Boise, Idaho

This is our final day here in Boise and we’ve had wonderful weather for our entire visit, bright and sunny with warm but not hot days and cool nights.  We’ve been told such weather can be expected to last until late October.

Boise has turned out to be a very pleasant surprise, with plenty of things to see and do around town.  It came as a bit of a shock to learn that the population is over 200,000 and, as home to Boise State University, is fairly typical of a bustling college town, especially on weekends when the football team plays at home.  Football is a Very Big Deal here and the locals are delirious that the BSU Broncos are ranked #3 in the nation.  There were a lot of banners flying yesterday when they hosted the Oregon State Beavers.

Our first foray into downtown Boise landed us at the Convention Center which signs indicated was home to the Visitors’ Center.  Due to budget constraints or political scrums, the Centers don’t exist anymore and we were on our own to collect information on what to see and do.  And that wasn’t difficult. We headed straight to Julia Davis Park which is home to Zoo Boise, the Idaho Historical Museum, a memorial rose garden (in full bloom) and  the Boise Art Museum (known as BAM).  The Historical Museum was especially good, the zoo and BAM not so much.

There was a temporary disappointment when we learned that  tours of the capitol building were by “reservation only” and needed to be made at least two weeks in advance.  But a call to the tour office requesting permission to tag along with another tour resulted in an invitation to latch on to a group touring at 1:00 on Thursday.  We had our fingers crossed that we would not be touring with a group of fourth graders.  Fortunately our wish was granted and we enjoyed our tour with the Red Hat Ladies from Nampa.  Just by chance I’d worn a red shirt and a red and purple necklace; Howie wore beige.  The capitol was very recently restored to its original appearance.  The tour guide assured us that no bodies were discovered behind false walls and ceilings but they did uncover this elegant elevator once used to transport the Supreme Court Justices from their chambers to the courtroom (it’s no longer functional).

We were aware that we’ve visited all four of the U.S. zoos that have panda exhibits but weren’t aware that we were about to visit the third and final territorial prison still open to the public.  From an aesthetic standpoint I’d have to say that Idaho is the most attractive – Deer Lodge (MT) is pretty grim and Yuma (AZ) is pretty barren and dusty – but Idaho has lawns and gardens.  Howie uncovered an interesting little factoid – the roses in the prison yard were part of a test garden operated in the ‘50s and ‘60s by Jackson & Perkins  and their famous Tropicana rose had been propagated there.  As a child, one of our big treats was to visit the Jackson & Perkins gardens in Newark, NY and so there was yet another link from one place to another.

Late one afternoon we made the drive up, up, up to Table Rock.  I was enjoying it enormously as long as we were passing McMansions on both sides of a paved road.  The trip became somewhat less fun when we ended up on a one-lane dirt road leading to an array of cell towers and ominous-looking antenna structures atop a barren hill.  Scary as it was for those of us with vertigo, it’s a great view of Boise and the Treasure Valley.

Yesterday we visited the World Center for Birds of Prey.  Established primarily as a breeding facility to save the endangered peregrine falcon, it is now home to a variety of species in need of protection.  They are currently working to restore the California condor to the Grand Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs area of Arizona.  One of the breeding age males had been released in the Grand Canyon but he was a little too dim-witted to survive in the wild so they recaptured him and brought him back.  I had to bite my tongue to keep from pointing out that if he’s not smart enough to avoid sleeping on the ground in coyote country, he probably shouldn’t have been thrown into the gene pool.  They are also working to re-establish the aplomado falcon in the wild; it is the only falcon remaining on the endangered species list and is considerably better looking than the condor.

The Center also boasts a handsome building housing the Archives of Falconry; most of the funds for the structure and artifacts were donated by an oil-rich sheikh from Abu Dabbi.    One of the more interesting displays was a case containing falcon hoods, little works of art in leather and feathers.  Just what the well-dressed bird of prey would wear while out preying.

Having worked up a good appetite viewing birds of prey, we descended the hill and headed for Costco for an afternoon of grazing at the sample tables.  Somehow I can’t quite believe that those little cheese-flavored crackers are actually heart-healthy!

And tomorrow it’s time to saddle up and head over hill and dale to Winnemucca, Nevada.  Stay tuned for all the exciting news that’s likely to generate. 

Baker City, Oregon

This is our final day in Baker City and so a good time to update this blog. Our stay at Copalis Beach was long and damp; the only really nice day was the last one and that was the day devoted to housework and laundry so we’d be fresh to hit the road to Baker City.

