Sunday, March 25, 2012

Out and about in Oregon

We may have promised a more timely post, but like all things in life, friends, patience is a virtue. Hehaw! Have you yet figured out that it is I, Andrew, who has taken the helm for this post? Join me for a photographic journey of our time spent thus far in the fabled land of Oregon.........


Our tale resumes after our departure from Williams in Southern Oregon. We immediately rented a boat and took off for a rollicking time down the Rogue River. Kidding of course. The above photo is a nod to the Simmons' Brothers and Ms. Newell expedition up the Kisaralik River circa July 2011. Photo courtesy of McMenamins Edgefield; more on this to follow. But I digress. Kristy and I actually drove to Ashland for yet another stop on our continental hot springs tour. A crazy turn of events ensued. To make a long story short, we ran into this guy...


It turns out Dan and I grew up in neighboring towns. It also turns out that over 10 years ago, we went to the same college, at the same time, had girlfriends at the time who were themselves friends, and more likely than not shared beers together. I can distinctly remember Dan from college, although his hair then was much longer and more gnarly. We happened to meet Dan at the hot springs in Ashland only after exchanging phone numbers in order to carpool to yet a different hot springs location the following day. Dan began giving me his phone number, and I immediately recognized the 585 Rochester area code. We spent the next few days with Dan and had a great time together.

There are A LOT of photos in this post, so I will keep the writing to a minimum...from Ashland we drove towards Crater Lake, but, sadly, it was not to be...

DISASTER!!!
just kidding...
Kristy and I tried to make it up to Crater Lake but we were snowed out. We decided to go snowshoeing along the Rogue River instead.


The
ROGUE
RIVER!!!

It reminded
us somewhat
of Alaska (sigh)
But it's even
better!
Because it's
in OREGON!
(No offense
Alaska)

This photo is here to entice certain Alaskans to move to Oregon. Look there are cute turtles here too.


It began raining while we were snowshoeing so we decided to rent a cabin to dry out...and make smores. From the Rogue River we drove north and blessed the Bend, Oregon Walmart with our presence. From there we drove east along the beautiful McKenzie River in search of yet another hot spring.

Cougar Hot Springs along the McKenzie
After a quick dip we continued on towards Eugene where we spent two nights, one in a hostel, and one, you guessed it, in a Walmart lot. We also met our good friend Angela's sister, Mary, for lunch. Kristy and Angela worked at the radio station together in Bethel.

Kristy and Mary
From Eugene we continued east towards the coast. The Oregon coast is nothing short of spectacular. It is rugged and ferocious, rather like a wolverine. It felt wild to have driven from coast to coast to coast. We have now gone over 18,000 miles.



 While on the coast we also stopped to gamble and eat cheese.

Kristy loves cheese and did, in fact, agree to posting this pic 
Unfortunately, we did not win any money. We had our sights set on about $100,000 give or take. Honestly, we were overwhelmed by all the noise and flashing lights. It took us nearly an hour (seriously) to finally figure out how to play the slots. They proved too much for us so we resigned ourselves to the roulette table...where we lost. We hung our heads and left for Portland.


Portland is an awesome city. Besides the rain. Just when we were feeling down and out after gambling away our savings, the city and its rollerderby fever were there to pick us up. We can't wait to see Michele (and Angela, and Leah!) compete in Bethel when we visit this summer. Go ROLLERDERBY!
(Notice the man in the suit and bowtie, btw, in the middle of the rink. He was running around the entire time, keeping score or something. He is awesome and definitely added to the entertainment.) So. When in Portland here are a few things you can do to have fun...

Go to the Japanese Gardens - thanks Michele and Greg!

Buy authentic (though damaged) Afghan rugs for a really amazing price in Multnomah Village.

Drive through 10 inches of fresh snow on your way to Britenbush Hot Springs.

Say hello to the resident deer when you arrive at Britenbush.

And soak...

Quick interlude. We made what may be our last official stop at a hot spring destination when we drove to Britenbush. It's about two hours from Portland and well worth the drive. The scenery is amazing and the soaking tubs are about the best around. Kristy had been waiting for this visit since we began our trip.

