Central Oregon -- Photos and Stories, Part Two

The fried ravioli we had at the Eagle Crest Resort cafe was a delicious small surprise.

Our Big Surprise

The last post highlighted the first days of our trip to Central Oregon. This post details some of the rest of the trip, including our biggest surprise. As we were getting close to Mitchell from Redmond and bemoaning the fact that the better photo opportunities were further on (where we weren’t going), we saw a sign which read, “Painted Hills 6 Miles,” pointing to the northwest off Hwy 126. 

Coming into the Painted Hills from Hwy 126.

I thought the Painted Hills were much closer to John Day and thus beyond this day’s drive. So, now I had my missing photo op.

The Painted Hills are the western most unit of the three part John Day Fossil Bed National Monument—Painted Hills, Sheep Rock, and Clamo units. Nine miles northwest of Mitchell, the hills are considered one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon,

along with Crater Lake, Smith Rock, the Columbia River Gorge, the Oregon Coast, the Wallowa mountains, and Mt Hood. The Painted Hills are definitely a geological wonder known for the colorful layered hills. 

The colors developed in the hills as early as 35 million years ago. The colors we see today correspond to both geological eras and chemical composition. The red represents a warm and humid climate and the predominance of iron in the soil. The yellow, in contrast, comes from a drier period and the presence of the building blocks of aluminum. Darker or black veins are from vegetative matter, while the gray is from sandstone or shale. The colors will change in intensity with the amount and intensity of light—the hills can look very different morning to night. I think the colors are better for photos in the muted light of cloudy weather, but I’d never pass up a sunny day in the hills.

This circular opening in the sandstone hill shows the layers beneath. Kind of freaky looking, almost like an alien eyeball peeking out of the hill.

The Painted Hills Unit has several different viewing areas. On this visit I photographed from the main vista point (and partially up the viewing trail) and from the short Painted Cove trail. 

The Painted Cove quarter mile trail is part boardwalk and part gravel. 

This is the view from the top of Painted Cove trail.

There are numerous trails in the unit, and you are strongly requested to stay only on official roads or maintained trails to protect the Hills from unnecessary erosion.

Being able to photograph the Painted Hills with almost no one else around was a grand surprise.

The view from the small visitor center parking area.

An Interesting Museum Visit

Just out of Bend, Oregon, about a half hour drive from our digs in Redmond, is the High Desert Museum. 

The museum was very Cove aware and responsible--masks in all areas, reserved seating in the Bird of Prey demonstration area.

Opened in 1982, funded by members, donors, visitors, and grants, the museum is affiliated with the Smithsonian Foundation. Open all year, the High Desert Museum presents the high desert landscape (flora and fauna) and its relationship to the people through both permanent and changing exhibits. 

There were snakes also, but Anne didn't want any pictures of those.

We were impressed with exhibits relating to indigenous peoples—my background includes a bit of Apache. And, although I’m not a fan of zoos, I enjoyed the presentations of native species—mostly creepy crawling things. 

Shy bald eagle.

Menacing golden eagle.

She could be at Hogwarts.

Outside the main building is a well done display of rescued birds of prey and inside was a fine flying exhibition of a small falcon. We could have spent much more than the two hours we did, but my legs sort of said, “Enough.” 

The High Desert Museum is well worth whatever time you can spend. More information is available at www.highdesertmusem.org.

Story of the New Ride

I know I mentioned a new car in the previous post, but this is the story of that new car. We sold our hot 2007 VW Fahrenheit GTI (#914 of 1200 made) to get a truck to pull our mini trailer. Then we bought a 2017 Ford F150 with very low mileage. The truck was fun to drive and great for pulling the trailer. We found, though, that we really weren’t cut out for the trailer life—our camping out is in a five star Worldmark timeshare resort. So we sold the trailer and kept the truck. During the early part of Covid times the truck mostly sat. When we did take it to the coast on a rare several day trip we had trouble parking and getting around where we wanted to go. That trip convinced us we didn’t really need a truck either. Since used trucks were in high demand, it seemed a good time to trade it in on something more useful. Thus, the new ride.

A Subaru Forester fit the bill for what we wanted. Wilsonville Subaru had one Forester Sport in the color I wanted and with a lot of extras I didn’t know I wanted. The car comes with standard Forester equipment including AWD, but it was also set up for off-road—raised suspension, larger aggressive tires, skid panels underneath, and more. I fell in love with the car immediately and Anne liked it well enough to indulge me.

