PORTLAND, OREGON GARDENS

Jenkins Estate

On every trip to the northwest, we always plan on stopping in Portland so that we can visit Powell's bookstore to exchange our used books for more used books.  This time we carried in 4 heavy bags of books and carried out about the same amount we carried in.  While we were in the downtown Powell's, there was a fun run in the streets outside.  Getting out of town was a nightmare of one-way streets, blocked off streets, crazy runners in goofy getups milling around, and the general hubbub of a Saturday night on the town.  

Rhododendron Flowers

It was a lot easier when we went to the Powell's in Beaverton where we found many more books to cart back to the groaning rv.   While we were in the Beaverton area, we also indulged our second favorite thing to do in Portland, which is visit gardens.  The Jenkins Estate is not far from Beaverton and

95 year old elm trees

was actually considered to be in the countryside when purchased by Belle and her husband.  Belle was the daughter of a shipping magnate in Portland and loved horses, so the new home included stables and riding paths along with English garden areas, rhododendron gardens, a pond garden, meadows, and an Elm drive (which is 95 years old now).  

Kerr Home, Garden of the Bishop's Close

The following couple of days were pouring rain, off and on, which sort of put a damper on any further exploration of gardens, but luckily we had any number of books to choose from and read.  But on the third day of rain, we decided to do as the Portlanders do, which is go out there anyway.  So we grabbed a couple of umbrellas and went to visit Elk Rock, the Garden of the Bishop's Close.  

Garden of the Bishop's Close

This was originally the home (and business) of a Scottish immigrant who specialized in importing grain back in 1888.  The home sits on a bluff, which is itself on a steep hillside, overlooking the Willamette River.  

Level area up on the hillside

Although Kerr was an avid gardener, he hired the Olmsted Brothers of Massachusetts to design the garden and this is one of only two Olmsted gardens which are open to the public.  The design incorporated small staircases up and down the steep hillside so that access to any portion of the hillside was easy and because of the benches here and there, you could sit and look at the river or at East Portland across the river (if the rain hadn't drenched the benches, of course).  

Looking across the Willamette River to East Portland

The gardens are a combination of the plants Kerr collected on his world travels and one of the finest collections of Northwest native trees and plants.  It is all combined in a cultivated English style garden which Kerr worked on for 60 years before passing away at the age of 95.

Viewing Kerr's home from the front lawn and garden.

 His daughters donated the house and gardens to the Episcopal Diocese of Portland with the stipulation that the gardens themselves be always open to the public.  This was a favorite garden, of all we visited during this stay.  Every little nook, bend, and flower bed was filled with delight.  I am sure that in the sunshine, it would be even more stunning.  

Carrot Cake Extraordinaire 

But after this excursion, we needed to have some lunch and get dry.  And you can't eat lunch without having dessert, can you?  A really decadent carrot cake with coconut and chocolate included was hard to split between us, especially when Allan took more than his share.
On our last day in the area, we returned to two gardens which are on our list of favorites.  

Leach Botanical Garden

The first is the Leach Botanical Garden which is a collection of plants by John and Lilla Leach who traveled all over the northwest collecting plants for their botanical garden.  Lilla was a botanist and I have a soft spot in my heart for her as I was a botanist once myself and I know how difficult it can be traveling into backcountry to gather (or identify, in my case) specimens.  Although I used an old dodge truck provided by the forest service, Lilla and John used mules.   This is a small garden, placed above and below the home, which is along a creek.  

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

We were able to easily walk the paths within an hour, take lots of photos, and be on our way to the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens across the street from Reed College.   The really great thing about this garden is all the walking paths along the ponds which have many different kinds of ducks, geese, and other water birds.  

Wood Duck

The water comes from a spring that produces 6000 gallons a minute and there are many water features including little waterfalls and creeks.  This is the only garden we have visited on this trip where we had to pay admission, but for $4 each, it was well worth it.  I got about 5000 steps on my fitbit walking this garden.  

