Uncategorized – Page 31 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

June 4 Escape to Howard Prairie Lake

Just a reminder, words that are in bold print are links that might interest you. If you click on the photos, you will be redirected to the smugmug gallery where that photo resides.

Escaping is easy, it just requires a moment and a bit of planning and the commitment to put it on the calendar. Somehow if it’s on the calendar, we manage to do it. The original plan was for a trip to the desert, to the east side of Oregon, basking in the high dry gorgeousness of the Steens Mountains. I can’t believe it has been so many years since we were there. It seemed like a lovely thing to do in early June.

Company gone, chores caught up, we put a week of escape days into the calendar. I mapped the route, looked at Page Campground near French Glen, checked the weather, read the blog about our last trip to the Steens over Labor Day one year. Then something happened. Seven hours of driving, no water to play on, gorgeous high desert that is known for gnats in June at the campground, hiking the main entertainment. Off grid. For no reason I can explain, I said to Mo, “Why don’t we go to Howard Prairie instead? We can kayak and have a campfire and enjoy the forest again.” That is how a long trip to the high desert turned into a short trip into the western slope of the nearby Cascades.

On the map, you can see Rocky Point on the upper right corner, where we used to live, on the left, our home in Grants Pass. It somewhat explains why we never managed to get to Howard Prairie again, even though Mo and her family used to have family camping and boating get togethers there many years ago, before I knew them. Living in Rocky Point, we were so close to so many outdoor options, lakes, rivers, the refuges, that we forgot about Howard Prairie.

Now that we live in town, on the west side, we have to be a bit more creative in finding good places to kayak, and that most often leads us back to the mountains east of Grants Pass.

Time surely does have a way of disappearing. We had good memories of a camping trip to Grizzly Campground at Howard Prairie, but when was that? Not in the blog? Oh no! It was before I started blogging. No journal of the trip? Oh my! I finally found the photos, from the summer of 2006, the first year I moved from Klamath Falls Oregon to Sonora California for my work. I drove the truck back to Oregon and Mo met me at Howard Prairie with our baby MoHo. I wish I had written about the trip then, because we spent a lot of the time trying to remember which site we were in, and where we had kayaked.

What we did remember, however, was that we went to the Britt Music Festival in Ashland, and then drove back up to the mountain lake to spend the rest of the weekend. That first night we were all alone in the campground, and as we drove in the pitch darkness was a bit disconcerting. The campground isn’t terribly small, 19 sites, and is located right next to the main road. It was one of the few times in our RVing experience where we were definitely a bit spooked.

That year we had a lovely day on the lake, with water flowers, pelicans, gorgeous views of the mountains, but this time when we got out in our boats, nothing looked familiar. Howard Prairie Lake is actually a reservoir, and is currently at less than 60 percent of capacity due to the low snow pack from the previous winter. The shoreline is so far down that the lake is significantly smaller.

The only factor that wasn’t particularly nice about that low water was the mucky bottom along the shoreline. Our site was adjacent to the water, and we carried the boats down, hunting for a place to launch. Mo chose the rocky lower bottom of the closed boat launch, and I chose the mucky bottom. Still, once we were on the water, everything felt wonderful.

Our morning kayak on the lovely lake was filled with birds, especially the Canada geese with literally hundreds of babies. The American white pelicans were around, not more than half a dozen at a time, but they entertained us perfectly with their F15 type flying maneuvers low over the water. I filmed one of them feeding, and he basically ignored me as he dumped over and over into the water in search of goodies.

We saw eagles and ospreys, too high to photograph well from the rocking kayak, and what I later discovered was a spotted sandpiper. We heard kingfishers, and killdeer. It is what we love best about our Oregon waterways, all the amazing birdlife.

Once again we had the entire campground almost entirely to ourselves. The first night a lone camper drifted in and the next morning we met him after his morning yoga on the beach. He and a friend had just graduated from Berkeley and they were celebrating by driving around the Pacific Northwest. He rushed over when we saw us approaching the landing area, offering to help us if needed. I guess maybe he was worried because we looked too old to get out of the kayaks alone? Ha! It might be funny to watch, but we can still manage it.

The second night we were joined late in the evening by a lone camper in a white truck who quietly set up his hammock and disappeared early the next morning. On Wednesday night, during a sunny pleasant week in June, we had the entire campground completely to ourselves. Totally dark and totally silent and totally alone. For some reason, it wasn’t the least bit spooky this time.

We woke in the mornings with the eastern sunshine pouring in through the forest and the lake mists, to chilly temperatures. Waiting an hour or so for the sun to warm up the air a bit, we launched the kayaks for time on the water before the winds came up. Still, the paddles back home were more challenging because even by 10 or 11 on the lake, the breezes made for choppy water.

We would return from our boating forays before noon and cook a nice breakfast, which served as a great lunch as well. Two meals a day is perfect when camping it seems. Although one afternoon we did supplement our home cooking with some ice cream from the resort grocery store.

In the afternoons we explored the other campgrounds around Howard Prairie, checked out the resort, with its big campground with hookups, a store, and a marina. Even the fancy campgrounds were not even close to full, with lots of space.

Another afternoon we drove south to Hyatt Lake, a smaller reservoir nearby, with water that was even lower than that at Howard Prairie. Hyatt is a lovely little lake, and unlike the Jackson County campgrounds that are around Howard Prairie, the Hyatt campgrounds are administered by the BLM, and are reservation only sites. On each campsite is a number to call to get a reservation, which you can do on the same day. Although cell service is basically unavailable, so we decided that if we ever wanted to camp at Hyatt, we would have to really plan ahead.

Sometimes we just say “no” even with 4 wheel drive

I didn’t realize that the infamous Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument boundary actually included the eastern and southern shoreline of both of these lakes. We started up the rough dirt road, crossing the Pacific Crest Trail, toward the Yew Springs Road, but without maps, the forests looked all the same and we had no idea how far the road went through the same kind of landscape. Later I did some research and discovered an entirely new world of amazing places to hike and explore right here in our own back yard Cascades Monument. The hike to Hobart Bluff is definitely on our list of things to do.

