Travels with Kelly: Oregon 2006


July 23, 2006: to Seattle
We got to the airport about 8:15 for the 9:30 flight, and when we got to the concourse, Kelly noticed there was a 10am direct flight to Seattle. She tried to talk us onto it, but they said it was full. A few minutes later, our flight had openings in the exit row (which I usually ask for but didn't get a chance to) so I changed us to there. While I went looking for a book (I forgot Little Big Man which was going to be my first bookcrossing.com book), our flight turned out to be overbooked, and they asked if anyone wanted to go on the direct flight to Seattle, Kelly lept up and set that up, and they upgraded us to first class -- my first time in first class. So, we were off to an auspicious start. We arrived in Seattle about 2 hours earlier than we planned, and on an easy flight (I slept about half of it). However, Kelly's bag hasn't showed up here yet. Mine was on our new flight. Mt Hood on the way into Seattle
Mt Hood on the approach to Seattle

July 24, 2006: Seattle to Astoria
Kelly loves seafood
Happy Kelly
Slept in until Jenny and family were all up
Lazed around had cereal, met Amy and her kids, checked in at work, waited for Kelly's bag. Walked to Fred Myers for clothes and got food, made a quick lunch, then packed the car and left at 2:10. Jenny and I both felt queasy.
Got on I5 about 2:30, bad traffic past Tacoma, still traffic down past Olympia, we headed west on 6 at Chehalish and enjoyed the drive down the coast past Raymond, the Lewis and Clark NP.
Kelly loves seafood
Sad clam

Saw the Columbia for the first time, coming from the North side, seeing signs for places named "Cape Disappointment" and "Dismal Ditch", and the bridge to Astoria. Got to the RoseBriar in Astoria, met Will and Judith, Joe and Diane sipping wine and shared Kelly's seafood. Went to late dinner with Will and Judith (medical physics and distance learning from New Zealand and Edmonton, now living in Victoria, talked a lot about Victoria). Appetizers at "The Schooner" while Kelly took a walk.

Other things: Tsunami evacuation routes up the ridges, Kelly's crab, mussel, and oysters from Raymond, hillyness of Astoria.

Oh, and the historical marker to the right -- because, what we all really care about is who authorized the friggin' plaque.

Knappton site
the least helpful historic marker I've ever seen
Columbia River
Roll on Columbia
Columbia River flowers
flowers
bridge to Astoria
the bridge to Astoria

July 25, 2006: Astoria to Canon Beach
Astoria Column
Climbing to the Astoria Column
see the Elk?
Woke in the Briar Rose, showered and made it down to breakfast to sit with Joe and Diane, Will and Judith. Talked about computers and fancy cars (Joe's), and discussed possibilities for travel and for the future visit of Will for proton stuff at IU.

Then we walked up the hill to the Astoria coumn... walked past two deer or elk and climbed to the top.Great great views up there. Kids threw small wood gliders (sold below) off the ledge, some of them went astoundingly far. The trees nearby are coated with planes like Christmas trees.

Astoria Column
about the Astoria Column
Ships anchored in the river presumably waiting for the tide were swinging in the currents. When I first reached the top, the ships were facing upstream. By the time we climbed down, they had swung to face the river mouth, and a few ships were starting to make their way upriver. Astoria
Astoria viewed from the Column
Goonies house
the Goonies house
The Goonies was filmed in Astoria, and we made a small pilgrimage on behalf of my sister. The Goonies house is toward the eastern end of Astoria on 38th street. Goonies
Chunk loves...
Astoria sea lion
See the sea lion climbing onto the dock?
We took the Astoria riverfront trolley back and forth, and they pointed out the sea lions on the dock -- a boat coming in scared them off, so I got to take a short series of one of them getting back onto the dock (need editing).
The trolley folks also mentioned the Shallon Winery -- they said "we don't know how he makes his wines, but they involve anything except grapes". Paul, the vintner, has a very set spiel, but he's funny and cantankerous (an article on the wall called him a "coot"). We tried "Lemon Merangue", "Orange Chocolate", and a few other wines, and of course had to buy some. You've gotta support people living their (weird) dreams, right? Shallon Winery
learning about whey based wines
Canon Beach
Canon Beach: Nick and Chena
We got on our way down the coast in late afternoon, but it's not far to Canon Beach. We arrived just a little while before Chena and Nick, and after settling into our rooms, headed out for a great dinner of fish stew, steak, halibut, and scallops. Then we walked to the beach and headed toward the north end, near Ecola park, and also near the place where Chena's family had two cottages until the 1990s. Kelly, Chena, and Nick all spent memorable times in this town and on this beach, and N&C's children also spent many good days here.
Canon Beach
Canon Beach
Canon Beach
Canon Beach: Kelly, Nick and Chena
Canon Beach
Canon Beach

July 26, 2006: Canon Beach, Ecola Park, WaveCrest Inn
Ecola park
Ecola Park
Ecola park
Indian ghost pipe
Ecola park
Ecola Park
At this point, the pictures get too numerous to link -- Canon Beach and Ecola Park are very beautiful places, zillions of photos have been taken of them. I took a few hundred myself. If you click on any of the pics above, and then click on the "oregon2006" link at the top or bottom of the picture page, or the "next" link at the bottom, you'll find yourself perusing more of my pictures from the trip than I'm linking to here. It may be worthwhile, if you have a fast internet connection.

