Reflections on Summer 2009

Today is a gorgeous bluebird sky, late summer day in Portland. The kind we live for here. But, as I was walking downtown after the Race for the Cure this morning I commented to my friend that you could feel Fall in the air. I like that crisp feeling that signals the advent of shorter days, falling leaves, and snow in the mountains.

This summer has been many things....I turned 50, my baby brother passed away, my niece started college in Arizona, my nephew flew to Italy to spend a term of college, spent lots more time with my David, learned I'm going to be a Gma again, and I saw some of the most beautiful parts of Oregon. Endings and beginnings. All things that cause me to reflect on my life, how I live it, what's the meaning of it all? Don't know the answers, for sure. Re-resolved to be kind to others, make a difference, speak my mind, take advantage of opportunities, take risks, and have fun!!

Rest in peace Don...Can't believe you're gone. I Feel lucky to have shared my birthday with him a couple of weeks before he died.

Turning 50 didn't make me sad. I was lucky to have great friends and great family around me to help celebrate. Looking back, all the "stuff" I've gone through has gotten me here to this place. Wouldn't change a thing. Well, maybe some of the hairstyles and outfits in the 70's and 80's : ) Yikes! 8th grade I think...

Didn't want a big party for 50, but my buddies Kelly and Karen threw me a surprise birthday dinner at Stanford's with a pre-party pedicure. Treated me like a queen. Even got the crown!

Mark and I road-tripped to the Wallowas for a week to celebrate the half century mark. We spent one night in Pendleton on the way at the Pendleton House B & B. Found a few geo-caches on the way too. (That's another blog post). Here I'm trying to open a cache by a rest stop between Pendleton and LaGrande.

We set up camp at the Wallowa Lake Campground and used that as base camp for our hike up to Ice Lake. I have never seen such beauty as I did at Ice Lake. 8,000 feet up in a pristine wilderness surrounded by peaks.

We camped there for two nights and summitted a peak that had no name. Couldn't figure out how to get to Sacagawea or the Matterhorn. Sweeping views in every direction and mountain goat spottings made the tough hike worth it.

Back down at the lake, we rode the Mt. Howard tramway up to the top of Mt. Howard and took in the view from there. Another spectacular panoramic view. We visited the town of Joseph and then spent the night in Enterprise at the historic Enterprise B & B. This corner of the state is remote, but well worth the drive.

The last part of the birthday extravaganza was a dinner at the Departures restaurant at the top of the Nines hotel. Cool restaurant, and the night at the hotel was super luxurious. Love the decor, wish I had had more time to enjoy my room.

Other later summer adventures included a weekend Ocean Shores, WA with sister Kristy and her husband Lee (and Teal). Enjoyed a little geocaching, a moped adventure, and a night at the Casino. The perfect tri-fecta. Stayed at the Polynesian Resort.

Labor Day found us in Bend for a Bike and Brew weekend with Cog Wild Tours. Three days of mountain biking followed by beer tasting at a local brewery and dinner at the brewpub later. My favorite was the Deschutes Brewery. We got the super deluxe tour from Aaron the head tour guide and tasted a lot of good beers! The weather was beautiful. Even started our last day in snow and 40 degrees by Broken Top! Always ended in the sun of Bend. Also tried paddleboarding for the first time. A perfect weather day on the calm Deschutes River got me hooked. Want to try it on the Willamette now.

We spent many weekends in Bend rehabbing an old house in downtown Bend. Lots of work and miles on the car, but a great side benefit was getting to spend time with David. Most work is done and we have renters! David and Jenna : )

Also realized this summer that I love to travel and see new things, but I also love to be home around friends, family and Portland. We'll see how this plays out in the future as I try to balance that. It's not a bad problem to have : )

The 4th of July in Bend

4th of July found us in Bend, Oregon. Two reasons...First, we recently purchased a small house in the downtown core area of Bend for rental purposes and needed to get started on fixing it up, and second to visit David and enjoy the Bend lifestyle. We were brave and decided not to rent a hotel room and spend the two nights on the floor of the house. Camping, right? Didn't unpack the gear from McKenzie River and pulled it out at the new house. Well, the smoke infested carpet and walls, and the really hard floor, along with lack of air-conditioning encouraged us to rent a room the second night. Mind you, it was probably the cheapest room in Bend at the Westward Ho!