The monument is only infamous if you are among my friends who have tracked some of the issues surrounding National Monuments in our country at this time. This is one slated for reduction, and is the subject of much controversy in the area, some pro, some against, but everyone has a strong opinion. Much to say here, but I’ll save that for private conversations.

Another lovely feature at Howard Prairie is the beautiful trail that encircles the entire lake, with several sections that are accessible from different points. We walked part of the trail between our Grizzly Campground and the main Howard Prairie Resort, and another part of the trail that surrounded the upper part of what was once lake but now is only meadow. The nice thing about the low water was that at this time of year, the exposed banks were covered with thick green vegetation and tons of wildflowers, including huge drifts of yellow monkeyflower. It was breathtaking.

Wandering through the woods, I was tickled inside to find so many little forbs and flowers familiar from my soil mapping days in Northern Idaho. Similar species, and even some that are the same, and many that are indicators of moist soils from which they spring. Recognizing some, remembering their names, and seeing others that I had no clue about reminded me that it has been awhile since identifying all those little forbs and flowers was part of my job.

Mo made a great campfire every single night, with well seasoned wood from trees we had taken down on the Grants Pass property a few years ago. We sat outside by the fire for our supper, without a single pesty mosquito or fly or any kind of bug to bother us. Still can’t quite figure that one out, but there are very few bugs around the upper end of Howard Prairie, even down by the water. When we were out in the boats, on the larger portion of the lake, we did encounter a few bugs, but nothing like what we have experienced in the Klamath Basin.

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis, the Western Fairy Slipper

During our entire respite, we had no cell service to speak of, except a few notifications that would pop up now and then. I couldn’t actually see them, so unless I was trying to use the maps, I turned off the pesky phone with it’s irritating notification noises. No internet of course, no email, nothing. I love that time for completely shutting off the electronic world, and while it can be a bit of a withdrawal, it has wonderful rewards. I found myself a bit reluctant to move back into the connected world which seems so full of “stuff”. It is easy to simply hide away in your own little bubble in the mountains and pay no attention whatsoever to the dramas ensuing in the outside world.

Anemone Piperi, Piper’s Windflower

Delphineum menziesii Larkspur

We ran the generator each morning to keep the batteries charged up, paid attention to our water use and did all the dry camping things that one does for saving water, knowing that we only had a few days back to long hot showers at home It’s easy to do for a short time, but of course a longer stay would require a bit more care. Our rig is small, without the huge holding tanks that the big guys have, so boondocking for us is limited to about 5 days reasonably. We could do more, but so far haven’t really needed to.

We returned to Grants Pass by way of a circular route back east to Lake of the Woods. I wanted to see if that campground was as empty as the camps around Howard Prairie and Hyatt Lake. Sunset Campground, where we have spent July 4th and have never been able to get a reservation to camp, no matter when I try, was half empty. However all the sites were reserved for the weekend. In the past, people usually reserve sites for two full weeks before the 4th in order to have them for that day. Crazy stuff.

We enjoyed our short camping trip thoroughly, driving a bit reluctantly back to civilization and regular life. It was great to get back to our sweet comfy home, but it is all the sweeter when we know that magical escapes like this one are so nearby.

May–It started with Iris and Ended with Roses, and More Guests.

I lost last month somehow. Friend Jeanne wrote a quick note making sure we were OK. I looked at Mo and thought, “Are we OK?”

Of course we are, everything is great. Except for a few irritating little things that just won’t seem to go away, like knees, hips, ankles, blood tests, dentists, doctors, an emergency appendectomy for Mo. Multiply that by two people and you get the idea. Somehow it all got away from me and the only way I could figure out where it went was to return to the trusty Google calendar, and Mo’s trusty paper pocket calendar.

Mother’s Day weekend was upon us right after our guests, Erin and Mui, departed, and Daughter Melody and her Robert and my grandsons showed up on Saturday night to help me celebrate. They came with grocery bags full of food and took over the kitchen to make a wonderful dinner. I don’t think I even loaded the dishwasher!

Melody and Robert took the guest room and we spread sleeping bags on the floor for the grandkids. It felt like old times when I lived in my tiny house in Idaho and all the kids would come over and sleep on the floor. Axel brought a cute video game to share, promising me that it wasn’t violent, perfectly G rated.

My daughter took a video of me trying to figure out where I was on the screen and what in the world I was supposed to be doing. It was great fun to share the silly game with family.

Left to right: Deborah, Matthew, Xavier, Axel, Melody, Robert, Mo

On Sunday morning we drove down to the river to our favorite Mother’s Day brunch restaurant, the TapRock Grill. The brunch is lovely and there are no reservations taken, so we were really surprised when we arrived and were immediately shown to a table. In years past we have waitied more than an hour, something I never minded because it is fun to see all the mothers with flowers and corsages. Remember when all the mom’s at church got a corsage?

Daughter Deborah and Grandson Matthew

Deborah and Melody brought mommy gifts, in addition to the surprise package received from Daughter Deanna in the mail, and I was treated to some amazing presents, including a spiralizer for my Kitchen Aid Mixer, and another shredding gadget for the mixer, all to help my new low carb eating plan. Spiralized zucchini “zoodles” are a new favorite! Daughter Melody brought more magical painted rocks to add to the wondrous tiny painting she made of my favorite spot in Capitol Reef. It was a very sweet day in the sunshine, and we repeated our traditional walk through the lovely grounds to enjoy the river, the sculptures, and the gorgeous murals.

Trying to remember what happened during the rest of the month, I looked at the blog for a bit of help, and opened to a gorgeous photo of Crater Lake, shared with Erin and Mui more than a month ago. Once that lovely week was behind us, Mo and I settled into the home routines of mowing and more planting, watering, raking, taking more stuff to the Goodwill and the landfill, the everyday stuff of life.

Someone asked somewhere along the way on a Facebook post, “What gives your life meaning on a daily basis?”. The question haunted me for days. What!? I could think of many things that give my life meaning that happen much less often than daily. After a few days of thinking about this, as I cleaned and cooked and laundered, and gardened, I suddenly remembered an old Buddhist proverb. There is more to it than this, but essentially, it is Chop Wood and Carry Water. I realized that the mundane everyday chores are what give life meaning on that daily level. Most of the time, I enjoy those simple things, but the question made me think about it differently, helped me to pay a bit more attention to being in the now and actually paying attention to the wood chopping and water carrying of life.

