Garden was listed in the “things to do in Portland in the rain”… lol … We passed.  But the Elvis church was a hoot.  It is just a store front window in China Town.  I loved the last screen (and electronic voice) after I had put in 2 quarters.  “Thank you for visiting Elvis’ church where we don’t tithe… we quarter!”  Tracy and Clay, they supposedly perform weddings there too for a dollar.  Let us know if you want to elope!!!! (don’t you dare!!!!)

Elvis' 24 Hour Church and Art Gallery

Coava Coffee
They measured the water by weighing it!

 

REFLECTIONS….

 As I write this, Dave has spent the morning on a conference call and is now working on a proposal for DS,  and I’ve been IM’ing Emily about WHEN I can FINALLY see the granddaughters,  so we are definitely making the transition back to NC and SC!  It is time to start reflecting on our trip!

 ·         I think we have the “living in 300 square feet” thing down pretty pat!  The only thing of significance we bought for the RV this time was a space heater.  This kept us warm and cozy in the bedroom and saved on propane.  There were several days when we used both the air conditioner and the heater in the same day as the temperature difference could be as much as 40 degrees!  We also bought a cover for the RV since we will be storing it without cover.  As I begin to clean and pack up, I’m using a lot of Clorox based anti mildew cleaner!!  Will it be enough?  Only time will tell.

 ·         The pace of this trip has been much more relaxed.  We only did a “stop and drop” 2 or 3 times, and we stayed 2-4 days or more in most places.  Of course we covered a lot less territory this way, but we felt like we truly saw the places we went.  (And used less gas!)

 ·         I’ve learned to reach out to our neighbors and invite them over for wine.  Often they have said that this was their first invitation and that they were also “hungry” to meet people.  Having a fire ring at the camp site helps (and makes my pyrotechnic hubby happy!).  It definitely encourages sitting outside swapping tall tales!  When we talked about this with a couple along the Columbia Gorge, they noted that we were from the part of the country where hospitality is the norm!!  So I guess I’ve done my Southern Roots proud!! LOL  The other thing that helped us meet people was my DNC Volunteer shirt.  Almost everytime I wore it, someone would comment on it and start a conversation.  It helped thath Oregon is a pretty blue state!!

·         On those nights when we had no fire ring, or no congenial neighbors, Dave and I played 2 board games I bought at Camping World.  I am now the champion of “Farkel” a dice game similar to Yatzee, but Dave almost has my score doubled in Sumdoko, a “crossword” type number game.  We borrowed Phase 10 here in this last campground, and it is a rummy type game that is also fun.  Will we save the scores for the next trip… or burn them?  I might be “selective!”  LOL

 

·         They really are unimaginative out here in the Northwest!  They don’t have many names for streets and just use numbers.  Our RV park is near 247^th Ave.!!!  Where are they counting from?!!!!  Also Oregon (especially Portland!) drivers must take lessons in New Jersey.  If you slow down even a tiny bit to read a street sign, you get honked at!!  And forget someone letting you in when you want to change lanes!!

·         I haven’t been as successful at finding all of the states’ license plates this trip.  I have more than ½… anyone want to guess how many?  Becky won last time.

 

·         I only read 2 novels this trip, well 4 if you count the 2 books on tape we listened to while driving.  One was about wine tasting, so it was pretty appropriate and the other was a mystery by a Charlotte author.  I'll be sharing them at book club.  I traded in one I left in the RV from the last trip at a "Leave one, take one" shelf at one of the RV parks, so I have one for the flight home.  The 2 Janet Evocavich’s that we listened to had no social redeeming values but were really funny and helped the miles pass.  One was a farce about Charlotte and NASCAR!!!  (Motor Mouth).

And now for Deb’s lists……

I didn’t find as many funny signs this time, but the quality of the few I noted is pretty good!

·         Bone Pile BBQ – Dave especially liked this one

·         End Safety Zone – does this mean we are now traveling in grave danger?

·         Another Pumpkin Patch – the “another” is what really got me!!

·         Drive in Church – every Sunday – that’s one way to do it!!

But I do have one long list!  Coffee Shop names!  They take their coffee and tea very seriously out here.  There are little trailers parked on many intersections that have “Drive up Expresso”  (the most  common name).  Here is a list I compiled just in the last 2 weeks!

