The Lord Gives Us What We Ask...And Then the Chance to Practice!

Spending so much time at Mount St. Helens meant I would be arriving very late in Seattle which was another 2.5 hrs away.  I like to be off the road and checked into my hotel by 6:00, but tonight it would be 9:00 or after.

I am spending two nights 20 miles northeast of Seattle in a community called Bothell.  Planning this trip I learned about a development group in Oregon and Washington which buys older properties and repurposes them into hotels.  However, these do not just become hotels; they become destinations!

The McMenamin Historic Hotel company adds restaurants and bars, movie theaters, and concert venues while maintaining the character of the original structure and decorating based on that theme.  I tried to stay at McMenamin’s Edgefield outside Portland which was once the area poorhouse.  I couldn’t get a reservation; it was packed!

I found McMenamin’s Anderson School in Bothell, built in 1931, and served as a junior high and alternative high school before the doors closed and the property set vacant.  Sounds like a winner!

I arrive late, tired, and hungry.  I drive through several parking lots and circle the property before finally parking and unloading.  I find the swimming pool and tiki bar, restaurant, bar, vegetable and flower gardens, market, meeting rooms, and even the theater, but where is the dang-gum check-in?

I finally get directions, and I am not happy.  I tell the poor receptionist I am too old and too tired to be hunting for the front desk, I am parked too far away...yah,yah,yah.

She smiled, she listened, and agreed it was confusing.  Her compassion in the face of my grimace...and maybe the pricking of my conscience...totally changed my attitude.  The tootsie rolls on the counter didn’t hurt either!  I felt bad I had been rude and apologized profusely.  Lord, give me patience!

Watch out!

The main brick school building is now comprised of hotel rooms.  Three original building complete the courtyard - the gym now the kitchen, theater, and meeting rooms, the wood shop and Home Ec - now the bar and lounge areas, and the cafeteria - now the main restaurant, gift shop and front desk.  

My room is large with huge double hung windows that I remember from elementary school just like the staircase.  

Each room is named after someone significant to the school.  I am in Elmer Carlsberg’s room and information about him is framed inside.  He organized reunions and wrote local history columns for the town’s paper.  In 1962, he attended the World’s Fair to cover news about “the future.”

Hallways are lined with paintings, sports memorabilia or other items relating to the building’s former life as a school.  

Wooden lockers hold supplies for housekeeping.

Light fixtures are a myriad assortment blending artfully into the vintage time period.

Every morning and evening the Principal’s Office is open for coffee and snacks!  White mugs are in each room for guests to enjoy their caffeine fix.

7

My room has interesting reading on the shelf.  Wonder if these were in the school’s library?  Choices range from “Knitting “ to “The Sexual Occupation of Japan”!

I love this place!  If I was in commercial development, I would copy this idea for the east coast!  

I GPS directions to downtown Seattle, and I drive...and drive...and finally arrive at the dead end of an alley.  I had mistakenly added “S” to the address.  

Lord, give me patience!

The iconic Space Needle is a Seattle landmark.  It was built in 1962 for the World’s Fair, and at 605 ft, it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi.  Built to withstand winds of 200 mph and a 9.0 earthquake, it has an observation deck, a rotating restaurant, and see-through floors.

I see the Seattle skyline, 

ferries on Puget Sound, 

and Mount Rainier.

An optional activity with my ticket is virtual bungee-jumping!  At first I think, “No way!”, but after watching other people, I decide to give it a try.  How badly can I embarrass myself?

A headset is strapped on, and the video starts with me standing on the edge of the Space Needle upper platform.  On the count of 3, I dive off!

It’s not so bad at first, but a water fountain is rapidly approaching.   I involuntarily give a little yelp!  I hear laughter, and it’s not from me!

Lunch is at the Armory which has been turned into a food court.  Love these re-purposed buildings!

The Chihuly exhibit is a fantasy land to walk through.  Dale Chihuly is from the Pacific NW and the master of unconventional glass creating techniques and drawing inspiration from the area’s ubiquitous water and Native American culture.  His colors and displays are amazing!

Look at the glass work and then its reflection!

And then ChIhuly’s garden displays!

It’s time to return to my paid parking, but I can’t find the lot.  I even took a picture of the address, but my Google maps lead me further away.  