A WEEK IN BROOKINGS, OREGON

Brookings Harbor

Even though the weather forecast says sunshine each day, we always start off with overcast clouds or fog.  Although yesterday the sun was out for several hours, today it did not burn through until about 3 p.m.    You might probably ask why we bother coming to a town that is in economic decline, has fog and drizzle almost every day, and is difficult to access without traveling through forest and canyon.  

Gold Beach Bookstore

Well I guess because it is really beautiful when the sun does shine, and it is not 100 degrees like in Arizona right now, and there are little businesses lurking between the buildings with the for lease signs.   Like the Gold Beach Bookstore which has new and used books, shows art works by local artists, and where we can buy a mocha or espresso to drink while we are searching out some good reading buys.  Upstairs they have first editions in the rare book room and were featuring a book collection that had been purchased from Glenn Ford.  There are also letters and manuscripts.

Bakery By The Sea

We also found a teeny, tiny bakery which is only open 3 days a week, without even a storefront, just a door into a narrow hallway to a kitchen the size of our fifth wheel.  But they are turning out some great sourdough bread, scones, bran muffins, and the most light and delicious ciabatta rolls ever.   Yes, all six of those rolls are for us.    

This last weekend was the Azalea Festival here in Brookings, so we went down to the harbor to take a look at the festivities.   In addition to the usual vendors, there was one young man giving camel rides on his 3 camels.   He assured me that they never spit unless they felt they were being attacked, so I gave the camel a pet on the nose.  They have the softest fur and the longest eyelashes.  Plus, their lips are hairy, they only have lower teeth except for a couple of upper molars in the far back of their mouth, and they are one of the two toed animals.  Really interesting animals.   

But mostly we are in Brookings so that Allan can walk the dogs at the beach.  Early in the morning, the beach is empty and he can let them explore and play on the sand.  They also walk back along the jetty where Allan has seen breaching whales and sea lions.  Then he completes the circuit by walking past the Coast Guard Station and past the boat slips to our park which is just across the street.  

While he is off exploring, I have been trying to finish a needlepoint canvas that I purchased on Bainbridge Island about 6 years ago and have been stitching on periodically whenever we travel.  I have been determined to get it done on this trip and finally it is finished (although it still will need to be blocked, stretched, and made into a pillow.  It was supposed to be a chair cushion, but the chair is long gone, so it will just be a pillow.   

NORTH TO BROOKINGS, OREGON

Highlands RV Park, Bishop, CA with the Sierras in the background.

This last week was spent traveling from Bishop to Brookings.   The morning we left Bishop was clear and sunny, but still cold enough to keep the snow on the nearby Sierras intact.  As we drove north up 395, the snow was all along the roadside all the way up to Bridgeport where we stopped for breakfast at the Bridgeport Inn.  At the end of our meal, the waitress brought me a chocolate covered strawberry for Mothers Day.  

Hwy 395, around June Lakes, CA

We continued up 395 past Reno to Standish, CA where we stay at the Days End RV Park which is about the only business in Standish besides a gas station.  But it is charming with flower beds, a dog park, and great views all around.  The next morning we headed west past Lassen National Park to Hwy 5 and then north to Medford, Oregon where we spent two nights at the Holiday RV Park.  Our free day in Medford was spent stocking up at TJ's and visiting used bookstores in Ashland, Oregon.  The weather was rainy and cold while we were there.  Finally on our last lap, we headed up Hwy 5 to Grants Pass and then turned west to travel along the Smith River to Crescent City and then north on the coast hwy to Brookings, CA.  

Brookings Harbor

We always stay at the Driftwood RV Park and right now during May it has many spaces available.  Here on the coast it is cloudy with the sun peeking through periodically.  But that has not deterred Allan from walking the beach with the dogs about 3 times a day.  Since there are not many people on the beach right now, the dogs can run free and explore all they want.   No big plans for us while we are here although we heard that the Azalea Festival is next weekend, so we might check that out.  

HEADING NORTH

Tehachapi Sunrise

This year we are heading North and this week is the final countdown before we leave on Sunday for Sedona, our first stop on a five month trip.
We will be in Sedona for 3 days to showsit at our annual Spring Show at the Sedona Art Center.  