 

MoJo                                  Myla’s Cup o’ Jo                            Expresso (boat ½ buried in front yard!)

Expresso 2 Go                   Coffee in Motion                           Java Crew

Brooks & Jerry’s               Fast Lane Expresso                         Dutch Brothers (common chain)                   

Digital Diner                      Mary’s  (simple)                             The Tilting Teapot           

Allies Philosphy                 Pacific Grind                                   SerendipiTEA

Tiger Lily                             Pirate Coffee Co.                            Panache

Beachtown Coffee            Banker’s Cup                                   Coffee Cottage

Retail Expresso                 Black Rock Coffee Bar                    Brewed with Kenings

Better Days Coffee           Jack’s Snack and Tackle                  Coffee Cabin

Vibe                                     Coffee Boutique                              City Coffee

Extracto  Coffee                Clive’ Coffee                                      Museum Grounds

Roaster’s Brew                  Beanarino                                         Perfect Cup (very broken down!)

And my favorite….. Coffee and Wine Bar!            

               

Hops, Wine, Fish and the Gorge!

After the Evergreen Aviation Museum, the Willamette Valley lost a little of its luster.  It just wasn’t as much fun without our friends to taste wine with us.  On Tuesday we drove out to the Rogue hop farm.  Harvest and bailing was complete, so there was not much going on and we weren’t able to engage anyone in a tour.  They had made a parking lot for the brewery and dressed up the buildings with signs.  We noticed a gaggle of turkeys near the house (“gobbling” under the windows) and thought about Clay and Tracy staying there.

Back in the Willamette Valley we were not as enthusiastic about the wines as before.  Several of the wineries we wanted to revisit, Trisateum, Monk’s Gate, and Willa Kenzie, were closed.  Don at Vidon was just as friendly as before.  He had a barrel select that was really good, but since he released it on his 80^th birthday, he was charging $80 for it.  It wasn’t that good.  We bought a few other bottles at random wineries, but nothing that blew us away.  The funniest thing that happened was that Deb started talking to a guy at the Ankeny, our first winery who was there buying grapes.  It turns out he was in the band with Deb at Clemson in the 70’s.  We ended the day at Nick’s, an Italian restaurant that according to the journal from 2009 we wanted to go to, but could not get a seating.  We were successful, and it was terrific.     

Wednesday we decided to go back to the Columbia River Gorge.  We found a great RV space in Ainsworth State Park with full hook ups and settled in for a late lunch.  Then we took a drive and saw Multnomah Falls.  At the Hatchery we saw a 500 lb. sturgeon, salmon and rainbow trout.  We ended the evening by the fire talking with a lovely couple who are snowbirds between Wyoming and Scottsdale, AZ.  Thursday we toured the Bonneville dam and saw the salmon ladder, but no salmon.  Then we took a cruise on a paddleboat out of Cascade Locks.  We had 2 bald eagles fly around the boat, and really enjoyed the gorge from the water.  In Stevenson we enjoyed the heritage museum and Deb sent a picture of all the rosaries to Mary Lou.  Besides exhibits on the geology and history of the Gorge, the museum houses the largest collection of rosaries in the US.  We got wings and beer at Walking Man brewery.  The beers were good and the wings were outstanding!!  They were glazed with hop-infused honey. Dave plans to use that idea on some of his ribs. Back at the RV, we grilled hamburgers during the VP Debate. 

 

BIG fish at the Hatchery

4000 fish went up the ladder that day...
but not while we were watching!

Paddleboat and Bridge of the Gods
Dave went over it in the RV!!!

Friday we will move to Portland and begin our “final phase”. We will preview some breweries and distilleries for Clay, check out the city some more and pack up (yuck!). We have had really beautiful weather for the past month, but they are predicting rain for the weekend.  This is almost as big of an event as snow in Charlotte.  The weather forecasters have been all "atwitter" for about a week, tracking the storm out in the ocean.  We thought rain was the norm around here, but according to the TV, this will be the first significant rain since June and according to the locals, the beginning of the rainy season.  I guess we are "getting out of dodge" at the right time.  We are both beginning to get that “homeward bound” mindset.

The Spruce Goose

Deb and Dave in the cockpit of the Spruce Goose

Sunday afternoon after I posted the blog, we had a friend pose for a few more sunset shots!!  After supper David shared some of the bourbon he had purchased with our Oregon friends.  They had a “rip-roaring” fire and between that and the waves crashing on the beach, we slept well.

