OR - Ricky/Dan - 05/2009 - Day 6

We have a day left to explore before we make our way to the airport.

Silver Falls State Park is a state park, located near Silverton, about 20 miles east-southeast of Salem. It is the largest state park in Oregon with an area of more than 9,000 acres, and it includes more than 24 miles of walking trails, 14 miles of horse trails, and a 4-mile bike path. Its 8.7-mile Canyon Trail/Trail of Ten Falls runs along the banks of Silver Creek and by ten waterfalls, from which the park received its name. Four of the ten falls have an amphitheater-like surrounding that allows the trail to pass behind the flow of the falls.

The park's most visited waterfall is South Falls, a 177-foot cascade.

Next stop was Mount Hood.

We make it up to the Timberline Lodge at 6,000 fee and get a great view of Mount Jefferson.

The grand ole Timberline Lodge.

The front portico, with that ugly (and temporary) quonset hut to keep the snow off of the front door. A new one is planned but has not been put into service yet. After snow melt, this thing is removed.

Our room, before we get moved in.

The lobby.

Some artwork.

The Blue Ox Bar.

Horse Tail Falls.

Multnomah Falls.

Loutrell Falls.


The Columbia River Gorge.

Vista House.

OR - Ricky/Dan - 05/2009 - Day 5

Enough of that lava, we have places to go,

beer to drink, and hot water to enjoy.

We make our way to Breitenbush Hot Springs.

The Breitenbush River

The Lodge and Dinning Room

The Buffet

(all vegetarian, with accommodation for vegans)

The food cart

It was Memorial Day weekend, and there were no cabins available

So we had to take a tent

The Sanctuary

Mary

?

Even Republican are welcome!

The Spiral Tubs (f/k/a the Medicine Wheel tubs)

Hot

Cold

An old hot water source

and another

One of the Meadow pools

Another Meadow pool

The Sauna

Composing

Some neat hiking trail bridges

and another one

This is what they cross over

OR - Ricky/Dan - 05/2009 - Day 4

We head out and are in search of lava.

Dan getting ready to enter the Lava Tube

A lava tube opening

Don't look back!

We're in

Despite this confident look, Ricky is really quite afraid of being underground

How about a little ice for your drink?

Next it was on to the Lava Lands.

This is the Lava Butte

Dan the Lava Man

Next stop was the Lava Forest.

Yep, a tree was in this hole

OR - Ricky/Dan - 05/2009 - Day 3

We begin our second day on the Coast and continue our trek southward.

The mouth of the Devil's Churn.

Dan practicing his benediction.

Ricky on the edge of the Devil's Churn.

A few elk in the Coastal Mountains.

Crater Lake

Cloud reflection day at Crater Lake

Dan and Ricky on the rim.

Wizard Island

Mount Thielson

More deep thoughts

OR - Ricky/Dan - 05/2009 - Day 2

We make our way from the mountains to the coast and start the day at the Sleepy Monk, a place of comfort to seminarians.

Then it was on to Cannon Beach

and Haystack Rock.

We head down the 101 and stop for a little hike on the clifs.

Really nice views.

A close up shot.

Was time for fuel, so we stopped here for chowder.

The food was great, and the show was even better.

This man could shuck an oyster so fast, your eyes tricked you into thinking it was video on fast forward.

We also made the obligatory stop at Tillamook Cheese factory and ran into Lisa and Paul Barnett from Cascade Presbyterian in Eugene.

Our next stop was the Cape Mears Lighthouse.

The top of the lens.

The lighthouse flags.

I think this pic is near Depoe Bay.

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse.

The Devil's Punch Bowl.

Time for supper at Local Ocean. MMMMMmmmmmm Gooood.

This is what you feel like doing after supper.

One of the Oregon Coast's really neat bridges.

OR - Ricky/Dan - 05/2009 - Day 1

Dan graduates from Reformed Theological Seminary, and Ricky completes his campus course work. In recognition, we head for Oregon.

Mount Hood from our plane, as we approach Portland. We land, collect our belongings, try to find some Chowder (a failure), and head into the mountains and some hot water.

We make our way toward Estacada and Bagby Hot Springs.

This is the main soaking area at Bagby, with the source to the left and the bath house on the right.

We got in a nice soak at the communal tubs.

We filled one log up with cold water for a cold plunge.

We spent some time with Bullet here, listening to his tales of being shot numerous times - hence the name.

The back side of the soaking area.

Dan and the big tree.

Ricky thinking depth thoughts.

Bullet is telling me about his most recent mission. Bullet is explaining how he is a "Sickle Sell, Single Soldier, Black Ops Agent.

You meet the most interesting people in Oregon!