OR maybe I just can’t follow the directions!  What was suppose to be a 4-minute walk becomes almost an hour!  I didn’t know Seattle had so many hills!

Lord, give me patience!

I finally put the GPS away and retrace my steps to the Space Needle.  I find my car, but I also find a parking ticket!  The parking attendant can’t change it even when I explain I’m late because I couldn’t find the lot.  I remember I didn’t like being a grinch so I politely get in my car.

Lord, give me patience!

Rush hour traffic takes me 2-hrs to return to my schoolhouse room 20 miles away.  

Lord, give me patience!

A delightful dinner under artistic metal tiki torches along with blackberry cider ends my day.  

Ok, Lord, I get it.....PATIENCE!

There She Blows!

I’m stopping at Mount St. Helens on my way to Seattle.  No donuts today, but I did get a cinnamon bun to go at Camp 18 last night.  I open the brown paper bag, and it is HUGE!  It is definitely a 2-fister; I feel like I’m eating a hamburger!  It is delicious...and will continue to be for several more meals...but they need to include some wet wipes!

If I ever return to Camp 18, their bread pudding is made from leftover cinnamon buns!

I plan to spend a couple of hours exploring the volcano which I remember erupting.  When I arrive, I didn’t realize the complex is comprised of 3 different visitor’s center each with displays, movies, ranger talks, and trails.  The first and third are an hour drive each way apart.  There goes my 1/2 day of sightseeing in Seattle!

My first sight of Mount St. Helen in the distance.

Mount St. Helen is about 400,00 years old, and the last eruption...before the one I remember...was in 1857.  Many people thought the mountain was dormant, but in geological term, the space between eruption and age is about 5 minutes in a 24 hr clock.

Here are some details leading up to the massive event in 1980...as best I remember:

March 20 - a 4.0 earthquake is recorded....largest quake in recent history 

March 23 - multiple smaller quakes about 40/hour

March 27 - an ash plume erupts 4 miles high and a crater the size of a football field develops.  Mandatory evacuation of residents, and all comply except 83 yr old, Harry Truman, who had lived on Spirit Lake for 50 years.

April 3 - continuous quakes w/ six 4.0 or greater

April 30 - north flank develops an unstable bulge growing 5 ft./day

By now, it had been seven weeks since the first major earthquake.  Residents and businesses had been evacuated for weeks, but the people wanted the chance to return and secure belongings.  The mountain was grumbling but nothing major happening.

May 12 - largest quake yet measuring 5.0

May 17 - property owners escorted by caravan.  They had not been home since the ash plume on March 27, and they found everything covered in a fine gray gritty ash.

May 18 - morning quiet until 8:32 when a 5.1 earthquake directly below the bulging north slope caused the largest landslide in history.  Material rushes towards Spirit Lake and the north branch of the Toutle River at 150 mph filling the 24 acre valley up to 600 ft deep in avalanche debris.  A blast of super-heated air follows creating winds of 200 mph shearing trees off at their stumps.  Trees within 8 miles are flattened and lying on the ground like pick-up sticks.

Resulting crater:

This is a COLOR picture of the landscape!

An example of a tree splintered from the blast.

Snow and ice melt and mix with lava, volcanic rocks and ash creating lahars or volcanic mudslides reaching all the way to the Columbia River about 50 miles away picking up the debris destroyed in the blast.  The sludge reduces the channel from 40 ft to 15.  Ships are stranded or cannot enter the river.

The water level of Spirit Lake rises 200 ft, and an outlet is clogged.  Fear is the lake’s dam will break.

A 15 mile high ash plume erupts emitting lightening, and the sky darkens for 125 miles.  This ash cloud would eventually circle the globe in only 2 weeks.

Rescue operations start 16 minutes after the explosion.  Rescuers who have lived and hiked and camped in the area for years cannot recognize anything because the landmarks are destroyed and hundreds of square miles are reduced to a wasteland.

Eventually, 170 people rescued but 57 are dead or never found including Harry Truman.

This bridge was completely destroyed.

Ultimately, Mount St. Helens created a new landscape.  People argued whether to let nature take its course and eventually heal itself or if man should intervene and offer nature some assistance.  