Today’s simple chores include spraying the roses with Liquid Fence, the natural but very smelly reason that I can grow roses at all in a land of neighborhood deer herds. I also spent some time picking cherries from our two trees, one with sour cherries for jams or pies, and the other with big, fat juicy sweet cherries for eating. This year we actually got to the cherries before the birds did!.

The afternoon is warming up and I am grateful for a cool home where I can retreat and catch up on processing photos, and yes, writing this blog.

The second highlight of our “friends” month was a visit from Maryruth and Gerald. They last visited us when the house was a mere shell, camping at Valley of the Rogue State Park in the heat of August. This visit we had a guest room and bath to offer them, and pleasant evenings on the porch with more yummy food.

Decisions about what to do were easy, and the choice to spend the first evening and the next day doing absolutely nothing was a good one. As a hostess, it felt a bit strange to have nothing on the agenda, but the day flowed easily with a long lazy breakfast, good conversation, drinks on the porch, and playing the card game we learned back in April from Carol and John. Cooking for them is easy, even though Maryruth is a great cook, they both seemed quite happy with our meals.

It was a lovely week, if a bit cool, and perfect weather to explore the beautiful Applegate Valley. The northern entrance to the valley is just a few miles south of our home. The Applegate Wine Trail is becoming quite well known in the world of wine, and the wineries are beautiful and welcoming.

Mo and I were delighted to discover that many of the vineyards have incredible gardens and outdoor seating areas that include live music and snacks on summer evenings. With a short 7 mile drive to Schmidt Vineyards, I am sure that before the summer is over the two of us will amble down there on a Saturday evening for wine and wood fired pizzas.

Maryruth and I were the official “tasters”, and as happened before when she and I visited Napa Valley just a little over a year ago, two tastings were just about all we could handle. The rest of the time we walked and explored, talked and visited with the very friendly wine stewards who shared their knowledge of the grapes, the wine making process, and the Applegate Valley.

Our favorite wines came from Troon Vineyards, but the second favorite was the Red Lily, with their incredible lovely dry summer rosé. Wooldridge Vineyards had the most beautiful views, and made goat cheeses as well, and the previously mentioned Schmidt Vineyards had the most lovely gardens.

Reaching the charming little town of Jacksonville in late afternoon was perfect timing for a lovely late lunch/early dinner at Bella Union, a well known and very good restaurant in a building that dates back more than 150 years. The shops and stores beckoned, but after our day we had no desire to shop, in spite of all the cuteness of the historic gold town.

Weather held for another day and we decided that a trip to the coast was our best choice. Maryruth and Gerald have shared Brookings with us a few times, both at Mo’s condo she once owned in town on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and camping in a yurt at Harris Beach State Park. This time we decided to explore Crescent City for something new and different.

Jedediah Smith State Park is on the route, and we stopped at the lovely visitor center for the Redwoods National and State Parks, including this portion of Jedediah Smith. With lots of helpful information and maps in hand, we decided to take the packed dirt road that led past the beautiful Stout Grove and directly to Crescent City through the park rather than staying on the highway.

It was a lovely drive, and in our car, the potholes were impressive, but not daunting. We looked for a log in the sun to spread a picnic, but no sun was to be found in that deep shade. Instead we opted for a wide place in the road to open up the hatch of the car for an al fresco lunch in the forest.

We were glad of that decision when we left the forest and drove toward Pebble Beach and saw that the winds would have made a beachside lunch uncomfortable. Following along on the “ten best things to do in Crescent City”, we visited the lovely lighthouse, inaccessible due to tides when we were there. We drove Pebble Beach, and found the biggest surprise at the Del Norte County Historical Museum.

I asked if I could take photos, and the docents said they appreciated me asking, and “no”, please do not. We wandered the three floors and many rooms of the old building, amazing at the incredible collection of “stuff”, all displayed beautifully. The star of the show, however, was the First Order Fresnel lens that was once in the famous St George Lighthouse located in the ocean on a lonely rock just north of Crescent City.

With the chilly wind blowing hard, we didn’t spend a lot of time outdoors, stepping out now and then to walk a little bit, to look at the ocean and enjoy the surf.

Once again we decided on a late afternoon lunch/early supper with a visit to the Chart Room, a favorite fish spot for Mo and I that we were happy to share. Dinner was yummy! I had a fish taco salad that was quite different than anything I had before, with excellent grilled fish on a bed of cabbage. Sounds terribly boring, but the sauces are what made it, and I can’t begin to describe them, but really yummy., some kind of chipotle cream and a cilantro cream drizzled over it all that are making my mouth water as I write this.

The drive home was easy, just 84 miles of beautiful highway 199 along the gorgeous Smith River. We spent a last lovely evening visiting on the porch. It is fun for Maryruth and I to remember other times in our lives when things weren’t so simple. Somehow looking back at the hard times with someone who shared them with me makes the present good times even sweeter.

On a final note, I will leave you with an attempted selfie that I took at Schmidt Vineyards in the gardens. I have no idea why, but every time I see this picture I burst out laughing. The epitome of silly.

05-07-2018 Magical May brings Erin and Mui to Oregon

I told our friends that May was the best month to visit Oregon. Not early summer when the tourists show up in droves. Not late summer when the wildfires in the western forests fill the days with murky smoke. They listened and began their trek north to Washington State at just the right moment. Lucky us, their route brought them close to us. We had four Magical May Days with them.

I am enamored with the progression of Spring this year. I have watched the progression for a bit more than a month now, with changes every single day. Every trip to the grocery store or to town or to the Grange to buy annuals or Bi-Mart to buy mulch is rewarded with another evolution. I don’t think I have actually noticed before that the flowering trees come and go in a beautiful sequence, slow motion waves of color beginning with that first blush of pinky pink on the flowering plums. The leaves aren’t out yet at that stage, but the pinks are everywhere, and some whites as well, with the early flowering pears sprinkling snowdrifts of white blooms against the skies.

