Another Whole Day in Oregon?

I went to high school with a girl who was born in Oregon, and she never stopped talking about how great it was and how she wanted to move back. She pronounced it in two syllables - ORE-gun. Recently on Facebook, I saw that she had fulfilled her dream. I had expected trees and lots of them; forests as far as the eye could see. The desert areas were a surprise. Knowing we would be traveling through 130 miles of desert the morning of Day 10 didn't give me the warm and fuzzies, but at least the temperature had only reached 57 degrees by 8:00 am, not anything like a heatwave. If we broke down and had to wait for hours in the car, we wouldn't feel like oven stuffer roasters.


We made it through the desert, survived the outhouse along 395, and when we saw Lake Abert we were revitalized. It was gigantic, very shallow at the shoreline, and was covered with thousands (or at least hundreds) or birds. Surrounding the lake were boulders and orange-stained rocks. This was a really bright orange and looked like paint. Who knows what kind of geological excitement had caused these extraordinary sights. We certainly didn't, but we knew we didn't have rocks like these at home. When we saw a man taking water samples from the lake, we decided we didn't want to linger.
Our dance card highlight #1 for the day was Old Perpetual Geyser in Lakeview. Bonnie and I had read that this was Oregon's only continuously spouting geyser, shooting a plume of 200 degree water over 60 feet into the air every 90 seconds. We could take a break and sit in the relaxing waters from the geyser. It was located at Hunter's Hot Springs. Sign us up! We like to relax! With the help of Susie and Lucy, we found Hunter's Hot Springs. Unfortunately, Old Perpetual was nowhere to be found. No matter, we still had the Oregon Vortex to experience.


Meanwhile, we sat in some serious traffic along 140W. Eventually the pilot car came to lead us away, and we saw that the delay was caused by a street sweeper. Okay! Maybe the streets were really messy. Couldn't have been from those beautiful Oregon pine trees, of which we still had not had a glimpse. We did reach a National Forest at last, and the broken off branches of the pine trees had bright green moss on the ends of them, looking as if they had been dipped into green paint. They were quite interesting and pretty, although difficult to photograph, as are all woods, lovely dark and deep. We saw trees that we called mini-sequoias which whetted our appetite for the Redwoods we would be seeing once we reached California.


Lunch time came none too soon, and we had decided to try Schlozsky's Deli, a national chain that we liked the sound of but had never tried. With Susie's guidance, despite being told we had reached our destination, we never found Schlotzsky's. No liverwurst, no pastrami, no corned beef for us today. We settled for roast beef at Arby's, and told ourselves that we would find another Schlotzsky's another time, another place.


Our after lunch drive was followed closely by a big snow-covered mountain, and not having our PCs with us, we had to improvise, and called it Mt. Shasta. We still do not know what the true name is. The county mascot, per a sign, is the white pelican, with 10' wing spans. We looked eagerly at the lakes but were unable to spot any white pelicans. Perhaps they were out looking for Schlotzsky's Deli. We passed an emu farm in Brownsborough and saw genuine emus.


We decided to give the Oregon Vortex, highlight #2, a miss. It was once considered a sacred place by Native Americans, whose horses refused to walk there, and that was enough to convince us we didn't want to go there either. Plus cameras were not allowed.


We reached the Comfort Inn, Grants Pass, OR, around suppertime. After dropping our luggage, minus the laundry bags, which were threatening to take over the trunk, we headed out to a local laundromat. It lacked the ambiance of the Buffalo, WY, laundromat, and there were no car or pet washes in sight. We spent an hour, and came away with the knowledge that if one is wearing a muumuu, one should make sure it is adequate for the task. Clyde and Donald have images of Eileen in her muumuu burned on their retinas for evermore.


We made a quick stop for gas which was pumped by an attendant, something we had not yet encountered on this trip. It is the law in Oregon, providing thousands of jobs. Then we were off to supper at Buffalo Bill's Train Depot, or The Depot, as the locals call it. The ambiance was better than the food, but the ambiance was enjoyable. On the drive back to the hotel, we saw a plethora of classic cars cruising the streets. It was Friday night, after all. We, however, had bigger fish to fry - tomorrow - so we were off to bed early. As usual. Still sunny outside, still kids, more large than small, playing outside.


Tomorrow, California, here we come!