The final decision is a compromise. The volcano and the immediate area will be left natural and becomes the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.

Weyerhaeuser owned most of the affected forests and lost 3 logging camps, 22 crew buses, 30 log trucks, 39 railroad cars, 12 million board feet of lumber, 650 miles of roads, 19 bridges, and 16 miles of railroad.  However, they begin a mass effort never before attempted to log and reclaim the destroyed trees.  After the debris fields were declared stable, 600 logging trucks a day rumble along newly established roads.  Finally, the company replant thousands of acres with 40 million saplings each by hand.

It has been a little over 39 years since the explosion.  Most of the area is green covered in the replanted forests.  

Animals have returned including elk which graze in the valley along the river. 

 However, the volcano and her violent display of May 18, 1980 still remain evident.

My 2-hr visit has become 6.5 hrs!  I am pooped...again...and didn’t even find time for a nap!  I was impressed w/ the number of people at each of the visitor’s centers especially the Johnson Observatory which is 5-miles from Mount St. Helens since it’s over a 2-hr trip alone from the main road.  

Mount St. Helens and Spirit Lake today.

Makes me happy that people want to discover our nation’s history!

How Should I Spend My Birthday?

I was suppose to go on an “Epicurean Food Walking Tour” today, but since I am the only person signed up, it is cancelled.  Drats!  The downside of traveling solo; I need people!

I have covered the major tourist sites in and around Portland, but I never finished the Oregon coast.  I decide to drive to Astoria, a seaside port founded by fur traders and named after their employer, John Jacob Astor.

But first, more doughnuts!

One of my hosts prefers Blue Star Donuts, another Portland based shop.  First, though, she has visited the local farmers’ market for “Hoodies” - strawberries grown around Hood River and prized for their sweetness and flavor.  They don’t travel well nor last long, but these remind me of picking fresh berries as a child.  A little bit of sunshine in each bite!

The line is huge at Blue Star Donuts, and I wait 40 minutes.  I think about leaving, but once you are in line, you are invested.  

However, there is the guy behind me coughing and blowing his nose, AND the line moves so slow w/ one person taking orders, another person filling them while she talks w/ another employee putting boxes together and dancing.  He is entertaining at least, but can we get a little more organized here and speed things up?

The sign says their donuts are for “grown-ups” which I think is a dig at Voodoo’s frivolous creations.  Started in 2012, Blue Star uses a French brioche recipe made fresh daily taking 18 hours to complete.  They use organic, locally sourced ingredients, without additives, preservatives or artificial colors.

I order a blueberry basil bourbon (I’m told, their best-seller), a passion fruit w/ cocoa nibs and cayenne, and their suggestion of an olive oil with orange dusted w/ powder sugar.  I like that each donut is served in the box with its own paper.  Sometimes it’s the simple things!

Oh my gosh, the BBB - blueberry basil bourbon is the best donut EVER!  Not only is the flavor incredible, but it is not overly sweet like most pastries.  I lick the glaze off the paper!

Without the sweetness, I want another and dive into the passion fruit.  It is almost as good as the blueberry.  I love the mild heat, and I do not like spicy food!  The heat remains for 10-15 minutes, but I’m wishing I had more of these.  No wonder people were walking out with big boxes!

Voodoo Doughnuts is fun and an attention grabber, but my vote is for Blue Star Donuts for TASTE!

Many small towns in Oregon welcome visitors with road plaques mentioning their population...1,236 or 6,542.  What happens if someone moves in or out of town or is born or gosh, dies?  Is there a local who adjusts the population numbers daily?

By the time I arrive in Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River, I’m ready for a nap so the waterfront offers the perfect place to recline the seat and snooze. 

It’s a beautiful day walking along the river walk.  The Columbia River is huge here, and I count 2 ships docked and 6 tankers in the harbor.  Known as the Great River of the West, an American sea captain named the river after his ship in 1792.  Astoria became part of the vast Oregon Territory and was claimed by the U.S. in 1846.

Astoria’s downtown was built over the water since their living was based on fishing, trade and shipping.  After it was destroyed by fire the second time in 1922, much of the area was filled in to create the river walk, but piers still exist.