In just days, the plums begin to fade and the cherries begin their ballerina pink show, fluffy big flowers that up close look exactly like tutus. I noticed this year that Grants Pass must be a perfect climate for the cherries, especially the magnificent Kwanzan cherries, with some trees covering half a parking lot with their pinkness and solid trunks the size of oak trees.

About this time all the yellows begin, with daffodils everywhere, especially along the roadsides where they seem to have naturalized on their own. I can’t imagine anyone could actually plant that many daffodils. In our own yard, where I planted a few dozen when we first got the property, they seem like a small dab of yellow compared to those huge drifts I see along the roadway. I kept wanting to figure out a way to park and take photos of some of those drifts, but with narrow roads and fast traffic I never quite figured it out.

The cherries must have lasted three weeks, with a world dominated by pink and yellow but still very few leaves. As the cherry flowers began to mature, the rhodies burst into their brilliant reds, pinks and purples, and right about that same time was the magical “leaf day”, the moment when suddenly a backlit tree in the late afternoon sun is glowing with fluorescent green. It is an amazing moment, with willows showing first and then the birches and aspens, the maples, and finally in a crazy wild burst of incredible magic, the oak leaves unfurl from their pale reddish curls into full green magnificence. Suddenly the world is somehow completely different. The oak leaves leave shadow traces against the house and make sunlight flicker through the living room windows. This time of year, the green is still new, still lime colored and shades of chartreuse, unsullied by dust and hot summer winds.

The cherry blossoms are giving way to leaves as they begin to fall, but just as that pink fades, the brighter coral pinks of the dogwoods have burst into bloom and other white dogwoods light the skies with their clouds of happy flowers. The daffodils have faded but in their place the irises are opening. We are a mere 300 feet in elevation above the main part of town, but the irises bloomed there a full week before mine opened up. Now we are in full on iris season as the brilliant flowers of the rhodies begin to fade and fall. Other shrubs are beginning to bloom and the colors shift from pastel pinks and yellows to brighter shades of late spring and the lime green leaves turn a darker green with every passing day. The roses and peonies are now covered with fat buds, waiting for their turn. I have a lovely pink oriental poppy that is opening in the afternoon sun today, one flower at a time, joining in the noisy wild joy of spring.

Erin and Mui arrived Monday, after a long 300 mile day driving north from Reno, landing at Valley of the Rogue State Park late in the afternoon after a bit of a scary moment on the highway. I’ll let Erin tell you about that one in her own blog. (Erin writes one of my favorite travel blogs of all time, with amazing photography and wondrous detail. Don’t miss it!).

I put together an early summer supper of Copper River Salmon on the grill with pineapple-mango salsa, an “interesting” side dish of quinoa, lentils, and pine nuts that they were kind enough to enjoy, but Mo said maybe don’t make that one again. Ha! Plated Greek salads with reduced balsamic drizzled over the feta dressing were a hit, though, and kept us all entertained while the fish cooked.

Crème Brule for dessert, a choice of vanilla or latte flavors were fun. The only glitch in the day was the failure of the culinary torch to fill with butane. I panicked, drove wildly to the kitchen store, bought another torch and another canister of butane, only to get home and have it not work, again. More panic, the brule’s were sitting on the counter with the raw sugar waiting for the fire! A quick internet search and a You Tube video informed me that I was holding the canister right side up instead of upside down. What in the world did we do without online videos?!

Even though we have not actually visited with Erin and Mui in person since our trip through Texas in 2014, it was as though no time had passed at all. Erin and Mui are so incredibly delightful and easy to be around. We sat on the porch of Sunset House long into the evening, and confirmed sight seeing plans for the upcoming week before they returned to the Phaeton at Valley of the Rogue. Sad to say, even though we have a sewer hookup and 30 amp, our drive cannot accommodate a 40 foot rig.

Mo missed out on our first day sight seeing due to a required follow-up visit with her doctor. She was just a week out from an emergency appendectomy and needed to be sure everything was OK. We have been to Crater Lake often, so it was an OK day to miss, although we all really missed having her with us.

I picked Erin and Mui up at the park and we headed up the highway, over the hills, crossing the Rogue River several times before we arrived at the mandatory Natural Bridge Viewpoint where the Rogue roars in and out of lava caves and tunnels through a gorgeous wild canyon. Erin and I share a love of photography, and I enjoyed following her around and watching how she framed shots so carefully.

Continuing up the mountain toward the lake, we saw the green leaves of springtime give way to the more somber greenish black of conifers at an elevation where spring is still to come. Mui wasn’t yet 62 when the price of the Senior Lifetime Pass went from $10 to $80, but with that birthday behind him, he was happy to go into the visitor center and purchase his new pass. Even at $80, that pass is a fabulous deal for visiting national parks for free for the rest of your life, among other benefits, including half price camping at federal facilities.

I was excited to see my home country through new eyes. Somehow showing people our beautiful part of Oregon who are seeing for the first time, reminds me to really look at my surroundings in a different way. Approaching the Rim View area is always thrilling, but this time not quite so much because the snow banks were so high that we couldn’t yet see the lake. We drove toward the beautiful historic lodge, which was closed until May 18, and finally found a snowbank we could climb to at last get that first view of Crater Lake.

So gorgeous, and the blue really IS that blue. Somehow the surrounding snow on the cliffs and mountains added to the drama, and the ribbons of cloud in the sky make the lake reflections even more interesting.

I had planned a picnic, thinking we might find a table, but all the tables were deeply buried under the snowbanks, so we opened the tailgate and had a picnic right there in the parking lot. As we were finishing up our lunch, I mentioned that during the winter the Park Service has free snow shoe trips around the trails and even provides the snow shoes. Within minutes after I spoke, a big long line of kids appeared over the ridge, clomping on the snow shoes as they reached the parking lot. I had no idea they did the tours this late in the year, but we decided it must have been a special school tour of some sort.

The road around the lake was still closed with deep snows, and we were only able to drive up the west side road for an additional mile to Discovery Point for a few more amazing photos. With a twinge of sadness, we left the lake behind and traveled east and down the hill into the beautiful Wood River Valley, not far from our old Rocky Point home. We took a side trip to the Headwaters of the Wood River, but by the time we got there the skies were gray and threatening, and the mosquitos were out, so we were quite happy that we had already had our picnic. Still, I think Erin got some photos of the gorgeous blues of the spring where the Wood River emerges almost fully formed. I didn’t even take out my camera this time!