On the 4th, we spent the morning in downtown Bend with what it seems must have been the whole town of Bend. A great tradition is the Pet Parade that has been going on since the 1920's. They had to quit allowing cats at some point, but everyone with a dog (and in Bend that is thousands of people!) shows up to parade their pooch through the streets of downtown. David and Jenna walked Jibber (the poodles had to stay home). We also saw a pet goose, rabbit, and gold fish (!?)

This poor dog was tied to helium balloons and spent the parade 10 feet above the ground. His owner had him on a leash...

After the parade we wandered through Drake Park and enjoyed the craft booths, food and music. They even had typical races for the kids i.e. three-legged, sack, etc. Also, flinging balls from a giant slingshot out into the Deschutes at hula hoop targets.

We did work that afternoon on the house. David helped to tear out the stinky and disgustingly dirty carpet. I removed what seemed like thousands of staples from the floor underneath. Mark tore down a random "room" that had been started but not finished in the garage. We will get new carpet, paint inside and out, a new roof, and put down some barkdust before we rent it out. We are trading the paint job with an excellent painter : ) for a buydown of the rent. He also agrees to let us store some items in the garage.

On Sunday, we rented a mountain bike for Jenna for her maiden voyage on a mountain bike trail. We drove the short distance to the Aspen Camp trailhead along the river and started our bike ride there. We did the Deschutes River Tail. The trail goes all the way to Sunriver to the South and to Benham Falls to the north. We rode to Benham Falls and back. Enjoyed a stop at Dillon Falls along the way. Had to make the stops short because the mosquitos were in full bloom. Had a great time. Great buff trail, a pretty meadow and breathtaking Falls. Jenna did great for her first time. Hopefully, she'll let us take her out again.

We took in the fireworks from the second floor walkway of the Westward Ho. We were joined by another couple that was meeting for the first time and had met on Facebook! We shared our wine with them while we watched the show off of Pilot Butte. The joke is that every year the fireworks start a fire on the Butte. At one point in the show we could see all the fire engine lights go on and a big flame. I guess it was a joke put on by the promoters!

We enjoyed getting familiar with the new neighborhood and it's eateries. Had a great smoothie at Mother's Cafe, and a great breakfast bagel sandwich at Big O Bagels. Dinners were at Longboard Louie's for a great fish taco with a dollar beer, and Cibelli's Pizza for one of the biggest slices of pepperoni pizza I've ever had! Breakfast at the Westside Bakery was homemade granola, fresh fruit and yogurt. All of these were within two blocks of the new place!

We'll be back in a week for more rehab and I want to float the river like a local.

Paradise along the McKenzie River

Car-Camping! Mark and I met several good friends at the Paradise Campground along the McKenzie River for a weekend of biking, relaxing and sleeping on the ground. Actually most of our friends have real RV's so they didn't sleep on the ground. : ) We got a great site right along the river and enjoyed sitting in our camp chairs on the bank. As our neighbors Dennis and Maureen called it "the veranda". We had to break out our car camping gear which hasn't been used for many moons. We have backpacked several times in the past few years, but this is all different gear. Ended up making a list of what we need to get for next time which will be my birthday trip to the Wallowas in August. Used a big tent that neither of us has slept in before, only used by teenage boys (David and assorted friends and cousins). It worked great, as did the Coleman stove.

We had great weather. Warm but cool at night. Saturday we biked the McKenzie River Trail, which is supposedly in the top 10 in mountain biking trails in the nation. It is a tough one. 26.5 biles from beginning to end. Our group split up into two. One group did a car shuttle to the top at Clear Lake and rode down to the campground. About 24 miles I think. I have done that part of the trail before and didn't remember that I liked it that much (and I didn't even do the last 8 miles!) I joined the group that rode out and back from our campground almost to the reservoir. This is where I had stopped on my previous ride. We had a great time. Got lots of good exercise riding the slightly uphill and really uphill on the way out, and then mostly downhill on the way back. One great feature is all of the bridges along the way. Always a challenge to fit yourself AND a bike over. Felt like a rookie when I only filled my Camelbak 1/3 full and ran out of water before we even reached the turnaround point. Then had no lunch for the "lunch stop". Not sure what I was thinking, but thank goodness for nurse Maureen who let me suck her Camelbak dry and gave me a PayDay bar to eat. Bad Mazama I am. Enjoyed the ride and then waited for the other group to return.