And one for good measure!
Kristy's friend Tim and his family put us up when we initially arrived in Portland. We had a great time sharing dinner and conversation and hanging with their family for a few days.

And Michele's parents, George and Evelyne, had us by for lunch and a nice visit as well. Many thanks to the Houston's for housing some of our belongings shipped from Alaska six months ago!

Kristy and Molly at the Edgefield
For the past few weeks we have been staying with Kristy's good friend Molly here in Portland. Kristy and Molly (and Tim) met at Britenbush during a workshop over two years ago. We are so grateful to Molly for hosting us for so long. It has been great just to slow down after all our travels. It's also been nice not having to sleep in any Portland Walmart lots in the rain. 

The Japanese Gardens are awesome. Can you say green? Kristy and I are looking forward to visiting the gardens each season to catch all the colors.

Welcome to my world...
We also went to McMennamins Edgefield - thanks again to Greg and Michele! We had a great dinner and walkabout on the grounds. Greg and Michele were married here nearly seven years ago. The Edgefield's entire interior is a mosaic of unique murals. 

Kristy and I leave tomorrow for Southern Oregon and our farming internship. We may or may not attempt another gambling session on the coast. Wish us luck.

Until next time...

Ta Ta!
P.S.  Stay tuned for pictures of the tipi!!!




Sunday, March 11, 2012

On To Oregon, The Promised Land!

Andrew and I have cooled it on the blog-front the past week to give you guys a chance to catch up after those two huge posts. We still have some catching up to do though so here we go.

Did I mention before that we just loved California? Mind you, we stayed east and then north and were successful at avoiding most urban centers and droves of people. From Yosemite we headed to Orland, a town in northern California along Interstate-5 by Chico. In Orland we met up with Luke & Tara, Andrew's Rochester friends who just a few months prior (right around the time we departed Alaska bound for Oregon) made the move cross-country too. Tara accepted the director position at the local Farm Sanctuary, a rescue farm for abused and neglected farm animals. (Click on the link for more info.) Their other friends who had also just moved from upstate New York drove up from the San Francisco Bay area. Pretty crazy to hang out with two other couples recently transplanted from the East Coast!


Shoot, we were impressed with the farm and the gorgeous rolling hills and farmland! Daffodils and hyacinth were blooming in their garden and from their sweet cabin lookout you can see Mt. Lassen and Mt. Shasta in the distance. Spring in February? Oh my, what a shockingly pleasant surprise!

We spent two nights visiting and had a chance to meet some of their farm friends.

Cocoa with a severely injured leg gets a break from a crutch.

Luke & Tara at work... and Andrew thrilled to be behind the wheel of an ATV.
Orland is just about two hours south of Mt. Shasta, and we figure about 4 hours from our spot in Oregon this summer (we'll get to that piece soon!) so we're looking forward to meeting up with these guys over the next few months to explore the richness of the northwest.

Andrew and I were scheduled for an in-person interview at the farm in Oregon in just two days so we sped north and spent a night at the base of the incredible Mt. Shasta enroute. John Muir describes best the exhilaration and awe of first meeting the mountain:

 "When I first caught sight of it over the braided folds of the Sacramento Valley, I was fifty miles away and afoot, alone and weary. Yet all my blood turned to wine, and I have not been weary since."

One of my favorite places,  Mt. Shasta is renowned as a powerful energy vortex and home to the mystical Lemurians who are said to reside in the mountain. Bet you didn't expect me to say all that, did you?
Hey Ash, remember our picnic and fun swim at this location
 south of Shasta 4 years ago?
Filling up on clean, cold mountain spring water, the headwaters
 of the Sacramento River, in Mt. Shasta park.

And so after soaking in the mountain, we were excited to continue our journey towards our final destination- Oregon!! The drive north was beautiful through rolling hills and mountain ranges to the top of snowy (and snowing) Mt. Ashland across the border into Oregon and down to the city of Ashland. It was like we were rolling into the promised land with snow and fog partially obscuring the beautiful views just enough to create a sense of awe. Or maybe the 17,000 miles leading up to this helped build all the anticipation. Ha! Either way, we were not disappointed.

