Three Days Closer to Alaska

4/29/12

This morning we spent an enjoyable couple of hours in the warm mineral pool at Kah-nee-tah. I thought to get some exercise by treading water in the 10 foot deep end. The only problem with this is I float well anyway and even better in highly mineralized water. I was out there more than ½ hour. Maybe I got some exercise.

We took off at about one intending to go on a back road through the reservation, but we had forgotten that we turned off the main road to get to Kah-nee-tah. We had to turn around and backtrack a few miles.

After we crossed the Columbia we went up to the Stonehenge replica that Samuel Hill built as a memorial to the local World War I dead. We were here before in 1979. We took the kids out of school in 2/79 and traveled up here for a spectacular total solar eclipse. Our first ever. We watched it from the parking lot of the Maryhill Art Museum.

After visiting the replica we decided to camp nearby at Peach Beach Campark. A few geese here and 13 babies. I don't think 13 will make it to adulthood. Maybe 2 or 3. But geese can't count, so it will be OK.

Now I am finally posting.  My laptop was having a problem and it took the high speed internet here at Peach Beach to fix it.

Snug As Bears

4/28/2012

We were as snug as two bears in a nest under the down comforter this morning despite the cold temperature. But William got up to start the coffee. Darn. The bag of coffee was a bag of whole beans. We rushed around and pulled out of Collier State Park in 45 minutes, looking for coffee.

We stopped at Diamond Lake Junction Cafe. We were the only ones there. The waitress also did the cooking. The food was very good but not very weight watchery. We both ate just half and took the other half in to go boxes. The waitress/cook was not good at addition however and William had to correct her addition on our bill.

After we found an Albertsons in Bend to buy ground coffee (we also ground the bag we had). We went on to Smith Rock State Park outside of Terrebonne. It was really crowded, mostly with rock climbers. Thankfully there was a spot left in the RV parking. We walked from one end of the upper area to the other and all along the Rim trail, stopping to look at the tiny climbers inching their way up the huge rock formations.

After lunch we drove on and stopped at the Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint. Three hundred feet straight down the cliff face. “Watch your dogs. Many dogs have died here.”

It was getting time to stop for the night so we headed to Kah-Nee-Ta in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. We will soak in the hot springs pool in the morning.

We Leave Redding

4/27/2012 Time to get busy writing. Our trip officially began today as we pulled out from our friends and almost relatives house, Frank and Robbin Borden, in Redding. We are heading north to Alaska. Our first side trip was outside of Weed on highway 97. We stopped at the Living Memorial Sculpture Garden. Ten huge and unique welded sculptures capture many feelings about soldiers and war. You can tell that a lot of emotion went into these sculptures.

Photo of The Nurses sculpture.

 As we passed through Klamath Falls I reminisced about my family's move from Florida. Dad was looking at a trade school in Klamath Falls, but when we arrived he did not like how it looked, so we headed down to the bay area. What if we had stayed in Klamath Falls? Children are at the mercy of where their parents take them. I certainly would not have gone to Berkeley.
 We wound up in a tiny apartment in Richmond. I slept in the living room on the couch. We went out to pick fruit and mom canned in the tiny pullman kitchen. I was almost 12 and was let to ride public transportation to the library and wander around the neighborhood. We were in the East Bay about 2 months before moving to Daly City across the bay.

 Our next stop was at the Collier State Park Logging Museum. William appreciated the logging equipment more than I did. Although the wood fired locomotive nicknamed the old GOP (get out and push) for its habit of running off the tracks, was funny.

We are nested in at the state campground just across the highway at the confluence of Spring Creek and the Williamson River. It is quite cold and spit a few bits of snow. I think the Hungarian goose down comforter we brought along in case of cold weather will be just right.

 William has prepared the typical Baker bonfire for later.