We had a good old-fashioned weenie roast that night. Only one incident of "weenie down" in the firepit. Enjoyed catching up with good friends.

Sunday we biked to Belknap Hot Springs (about 2 miles on the trail) with Dennis and Maureen and paid $7 for an hour enjoying the hot springs pool at the resort. They had ice cream so we had to get that too...

Favorite part of the weekend was enjoying early morning coffee by the river with Michael and Diane. One of those "life is good" moments for sure.

On our return trip we took an alternate route and stopped to see Sahalie Falls and Clear Lake and had lunch in Detroit.

There are dozens of campgrounds in the McKenzie River area. I want to go back!!! The Clear Lake Resort looked like a must do to me, with the clearest water I've ever seen.

Hot Time in Tucson

I left Mark home for five days and flew to Tucson, Arizona with three generations of Stark girls. Kammy, Mom, Erin and I went for Erin's orientation/registration for her freshman year at University of Arizona. We stayed at the Marriott right at the entrance to the university and right next to University St. which is the main drag for retail for the university district. I was impressed with the size and number of retailers (comparing to U of O's). U of A is a huge school with over 36,000 students, so that makes sense. The Marriott was a great location, but we were disappointed with the lack of free Wi Fi, breakfasts, and no frigs/microwaves in the room. What is that? When we tried to upgrade to a room with a frig/microwave there wasn't anything available so the totally awesome front desk clerk gave us the secret key to the concierge level. We took full advantage of that, of course, with late night desserts, and all the snacks you could smuggle out. Ate on University most nights. Frog and Firkin (Pub grub. Googled Firkin: similar to a keg in old British times), Vida Thai (slow service and probably the worst Pad Thai I've had), Which wich (a sandwich shop where you place your order on the paper bag in which they serve it to you), a Mediterranean restaurant(had a dish with rice, lentils, chick peas with elbow macaroni in tomato sauce served on top!), and Gentle Ben's brewpub (great outdoor upstairs balcony to enjoy a beer on a warm summer night).

It was HOT!!! I can't remember sweating so much in my life without actually doing some sort of physical activity. Had to check the seat of my pants a few times when I got up to make sure my sweat didn't make me look like I had wet my pants. : ) We managed with the great misters that restaurants have, and spending many hours by the pool.

While Kam and Erin did registration events, Mom and I hired a taxi to take us to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. I highly recommend this if you are in Tucson. It is a "living" museum in an outdoor setting.

I love the desert beauty with it's flora and fauna so different from the Pacific Northwest. We did the tour with a tour guide, Carmen. It was a great way to see the museum and learn so much more than you would walking it on your own.

My favorite exhibits were the bird aviary and hummingbird aviary. You could sit on a bench and watch birds up close. Saw a hummingbird's nest with a hummingbird sitting on it!

On another day, we took a ride to 4th Street on the old restored trolley that runs between that street and University. Struck up a conversation with the conductor and found out he had family in Salem, and had ridden the Portland Streetcar, the trolley that runs between the Southwaterfront and Lake Oswego, and the train that went to Astoria during the Lewis and Clark Celebration. A real buff. 4th Street seemed very '60's-like with "retro" shops and hippy-wear. Interesting, but not my style. May also have been that it was over 100 degrees and window shopping required constant rehydration!

I enjoyed my time seeing the University district part of the city. I did several runs in the early morning before it got too hot and ran through the campus. I was amazed at the size and proximity of the football, baseball, basketball, and softball stadiums. Erin's dorm will be right next to the football stadium (or as they call it Bear Down Stadium). Sounds a little too much like childbirth to me. Named by men I'm sure. : )

We will be back in November to see the Ducks play. Looking forward to cooler temperatures and seeing more of the city.