Hog Kill! - Warning Graphic Photos

I'm fairly new to hunting hogs. Started in January, helping a friend eliminate the pests from his timberland.

At dusk on Sunday (June 7, 2009), I killed my first pig in Jones County, Mississippi. This 225 lb sow was heavy with piglets. I used my Benelli M4 shotgun (3 in mag. 00 buckshot), with a little help from my .44 mag. S&W Mountain Gun.



I first became aware of the problem with wild hogs this past winter, while deer hunting on a friend's farm in Jones County, Mississippi. In short, the pigs were interfering with the deer and their rooting was damaging the land. The landowner wanted them eliminated, and this began my education in hog hunting.

At first, our efforts were haphazard at best. Asa, my cohort in crime, took a 150 lb sow in February with a head shot from about 10 feet, but nothing since and very few live sightings, despite our best efforts and a lot of evidence that the pigs were there and active. By the way, this pig provided some very tasty meat.

With the end of deer season in February, we contacted our Game and Fish folks and obtained a special permit to hunt hogs at any time, with or without lights, and with any weapon.

We discovered early on that we needed good intelligence, but the game cameras were spent after a hard deer season. The cams were returned to Cuddeback and were replaced with new ones. With the new cams, we started trying to figure the pigs out. With good intelligence, we started learning about our hogs.

We were able to identify two different groups. One group consisted of 3 medium sized sows with about 8 almost yearling piglets. The second group was a couple of medium sized sows. We only have a couple pics of our boar, but he is a nice one, probably about 300 lbs. We started charting our pigs and what times and where there came out. With this good information, we prepared a couple of areas to hunt, a ground blind and a tree stand.

After determining that our hogs were coming out at dusk, we got to our stands about an hour and a half before sunset this past Sunday (June 7, 2009). There was not much activity other than bugs and frogs. By the way, those ThermaCELL units really work. At about 8:40 pm, the light was almost gone, and the almost full moon was not out yet. Out of the shadows, I saw a dark shape moving toward my tree stand. I could tell it was a big pig, but not much else. We have a couple of bait spots here, and I was hoping that the hog would take a turn and head for one of them, which would give me an easy shot. My pig passed up both opportunities, and I had just a few seconds to take my shot. I decided not to use my light, as I was not able to get off a shot using it the week before. I could just make out the solitary shape moving to my left at about 50 feet and let go with four (4) quick rounds from my Benelli M4 Shotgun (3 in mag. 00 buck shot). Immediately, after my shots, I heard this blood curdling squealing. I turned my light on, and I had a pig on the ground. And it was a big one. With all the squealing, it was obvious that my hog was trying to get up and run. I put two (2) more rounds of buck shot into her and this seemed to stop her efforts to get up. I climbed down from the stand and went over to check on my hog. She was immobile, but still very alive. Looked like her back was broken and left shoulder was out of commission. I finished her off with my .44 mag S&W Mountain Gun. We hauled her back to to the barn to weigh and dress her. She weighed out at 225 lbs and was probably a week or so away from producing another litter of piglets. Asa took on the cleaning duties, his first pig to dress out. He soon learned that the buck shot had done its work on the pig, leaving little usable meat. Since eliminating the hogs was our primary goal, not meat, we decided to pass on further dressing. At almost 11 pm, with no supper and the heat, we were pretty spent too.

Dead pig on the ground!

Asa and I get the sow weighed.

She has some tusks starting to grow.

Sam and his pig.

Asa taking a shoulder off.

Asa doing a little skinning.

Asa did this to me, while I was getting the word out.

This is the hog after the buzzards had worked their magic on her.

Colorado - 04/2009 Valley View

Planned a long weekend in Colorado and had dinner in Denver with Jeannie and Max Taylor, their boys, and Jamie Smith, before racing out of Denver to avoid a snow storm and head down to Valley View.

Got settled in the Oak House


and took note of some of the other housing options.



Enjoyed taking the waters.

at the Waterfall Pool,

the Party Pool,

the Swimming Pool,


and the hot pool.

Sweated out all those toxins in the Sauna.

and cooled off in the unique cool plunge below and eliminated all those free radicals.

Orcas Island - 02/2009 Doe Bay

Enjoyed a nice long weekend on Orcas Island. Access is by the Washington State Ferry, with some relatively rare snow.

Arrived at Doe Bay in due time.

And got checked in.

This is the Office, General Store, and Cafe, from the front and rear.

Doe Bay Resort and Retreat is a unique alternative to the traditional destination resort. On over thirty-three acres of pristine waterfront property,

they have a variety of accommodations in a rustic, down-to-earth environment.