On this trip the Forester handled the highway driving and the mountain roads just fine. It carried all our gear and had room for more. It’s comfortable to drive and is set up to handle winter conditions—besides AWD it has two other traction settings, called X-modes for dirt, mud, and snow. On the trip we got several appreciative comments and lots of looks. The Forester (named Lewis) is far more of a “rig” than we need, but like my beloved 2007 GTI, it’s just plain fun to drive. 

Fall colors at the High Desert Museum.

Next: Victoria, BC???

  

  

Victoria to Begin the Holidays

Victoria Parliament Building Decked Out for the Holidays

Holiday Harbour Lights

For the past three years we’ve gone to Victoria, BC, around the beginning of December as a way of celebrating our anniversary (Nov. 23) and getting a good start on the Christmas season. This year we added visiting with our good friends, Nick and Kathryn Delany, 

Kathryn and Anne in a small gallery in Sidney with Kathryn's art on the wall.

who have recently moved to a beautiful home in a development at Brentwood Bay near Butchart Gardens. 

View from the Delany's front window.

This year’s plan was to stay two nights with the Delanys after taking an early ferry from Port Angeles, then moving to our timeshare at Worldmark Victoria on the harbour and near town. 

Worldmark Victoria

The view of Fisherman's Wharf from our Worldmark balcony.

The Delanys, both outstanding photographers, planned a day of photo touring around their area as well as some outstanding meal, including rack of lamb for an American Thanksgiving in Canada. When in Victoria we planned some touring, some dining at our favorite spots, and lots of shopping.

Rather than a chronological narrative for this post, I thought I’d present the trip in topical fashion: food, photo touring, shopping, and…

We’re Lucky We Didn’t Gain a Bunch

We always eat well on our trips and this trip was no exception. Good meals started in Port Angeles our first night of the trip. We decided to try something different and we’d seen good reviews for Coyote BBQ Pub near the ferry terminal.

The restaurant is owned by the same people as Kokopelli Cafe, always a top rated restaurant in Port Angeles. Coyote BBQ was more cafe-style than a pub but the brisket sandwich was wonderful with a nice choice of house-made BBQ sauces. Our trip was off to a good beginning. I’ve mentioned the great meals we had at the Delanys, but they also took us to a fun find for lunch. Between photo stops we lunched at the Italian Kitchen at Grove Hall Farm in Duncan. Besides a specialty Italian market, the Kitchen serves delicious pizza and other Italian delights.  Another market to mention is in James Bay (one of the “neighborhoods” of Victoria). James Bay Thrifty is an upscale neighborhood grocery always crowded with locals and tourists (especially timeshare holidayers). Its butcher shop is superior—we stock up on the double-smoked bacon so we can bring a few pounds home—

Anne shopping for produce at James Bay Thrifty.

and the bakery and produce sections are both top notch. Even with the great food from Thrifty we still went out to the Beagle Pub in the Cook Street neighborhood. We've been to the Beagle several times before and know it has an interesting menu and serves good portions—it was a bonus that we could gets halves of cider instead of drinks too big for us weaklings.

We mostly ate bacon and sausage from Thrifty for breakfast, but we did go out once. Jam Cafe near Victoria’s Chinatown is a cafe not to miss. Funky atmosphere, good service, and a wild menu make this spot uber popular—check out the menu at www.jamcafes.com. 

Funky JAM Cafe

One last lunch needs to be mentioned. We met Nick and Katheryn again in our stay for a trip to Afternoon Tea at White Heather Tearoom in the Oak Bay Area.  The tearoom is quaint and nicely decorated with tea pots and cups. The Christmas Wee Bite is quite a spread. First, we needed to select our tea from about 25 choices—I had Mountain Berry. Next we had a three tiered (course) lunch brought to the table—scones, sandwiches, sweets. 

Afternoon Tea at White Heather Tearoom

The egg salad sandwiches on the second tier we the best, although everything was good.

It was more than any of us could eat, so much of the sweets tray was sent home with us.  At White Heather the Tea wasn’t as fancy a lunch as we’ve had at The Empress Hotel in downtown, but the food was as good, as plentiful, and half the price. We’ve been three times and they remembered us. Check them out at www.whiteheather-tearoom.com.