As I said, I didn’t take out my camera. This photo of the Headwaters is from last summer

Continuing back toward Rocky Point I showed them our previous home in the woods. It looks very different now, since the new owners have yet to live there full time and the gardens and lawns are unkept. I felt no sadness as we drove past the house, our new life and our new home is wonderful and while we have great memories, I am so happy to live in the sunlight and openness of Sunset House.

For our next day, we had originally planned to do a shorter trip through the Applegate Valley, viewing some of the wineries, maybe picnicking somewhere along the way, visiting Jacksonville and then home. A nice short day for people who have been on the road a LOT lately. That all changed as we checked out the weather and Mo and I started talking about maybe going to the coast instead. I wrote a note to Erin suggesting a change of plans and they were right on board.

Neither of them have seen the Oregon Coast, or the Redwoods, and with Brookings just a short 2 hours away, they were up for another long day of sight seeing with a great destination. Once again, I loved driving 199 with guests so I could appreciate the drama of the Smith River below the winding road, and savor the ferns and waterfalls along the way.

Mattie even got to go with us on this day, with Erin and Mui being great sports about sharing the back seat with her. Mattie loves company, and made another set of good friends who enjoyed her almost as much as she enjoyed them.

We got to the coast in early afternoon, just in time to find a perfect picnic table at Macklyn Cove Beach where we once again brought out the goodies for lunch. Mo and I love this little beach because Mattie can run free here in the off leash area, unlike Harris Beach State Park where leashes are required.

After lunch we decided to hike the Chetco Point Trail, a perfect little jaunt to a beautiful spot overlooking the ocean, the town, and the beach below.

A short drive north after our hike led us to Harris Beach, but along the way we found a small 55 plus community that had the biggest rhododendrons I have ever seen in my life. It was like something out of a dream, with these huge pink trees completely covered in blossoms dwarfing the small modest homes beneath them. Amazing.

Another walk down the South Beach Trail took us to the water once again. Mattie had a great time running and playing ( beyond the state park boundary) and Mui did his favorite thing of walking right along the water. It was a bit early for sea stars but the weather was incredible, with warm temperatures, full sunshine, and no wind. What an amazing lucky treat for a quickie day on the Oregon Coast.

The trip home along Highway 199 gave us a chance to stop in for a drive through Jedediah Smith State Park to let Erin and Mui experience the huge redwoods for the first time. We had great fun trying to get the phones and cameras to do the proper vertical panoramas to capture the incredible height of these ancient trees.

By the time we arrived back in Grants Pass it was almost 7, and everyone was tired and ready to retire to their own space. Mo and I talked about how we live here most of all because it is so accessible to everything we love. We can do the beach in a day, do the high Cascades in a day, can kayak our favorite creeks in a day, and can even get to the high desert in just a day if we choose.

Erin and Mui are thinking about the long term future, where they might want to settle down someday. Mui asked me specifically what I DIDN”T like about living in Oregon. I spent three days trying to come up with something and all I could think of was that what I like least are the late summer fires and smoke season. Maybe a bit more fog in the winter than I might like, or a bit more heat in the summer, but nothing at all that would convince me to live anywhere else. Ever.

The next day was to be a quiet one, with Mui preparing for our luncheon feast. Mui brought Erin to the store where I picked her up so she and I could play around in Grants Pass with our cameras and I could show her a bit more of our charming small town. We wandered about taking photos of the murals and the town bears that are brought out every summer to grace the street corners.

Wonderful to have a great photographer around to take really good pictures. Thank you, Erin

Back home, we picked up Mo and Mattie at the house and drove again to the State Park where Mui greeted us in his fabulous Harrod’s apron. I learned that Harrod’s is NOT Harrah’s. The first being a very classy high end place in London and the second a big casino in Reno and Vegas.

Ha! Mui definitely earned his apron stripes with the lunch he has prepared for us, including homemade hummus with olive oil and paprika, Turkish ‘cacik’ cold yogurt soup, grilled beef and lamb kofte (Turkish meat patties) that were moist and tender, a delicious ancient grain dish that was exponentially better than my attempt, and home made brownies and ice cream for dessert. I love Mui’s cooking, and he loves doing it as well.

We visited the rest of the afternoon. laughing and sharing stories, talking about future plans and upcoming adventures. We talked about ‘friends’ and ‘acquaintances’, and agreed that we are truly friends. It was a bit sad when we left, wondering when we might cross paths again. I am sure we will, and in the mean time, we will share blogs, and photos, and emails, and facebook posts, and private messages about whatever. It’s what friends do. And when we get together again it will be as though no time has passed.

April Delight

Just a reminder, if you click on any of these photos, you will be taken to the SmugMug album where you can view many more scenes from Sunset House and all the gorgeous kayak views.

As often happens, I can only seem to begin writing by paying attention to what is happening right now. Get in the moment, so to speak. I started this blog a week ago, going back over my calendar, reviewing my photos, thinking and remembering what early April felt like. It seems like a VERY long time in the past. The cliché is that time flies the older we get, but I am grateful that the month of April seemed very nice and long to me.

Pansies at the front porch like the cooler weather

At the moment we are having days in the low 80’s followed by days that never manage to get to 60 degrees F. Nights are cool, but no longer frosty, and the flowers here at Sunset House are thriving. I am watching the weather today, because we are planning some outdoor activities with famous fabulous guests in town, and the skies go from blue to gray and back to blue in a matter of moments. Crater Lake awaits. Today we will do the classic round trip tour over the mountains hoping for sunlight to highlight that fabulous blue. That is another story, one that will evolve over the next week that we get to share with long time friends, Erin and Mui, from Two to Travel, who are on the road in the west for the first time in a long time.

