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Archive for the ‘Travels’ Category

Barlow Road

Posted in Travels, tagged , , , on October 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

When Captain Cavedweller and I headed out on vacation last week, I wanted to drive through a particular area because my next series of books is set there. For visual purposes, I wanted to get up close and personal with the region.

Exploring the town, we decided to take a “short cut” on to the rest of our trip.

That short cut ended up taking a good hour if not two longer than if we’d backtracked and gotten back on the freeway.

 

But then we would have missed out on some hairpin turns, cliffs with no guard rail… and some really beautiful country.

We drove from Grass Valley to Tygh Valley, Oregon, on an old curvy road that was about to make yours truly car sick. But the views were spectacular.

 

We came down a winding hill and around a curve to see several people fishing the Deschutes River. Driving a few hundred feet up the road, the river was roiling and absolutely breathtaking to see. You could even feel the spray on your face.

We discovered part of our travels took us over the old Barlow Road. For those of you who aren’t history buffs, the Barlow Road  is a historic road  built in 1846 by Sam Barlow and Philip Foster, with authorization of the Provisional Legislature of Oregon, and served as the last overland segment of the Oregon Trail. Its construction allowed covered wagons to cross the Cascade Range and reach the Willamette Valley, which had previously been nearly impossible. Reports say it was by far the most harrowing 100 miles of the nearly 2,000-mile Oregon Trail journey. I could easily believe that to be true.

Before the opening of the Barlow Road, pioneers traveling by land from the east followed the Oregon Trail to  The Dalles and floated down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver, which was both dangerous and expensive.

The Barlow Road begins at The Dalles and heads south to Tygh Valley, then turns west and roughly parallels the White River on the north and then west. It  crosses the south shoulder of Mount Hood at Barlow Pass, follows Camp Creek and the Sandy River for some way, ending in Oregon City. When the Mount Hood Highway was constructed, the Barlow Road was mostly abandoned.  It still exists as a dirt road in some places, while most other parts have been paved over by modern streets and highways.

If you are ever in that part of Oregon and don’t mind windy, curvy roads, take a side trip for some scenery you’ll never forget.

She Who Sometimes Enjoys Getting off the Beaten Path

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Reaching 100,000

Posted in Hubby, Musings, Travels, tagged , on January 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »


Hubby, my very own Captain Cavedweller, had the day off today and instead of sleeping away half the day as he has been known to do on rare occasion, he was up early and rarin’ to go. Where I don’t know, but rarin’ I tell you.

So with nothing better to do than twiddle his thumbs, he went out to start my car for me, shovel the sidewalk and scrape the windshield. When he came back in, he reminded me to keep an eye on the odometer as I drove into work because my car, my wonderful little car that has traveled to hither and yon and back again, was just about to hit 100,000 miles.

Huh? How could that be?

Who’s been taking my car for long joy rides and not telling me? Where did all those miles come from?

It is possible a lot of them came from running around the countryside the last four years doing home parties. The car and I have been to parties covering a four-state region.  We’ve driven through rain, snow, sleet, hail and even thunderstorms that caused me to toss Goldfish crackers all over the inside. I’ve run through potholes made by T-Rex’s (long story for another day), had the back window blown out on the freeway by what should have been labeled a fallen meteor and slid unscathed through icy intersections (no, it wasn’t this morning, although with the state of the roads it could have been a possibility).

So I spent my white-knuckled drive slipping and sliding into work, glancing repeatedly to watch the car go from 99,990 plus miles to hit the big 100,000.

Although there wasn’t any fanfare or confetti as the 99,999 rolled into 100,000,  it is an occasion I will remember. My sweet little car and I have been a lot of places. I’m hoping we have many more miles of adventures to travel together.

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John Day Fossil Beds

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Travels, tagged , , , on October 14, 2010| 1 Comment »

 

 

John Day Fossil Beds - Sheep Rock Unit

 

On the way back from our laid-back trip a few weeks ago, Hubby and I decided to venture through part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon. Maintained by the National Park Service, there are three units that make up the John Day Fossil B eds: Clarno, Painted Hills and Sheep Rock.