This photo of a gull more or less summarizes our week in Copalis Beach – a total lack of color. However, we did make a couple of trips in to Ocean Shores where they were having an arts and crafts sale billed as the largest in western Washington. It was a dandy, with many fine items for sale at reasonable prices. I was especially impressed with some of the beadwork. We purchased a small Christmas ornament decorated with rosemaling, a style of Norwegian decorative painting.

The trip from Copalis Beach to Troutdale was damp and overcast most of the way but as soon as we reached Troutdale, the skies cleared and our moods improved considerably. We only spent one night in Troutdale and then headed east on I-84 to Baker City, a somewhat longer trip than we usually make. It had been our intention to break it up with an over-night stop about midway but there weren’t any campsites available thanks to the 100th anniversary of the Pendleton Roundup. I-84, as you may know, runs through the Columbia River Gorge and it was here that we had our first glimpse of bighorn sheep in the wild. It’s known as the “I-84 herd” and attempts are being made to relocate them. As you might expect, they’re a hazard because some folks are dumb enough to slam on the brakes and stop to gawk at them – not a totally smart move on an Interstate with a lot of truck traffic and a 65 mph speed limit. If you want to read more about the herd, check out http://www.biggamehunt.net/news/oregon-relocates-bighorn-sheep

Baker City has been a very pleasant surprise. We weren’t at all sure what to expect when some friends suggested we stop here. There’s been a lot of work done to restore the downtown area. Handsome buildings from the 1880’s now feature interesting shops and restaurants. The Gieser Grand Hotel, built in 1889 and closed for thirty years, has been restored and is now open for business as an elegant “boutique hotel”.

Right outside Baker City is the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, operated by the Bureau of Land Management. The buildings are institutional looking from the outside but there are some fine dioramas and displays inside, all proudly shown off by very enthusiastic “interpreters” in period costume. It’s mind-boggling to think of the pioneers heading off into the great unknown with no AAA to call when their oxen broke down and no GPS to guide them across hill and dale. And we think we’ve got it tough because our GPS doesn’t know his left from his right!

It’s an easy drive along the Powder River to the “ghost town” of Sumpter in the foothills of the Elkhorn Mountains. The hills closest to Baker City are bare but as the elevation increases they are covered with pine trees. We took a self-guided tour of the Sumpter Valley Dredge, a mechanical monster which dredged for gold in the area until 1954, leaving behind miles and miles of tailings.

Apparently the website quoted in the last post failed to reveal the juicy saga of Francis Mawson Rattenbury, architect of the Victoria, BC Parliament Buildings. The story goes that he “borrowed” his uncle’s credentials as an architect in order to land the job of designing the Parliament Buildings, became very successful, got married to Florrie Nunn, met and fell in love with one Alma Parkenham, got divorced from Florrie and moved to England with Alma. Then Alma got involved with their gardener, the gardener got jealous of ol’ Francis and bonked him on the head with a croquet mallet. Francis died, the gardener drew a life sentence and Alma killed herself. Which only goes to prove that Victorian England wasn’t quite as Victorian as we’d like to believe.

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From Copalis Beach, Washington

The skies are gray, the ocean is gray and there’s a definite nip in the air so this seems like a good time to begin blogging.  The blog was established over two years ago when Howie attended a Geeks on Tour seminar at an FMCA rally but “establishing” and “writing” are two different critters.  Last month I attended the same seminar in Redmond and vowed to get the blog up and running. 

We are currently parked a few hundred yards from the ocean.  It might even be said that we have an ocean view from our dining room window…if we stand on tip-toe and crane our necks.  It was somewhat easier before the big 5th wheel moved in next to us yesterday.

It’s difficult to decide where to pick up the saga of our travels.  Going too far back is silly, mostly because dates and places tend to get muddled in our brains.  Thank heavens for daily journals and dated photographs….at least we can piece together events if we need to.  So let’s start the saga in Prineville, Oregon in mid-August after we wrapped up the FMCA rally in Redmond and chapter rallies in Canyonville and Prineville. 

Our friend Betty is a resident of Prineville and she graciously took charge of showing us the sights in central Oregon.  One day she drove us up into the Cascades, through the tourist trap known as Sisters and along the Mackenzie River.  We hit most of the shops in Sisters but managed to keep control of our charge cards.  Because there’s only one road in and out of town, the traffic is dense.  My heart went out to those poor souls on the few side roads who wanted to merge onto the main drag…they may still be sitting there waiting for a break in traffic.

