I found this book about the John Day Monument in a shop in Portland. It’s the work of Matt Sundstrom. I like the simple drawings and everything is explained in a few words. We had the book with us when we visited the Painted Hills. Great guide! Here are some more of his books about Oregon.
The other day I went to the shop and wanted to by apple sauce. But all they had was weight watcher apple sauce. No, I wanted the real stuff. So I decided to buy apples and make it myself. Can’t be that hard. And actually it is very easy. It took me 30min.
Then I got enthusiastic about it and carved a stamp, cut out a piece of fabric for the lid and made the label. Cute, I look forward to the next meal where I can use apple sauce. By the way, I don’t like the english work for apple sauce, so I used the german word for the stamp!
The grapes are ripe and the leaves turn yellow…
We are back home and already working again. I am always surprised how easily it is to get back to the same rhythm again. But things haven’t changed very much here and everything is familiar.
But not everything is the same. I feel a calmness inside me I have not felt for a long time. This has probably something to do with my PhD, where there was always a lot of pressure. And we have taken a lot of good memories back home that keep me happy and optimistic. Here are a few of my best moments of the trip:
Driving up the road to Hurricane Ridge at 7 in the morning. The sun was rising and we drove out of the fog and had this stunning view. In the far distance we could see some mountains from Vancouver Island above the clouds. Magical.
We had been driving along the Oregon Coast for half of the day when we arrived in Florence. After lunch we went further south and came to some sand dunes. We drove along these dunes for a while, but when they were never ending we decided to stop and climb them and have a look at the other side. What we found was a huge remote beach. I felt tiny.
One evening we meet my old Professors from Eugene. A long time I did not now if I should ask them to meet. But then I finally did and we had a very funny evening. We went for dinner and had dessert at home. While eating dessert and talking we were working on a jigsaw puzzle with no edge and 5 additional pieces. I am very glad I went back to meet them.
We are back in Portland and are spending our last days of this trip in the sun. We rented some bikes yesterday to see parts of the city we haven’t before. And we found a great place along Alberta Street. Small shops, art galleries and great food. In the evening we went to a whisky bar (Multnomah Whiskey Library). This was very much fun because the bartender was very patient suggesting us drinks we would like.
Tomorrow we are heading back home. See you all very soon!
When driving from Eastern Oregon back to Portland and passed a diversity of landscapes. First of all the Strawberry mountains, then Canyons with colorful rocks, a huge plateau with grasslands and windmills and in the end we came to the Colombia River Gorge. This is an impressive river by itself but additionally there are some picturesque waterfalls.
We spent one night in a tiny town called John Day. The two museums in town were closed so we had to go out of town to see things. The landscape around the town is amazing and the gorgeous Strawberry Mountains are located close by. Despite the cold (below 0 at night) we went for a hike into these mountains. It was freezing at first but we got warm when walking uphill. And then we came to this lovely lake called Strawberry lake. The water was frozen at the edge but it was warm in the sun.
This post wasn’t supposed to take so long! But I am not going to blame anyone or make bad excuses. Let’s just say life is not always fair… but here it is:
I had been locking forward to this moment for some time. And the sight of the first painted mountains was amazing. They are very unique. Unfortunately, shortly after we arrived, a park ranger came and said that the park is closed and we could not be there. But we realized that he does not really like to tell people to leave. He let us wander around in the park for a while because we had come such a long way. Thank you!
The different color layers are volcanic ash that has oxidated with time.
We did not want to drive around in the US like crazy. But that is exactly what we are doing right now. On one hand this country (we have only visited two states and yes they are two of the bigger states) is very large. In Switzerland we think twice if we have to drive for like 20 minutes. Here a 4h drive is normal. And I can see why this is the case now. I already new this, but you easily forget these things, when you live in tiny country.
Oregon has approximately the size of the United Kingdom or Ecuador. Especially in the Eastern part you have to drive far to see things. And now the situation gets even more complicated because the government closed down all national forests and parks, because of a political game. I might not understand what is going on here, but I don’t really get the point of all this. People who don’t get payed, parks closing down and then they get payed to check that nobody enters the parks…
Anyway we did not go to Crater Lake and headed directly to Bend. Here we spent two nights going to the Bend Film Festival, finding new coffee roasters and walking in the desert. Today we drove again for several hours (I don’t even dare to tell you how many) and visited the most exciting place of all times. But I won’t tell you until next time!
We have crossed another chain of mountains and are now in a town called Klamath Falls. The changes in vegetations are dramatic. We have come from rain forests to a Mediterranean mountains and are now entering Oregon’s dry side. It is also called Oregon’s Empty Quarter, because there are fewer people and also fewer tourists. But actually one third of Oregon is desert.
