Tuesday, July 29, 2008

July Photo Exchange:: Summertime

My photos:





Once again, everyone submitted amazing photos! ... It's so fun looking at everyone's submission. Here is the album from this month:





We are skipping August and will resume in September, email me if you'd like to participate.

Friday, July 18, 2008

The Weight

A little something that made me happy today:



Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings and Old Crow Medicine Show singing "The Weight" by the Band. Watch Willie Watson who sings the third verse, I love his voice....

" ... I said wait-a-minute-Chester, ... you know I'm a peaceful man... "

Monday, July 14, 2008

Ice House Canyon, Buckhorn Lodge, and No Camera?!

Sometimes I don't want to take my camera with me because its so big and heavy... and every time I regret it. I have no photos to remember Saturday by. Well, I have my memory, but that fails me sometimes. Can words really convey what an amazing day it was?

We hiked the Ice House Canyon Saddle Saturday afternoon, and I won't lie, it kicked my butt. I am completely humbled... I was lagging far behind everyone. It was 3.6 miles uphill to the saddle; I mean, steep uphill, lots of long switch backs. The kind of steepness that makes you push down on your knee for leverage as you're walking up. The first half is along a creek, its nice, shaded and cool. The second part is more rocky and in the sun. But there wasn't much sun Saturday, we heard the looming thunderstorms for most of our hike. It was nice to stop and just listen to the rolling sound. Switchback after switchback we finally made it to the saddle, and not a minute too soon for me, my legs were shaking, my hips were cracking.

The way down was a lot easier... My brother and I ran some of the way. It was so steep that it was more comfortable to break into a run then try to catch yourself. The sun was setting, the wind was blowing, and the clouds kept rolling in. About 30 feet from our car, we felt the first drops. As we got closer and closer to the car the rain started to pour. We made it by seconds.

To celebrate our achievement we stopped by the Buckhorn Lodge. We sat outside on the patio and watched the lightning and listened to the storm. Bolts of lightning lit up whole mountainsides. We tired to count in-between lightning strikes and thunder, but sometimes there was lighting and no thunder, or they would happen simultaneously. When the rain was falling so hard that it began to get us wet, even-though we were under a patio, we opted to go inside. Going inside literally makes you feel like you're stepping back in time; it's rustic, western, and old fashioned. Inside, we enjoyed our lodge food while listening to a country band: The Buckhorn Boys. It was the perfect weather for a lodge visit. If only the fireplace was roaring, that would have topped the experience.

I guess I have the sore muscles as a token of that day... but I am sure those will heal and be forgotten.


_______________________
I guess my memory does fail me... I didn't remember this, but I wrote a blog the last time I did this hike! I mentioned that its a butt kicker, guess I forgot that this last time, I wasn't prepared for it. I even had a picture last time...

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Part Three: Saturday - to the end

Saturday we woke up on the coast and decided to enjoy it for a while... we stopped at Harris beach to play... Lori Jo and Brian were married on Harris beach, so its special that we got to go here:






... Justin and I found some tide pools... I love tide pools.





... Lori Jo flew a kite... and then made me a shaker out of a piece of seaweed.





After our beach fun we decided to stop and get some seafood... I was craving clam chowder, how could you not when your on the chilly beach? ... Well, we went to the Hungry Clam - they were busy but we didn't expect the long wait ... 90 mins later, we got our food, we were hungry, grumpy and off schedule.

On our way home from the coast we stopped by this place: Its a Burl... this man is a wood craving genius. I wanted to buy a piece.. but I couldn't afford the $2700 wood couch.




Then we stopped by Troon winery for some wine tasting, a highlight for me.




After the winery we went to Jacksonville for dinner. Jacksonville was booming in the 1800's during the gold rush... I really liked this town, it had lots of charm.


The Britt Fest is in Jacksonville .. nightly concerts outside, under a beautiful Oregon sky. We saw the Punchbrothers, Chris Thile's new band, it was so wonderful ... we sat in the grass, drank wine and listened to beautiful bluegrass. Great way to end the night.


That night we spent the night at Lori Jo's parents house in Talent. The next day we hung out in Ashland, went to the park, had a picnic, went to a record shop, walked around.... Then we went back to Eagle Point and spent our last evening out by the yurt. It was perfect, we just wanted to soak in Eagle Point, the yurt, the country, the cows, the garden... a peaceful ending to a busy vacation. So long Eagle Point!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Part Two: and then there was the 4th


Thursday we slept in the yurt and woke up to this view of cows and Mt McLoughlin. I could live here:


We took a little walk around the barn/yurt area:



Our friends are great builder and gardners. They built a green house and then planted upside down tomato plants:


They gave me this one:


Not only are they great builders but they are so resourceful and smart. They made planters out of old tires:


I love the chandelier outside their yurt:



We started off the morning participating in the Eagle Point Betty Ann Marlia Run. It is named after my friend Brian's grandma. The Marlias are a well known family in Eagle Point... One reason is because they are a HUGE family. Betty Ann Marilia had 13 children! ... Every year the Marlia's win the "largest" participating family award - this year the prize was a $100 to Hometown Buffet. {I wish I had a photo to show how many there were}


After the run we packed the Mercedes wagon and headed to the Coast.



On the way we stopped off at the Illinois River - about an hour out of the way! It is a beautiful river, so clean, crisp and clean - so worth it:




Then we got back on the road to the coast... Not that long after I noticed that we passed a sign saying "Welcome to California" ... I didn't expect that.  We ended up taking a detour road and headed through the Redwoods:





After our Redwood fun we packed the Mercedes again and got back on the road:



We arrived at the coast, to our Ireland's Rustic Lodge, around 7 ... we were so exhausted from the day we had just enough energy to enjoy the spa on the beach for a while during the sunset. We were so wasted we didn't even venture out to check out fireworks. But the rest was worth it.

... and that was only day 2.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

1432 Miles Later*

(*does not include miles traveled within Oregon)

This will be our Oregon trip in parts. 

PART ONE:
The last week has been a whirlwind, mostly a wonderful whirlwind. Our friends from Oregon drove down all night last Tuesday (to sell their car and drive back up with us) - they made it to our house Wednesday afternoon. After Justin and I got off work they talked us into packing our things and heading up to Oregon that night. So we did. We drove all night Wednesday, arriving in Shasta around 10am - driving 12 hours is much better if its spilt between 4 people:




In Shasta we went to the head springs and filled up a jug with some fresh water. I had never heard of this place, but lots of people were doing the same thing:





Then we headed over to a beautiful lake for a while:




Justin fell down because it was so beautiful:



After the lake, we stopped on the side of the road near a ranch, a lovely, lovely ranch:



Then we went to Stewart Springs - we bathed in the mineral waters, relaxed in the dry sauna and shocked ourselves silly in the coldwater creek. This is the only photo I have of the place, couldn't take photos there, ask me why later:



Finally, after a stop in Ashland, we made it to Eagle Point on Thursday evening. While we were gone Cielito broke his arm!



..and finally we met the yurt. I love their yurt, I love their yard, plants, walkway, tub....:


And I LOVE the view from their yurt:



And this was only the beginning...

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Cool Love

Were leaving for a few days... not that I have been writing much lately, but there will be even more silence till next week. We are very excited to spend a few days with our dear friends Brian & Lori Jo. They have some great adventures in Oregon planned for us.


For now, I leave you with this video. A friend recently introduced me to Wanda Jackson, and I love her. She is a cool rockabilly chick from the 50's-60's, love her. Here is Cool Love: