Half Day Off Work

 Canbyland enjoyed a third installment in our stormy winter today.

It's very unusual for the Willamette Valley to get three snow storms in a row. Typically, we will get  a (single) serious ice storm every ten years or so. In between, we get mild winters, or gray, rainy winters, or one inch of snow which causes the nation to poke fun at us Oregonians as life comes to a complete standstill.

Over in Central Oregon, they are digging out from five feet of snow - also somewhat unusual.

In any case, I drove 20mph to my job this morning in the snowy ice only to have most of the package deliveries cancelled. Taking my chance, I asked if I could go home and if, (IF???) I had to come back for the afternoon. I usually work a 12 hr split shift with an hour or two (or three) for lunch in the middle. I am so tired of these continuous 12 hr days. And they have been seven days/week for what seems months.

Once home, I put away my 1000 airplane ornaments and the rest of Christmas.
And then I got the phone call - to stay home. There might have been a praise god in there.

I have plans to clean my house this afternoon after another episode of Downton Abbey that I am binge-watching on Amazon Video.

 My friend in Finland surprised me with some Moomin cups and bowls. Probably because I served her coffee in my other Moomin coffee cups....when she visited back in September.

Plus some Marimekko fabric to play with. Today I decided what I would make her with some of these beauties. I'm not ready to turn my sewing machine back on yet but I do have next week off work to do some family interventions with my little sis from Minnesota.

We'll have to see if I can carve out some time.

When I am doing continuous overtime, I sometimes buy myself a gift. The last time was my Pfaff sewing machine. This time? A 2hp Vitamix blender.

Boy howdy, can this machine pulverize celery, apples, zucchini, bok choi and other fun, healthy vegetables. And the clean-up is so much faster than my old way of making green juice.



***Why is Oregon the laughingstock of the nation during snow?


Because one inch of snow creates *ice* as we don't usually get below freezing. We have mountains, curves, and very few straight roads. We cancel school, work (Except for where I work), and all other activities.

The black ice hides under the snow dusting and creates havoc for drivers. Because we don't get much snow and fall under freezing temps often, Oregon doesn't really have snow plows, or other snow removal tools. We might have leaf blowers but few snow blowers.

Oregon is also raised green so we can't salt our roads like other states do. Salt kills vegetation and poisons our rivers.

After our last big ice storm nine years ago, Canbyland bought a plow attachment that can fit on a big dump truck. It was quite controversial at the time as we didn't need it for another nine years.

Generally though, most communities are ill-prepared for snow and ice and so we just cancel activities instead. Who doesn't need a snow day as an adult?

****Do I really have 1000 airplane ornaments? Ahem, I haven't ever counted them, but my kids will say I might have a few too many. My collection will be worth millions someday or I might be buried with them...

Parkinsons And Touring The Oregon Coast; Part Four

Toby

 Maria's last minute wish before she arrived was to ride horses.

A little panic as we don't ride, we don't hang out with horse people and it's the end of the season for dry sunny days, But I found a place that provides trail rides on the beach. A two for one deal: The glorious Oregon coast and a trail ride.

Except the weather was due to change. I have never spent as much time looking at weather as when my guests were here. Surprisingly, but typical of our September weather here in Oregon, it was sunny their entire time. But a storm was forecast and the horse ride could only be done on Thursday or Friday. I wasn't sure I could deliver.

 Recently, my family visited Pacific City and the trail ride was here as well, so we parked Asko, at the local Pelican Brewery - right on the beach!
Asko could care less about riding, but Maria had taken lessons for 12 years. English saddle riding lessons. We are not that sophisticated (lol), so Western would have to do.

On the trail rides I've gone on before with my kids, it's nose to the tail in front of you. And you plod along the trail, safely. This was quite different for me. My horse, Charlie, likes being on the ocean side of things. And he plods, but not right up against the butt of the horse in front. Maria was not so lucky -- her horse, Toby, was apparently behaving for once and tucked himself right behind the leader horse. Nothing she could do would separate that bond.

Good for me, as I am a  "I don't want to fall off" rider. Not so good for Maria.

Pelican Brewery

 This is what we parked Asko in front of. A $7 sampler of ales and some fish and chips.

After our ride, Maria and I had a late lunch. I had just a house salad as my tummy was saying no to the other lovely things on the Pelican Pub menu. They added craisins marinated in one of their cream ales. I'm in heaven. So I bought a bottle to experiment with. It's sitting in the fridge right now with a "Don't drink my ale" note for when I get to the store next to buy the craisins.

Lincoln City

 Driving south from Pacific City, we stopped in various waysides to take in spectacular views.  Yes, the weather was changing but not until we were finished sightseeing.

This viewpoint is just south of Lincoln City. That long spit of land in the background is a lovely long, flat beach (No tidepools), and Mo's restaurant sits at the end with a lovely view back towards us in this photo. The inner area, when the tide is out is awesome for clam digging.

Mo's is a tradition, serving good clam chowder among other seafood.