This year Allan got 3 paintings in the show and I got all four with one of my paintings  (above) getting an honorable mention.  The painting is Tehachapi Sunrise and it is a place we stay frequently in the rv as we travel from Barstow over the Tehachapi Summit to Bakersfield.  From Sedona we will be in Las Vegas for a few days and then we are spending a week in Bishop where we intend to explore the southeastern side of the sierras.  Then on to Brookings, Oregon for two whole weeks at the beach.

 We will then go up to Portland for a week and then to Gig Harbor for a week while we check out the International Open Juried Show of the Northwest Pastel Society.  This year I have one painting juried into that show and we purchased an airfloat box to ship it up to Tecoma, Washington.  The show will run until June 23rd so we will be there to pick up my painting at the end of the show.  

We will be going back to the gardens at Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island.  Check out Allan's painting of a photo we took on a previous visit......     After that we will be staying in Anacortes for about 10 days before we travel up to Vancouver where we intend to visit some favorite places we have been in past visits and also to check out some new places.  We will come back to the US to head east to Coeur d'Alene and then North to Radium Hot Springs which is located on the western side of the Rockies about an hour from Banff.  This is the furthest north we will go and on our return we will travel down through Glacier NP, a place we have never been.... Yellowstone NP, a favorite place..... Grand Tetons... a new spot for us... and we will finish up at the Plein Air Festival in the Grand Canyon.

 So this week is packing and more packing.... and also finishing up a painting I have been working on for the last week or so.  It is pretty close to done.  The painting is from a photo of Convict Lake, which is extremely picturesque... I just hope I have done it justice.

Portland to Seattle

Powell's Bookstore at Night

We arrived in Portland a couple of weeks ago and stayed on Hayden Island at the Jantzen Beach RV Park.  For those of you who are geographically challenged, Hayden Island is on the Columbia River between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington.  The park is wonderful with nice wide sites and full hookups, grassy areas at each site, and located right on the Columbia River with a trail along the river where Allan walked the dogs.  I think he took a million photos of the river and the bridges but sadly we do not have any of the park itself.  We had lots of plans for Portland but ended up doing a lot less than planned.  We did visit Powell's two times, each time dragging in a couple of bags of already read books and dragging out an equal number of unread books. 

Recycled Glassware

One of the books that I got on a whim was the bestseller by Jenny Lawson called "Let's Pretend This Never Happened", a memoir of her life which were events from her past which ranged from bizarre to humiliating and were all hilarious.  I read portions of the book to Allan and he was in stitches.  We also visited the farmers market in Vancouver, Washington where we not only saw all the usual fresh produce but also saw about 100 vendors who were selling recyclable objects.  It was amazing to see what people could do with trash.
I guess our only real outing was to The Grotto.  The Grotto is a Catholic Monastery which happens to have an outdoor altar carved into a rock wall face. 


The Grotto Altar

The Elevator up to the Second Level

The Monastery

Allan in the Gardens

There is seating around the altar and there is also a regular church.  It is in a wooded setting and people come to light candles and sit near the altar.  But you can take an elevator up to the top of the rock face and there is the monastery building where a few retired Fathers are living and the adjacent gardens where visitors can come and walk the trails and meditate.
The following week was spent up in the Seattle area, although I really shouldn't say Seattle, because we stayed at the Maple Grove RV Park in Everett, Washington.  I would not recommend this park to anyone unless they just needed a spot for a night or two.  It was basically a tight parking lot and it seemed even tighter to us because we were next to a fifth wheel with children.  One of the children was a toddler, who was at the screaming stage of conversing and she screamed when happy, screamed when angry, and screamed just to hear the sound of her own voice, I think.  When you are only five feet away and have thin walls, screaming from morning to night, day after day, can become very tiresome.  Then to top it off, we were there during the week of July 4th.  And fireworks are permitted in Everett, so every night leading up to the 4th, and of course the night of the 4th, and even after the 4th, we had to listen to rockets and explosions from dusk to midnight each night.  Allan said that the street behind the park, where he walked the dogs, was completely covered in firework litter.  Now, did I mention that I got a migraine.... yes, of course I did.... what else could I expect with all that noise pollution. 