We had time for a bit of travel ourselves this month, with a quick trip to the Oregon Coast to share a couple of days with other blogging friends, John and Carol, from Our Trip Around the Sun. They are on their way north to Alaska, and passed so close to our home that we couldn’t miss the opportunity to spend some time with them. The last time we visited, Carol and John were volunteering at Ding Darling NWR in Florida. They showed us a fabulous time with tours of the refuge, time at the beach together, and a truly fabulous dinner that lasted well into the night. Some people are just right, and laughter is often the key. We shared a lot of laughter with them. Their love of Jimmy Buffett, good margueritas, and a joyous approach to life is contagious.

We met at Harris Beach State Park, where they found a site big enough for their rig along the back row in the trees. Harris Beach is in the process of some renovations, so we weren’t able to snag a spot there, and instead Mo and I camped down on the waterfront at a private campground. I loved listening to the sound of the surf all night long, and the wind and rain on the roof lulled me to sleep.

The sun came out for our beach walk with the dogs, a rather funny time for Mattie and Jimmy who are not exactly similar in style. Mattie is crazy about the beach, runs like a wild thing in the sand, and gets very excited. Jimmy, a precious and very sweet dog, didn’t think much of Mattie’s exuberance, and learned to hide behind John’s leg when Mattie came tearing at him, trying to get him to play.

I was a bit embarrassed, because there is just no stopping Mattie when she gets like that. Play with me, NOW! I think Mo and I made a big mistake when we let her play with the huge bloodhound that used to wander over to our house for doggie visits. Mattie learned to play rough to keep up with him, and he loved it. Jimmy, not so much. In fairness, Mattie does great at the dog park, and at doggie day care she was a hit, so she isn’t mean, just very high energy.

We had dinner at the Sporthaven Grill, on the patio in the threatening rain, where the waitstaff brought us warming blankets and turned on the big propane heater. It was quite delightful. We also spent most of a rainy day in their home, with snacks and drinks and a new game called Skip-Bo. I guess it isn’t a new game, but it was new to us and created more opportunities for lots of laughter.

We came back home to spend more time fiddling around on the property here at Sunset House. Mo built a beautiful arbor for a treasured vine that I have babied and coddled along since I first bought it in 2002. She is finally happy here in the wonderful Grants Pass climate, protected from the sun and the heat on the east side of the house where she now lives with our new rhododendrons.

I have loved rhodies ever since I saw my first huge bloom at a nursery in Southern California. Yes, I even remember the moment, 1963, when my eldest was an infant and my husband and I were daydreaming about someday having a place to plant flowers. It was exciting to find the colors we wanted and to dig the holes nice and big, mulch them deeply and give them the perfect site.

I finally transplanted all the hostas, some plants that I brought from my home at Hauser Lake in Idaho back in 2002 when I moved to Klamath Falls. Others were brought over from Mo’s house in Rocky Point. We babied them through the incredibly hot summer last year and I know they are also very happy to be on the shaded east side of the house at last. Rhodies and hostas, another favorite thing of mine.

We started going through the RV shed, purging unneeded “stuff” with the help of the Facebook Marketplace. That app works great, much better than the local Craiglist. With facebook I can view the profile of anyone requesting to see our stuff and it is bit easier to be selective about giving out an address or phone number. With Craiglist, I was immediately bombarded with several fake purchasers offering to send me a check and have it clear before their “shipper” would pick up the item. A huge scam!! So glad I didn’t fall for that one.

We moved the BBQ off the back porch, finally deciding that the big black covered thing was getting in the way of our peaceful view

One of my most favorite things about Sunset House is the light. Morning sunshine streaming into the bedroom is the best part of an east facing bedroom window.

Mid month we took a few days of mini vacation time for a few days of kayaking over on the east side of the mountains, where spring is a bit later arriving, but nonetheless, we were blessed with gorgeous sunny days. We spent the nights in our little apartment, where we now have renters in all the others except the smallest, Apartment B, where I used to do all my quilting during our transition times living at the Apartments in Klamath Falls.

We have yet to find any kayaking that appeals to us here on the west side of the mountains. The Rogue River is a bit big and rowdy for us, and the few lakes are actually reservoirs with barren shorelines. Not our style. We love the refuges and birds that we find when kayaking in the Klamath Basin.

We launched our kayaks for the first time in all the years we lived in Klamath Falls on Lake Ewauna, the body of water between Upper Klamath Lake and the Link River and the Klamath River. The launch is right in town at Veteran’s Park, and is in a more populated area than we usually kayak, but nevertheless, we were treated to some fabulous birds and great views of Klamath Falls proper from a completely different perspective.

American Avocet

American White pelican, the mascot for Klamath Falls

Klamath Falls from a completely different perspective

The next day we returned to our favorite kayaking spot of all time, our very own Recreation Creek. The mountains in the distance are the ones around the rim caldera of Crater Lake, with Mt Scott on the right.

We launched at Malone Spring and traveled north to Crystal Spring, truly one of the most amazing places to enjoy in the entire Klamath Basin.

It was still early in the season for the east side, and the wocus lilies were still underwater. I have taken so many photos of blooming wocus, but this time it was completely different to see the gorgeous colors underwater. And thank you, daughter Deanna, for the polarizer lens birthday present. Without it these wonderful colors are just shadows below the water reflections.

Another beautiful view of Mt Scott where my family hiked to the top with me on one of my most memorable birthdays ever.

We began our month of course on April Fools Easter, with Daughter Deborah and Grandson Matthew joining us for all the traditional Easter goodies. I do love decorating for Easter, with the bunnies and all the energy of emerging springtime. We invited the neighbors as well, a couple who have been good friends with Deborah from the time she lived here in the cottage, and who spent a previous Easter with us back in Rocky Point a few years ago.

There is that east morning light again!

As soon as Easter was over I packed my bags for a quick solo trip to Nevada City, California where I spent a lovely afternoon and evening with Jimmy and Nickie, from the Intrepid Decrepit Traveler. They opened their home and guest room to me, took me to dinner in their charming town, and regaled me with stories of their past travels and their excitement about their upcoming trip to Peru, Machu Picchu, and the Amazon. Such excitement!

The next morning we hiked a gorgeous springtime trail along the South Yuba River where the warming sunshine had us rolling up our sleeves and pant legs. California is magnificent clothed in that flourescent springtime green, and I loved being there.