Monday, it was only about an hour to our next stop in McMinnville, so we got up leisurely and got to our park and then went to the Evergreen Aviation Museum.  We spent the entire afternoon there.  The Spruce Goose (or actually Hercules) is housed there along with an amazing assortment of historical planes.  There are 4 buildings.  The first has a 747 on top and houses a water park!!  When we were here before the 747 was parked out in the yard.  The 2^nd building houses the Spruce Goose and historical planes through the Korean War.  The 3^rd building is an IMAX and finally there is the Air and Space Museum.  It was a lot to take in!!  We tried “skyping” my dad while we were there and he was able to see some of the Spruce Goose but I know he is awaiting this blog and pictures.  We took the extra tour into the cockpit of the airplane and got to sit in Howard Hughes seat!!  It was a lot of fun.  The whole time we were so sorry Daddy and Dick Kuklentz weren’t with us as they would be loving all of the history and planes. 

The Spruce Goose was so large Dave had to stitch together a panorama!!



The Water Park Building... see the slides? 

The Black Bird  SR70

Deb pretends to work the radio station in the Spruce Goose

Curtis P40
They said these were flown out of Alaska

Part of the Berlin Wall in the Space  Building
They were talking about Sputnik and the race to space.



Lockheed P-38
Note Japanese flags on side to show hits
This plane shot down Adm. Yamamoto, the designer of Pearl Harbor

From the Mountains to the Sea

Lava Field outside of Sisters, Ore

Ocean through the RV Cockpit

Once again I sit working on the blog during the Panther’s game.  But this venue has some differences….instead of a Sports Bar Breakfast I am comfortably ensconced on our sofa with the TV on above the “cockpit” and the Pacific Ocean in the windshield below it and out the window beside me.  We are parked at Sea and Sand RV Park in Depoe, OR, half way between Lincoln City and Newport just south of Portland.  We have a seaside space and the game definitely has competition with the surf, sea gulls, and harbor seals frolicking in the surf.  Since it is a 4 pm game at home, we are watching at a comfortable 1 pm after going to early church and having breakfast and wandering around the galleries in Newport.

After leaving Sisters, we rode around Mt. Hood and ended up on the north side and then took the scenic route along the Columbia River.  It was some of the prettiest countryside we have seen.  We went back and forth across the river from the Oregon to the Washington side and finally settled in Beacon Rock State Park.  It was “dry” camping, (no hook ups) but we found a spot where Bessy would fit, under the giant pines.   It was truly wilderness camping, as we were the only ones in the 50 space campground.  After settling in, we took the truck back across the river to Hood River and had a great tasting and supper at Full Sail Brewery overlooking the river.  Then we tasted at Double Mountain, a much smaller micro brewery with great sours, so Deb was happy!  Back at the campground, it was a little creepy with no one around, and though we looked for them, no bears, mountain lions, or raccoons!! LOL  

Columbia River

Mountains near Sisters

Mt. Hood

Friday was “take care of business day”.  We decided to head to the Coast, but to check out our future storage space in Portland on the way.  Dave’s intuition (and his google bird’s eye view) had told him there might be a problem, and indeed there was.  It was a double stack facility, which meant they would be moving our unit around.  We didn’t like this plus, it was VERY unorganized and reminded me of the boat fix-it shop on the way to the lake with cars and RV’s scattered willy nilly everywhere.  We were able to find another facility, almost as close to the airport that we felt much more comfortable with and get a refund on our deposit. (We all know Dave is a good negotiator!)  We also stopped by Camping World and got a cover for the RV since it will not be covered to protect it from Portland’s notorious rains, which we haven’t seen. We have had sunny weather except that one day of fog down on the California coast.

With all our “putzing” around in Portland, we didn’t arrive on the coast to late in the afternoon and the RV Park could not place us on the ocean front, but had a space for us the next morning.   But it all worked for good, for we had a very enjoyable evening by the fire with the couple next door.  He was a boiler maker and while most of his work was with HVAC systems, he also built and installed stills, in the growing distillery business here.  David enjoyed   12 year old Pendleton 1910 rye whiskey immensely!!