That Kid Is Disturbing My Nap

So we did not do much while we were in Seattle, just one tiny little trek down to Pike's Market and that was about it.  Instead we hung out close to home and made one last drive to Redmond for the farmers market on the Saturday before we left for Anacortes.

Sharon Picking Out More Pastels

I am pleased to report that all is now well.  We are in Anacortes in our favorite site.  The weather is wonderful and we have already been to Dakota where I have been replenishing my Giraults plus adding a few other little colors, some papers, and some portfolio inserts.   

Salem, Oregon

We have been staying in the Woodburn RV Park for the last week so that we could explore the Salem area.  The rv park is adjacent to one of the largest outlet malls in the state.  Other than Allan using the mall to walk the dogs, it has not been much of a temptation.  Instead we have been doing our usual kinds of side trips, finding

bookstores, cafes, art galleries or museums, and trying to find a spot to plein air which because of the inclement weather did not turn out to be fruitful.  One of the first places we went during a rainy day was to the Readers Guide Bookstore.  Google maps showed its location as a vacant lot and upon actually arriving at the location, all there seemed to be was an abandoned warehouse.  Allan went to peer through the window of the door and it turned out that there were people and books inside and they were happy to turn a bag of our books into a $75 credit for us, so we immediately foraged through their bookshelves and found plenty of books to use up our credit, plus some.  Another overcast day we went to the Hallie Ford Museum of Art and it was a very small museum,

mostly showing local artists of Oregon but there was one small room where there was a print by Hiroshige called the Iris Garden, completed in 1857.  We have a book on Hiroshige at home and it was nice to see one of his woodblock prints up close.  It was one of the 100 views of the Edo area of Japan and is interesting because it has only a foreground and a background, no middle ground.  Hiroshige was trying to produce a compromise between the traditional Japanese birds eye view and Western linear perspective.  The only European paintings that they had at the museum were 5 paintings by artists from the

Barbizon group.  Barbizon was a village suburb on the outskirts of Paris.  One of these artists was Camille Corot, a French artist, who enjoyed success in his time and like his fellow artists in the Barbizon group painted rural scenery.  Their practice of painting outdoors anticipated the later impressionist plein air painters.  Just recently I purchase a rare book on Corot, so I was delighted to see one of his paintings, this one called A Balmy Afternoon. 

Some of our other excursions involved going to the local Saturday Market in downtown Salem where there were about 150 vendors including hot food vendors.  We managed to find plenty of fresh produce and fruit, bakery items, and more.  We then had a artisanal pizza with artichoke hearts and feta cheese.  And we also took a trip up to Beaverton to visit the Powells Books in Cedar Crossing Shopping Center.  It never has the inventory of the main store in downtown Portland, but we managed to find a few things nevertheless and they took about a half bag of our books for credit.  One book that we did purchase from them was Edgar Payne's Scenic Journey which Kim Lordier brought with her to our workshop and we have been looking for a copy ever since. 

We also stopped at Uwajimaya Market to pick up a few hard to find Asian items and had no trouble finding Macha Green Tea, Soba Noodles from Australia, new chopsticks, Curry Sauce, Plum Chutney, and a beautiful Sake Bottle which will be used for a still life and not for drinking sake.  We finished off our visit at Pastini's where they offer 10 lunches for less than $7.00 and they are all good, we have been here on past visits and this day Allan had the lasagna with salad and I had the meatball with ziti in a tomato butter sauce with a salad.   Tomorrow we will be heading up to Portland and we are hoping for less rain, although from the weather forecast, it does not look promising. 

Oregon Coast

After leaving Eureka, we headed up the coast to Turtle Rock RV Resort in Gold Beach, Oregon.  We had passed this rv park many times and finally had decided to spend a couple of nights there, especially since we were just sort of leapfrogging up to the Salem area and did not intend to spend a great deal of time along the coast this year. 