I then traveled back to Oroville for my annual girl-time visit with lifetime best friend, Maryruth. We are going on 55 years of friendship now and it is something I treasure. Maryruth loves to cook and she spent several days cooking up tons of goodies so we wouldn’t have to cook much during my visit. What a treat! We spent most of the time holed up in her craft room office making cards, a hobby we both have come to love. We spent a long time anticipating this card making retreat, and actually didn’t leave that room very much during the 3 days I was there. SO much fun.

Of course I don’t have a lot of photos of this time because I was quite busy, and every time I bring out the camera, Maryruth has a fit, but we did at least manage to get our traditional toe photo. We have done these photos for a few decades, to prove we were together, back in the days when selfies and tripods weren’t the norm and we couldn’t ever get a photo of the two of us at the same time.

Other days of the month have been filled with making a slide show for Mo’s brother Roger’s Memorial happening in late June. It was a new thing for me, and of course I had to call on my trusty friend Erin once again. If you want to get lost in some of the most amazing wildlife and travel photography ever, click on that link. Erin is always so amazing in her willingness to share and help me when I need to understand anything relating to photography and especially Lightroom. Her expertise has been invaluable to me over and over again.

I managed to get the slideshow finished, and ready for the family’s review. A big job, but also a fun one because reviewing and editing 437 pictures of Mo’s brother Roger gave me a chance to know him in ways I never did in the 15 years or so I actually knew him in real time.

03-09-2018 through 3-12-2018 Ahhhh….Three Days of Heaven

We are on vacation. We are at a very nice resort on the Cancun coast. What, oh what should we do? Pools? Beach? Which pool? Which beach? Ah, life can be so difficult when on vacation. Finally, after our two busy sight seeing days, we were ready to relax and enjoy some of the delights of Vidanta Riviera Maya. Because, in spite of my whining, it was really a very nice place, and there was much to enjoy.

We decided to begin the morning with the breakfast buffet at Havana Moon, the bright turquoise restaurant that I found on that first morning walk around the resort. At 7:30 AM there was still plenty of room, but after we were seated I noticed that the tables were filling up fast and the lounging steps covered with cushions on the far side of the restaurant were filling quickly with waiting customers.

The buffet was huge, with many interesting foods, not all breakfast. The watermelon and pineapple were fresh and sweet, the special fresh squeezed papaya/orange/pineapple juice was worth two glasses. I don’t remember another thing that we ate. Pastries were so-so, once again, the star was the fresh pica de gallo that I put on something I ate, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was. We don’t eat enough to make a huge buffet really worth the price, but I am glad we tried it once. The view was nice, and we watched the sun peek through the darkening clouds as we enjoyed our coffee, and the really great service in spite of it being a buffet.

I still wasn’t aware of the secret method of securing a pool chair, but with the threatening storm we got lucky and snagged two lounges where we deposited our shoes and wraps and slipped into that gorgeous water. Just after we got in, there was a water aerobics class beginning, right in front of the stairway that was our only exit out of the water! I wasn’t about to exit that pool up those steps in front of all those people! We swam around a bit, checking out the pool bar, watching kids play ball, and watching the sky get a LOT darker and listening to thunder.

Finally decided that swimming during a thunderstorm wasn’t the brightest choice and we headed home to enjoy the heavy tropical rains from the comfort of our room. Cards and books kept us entertained until a crazy wild racket started up in the jungle around us.

It sounded like some kind of yelling, or weird construction equipment. I went outside to try to figure it out and eventually found the cause of the ruckus. We were surrounded by a couple dozen chacalaca birds. Related to chickens, they travel in groups of a dozen or so, aren’t very good at flying, but hang out in the tree tops. It seemed kind of strange that they hadn’t been around until now, but from this time on they were a constant presence in our part of the jungle.

When evening arrived we looked outside and said, “Nope, we aren’t tackling that walk again in that rain”. Room service was a phone call away, and we were shocked when they showed up 15 minutes earlier than they had said, with some truly luscious salads, gorgeous presentation, lovely service, and a flower for the table. It was no more expensive that going out to the restaurants, and was a delightful way to end a rainy day.

By Friday morning I had finally visited with a few people here and there, and learned that I needed to be at the pool or the beach by 7am or so with towels in hand to save chairs. I know this seems quite awful, but truly, it is the only way to get any place at all to spend a day at the water at this resort, and is an accepted practice. Once again I made the 2.5 mile round trip walk at 8am, and even then many chairs were already gone, but I did have some choices.

Mo wanted to go back to the infinity pool that we found on our first day here, and I found two great chairs with a sheltering umbrella right in front of the water but away from the shallow sandy part that draws all the little kids. We spent the rest of the day in our lovely spot, entertained by the people around us, families and kids having conversations that seemed like they should be a bit more private. One family was discussing at length how their father should set up his will while the father was getting his birthday massage at the spa.

A tiny lady not five feet tall, from Montreal, got in a verbal fight with 3 tall, thin, yes very bitchy women, who didn’t like the towel method and tried to remove her towels from the chairs she was saving for her friends. They thought they knew the rules and made no bones about it, very loudly, but the tiny lady won. We were all cheering her on. I told her I would count on her to watch our chairs while we went swimming!

We were also entertained by two iguanas that seemed to be regulars, hanging around the pool. Panchito was bigger and incredibly colorful, and her husband Pancho was darker and smaller. People said they had a clutch of kids around the corner somewhere but we never saw them.

It is amazing how the hours can slip by with sunshine, getting in and out of the water whenever we felt like it, swimming a bit, and finally enjoying the 2 pm happy hour with nachos and two for one pina coladas for me and zombies for Mo. I thought two for one meant a pina colada and a zombie, so was a bit taken aback when the waiter delivered 2 of each drink for us. Good thing they weren’t very strong.

We left our towels and wandered off for a walk around the lagoon, checking out the beautiful gardens and boardwalks on the way to the flamingo park where we sat and watched the birds for some time. I have never seen flamingos feeding before, watching them drag their beaks in the water to strain out tiny crustaceans was fascinating.

We continued along the pathway to the crocodile enclosure, but it was hard to get photos through the heavy fencing, which I was very glad was there.