A few miles inland is Fort Clatsop, built by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and the Corps of Discovery, during the winter of 1805-1806.  Arriving finally on the west coast, the band of 33 explorers built a fort and lived here for 4 months preparing to return to Saint Louis in the spring. They named the fort in honor of the friendly local Native Americans, the Clatsop.

Nothing remains of the original fort, but a re-creation was built in 2006 based on Clark’s journal and floor plans.

Cannon Beach is a popular seaside resort in northern OR.  Another beautiful state park, Ecola, provides some final moments along the coast with the beach and sea-stacks.

In the distance, Haystack Rock is one of Oregon’s most recognized landmarks.

One of my hosts suggests I stop at Camp 18 on the drive back to Portland to eat.  Two men dreamed to build a huge cabin with their own logging camp which they accomplished in the 1970’s logging and hauling trees locally, then hand peeling and knife drawing them with the help of family and friends.

The huge roof ridge pole is 88 ft long and weighs 25 tons!  Beautiful floors, doors, and a stone fireplace are a great setting for a celebratory birthday dinner!

I leave Oregon tomorrow heading to Washington.  It’s a gorgeous state which I knew little about before visiting.  There is no sales tax, and the drivers are very civilized obeying the signs on the highways, “Use the left lane only for passing.”  If you have the opportunity, you should visit too; although, locals like to keep their state a secret!

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose...!

My first destination this morning is Voodoo Doughnuts, a unique Portland based shop specializing in unusual favor combinations with names to match - Captain Crunch or Fruit Loops, cookie toppings, and grape flavored Tang are just a few.  There are over 100 varieties, but the NyQuil Glazed and Vanilla Pepto Crushed Tums flavors are no longer available due to the health department!

There is a line outside so something yummy must be inside!

One young boy finishes a doughnut covered in frosting and coconut before starting on another w/ mini-Reese’s pieces.  Approaching the counter, two rotating display cases hold the available flavors.  

“Hi!  I’m a Voodoo Doughnut Virgin so what do you recommend?”

I’m told all about Voodoo Doughnuts...prices, regular vs. specialty, vegan.  I chose the bacon maple bar (w/ real strips of bacon on top), the Dirty Old Bast___d (Oreo cookies w/ peanut butter frosting) and the Voodoo Doll (puffy figure w/ a face and filled w/ raspberry jam, covered in chocolate frosting and a pretzel stake sticking from it’s belly).  How could I refuse that one!

I leave with a signature pink box, and after eating the bacon maple bar, a smile!

Pittock Mansion is a Portland landmark built in 1914 by newspaper owner and publisher, Henry Pittock and his wife, Georgiana.  On a hill 1000 ft above the city, the French renaissance chateau features 46 rooms on 46 landscaped acres.  The couple built this house to accommodate themselves, but 11 people lived here including their daughters and families and nieces.

A top of the line oven/stove was installed in the kitchen for the kingly price of...$35!

Georgiana loved her flowers and had an extensive cutting garden.  

However, her favorite was roses, and she helped form the Portland Rose Society and held the first rose show in her backyard.

I head to the International Rose Test Garden, a 4-acre public space, w/ 8,000 plantings of over 550 rose varieties.   Started in 1917, Henry Pittock was one of the founding members.  I have never seen so many gorgeous flowers, and I take picture after picture looking for the special bloom.  Many of these roses don’t have a fragrance but others fill the air with perfume.

On this sunny mild day, the garden is packed with families and couples and friends.  It took me 3 trips around the park to finally find a parking space - about 40 minutes.  However, it gave me time for an afternoon snack - the Voodoo Doll!  Yum, but I feel a little naughty eating it!

In the distance are the mountains and Mount Hood.  A toddler bends over to smell a rose; absolutely adorable!  Where are the parents w/ a camera?

Portland is known for a plethora of food carts, and I try Egyptian for dinner - lamb shank and stewed veggies over rice.  I’m glad I tried it but think Egyptian food might be off my bestie list.

Portland has a huge rose festival annually that lasts almost a month.  I have arrived at the busiest time w/ the Grand Floral Parade in addition to concerts and art shows, the Navy Fleet Week, coronation of the Queen, the knighting of Royal Rosarians - a type of ambassador - who each get “knighted” under a rose of their choice.  This is a big deal!