Later in the week the Parrs drove up from Sprague River to join our merry little group.  The five of us made a day trip to see The Painted Hills which are part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.  The hills really do look painted as you can see from this photo.

Unfortunately our trip to Smith Rocks State Park got cut a little short when we had to hurry back to Prineville so a new driver’s side window could be installed in the coach.  We’ve only been trying to make that happen for two years and we were eager to get it over and done with.  But admiring Smith Rocks from a distance is about all a chronologically challenged person can do anyhow.  We are all long past the time when repelling down sheer rock cliffs is how we spend our leisure hours.  You have to admit this is pretty spectacular scenery.  That’s Mt. Hood in the background in case you’re wondering.

It was great to spend time with Betty and the Parrs but eventually it was time to move on.  We moseyed on up the road and spent a week in Elma, Washington from whence we explored Olympia, primarily with a visit to the state capitol campus.  The Legislative Building dominates the campus and is what most folks would picture if called upon to define a capitol.  It’s the one with the dome.  We always appreciate having a tour guide for such tours because they inevitably have juicy little stories to tell about the history of the area.

Like so many other cities and towns in the Pacific Northwest, Olympia has a very fine farmers’ market.  Prices are generally quite high but there’s always some unique fruit or vegetable to be had.  In this case, we purchased some donut nectarines which were very tasty and much neater to eat than the regular round ones.  But we still prefer the white donut peaches!

From Elma we drove northeast up U.S. 101 on one of the few rainy days we’ve experienced lately.  It was not a comfortable ride for me because the road runs along the shores of the Hood Canal and you all know how I feel about water in large quantities.  But we eventually found ourselves in Sequim and settled in for a week’s stay.  A sign outside the office touted a bus/ferry tour to Vancouver Island and we signed up almost immediately.  There are some days when you just guess correctly…we picked the perfect day for the trip although it was hard to tell that when the bus picked us up at 6:50 in the morning.  That’s the first time Howie’s seen 6:50 a.m. since our last ferry trip to Canada back in the olden days when the Fast Ferry was still running between Rochester and Toronto.

The bus was pulled onto the ferry facing a semi which was jack-knifed into his parking spot in the bow of the boat.  Watching him extricate himself upon arrival was a miracle in driving expertise.  With only inches to maneuver at either end of the rig, he managed to get it jockeyed around enough to exit without so much as a scrape.  That was a really good thing because nobody else could get out until he did.

Our first stop in Victoria was at Butchart Gardens, a mecca for any flower fanatic.  Usually we end up visiting big-name gardens when nothing much is in bloom but this time we caught Butchart when just about everything was at peak,  except for the blue poppies which are the garden’s signature flower and which bloom in May.  The old saw about lemons and lemonade came to mind when we first saw the Sunken Garden…give a gardener a big hole in the  ground and she’ll devise a Sunken Garden.  It’s a truly spectacular sight and there are numerous vantage points to enjoy different perspectives.

After tiring our tootsies with two laps around the gardens, we reboarded the bus (we were the only passengers so it was a very private tour) and were taken on a ride to some of the fancier neighborhoods of Victoria then dropped off downtown so we could scout around and have dinner before heading back to the ferry.  The Parliament Buildings were sitting right there across from the dock and so we availed ourselves of a guided tour.  And, sure enough, one of those juicy stories from “the olden days” became the highlight of the tour.  The architect, Francis Mawson Rattenbury (1867-1935) was quite the cad and met a violent end with a croquet mallet upside his head.  You can probably read all about it at www.leg.bc.ca

While in Sequim, we also made a foray into Olympia National Park with a stop at Hurricane Ridge for an overview of the Olympic Mountains to the south and the Straits of Juan de Fuca to the north.  It was a little odd to be able to “see over” the cloud covering Port Angeles to the Straits and on to Vancouver Island. There were black-tail deer wandering around the parking lot, plenty of tourists but thankfully no bears.  We also stopped at Lake Crescent, a beautiful glacial body of water, for a ranger-led hike to Marymere Falls.  While not technically a rain forest, it could have fooled me!  There’s lots of ferns and moss and very large trees making a dense canopy of shade.  And moss.  Did I mention the moss?  It covers everything.