The sites at Turtle Rock were spacious and there was a little pathway where you could walk right down to the beach.  Unfortunately, the weather was doing its best to be typically Oregon, which is to say.... rainy, cold, and windy.   Murray did not like the sand blowing in his face and it wasn't much fun looking for shells when the sand was stinging where it hit us.  Notice the big heavy sweatshirt that I am wearing, this is typical beach gear for Oregon. 

But one of the reasons that we were doing a short stop in Gold Beach was the Gold Beach Book Store. We have been stopping at this bookstore for many, many years now and it never disappoints.  Downstairs is a coffee/bakery area where you can get fortified with a cappuchino to drink while browsing the bookcases.  They also feature local artists downstairs which is always interesting and then upstairs are all the used books including a rare book room which has cases of old books, letters, and memorabilia from famous authors.  I purchased a book about Corot written over 100 years ago with ink plates of his paintings.  Allan found a book on the American Impressionists with color plates of paintings on every other page for only $7.00.  Of course we left there with bags of books as usual, not all as special as the two I mentioned, but of interest nonetheless.  So after two days in Gold Beach, we headed a little further up the coast to Coos Bay.  We usually stay at the harbor marina in Charleston but because we were only staying for two days, we decided to stay right in town at the Mill Casino RV Park.  This is a very nice rv park and looks out over the river to the coastal mountains beyond. 

On Wednesday we drove to the farmers market in town and for such a small market, there were a surprising number of bakery items and produce.  I got the best looking (and later tasting) bunch of variegated swiss chard ever.  Every leaf was perfect, not like the swiss chard you see in the grocery store where it looks mangled or wilted.  This was superior and it was especially good with a little olive oil/chopped garlic/bouillon cube sautéed and a meyer lemon squeeze to finish.  After leaving the farmers market, we drove over to the Charleston Harbor Marina where there is a little shed in the back parking lot.  This is the best spot to get Halibut and Chips and a very good reason to come to Coos Bay.  Since the weather was threatening more rain, we decided to eliminate our next coastal stop and cut directly over to the Salem area where we will stay for 10 days.   We are hoping that the weather inland will be a little nicer and we haven't stayed in the Salem area ever, so it will be new territory for us to find more bookstores, farmers markets, and art. 

It's A Dog's Life

Murray flying after Elsie with all four feet off the ground.

Our trip down the Oregon Coast began in Cannon Beach, a beach mecca for Portland residents who cram the small town to its seams on the weekends and taper off during the week.  The beaches were clean and white and long.  Aside from photo taking jaunts up in Astoria at the marina, there were long walks on the beach with the dogs and not much else unless you wanted to break the bank shopping or eating in Cannon Beach.  We stayed at Sea Ranch where there was every kind of camper imaginable and bonfires each night reaching 12 feet high at every tent site.   One thing about weekend campers, they don't stint on the firewood.   We took the dogs with us when ever we were going to the beach and they took to it right away.  Elsie becomes superdog and can outrun Murray without even trying.  She will get way out ahead of him and then circle around and come running straight at him, making a jump over him to head off in a new direction.  He tries and tries to keep up and finally lays down in the sand with his tongue hanging out.

After leaving Cannon Beach, we headed down to Lincoln City.  This was another city where we had never stayed before.  We were determined to get out of our rut of always staying in Florence or Charleston and trying some new places on the coast.  Although the Premier RV park in Lincoln City was very nice and we found a great little town down the coast called Garibaldi which was a tiny fisherman's harbor where Allan was able to get some great photos of boats and marine buildings, I doubt that we would ever go back.    There just isn't any comparison with staying at the harbor in Florence or staying at the marina in Charleston where we can get halibut and chips for a reasonable price at the little fish n'chips stand.

Siletz Beach

Yesterday we arrived in Waldport where we will stay until Sunday.  Then we are headed down to Brookings for our last month at the coast for this year.   When we arrived the sun was out and the people in McKinleys' Marina RV Park were all outside their rigs in disbelief.  One woman told us they had had 74 days straight of rainy weather.  We took the opportunity to drive down to Yachats where the coast is rocky and get some photos.  Good thing we did because by dinner time the clouds were rolling in and it was raining with thunder and lightning by 8 o'clock.   I didn't want to tell her that everywhere we go it rains, they might have asked us to leave.  