The pathway around the lagoon led to the Lago Restaurant, home of the huge buffet and entertainment show that was touted as something not to miss while at the resort. There was another show that we chose to miss, the Joya Cirque de Soleil, something that Vidanta is known for, with the theater specially built on site to house the acrobatics venue. The shows were pricey, with $100 USD per person for the Mexican Fiesta and $130 per person up to $175 per person with dinner for the Joya show. Neither of us had any desire to part with that much money for entertainment, so we skipped both of them. My daughter said Joya was a fabulous show and worth every penny, so if you ever go, you might want to consider it..

One of the additional benefits of our Grand Luxxe upgrade was access to the fancy Grand Luxxe pool and the Burger Place there at poolside. Reviews for the burgers were high, but we didn’t think much of the uppity pool. It was long and narrow with everyone lined up on top of each other. Not our style at all. We did think we might try to get there before 5 to try the burgers for our supper, but by 4:30 our tummies were still full from drinks and nachos and we decided instead to amble back home.

Later on in the evening, the thought of a burger kept coming up and we decided to order just one to share, via room service. That burger was huge, and excellent, with fries, and of course the ever present group of little dishes of condiments, and with half each it was a perfectly decent supper right in the comfort of our home space.

Sunday morning dawned with gorgeous blue skies and a lovely breeze. I so enjoyed my morning walk to the beach, taking in the fresh smells of the thick jungle along the boardwalks, and the sea breezes. We decided that on this, our last day, we should enjoy the beach. Arriving at 7:30 AM I found two perfect chairs facing the ocean, under a lovely palapa, and just steps from the entrance to the big pool.

On this morning, picking up some bits for our breakfast, I discovered orejas, the Mexican version of palmiers that I later learned are a Mexican staple that can be found all over Mexico. Why, oh why didn’t I find these monstrously good things sooner?! Talk about addictive. I ate half, and then another bite and another until I ate the entire thing, and it wasn’t small.

We were in our beach chairs by 10, enjoying the sunshine, the gorgeous water, the lovely breezes, and the delightful shade of our palapa. We sat doing nothing at all, then read a bit, walked up to the nearby pool just behind us for a swim, back to our chairs to sit some more. A perfect day on a beautiful Mexican beach.

Later in the afternoon I went walking along the water, noticing the thick algae that lined the shoreline after watching people with rakes trying to clear it. I found a sign explaining the presence of the ugly stuff. Sigh. We certainly didn’t want to swim or snorkel in that water, although I did see many people out in the waves beyond the brown stuff that had bits and pieces of garbage here and there. I kept imagining what my feet might run into on those rocks in that water. No thanks.

Still, with the clean, cool pool so close by for cooling swims, we had a perfect day on the beach. In the late afternoon we ambled home to clean up for dinner. We chose to save our one big special dinner outing for our last night at the resort. With several very high end restaurants to choose from, it wasn’t an easy choice. I read the reviews, and hemmed and hawed, trying to decide if we wanted a really fine steak at 100 bucks a pop, authentic Spanish food, (which we aren’t that familiar with enough to take the chance this time around), Blue Fish, which sounded wonderful, but the reviews were less than stellar, the French restaurant which we had checked out earlier and looked just too stuffy, and finally Tramonto, an Italian restaurant that had a lot more than pasta.

Tramonto was a great choice. We walked to the Grand Luxxe and were lucky enough to get a shuttle to the restaurant, located on the second floor overlooking the pool. What a delightful dinner! The ambience wasn’t as Italian as I had hoped for, but it made up for that with fabulous service and truly wonderful food. I had mouth wateringly tender osso bucco with a green herbed risotto and sauteed mushrooms. Mo had a perfectly wonderful filet mignon. The salads were fresh and so artistic, and the bread basket was filled with all sorts of creative crackers and breads, including some parmesan crackers that are so popular now since they contain no flour. Yummy.

Dessert was so much fun. I ordered the tiramisu, having read a bit about it in a review and I didn’t want to miss the spectacular presentation. The dessert arrived in a rather unassuming looking round ball of dull chocolate on a white plate. After placing the plate, the waiter brought forth a pitcher filled with molten chocolate and began to slowly pour it over the ball. Slowly the hot chocolate melted a hole in the top of the ball, revealing the globular heart of the tiramisu hidden inside. It was fun to watch, but oh, so incredibly good as well. I never get all excited about tiramisu as some people do, but this one was exciting. With our truly perfect Italian coffee it was a delightful end to a delightful meal. We even got a shuttle all the way back to our room in the dark, another delight.

With our Mexican week coming to a close the next morning, we stopped at the concierge desk for our final checkout. It was surprisingly smooth, with a the bell boy picking up our luggage at 10AM as we exited our room, taking it to the main lobby where we would meet up with it once again as we boarded the taxi for the airport. It seems as though all shuttles are going to the Main Lobby, and this morning it was no exception. The bell boy at the lobby arranged our cab, $35 USD to the airport, luggage loaded and we were comfortably transported to the Cancun airport and dropped off at our departure terminal.

Leaving Mexico was MUCH easier than getting into Mexico, and we were checked in and through security in a very short time. With a couple of hours to kill before we boarded our plane, we found a place to eat on the other side of security where we split a sandwich to share with a good Dos XX beer at the Guy Fieri restaurant, with his shows playing on all the tv’s. Sure didn’t feel much like we were in Mexico!

The flight home was completely uneventful, with too many clouds to see anything at all. Mo and I had booked aisle seats across from each other, and with the very full flight, that was a good choice. We both love not having to crawl over anyone to get to the restroom. During the flights, I reviewed some of my blog notes, finished the book I was reading, and did nothing at all for part of the time.

I can barely remember de-planing in San Francisco, where we had to pick up our luggage, go through customs, and then again check our luggage on to Medford. For a time there was a bit of worry about missing the flight, but by the time all was said and done we landed safely in Medford a few minutes early. Such easy flights, both coming and going!

As I said at the beginning of these stories, in spite of some of the moments of frustration, overall it was a perfect little week long vacation in Mexico. Not too expensive, easy, and really quite nice. I find that looking back on the memories and the photos, gives me a chance to realize just how nice it was. Is that a bit like labor? You forget the hard parts and just remember how good it all is! Good enough to do it again.