Saturday we headed to Artober Fest in Lincoln City.  It took us about… maybe 30-45 minutes.  The hype in the visitor bureau info was definitely inflated.  We did taste a few beers but passed on the local “arts and crafts” (quotes very intentional!! LOL).  We did find a few galleries worth strolling in town, one with kinetic sculptures reminiscent of Andrew Carson without the glass, but the best part of the day was the sunset into the ocean right outside our RV and the fresh salmon we grilled for supper.   As I write this I’m munching on salmon jerky… teriyaki smoked salmon on a lollypop stick.  And swallowing one more Panther loss... guess they need us back in Carolina!!! 

Dave taking pictures of the sunset

Deb and the RV at Sunset

Sunset on the Oregon coast

Deb in Kinetic Sculpture Field

Eugene, Sisters and Bend

We arrived in Eugene in the late afternoon.  We rode into the city and got out our segways and rode along the river in a wonderful linear park.  We saw a rose garden that when you entered it, the smell of roses just enveloped you.  Why we didn’t take pictures there I’m not sure.  Another feature of the park was a “walkable solar system.”  It was a 1: 1billionth scale.  What a great science lesson!   It made us realize how important parks and city planning are to great cities.  We also rode by Oregon University, but since we don’t speak “duck” we were not very impressed.   (Dave continues to express how he thinks the Ducks is a really lame idea for a mascot, only to be surpassed by the Beavers of OSU… It just depends on where you’re from I guess.)

Walking Solar System
(I cut off Mercury... it was a small ball on top of the pyramid!)

Dave at the Sun!

We arrived in Sisters and settled into a great campground.  There is plenty of shade and a duck pond (hey! It’s Duck Country!).  The amenities are pristine.  We could smell the wildfires which are about 6 miles away but in the “mop up” stages.  The Rodeo grounds (think Fair Grounds) next door had been serving as the firefighters staging area and the owners of the campground said that just last week it was a tent city.  There are about a half dozen semi trucks there now that were serving as mobile kitchens for the fire fighters. 

Deb spent part of Monday wandering the streets of Sisters, a quaint little town full of “chotsky” shops.  She bought a few stocking stuffers and finally found some “real” art on a side street.  The fused glass was really nice… and they were very proud of it… ie. $$$$.  Monday night we enjoyed a campfire with Ann and Bill from Southern Idaho.  They had camped in Alaska and had many snow-camping stories.

Tuesday we decided to “do” Bend.  It is a really nice place.  We were impressed with the city planning, art and breweries.  We started with a brochure we had gotten that challenged you to find the 20 pieces of public “round about” art in Bend.  Go to  http://artinpublicplaces.org/gallery.php  to see them.  In the brochure it asked you questions like “On which shoulder is the logger’s ax?” or “How many feathers are on the sculpture?”  If you answered 10 questions correctly and took the brochure to the Visitor’s Bureau, you got a prize ( a special commemorative chocolate bar).  It was a lot of fun and we learned about our map reading and communication skills while getting an overview of Bend.  At the visitor’s bureau we also got a guide to the art galleries in town so we set off to see them.  We saw some nice things but nothing that really “rocked our boat”.  One of the most interesting was a gallery run by twin sisters who do fiber art.  One sister starts and then the 2^nd sister adds to it, and they go back and forth without discussing the final product except for its size.  I’m not sure how they know when they are “done”… but their fabric landscapes were amazing.  http://www.lubbesmeyer.com/ 

Fabric Art

Round About Art

Then it was on to the breweries.  We started at a brew pub for lunch, Old Mill Brewery.    It served both good food and good beer; not only their own, but several other brews from the area.  After looking for hops at a brew shop to no avail, we took the 4 pm tour of Deschutes.  It is the biggest craft brewery after Sierra Nevada.  Their operation was impressive, though very industrial.  One of the guys there is the owner of Brews Cruise and used to work out of Asheville.  We had fun swapping brewery stories with him.  Next we landed at Boneyard which was a nano-brewery.  Their cooler was a chest freezer covered in stickers with taps on the side!  It was a real contrast to Deschutes.  Their chipotle brew would put hair on your chest!!  Thank goodness for the chocolate.  It brought our taste buds back to normal!!

As I write this, Dave is off exploring the lava fields and I’ve enjoyed some “alone time” at camp.  We are staying here an extra night so that we will have TV for the debate tonight.  Then it’s on to Mt Hood and who knows what other adventures!!