Nevada to Oregon

Driving North towards Wells, Nevada

We took a new road from Las Vegas up the back side of Nevada to Ely where we spent the night at the Prospector Casino which had about 20 spaces for $15 a night.  The drive was very interesting with a wildlife reserve in the high valley filled with rushes, birds, and of course, water.  We were not aware that the eastern side of Nevada was so verdant.  As we drove further into the high desert plateau, the area around us was green with irrigated fields and high mountain rivers.  But after we left Ely, we began to climb higher, over 7000 feet and we could see the snow on the mountains that surrounded the plateau.  It was beautiful scenery, especially since the ambient air temps were still around 65-70 where we were.  We spent the next night at Anderson Camp RV in Twin Falls, Idaho and it was a special place for the dogs as they had a huge field where we went with Elsie, Murray, and the BALL which they chased all over the field, off leash.  Elsie let Murray have the ball for the first few throws, then got the ball and took off in giant circles with Murray on her heels, running, running, panting, running, panting, falling over on his back with his tongue hanging out, and literally giving up on catching her.  It was a hoot.  She is one fast dog.  Wednesday we headed for Eagles Hot Springs RV in LaGrande, Oregon.  This was a great park, off the highway by a couple of miles, next to an old hot springs hotel which used to be the Mayo Clinic of the West.  Good experiences for the dogs here too.  Elsie found her first frogs and it was all Allan could do to keep her from jumping in the pond after them.  Murray found a gopher hole and stuck his head down into it so far that only the back of his ears were showing.   All around us were wetlands, with ducks and birds flying in and out of the reeds and waterways. 

Looking North towards Pendleton, Oregon

And finally on Thursday we headed out on I-84 for Portland where we arrived at the Columbia River RV Park a little after noon.  This park is across the street from the river itself and also the Yacht Club and several marinas.  It is just down the road from the I-5 onramp and one exit from Janzen Beach. 

Last Coastal Stop in Brookings

After spending two nights in Bandon where we got a little sun each afternoon, we headed down the coast to Brookings to stay at the Driftwood RV Park. After we got settled in, Allan took the dogs over to the beach where they examined every piece of seaweed and exoskeleton to determine if it was edible. They seemed to think that the beach was their personal snack bar. Notice that Allan is wearing his levis and a sweatshirt, that is because the temperature is in the 50's. Every morning here in Brookings is socked in with wet fog and the sun does not try to make an appearance until almost dinner time.

One of the first items on our Brookings agenda was to head down to Crescent City and get prescriptions refilled at Walgreens. While we were there we stopped at the visitor center to inquire about good access to the beach and were given directions to Kellogg Beach a little north of town. It was a beautiful beach with a line of stones along the wave bench and there were several people walking along looking for agates. One man had a garden rake which he used to uncover stones under the sand and he showed us several agates which he had found. We did not find any agates but did take home a small bag of stones for our garden and we also got numerous photos of the beach, the beach grass, and the sand dunes.

Yesterday was a trip to the past. We headed up the Smith River, a wild and scenic river flowing from Oregon down into California and out into the Pacific. When we lived in Southern Oregon many years ago, we used to bring our kids and dogs to the Smith to raft. We also used to drive all the way to Crescent City to gather old seaweed from the beach to dig into our garden for compost. It must have worked, we had more veggies than we could can on our woodstove. This was a perfect day for memories as the sunshine was warm and the forest smelled sweet as we stopped for lunch at the Patrick's Creek Lodge, an old historic stopping place for travelers long ago. We used to drive down from Oregon to have dinner there 30 years ago and we were pleased to see that it looked just the same. We had lunch in the dining room but looked into the bar where we had always had a drink before eating, back in the old days. After lunch we walked down under the highway bridge along the river to the NFS campground. We got excited for a few moments when we saw they were looking for summer campground hosts but then we realized that although we could deal with the no electricity hurdle we would not be able to get through the summer without cell phone or broadband coverage for our internet. Oh well, it was nice to fantasize about being back in Patrick's Creek again and we were pleased that we had a whole day in the sunshine.