In the Sheep Rock Unit you’ll not only find great places to hike on trails and take in unbelievable views, you’ll also discover the Thomas condon Paleontology Center and The James Cant Ranch.

Many people don’t know that most of Oregon was once like a tropical rain forest. The Paleontology Center takes visitors through 40 million years of history through a collection of fossil specimens and large murals.

 

 

Oregon's Rain Forest days.

 

 

 

What a rhino may have looked like millions of years ago.

 

 

 

Informative displays throughout the center provide insight into the history and evolution of Oregon.

 

 

 

Some displays were multi-dimensional.

 

 

Some displays had frightening looking prehistoric animals. Like this tiger and the sweet little deer. I thought the deer would have made a great pet. Maybe even a great replacement for our Heinous Cat.

 

 

 

Some displays showed a bit of humor.

 

 

A prehistoric gopher - would not want to have him digging in my backyard.

 

When  we finished up at the Paleontology Center we drove about a quarter-mile up the road to The James Cant Ranch.  Scottish immigrants James and Elizabeth Cant bought the land in the early 1900s and operated the ranch in the dry hills of Oregon until the National Park Service purchased it in the 1970s.

The 1917 Ranch House has been renovated to house the park headquarters and a museum telling the story of the people who inhabited the area, starting with the American Indians up through the sheep and cattle ranchers. Visitors are allowed to tour the house and the grounds. Signs cautioning visitors to leave the rattlesnakes alone kept us from getting to adventurous in our exploring, but the ranch was fun to see.

 

 

The Cant Ranch House

 

 

 

The grounds at The Cant Ranch are very well maintained.

 

 

 

The Cant Ranch Corrals with painted hills in the background.

 

 

The Cant Ranch barn

 

Elizabeth Cant spent a large portion of her life in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning. It appeared that she was well-known for her good cooking. The museum even had a recipe of hers to share, so here it is. I haven’t made it yet, but it sound really yummy.

Mother Cant’s Macaroon Cake

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup Crisco

4 egg yolks, beaten

4 tbsp cocoa

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

Vanilla

Dissolve cocoa powder in 5-6 tablespoons of hot water. Mix together sugar, Crisco and beaten egg yolks. Add cocoa mixture. Stir in milk then beat in flour.  In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with baking powder and a dash of vanilla. Add to batter and mix well.

Here is where the directions end. So I’m guessing you would pour this into a prepared cake pan and bake at 350 degrees until done.

If anyone gets ambitious and makes this cake, please let me know how it turns out!

 

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Rock Garden

Posted in Travels, tagged , on October 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Petersen Rock Garden

 

Hubby and I escaped  a few weeks ago on the most laid back trip I think we’ve ever taken. We didn’t really have an agenda and just stopped to enjoy the sites along the way instead of driving past them in a hurry and making a note to come back sometime. Generally, our vacations are fast and furious with at least nine more activities planned than we have time to squeeze in. Not this time. Although we did do a bit of shopping, I managed to restrain myself to only two new pairs of shoes. Instead, we enjoyed being in the moment.

So my post on  today’s blog and tomorrow’s will highlight two of the places we went on our trip.

Today’s is all about the Petersen Rock Garden in Redmond, OR. If you are ever in the area, it is unique enough I recommend taking a look. You can’t miss it – just follow the signs.

Rasmus Petersen, a Denmark native, had a vision for a rock garden and brought it to life. He began his project at the age of 52 and spent the next 17 years of his life working on the garden – a tribute to his adopted country. He passed away in 1952, but the garden is still open to those interested in seeing his collections of rocks, petrified wood, glass and shells.

I have to tell you, it is fascinating. So are the peacocks and ducks that roam the grounds – and one horse. Once you are finished browsing the gardens, you can head into a gift shop, complete with picture postcards, and a fluorescent lit room provides glowing mineral thrills. The garden is open until dusk and is completely self-guided.

 

The details at the rock garden are amazing.

 

 

Awesome rock bridge.

 

 

Hello from Cinder City.

 

 

Bridge over the lily pond.

 

 

Up on a hill...

 

 

There are peacocks everywhere.

 

 

And they are good at ignoring humans.

 

 

A tribute to Lady Liberty.

 

 

I really lilked this table made of various rocks.

 

 

 

 

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