 Depoe Bay.

All my life, we've gone here. The kids have gone here with their bands for Memorial Day remembrance ceremonies. This is the smallest deep water harbor. No sandy beaches here. Just a tiny town also know for their salt water taffy.

And I've never seen whales here until this day. The whales came just for my guests.
They were playing quite close to shore (rocks). And looking right, you could see big, fat, seals sunning themselves on rock islands.  This is when I realize I need a better camera. My iphone just shows rocks and ocean waters.

Good thing a nice volunteer had big binoculars he didn't mind passing around. Seriously awesome.

 We continued on to the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse.

$7 gets an Oregonian frustrated. It used to be free to go up and walk around. The lighthouse is closed these many years. But it's out on a spit of land that has tidepools to play in. Instead, you pay your day use fee and then they placed cones in the road to make you turn right, before even seeing the lighthouse, to their brand new interpretive center.

I felt slightly illegal, going around those cones and dissing their brand new interpretive tourist stuff. I'm sure it's all wonderful inside, but we were here for the lighthouse.
(I'm striking this beautiful spot off my visitor showcase list.)

One thing to note in Oregon -- all beaches are public access forever.  We enjoy beautiful scenery and feel strongly it should not be closed off for a select few. I will say - it's not the $7 day use fee - it was the cones placed in the middle of road forcing me to go somewhere I didn't want to go.

 Some stairs (two flight length) to a nice viewing platform, also a wheel chair ramp.
 It's a bit of a walk down to the tidepools.

About as close as I could zoom with my phone. You can make out the specs of humans playing in the tide pools to see what they could see and touch. Sea Anemones and Starfish are the usual.

 Over towards the right, we saw more seals basking in the sun.

 We had planned to drive from Newport back to Corvallis and meet up with my son for dinner but after waiting on Hwy 20 for over 20 minutes of not moving, we turned around and came home via Lincoln City. We ate dinner at Mo's which is one of those iconic, traditional things we Oregonians do when coming to the beach.

A very long day of driving, but I managed to deliver on the horseback ride.

They also had the next morning free prior to  leaving, so I took them out to another favorite restaurant, the Donald Cafe. On the way, I thought to show them where we flew in the balloon and landed. As we came through Hubbard, the car lurched to the right. We had stumbled on the St. Agnes church rummage sale.

Their annual rummage sale.

I always find stuff here. So, we derailed, much to Maria's delight and mine. I found her a nylon USA flag and she found two small pinback pins of the US flag. Perfect ending to their trip that started nearly a month before in Chicago, driving Route 66 on motorcycles to Los Angeles, and finishing up in Oregon.

A Tourist With Parkinsons In Oregon; Part Three

To properly see Oregon, you must go on a balloon ride. At 6:30 in the morning.

One of my guests has Parkinson's Disease. When visitors come, we usually take them around to see the sights which involves a lot of walking, something my friend, Asko, doesn't do well. Trying to think of new touristy ideas, my husband suggested a balloon ride.

 Late September is definitely almost the end of the season for balloons (until springtime).
Portland Rose Balloons operates out of Aurora Airport. Local to me.

That's the basket. It can hold more than 12 people, which we had. I've been on two other balloon rides with the more usual smaller basket which holds 4 -5 people.

The pilot had two of the three grammas lie down when the balloon was near  round, and scoot into the basket. He also had my friends do the same on the other side. This is for two reasons. One - very accessible for older people. As the balloon continues filling and coming upright, those people also come upright without having to clambor over the sides of the basket. Two  - now you have some weight in the basket so it won't float away ( UP!)

Yes, you heard me right, three old grammas. That makes this super accessible for any person. I'll tell you - those grammas were calling people (all the bars are in the sky), texting, talking. They were more connected than me.

Our pilot and our three grammas.

Hazelnut/Filbert trees in the background. These are newly planted filbert trees in the foreground.

Big or Little Pumpkins

Our balloon ride took just over an hour and five miles as the crow flies.
Slow and beautiful.


How can you top that morning?
You  go on a lunch cruise on the Portland Spirit up the Willamette River.

City of Portland

We each selected different items for the limited menu ( five entrees to pick from). Mine was fresh steelhead.  Everyone agreed their meal was delicious.

Once you board in downtown Portland on the waterfront, they immediately seat you. When the boat gets underway, lunch is served.
The cruise is about two hours in length.

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 As far as accessibility, this is a very steep ramp (september --when river levels are low). There is help available if need be.

Parking is best as a drop off for the passengers and then the driver can park about two blocks away. There is a short, flat, walk to the waterfront of maybe 300 yards and then this steep ramp down to the boat.

Once on the boat, you would only need to use the stairs if you want to go up on deck.  Banks of windows are on each dining deck  (two) and if you have accessibility issues, then reservations will seat you on the first deck closest to the water.


So, other than the steep ramp, this cruise is very accessible.