Oregon Garden Birthday Party

My two sisters and I took Mom to the Oregon Garden Resort for her 77th birthday.  The Garden is located South of Mt. Angel and East of Salem.  We took the scenic route through Woodburn and Mt. Angel.  Beautiful countryside. 

The Garden has been around since 2000, but the Resort part is new since October.  It has cottages that each have about 6 separate rooms in each.  There is a restaurant, lounge, spa, swimming pool and hot tub.  We didn't get a chance to use the spa, not enough time.  Kammy and my room came with dinner (entree and bottle of wine). Quite the deal.  The dinner was great.  We hung out in the lounge afterwards and listened to the live entertainment.  The band was a little sketchy, but we had fun.  In the morning we took advantage of the free hot breakfast, but my recommendation is to get there early because by the time we got there, they had basically run out of food.  They may have a few kinks to work out.  The room rate came with free entrance to the Oregon Garden, so we shopped a bit in the gift shop and then caught the tram that takes you all around the Garden in about 20-25 minutes. 

 We got a great overview of the Garden, but you really need to get out and wander.  The Garden is a series of themed plantings:

This was my favorite in The Bosque.  The reflecting pools with the maple trees growing in the water.
The Conifer Garden.


The view down to the Garden from the Resort and the Willamette Valley.

The Wetlands.  This is a joint venture with the city of Silverton using treated wastewater.  They also have the Lewis and Clark Garden featuring plants that the duo discovered; the Children's Garden, the Sensory Garden, and others.
A great idea for birthdays, girls getaways, anniversaries!  We had a great time and I am ready to go back and walk every garden.

My New Kayak!

In the Fall of 2008, we did a kayaking/mt. biking trip down in Moab, Utah on the White Rim and the Green River.  It was an epic adventure with lots of good paddling, biking and a 100 year flood that kept us camped in tents on the top of a mesa during the biggest thunderstorm I've ever been a part of.  One of the times in my life that I was really really afraid for my life.  I just knew that a lightening bolt was going to hit our tent.  The kayaking on the twisting Green River was so much fun! We survived and left Utah with a love of being on the river in a kayak.  

Mark bought a kayak from a friend about a year ago and has enjoyed a few forays out on the Willamette and other local waterways.  I've been a little slower to buy one, but we did this past week and christened it this week on a short evening ride on the Willamette.  I bought an Perception Essence 16.5 foot and I love it!  It glides through the water very nicely I must say.  It has a scag that pops out of the bottom of the boat and recesses when you are done.  Much nicer than the one on the exterior.

My maiden voyage was on a perfect warm late spring evening.  The sun had come out late in the day and there was no wind.  We rolled Mark's kayak out of the parking garage (where it is stored on a rented rack) and took mine off the top of the Suburban.  Mark pulled his on his new wheels and held one end of mine, while I held the other end of mine.  Quite a site.  We have a launch area at the river by our building.  It is steep and gravelly, so it was a little shaky getting the boats down the incline.  We launched in the cold water and glided across to Ross Island.  What an amazing feeling to be in the middle of a city of one million and feel so far away.  It was quiet all except for the songs of the birds on Ross Island.  We had a great rivers-eye view of our building and the others in the South Waterfront.  

We paddled along the Island and then crossed back to the other side of the river and made our way back up to the launch area.  We explored the pilings that are left from ship building operations from days gone by.  The creosote smell was strong!  Several Dragon Boat teams paddled by, including my good friend Kelly's team.

We wrangled the boats out and put them back in their rack snugged up against each other.  I see many more trips on this river out our window in our future!

June Storm

On Thursday, June 4 an unusual storm blew threw the Willamette Valley.  It packed most of its punch south and east of Portland, but arrived here with plenty of wind, rain and lightening.  I'm a self professed weather geek so really enjoyed watching it roll in.  The windows of the condo are a perfect viewing platform.  Mark was returning from climbing Mt Hood earlier in the day, so was thankful they got off the mountain before the storm came in!