A Photo Tour of Victoria

Nick and Kathryn took us to two special photo stops in their area of the island. First, we drove to Goldstream Provincial Park—a large park on the west side of the island (16 km from downtown) with hiking trails, waterfalls, trees (mostly fir and red cedar), birds, and fish. The stream has a noted annual salmon run which attracts gulls and eagles which attract crowds of tourists. We were about a week late to see the eagles dining on the salmon, 

but it was both fascinating and gruesome to watch the gulls attack the dead fish. Along one of the trails and again near the entrance of the park we did get views of eagles in the trees,

but sadly no closeups.

About 40 km from Goldstream Park we did get up close and personal with mighty birds at The Raptors in Duncan. This is a sanctuary raising raptors in captivity and caring for the recovery of injured birds. 

Raptors such as bald eagles, hawks, falcons, vultures, and owls are available for viewing on perches and in cages. Daily at 1:30 there is a flying demonstration designed both as informative and a photo op. 

The eagle has landed...on her arm.

Nick, Kathryn and I (as well as a couple of other photographers) had a great time trying  to photograph the beautiful birds in flight with our big lenses, while other audience had Bald Eagles, Harris Hawks, Great Horned Owls, Black Vultures, and Blue Falcons flying right over their heads. 

The staff control the flight of the birds most of the time—the owl went off script when it saw a bunny run from one bush to another. The owl went for the extra meal and the bunny barely escaped—a real wildlife moment. You can find out more about The Raptors at www.pnwraptors.com. 

Later in the week Anne and I visited Fort Rodd & Fisgard Lighthouse in Colwood, north of downtown. The fort is a 19th century artillery fort where we could walk among the the buildings, but they are only open for display on the weekends during off season. 

Fisgard Lighthouse from the fort.

Next to the fort is the 1860 built Fisgard Lighthouse. It’s available for viewing, but also is only open on weekends. The lighthouse was automated in 1929 and has a lovely location on an island connected to land by a walkable causeway. The light sits at the entrance of Esquimalt harbour  

A real Canadian Goose in Canada.

Our last photo tour was of the Royal BC Museum next to Parliament in Victoria. The museum hosted a special Maya Exhibit and Nick and Kathryn drove up to meet us there before Afternoon Tea. 

Portions of Mayan texts.

The Maya exhibit was interesting, but there was almost too much information to take in on one visit. 

Mask in the First People's exhibit.

Though, it was fun to photograph both it and the museum’s First Peoples exhibit.

A Grand Place for Christmas Shopping

Anne and I love shopping in Victoria, especially around Christmas time. The downtown stores are interesting and festive and we have fun finding Christmas presents for each other. 

Ann trying on a hat in the Irish Shop. She got this one for Christmas.

This year we each got hats from the Irish shop, Anne found earrings in couple of places, 

Downtown Victoria window display.

Victoria Street Artist

I got a great deal on a photo book, and we both got special Lamy rollerball pens.  We also enjoy wandering the shops in the neighborhood such as Cook Street Village and Oak Bay Street. 

Latte and pasty at Demitasse Cafe in Oak Bay neighborhood.

Oh Dear Me! Those deer aren't statues.

Wild meat sticks in a local butcher shop. All we had were delicious, though the crocodile had quite a bite.

In fact, while shopping in the James Bay neighborhood I saw an ad for a concert on Sunday afternoon at the Oak Bay United Church. It turned out that the 3:00 concert called “Gathered by the Fire—Ancient Music Celebrating Yule” featuring the Banquo Folk Ensemble was one of the highlights of our week. 

The group, formed in 1998, consists of five members who sing and play early instruments including recorders, guitars, hardy gurdies, citterns, bag pipes, and a variety of percussives (if that’s a word). The small church was a perfect  venue for the group and sound was glorious.

The Finest at Sea food cart near Fisherman's Wharf serves great fish tacos.

The entire trip was enjoyable as usual. We were blessed with good friends, good food,  decent weather, and a smattering of good photos.

WE WISH A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL WHO READ THE BLOG. MAY 2020 BE A GREAT YEAR FOR US ALL.

NEXT: I’ll be working to find interesting photos and topics for the 165th post to this blog which will begin its 7th year of publishing.