I don’t attend the parade, but I want to see the floats which are similar to the Rose Parade in Pasadena; another bucket list item for me.  They are covered w/ flowers and other living items and nothing artificial can be on the surface.

The floats are amazing!  Creative, artistic, whimsical are all words that describe them.  I wish there was a list of the natural ingredients, but you can see seeds, and pods, and moss, and bark, and dyed rice in addition to incredible floral displays.

It has been a busy and exhausting day, but definitely a beautiful one!

Let it Snow!

Rain is predicted today as I head over the Cascade mountains.  I’ve been blessed to have sunny skies every day so I can’t complain about a little rain now.  It looks like Virginia is being soaked.  Heat and now rain...the perfect time to be out of town!

Driving toward mountains always make me smile plus I am on another scenic highway - Mt. Hood Scenic Byway.  As I climb upward on Mount Hood, a 11,239 ft peak in the Cascade range, white flakes begin to hit the windshield.  By the time I turn off to visit Timberline Lodge which is still several miles further up the mountain, I debate whether to continue or abandon my adventure for one at a lower elevation.

I arrive to a parking lot covered in slushy snow and temps below freezing.  I pull on my boots while the white flakes become a furious icy snow mix.

I spend a couple of hrs admiring and learning about the architecture and history of the lodge.  Built in the mid-1930’s by people employed under FDR’s Work Progress Administration, designers and decorators wanted to incorporate natural elements of wood, stone, iron, and animal motifs throughout.  “Cascadian style” was used to describe a rustic Arts and Crafts style while incorporating pioneer and Native American themes true to Oregon history.

Recovering from the Great Depression, it was an era of thrift and recycling.  Telephone poles purchased for $2.10 each were carved into the shape of animals for staircase newel posts.  

My favorite was the post used for the mail box!  

Worn workers uniforms and blankets were cut and made into rugs, and spiral fireplace andirons had been railroad rails.

A massive fireplace anchors the two lower floors, and enormous pine columns support the main lobby roof which have been hand-adzed.

Furniture was over-sized and most is original to the Lodge.  The artwork is also original and coordinated with the themes of nature and Oregon.

Light fixtures are both decorative and functional.

Heading down the mountain the road is covered in white, and I don’t have the advantage of 4-wheel drive nor the bulk of The Beast.  I creep along, and I’m passed by The Mt. Hood Express bus!  The snow is beautiful, but I’m glad to reach non-frozen territory.

Next stop, Hood River, a town on the Columbia River known as a haven for wind and kite surfers.  I watch these acrobats for a while eating my sandwich before heading to Bonneville Lock and Dam.  This is the first of 8 locks on the Columbia River, and I arrive to watch a series of barges passing through!

I am fascinated by the technology which is ingenious but fairly simple of gates opening and closing to raise or lower the water level to accommodate vessels.  Just as the sawmill demonstrated, we think we are so smart in modern times, but people have been solving problems for years without the benefit of computers and technology.

I watch fish on the dam’s fish ladder and learn about solving dual problems - turbines killing fish and migrating fish traveling up-stream to spawn.  The near-by fish hatchery has areas for egg incubation and pools based on size of rainbow trout and sturgeon.  Wish I could throw a line in!  

The mascot is Herman, a 70 year old 10 foot monster sturgeon!

Driving on Historic Highway 30 Scenic Byway through the Columbia Gorge instead of the interstate, I stop at waterfalls - Horsetail...

...and Multnomah...

...where in 1995, a 400 ton boulder weighing as much as a school bus filled with concrete slid 225 ft off the rock face and landed in the upper pool  drenching a wedding party on the bridge.  Talk about bad timing!

And another waterfall!

It’s hard to resist these photo-ops, but they remind me of “another” bison in Yellowstone NP when Stephen complained after I stopped again, “Mom, they’re like squirrels; they’re everywhere!”

Final stop is Vista House at the top of this lovely drive where trees over-shadow and stone masonry line the roadways.  

The Columbia River valley spreads below and is lush and gorgeous.

I’ll spend 3 nights in Portland with a college friend’s  (Hi, Karen!) daughter and her family.  I am such a country mouse, and I have loved all my time in nature.  The next 8 nights will be in cities before I head into the Canadian Rockies.  

Lord, protect this little mouse!