The new, old, Sellwood Bridge

 After lunch, I immediately pop up to the top deck --which is just for viewing. I love being on a boat. However, I rarely get to do so in our Portland. We used to have a little fishing boat but we would put it in south of Milwaukie.

The lunch cruise of the Portland Spirit cruises from Portland down to Milwaukie. If you went further, you'd hit Oregon City and then pass through the locks (which are currently closed because of maintenance) and hit Canby where we live.

We have used the Columbia and Willamette rivers to find our way home when clouds unexpectedly closed in when we were flying home from an airshow years ago. These  rivers are a big help for navigating the wide open skies. Even when cloudy, there will be breaks in the clouds above the river.

Waverly Golf Course. 2nd oldest golf course west of the Mississippi.

There are some homes that defy tiny houses.

 You were so focused on that Mediterranean humongous house, you might not have seen the floatplane docked there.

Floating homes. It used to be you did not have to pay Oregon property tax on these homes as they were floating. That tax loophole has since been closed up.

Coming back up river.

This is our brand new pedestrian bridge crossing the Willamette river. It's only for pedestrians, bicyclists, and trams. No cars allowed.

It finishes up on the left at the new OSU/OHSU medical building where my son was one of the first students.

 

 The Willamette, as well as the Columbia, serves a lot of big ships. Dredging has to be done to keep the channels deep enough for ocean going ships.  Most of the ocean going vessels stop just north of Portland. South of Portland is for the smaller boats.

During June, many military ships dock right on the Waterfront during our Rose Festival.

Directly ahead on the east side of the river is our acclaimed O.M.S.I. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. There is even a submarine to climb aboard.

Maria and Asko really enjoyed this day.

Having friend s visit allows you to see your home in a new light. Because of Asko's Parkinsons, we stretched our tourist thoughts and saw some Oregon highlights we might not have seen otherwise.

Asko's problems with walking is the eye/brain connections. If he can see a line to follow - a rug, a flooring line, a sidewalk line, he can walk quite normally. Otherwise, he has to shuffle. Which makes long walks out of the question. 

He can and did ride my bike up and down my street. He rides motorcycles quite well. However, he knows as his Parkinson's progresses and trike motorcycle will give him more stability.

Being A Tourist In Portland with Parkinsons; Part Two

Swan Island Dahlias

 Yesterday, we visited Multnomah Falls. On the way home, we stopped at the BIG Harley Davidson place in Gladstone.
Asko has been looking at Trikes as his condition deteriorates.

It was Monday so  we scored a very knowledgeable salesperson who was able to talk to foreigners without stupidity. Some trikes  - don't know the exact lingo - come with the two back wheels on the same suspension, others are separate. Harleys' come together so your ride might be more bumpy.  Who knew?

Also, you cannot import new motorcycles into Canada or the EU. However, you can sell to California, if the bike is used with at least 7500 miles on it to qualify for stricter CA emission requirements.

I explained that here in the US, Harley's have more status. But in Finland, everyone wants a Honda.

I also took them to Tony's Fish Market in Oregon City for some smoked and fresh salmon. Nums.

On the way home, we stopped at the Oregon City Overlook that looks down on the Oregon City Falls, the abandoned Blue Heron paper plant, the power plant,  and the locks. This is just off the highway (99E) and very little walking.

The next day, Tuesday, we drove over to the big Honda Dealership near Washington Square.
Less helpful, less merchandise.

Both Maria and Asko had all sorts of sweatshirts and tshirts with Honda Gullwing or Shadow on them - that they bought in Finland. This store, as big as it was, barely had a red Honda tshirt. Nothing about the different models. Quite disappointing.

Then we drove south to see my parents who wanted to meet Maria for the first time after all these years. There's a Mexican restaurant in Sherwood that I like. They had the enchilada special and Margaritas. A strawberry and a banana margarita. Happy tourists.

I had the carne asada and no margarita = happy driver.

Since walking long distance was out,  I couldn't show them our wonderful museums. So, I did the next best thing - Cabelas. 

This is so quintessentially Western US Outdoor. The center aisle contains all the animals we might encounter in the Western states - all safely taxidermed for our safety.

Some easy walking down a store aisle. This is all wheelchair accessible.

  We stopped at Old Navy  and found a woman's Timber's tank top. So tired of men's tshirts choking me at the neck.   I also found a nice v-neck woman's Oregon State Beaver's shirt.
Asko sat in the car - remember, he doesn't like shopping.

We drove back to canby via the Canby Ferry to make a short visit to the dahlia fields.

The ferry ride is short enough not to get out of the car. Asko grew up with a ferry quite similar to this one running on an underwater cable.

Photo credit belongs to our pharmacist in town at Parson's Canby Pharmacy.

The dahlia fields were still going strong and while there isn't a paved asphalt pathway through the fields, many of the flowers are quite near the road in several places allowing Asko to see them up close. Maria's dad used to raise these in Finland for his market stalls.

This day was made up of various small errands that involved a lot of car time with very little walking time.

Tomorrow's installment was another sunny day of awesomeness.

part one is here.