You can start the day with yoga practice in the studio and a trip to the soaking tubs and sauna,

take a guided kayak trip in the afternoon and have a delicious meal in the waterfront café,

hike in nearby Moran State Park and then read about the things you've seen in the Otter Lodge, our guest lounge and library,

or surf with free Wi-Fi.

Oregon 12/2008 Clif - Day 10

Our flight home gets canceled due to the snow storm in the Portland area, so we get an extra day with the Parkers. We decide to head to the mountains and try to make it to Cougar Hot Springs to take the waters, but first, we take on fuel at the Burrito Boy.

Jack gets invited to go with the guys on the condition that he keep quiet and not ask a lot of questions. That's pretty hard for him.

We make it to Cougar Reservoir, and there is lots and lots of snow.

The road past the Dam is not plowed, and the road was not passable.

We met a man who was trying to get his dump truck out. Besides this 4x4 truck with some good lift, he had a backhoe to try to clear the way.

We had to turn back, as it was too much for the Hummer. I don't think the man was able to get his dump truck out either.

Traveling in the mountains in the snow, one always comes across trees across the road.

We came across this neat rig.

And spent some time visiting with him.

Jack gets to play in the snow.

We stop at Belknap Hot Springs and look around.

And get a good view of the McKenzie River.

We make it back to Eugene and make a stop for supplies to take home with us.

We make it to Portland for our rescheduled flights, via Alaska Airlines. Clif and I were not on the same flight. Clif went home via Los Angeles, and I went home via Las Vegas.

Oregon 12/2008 Clif - Days 8 & 9

Hayward Field at the University of Oregon is one of the best-known historic track and field stadiums in the United States. It was the home of Oregon's football team from 1919-67, and has been the home to the Ducks' Track and Field teams since 1921. Hayward Field was named after the Oregon Ducks first track coach, Bill Hayward, who ran the Ducks' program from 1904 to 1947.

In 1970, the track was widened to eight lanes and converted to an all-weather surface. The track converted to the metric system in 1988, its length changing from 440 yards (402.336m) to 400 meters. One of the most modern scoreboards of the time was added in 1991, which gave unofficial times and places of competitors seconds after they finished.

After a donation by Bill Bowerman, UO's longtime track coach and co-founder of Nike, the 15,000-square-foot Bowerman Building was added to the northwest of the track, housing locker rooms, U of O track memorabilia and the university's International Institute for Sport and Human Performance.

A major renovation began in 2004, adding a new entrance named Powell Plaza, moving the practice track and expanding it to 400 meters, and replacing the aging fencing bordering the complex, among other improvements. With news that Eugene would host the US Olympic Trials in 2008, Hayward Field underwent more renovation in 2007. Eight light poles were installed, allowing for televised night events. The crowned infield was removed and reconfigured, and a walkway behind the west grandstand was added. A new scoreboard was installed thanks to a generous donation by Phil Knight and Nike. See Asa's July, 2008 adventures for more on the 2008 Olympic Trials.

Hayward Field played itself in a fictionalized staging of the Olympic trials for the 1982 film, Personal Best and in the 1998 biography of Steve Prefontaine, Without Limits.

We reward ourselves at Prince Pückler's Ice Cream. My tummy was assuaged with homemade ice cream from local creamery Prince Pückler's. Because of the umlaut over the first "u" it's amusingly pronounced kinda like "puke-lers". But puke you will not, because that was some fine ice cream.

Pückler's has been making homemade ice cream in Eugene since 1975. They have a much more enticing and interesting lineup of flavors than your typical 31 Flavors or Coldstone, from the old standards Vanilla, Chocolate, and Mint Chip to Pumpkin, Oregon Bing Cherry, Eggnog, and an incredible-sounding concoction called "Velvet Hammer" that I think involved caramel, chocolate, and local espresso. I wish they were open for breakfast. That's how I'd like to start my day.

It's a good thing I don't live in Eugene, because the desire to sample most of the other flavors would overcome my good sense and do severe damage to my sugar.

The President likes Pückler's too.

Worship at Cascade is next on our agenda. Cascade Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and a member of the Pacific Northwest Presbytery which is the collection of PCA churches in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska.

All are welcome regardless of personal or religious background. Cascade is here for the unconvinced, the lost, the found, the burned, bored, cynical, spiritual. We invite you, no matter where you are in the process, to explore, grow with and experience Cascade.

This Communion Table was dedicated to Elder John de Bruin. It is a beautiful table and always gives me pause to remember my friend, elder, and Churchman.

Davina and the new piano.

Kyle leading God's people in Worship.

Cascade is reaching out to the students at the University of Oregon.

Kyle, Molly, and Clif fueling up at City Brewery after Worship.

A rare photo of Gretchen at City Brewery.

Clif and Jack.

Molly, doing what she does.

Scary Sam and Jack.