Heading up to Mt. Ashland, just across the Oregon border. Oregon!
Coming down from Mt. Ashland on our way to the small city of Ashland, Oregon.
And so after a fun night in a really nice Ashland hostel and a movie out (the silent film The Artist, which we highly recommend), we woke the next morning a little nervous for our big interview at the farm! The small town of Williams, population 2,500, is about an hour west of Ashland along a country highway that winds through the idyllic Applegate Valley. Low rolling fog lingered into the late morning and so the drive was very dramatic!

Arriving at the farm was incredible. (I thought about passing the narrative off to Andrew for a while because I'm feeling a gush coming on but he'd gush too so forget it!) Most of you know that our tentative plan or perhaps a better word, intention, since planning our departure from Bethel was to make our way to southern Oregon and to work at an interesting farming internship for at least this summer. Of course the ultimate goal for us is to pick up some good knowledge about local climate and growing techniques as well as general homesteading skills so that we can create our own, simple life. Sweet, right? Well without having spent much or really any time in southern Oregon, our desire to live there was a bit theoretical. And that's partially why we checked out lots of other spots on our road trip. We didn't really know what we would find in Oregon, what the communities we had our eye on would actually feel like. Mid-journey we found by searching online this internship that just seemed perfect. So perfect actually, that it's the only one for which we applied.

Anyway, I guess the only way to truly find out whether we want to put down roots somewhere is to live there for a while. But let me tell you, it sure was a good feeling rolling into Williams and the farm. Such beauty! Especially after meeting the other farmers, I think we both had the sense that this area and this particular internship were a beautiful mix of all of the elements we want in our life! Mountains, trees, rivers, sunshine, fertile land, small conscious communities, friendly people and the space along with opportunities to learn and grow.

Our drive to Williams through the Applegate Valley in southern Oregon.
We pretty much spent the day at the farm chatting about our experience and goals, sharing lunch and then getting our hands dirty too. The farm is actually a nonprofit with two head farmers who are married (and have a baby!) and another young couple who recently moved to the farm. We really enjoyed them and our visit overall. After working and getting to know each other in the warm sun for a few hours, they invited us to stay the night at the farm. The tipis weren't erected just yet so we stayed in the guest bedroom in the main, communal house. There's a big kitchen and eating space, a spacious living room with a ping-pong table and an office too. It's a gorgeous strawbale building. In fact, here is a photo, I just couldn't resist!



The farm and land felt magical. There's a swimming pond, a cob sauna house, goats, sheep, chickens and turkeys, and an outdoor solar shower! We loved the place and knew with great certainty that this was where we wanted to spend our days this summer! Not just farming, but also working with school kids visiting the farm to learn about the land and sustainable farming practices and working on natural building projects along with various food preservation, animal husbandry and homesteading tasks. The only potential problem was that many, many people applied for the two internship positions. We were initially told that we wouldn't know until March 1st if we got the positions. And so I was preparing myself for a torturous two weeks...

And then to our great surprise, the next morning we were offered the internship positions before we even left the farm! They didn't need to interview anyone else it turns out. They liked us as much as we liked them. Awwwww, YES!! And so we're preparing to make the move to the farm around the first of April; and the internship runs through October 1st. I guess we'll find out if this is the life for us soon enough. (And hopefully in the not-so-distant-future an opportunity for me to study midwifery will open too. I haven't abandoned that goal.)

Since the interview we've been exploring Oregon (hot springs, trees!). Below are a couple maps of southern Oregon for your viewing and referencing pleasure. Williams isn't on the map but it's west of Medford (look southwest along I-5) and south of Grants Pass in the Siskiyou Mountains. It's not too far from the coast as the crow flies but there's a mountain range in the way (the Klamath) so the drive seems to be about 2-3 hours.


The map below is a little easier to read. Williams would be about where the 238 is, south of Grants Pass.

So that about wraps it up. Our next post will include some photos of our Oregon explorations. At the moment we're in Portland enjoying a warm, dry comfy place to be still! We've been renting movies (and will have some good recommendations) and obsessively checking Iditarod race updates the past few days. Go Pete, go Mike, go Aliy!

Missing everyone and especially Ruby, Moxy and little Eddy. Check out their latest photos of the little chunker here on their blog. Til next time folks. :-)