Kelly and Chena and I hiked in the Ecola State Park for most of the day, and when we returned, the owner of the WaveCrest, Hank, was preparing a gourmet meal for us and some other guests and friends. Dinner was incredible, between Hank's lamb, pesto pasta with potatos and green beans, Dan Sisco's poetry, wine, lemon licquer, and peaches and currants over vanilla whipped cream, Pavarotti, laughter, and a walk on the beach.


July 27, 2006: Manzanita, Tillamook, Newport, Sylvia Beach Hotel
Manzanita
trikes on the beach at Manzanita
Kelly drove south with Nick and Chena while I whipped up a very quick website for Hank - (www.wavecrestinn.com). I drove south a little later to meet her in Manzanita, another beach town. It turns out that this short trip in a car is half of the journey of Elbridge Trask in the book _Trask_ by Don Berry. The mountain Neahkahnie has been pierced by a tunnel.

Manzanita has several excellent coffeeshop/bakeries, and they rent trikes (something like the "Sidewinder" trike) for riding on the beach. Also we saw a windsailing trike, probably going 20-30mph along the shore.

We continued south through several beach towns and into the Tillamook harbour. Inland of Garibaldi, we found a seafood place, and Kelly needed her shellfish fix, so we stopped briefly there. Next we stopped at the Tillamook cheese factory, fun because they let you see inside the plant works.

Manzanita
windsailing trike at Manzanita
Oysters
Oyster harvest
Oysters
Oyster consumption
Cheese
Tillamook cheese
Tillamook Bay
Tillamook Bay from the south
a funny sign
I thought this was funny
Cape Meares
Cape Meares
Sylvia Beach Hotel
Sylvia Beach Hotel
We arrived in Newport around just barely in time to be counted among the diners at the Sylvia Beach Hotel. It turns out dinner there is a social event, where diners are seated with "strangers" and then forced to play a getting-to-know-you game: "two truths and a lie". Our table was populated by two couples from Phoenix who have been to the Sylvia many times in the past 30 years, and a young fresh U of O graduate interested in Africa and NGOs. We probably would have done just fine getting to know each other without the game, but the game was interesting too.

The rooms in the Sylvia Beach Hotel are named for authors. We were in the Mark Twain room, which had a fireplace, a deck, a bathtub, and an ocean view from the second floor. After dinner, Kelly was determined to use all of the above, so she set a fire while I had mulled wine and read some Twain in the hotel's library and game room on the 3rd and 4th floor.

When I returned to the room, Kelly had the fire going and had come up with a way to enjoy the bath and the deck to the fullest (of course). She would soak in the very hot water for a few minutes, then run out and sit on the deck, letting the cold wind from the ocean cool her down, then run back in and take another bath. My arrival and use of the bath required that Kelly make a stop at the fireplace while I soaked, and while I was in my first rotation in the breeze and she on her third in the bathtub, a log fell out of the fireplace, setting off the smoke alarm.

We had to turn on the lights to see how to fix the fire and I began fanning the smoke alarm with my towel. (It's about midnight, but until I began fanning in the doorway to the deck, I noticed that there were lights on in the two lodgings south of us, but once I began my fanning routine, curiously, all their lights went out.) Anyway, once we had the logs back in the fire, we turned off the lights, and I stopped fanning the smoke alarm, which promptly went off again! So, while I fanned, Kelly opened windows on the windward and leeward side of the room, and I stopped again, but the red light on the alarm went on again, so again I fanned. After a while, Kelly asked me to tell her each time the red light went on, and it turned out that the light was not only the precursor to the alarm, but also a battery check. So, after about a half and hour of vigorous fanning, the smoke was cleared, and we collapsed onto the floor in front of the fire.

"Now that, young man, is the way to wave a towel!"

the library
The Sylvia Beach Hotel
library
Mark TWain Room
the infamous fireplace

July 27+, 2006: Newport, Bend, Odell, Crater Lake, Bend and beyond
I'm behind on photoblogging the rest of the trip -- we went on from Newport to Bend last week, spent a day here, visited Juliette with Chena and Delia and Dot, then headed to Odell Lake where we met up with Jenny and Brian and family, as well as Delia and her kids. I'll catch up in Portland, Seattle, or when we're home. I leave you with a picture of Juliette, who had a big influence on Kelly's life. Juliette
Kelly, Juliette and Chena