Oregon 07/2008 Asa Day 7

We overnighted at Breitenbush Hot Springs, an old hippie commune.

It is named for the Breitenbush River.

This is one of the cabins.

This is the main Lodge, it is one of the original buildings and was where we took our all vegetarian meals.

Here is the Dining and Buffet area.

This hot springs resort was built in the early 1900s by the daughter of the man who invented the ice cream cone. The buildings were abandoned in the 1950s; thereafter, squatters moved in and just lived here and took the waters. The hippies officially purchased the place in the 1970s and turned it into an intentional community. While hippies, they are very much capitalists.

The Daily Schedule of Activities.

This is the steam sauna. A great experience.

This is one of the source pools. At 180, it is very hot, much too hot for soaking, and if you got in this water, you would be boiled alive.

Ahhh, now that's what I'm looking for.

Have a soak overlooking the Breitenbush River.

Or have a soak in one of the 4 medicine wheel tubs, each being a different temperature ranging from warm to very hot.

After heating up in the hot pools, you cool down in this cold plunge.

After eliminating all the free radical in the tubs, you can make your way to the Sanctuary.

They have some icons right outside of the front door.

This is the Forest Shelter, where many of the classes and seminars are taught.

Oregon 07/2008 Asa Day 6

Asa and I head back to the mountains, returning to Cougar Reservoir and Terwilliger Hot Springs

and Lagoon.

After a good soak, we take a plunge in the Lagoon.

Next stop was Bigelow Hot Springs.

Which is on the bank of the McKenzie River. We didn't take the time to sample the waters.

As we were driving through the woods, we came across a camp. We stopped and Asa made some new friends. Here he is with Floyd.

Amazing what one can find in the woods.

We said goodbye to Floyd, and head up the road a little ways and stop to a hike up to the Tamolitch Falls, sometimes known as the Blue Hole.

The hike takes us up the McKenzie River.

Can't believe it, Asa has clean clothes.

The McKenzie is really pretty.

There is a lot of lave on this hike.

Here is the Blue Hole. The McKenzie River flows through an underground lava tube and comes back to the surface here.

Asa and I take a dip in this cold pool.

Can you tell how cold the water is?





We leave the Blue Hole behind and head to the Lava Fields.

Asa in Lava.

Mount Washington, I think.

We leave the wet side of the Cascades and cross over to the dry side.

Then we cross back over the pass and to the wet side.

Mount Jefferson far away and up close.

Now, we will make our way on to the hippie commune to spend the night.

Oregon 07/2008 Asa & Graves Day 5

Saturday morning began early for me and the Graves, as we had to get up early and drive to Portland in order to drop the Graves off at the airport for their return flight home. They had to head home early in order for Jordan to attend RYM. They made it home, without event. Upon my return to Eugene at about 11 pm, I got the news that we had tickets to the Olympic Trials. They were pretty hard to come by, as they sold out 2 weeks after they went on sale, some 2 years ago. We got four tickets, courtesy of the parents of a member of Cascade Presbyterian, who were up for the festivities from Santa Barbara, CA.

And they're off! We had great seats, 2nd row in front of the first hurdle and almost in front of the starting line.

Here they come.

This is John Yarbrough, who as you can see was properly educated at The University. Go Rebs.

The athletes are being lead to the starting line.

Tyson Gay, odds on favorite to win gold medals in the Olympics, pulled a hamstring and went down during a race. He is down on the track to the right of the yellow flags and above the Visa sign.

He was not able to recover in time for the Olympics a few months later.

This is the main Grandstand at Hayward Field.

Told you we had good seats.

Asa, Kyle Parker, and Kyle Perrett.

Asa and the historic track at Hayward Field.

Next, we dropped by the Saturday Market. All sorts of interesting things on sale here.

A little tie-dye.

A hemp celebration.

Oregon 07/2008 Asa & Graves Day 4

After breaking camp, we head into town for a cooked breakfast. It was very average, but the right decision based on Ken's back hurting more and more and the swarms of mosquitoes that tried to eat us alive. It was strange that the prior night saw almost no bugs, while the next night in the same general area was horrible.

We head back to Eugene and decend upon the Prakers. Ken gets a TENS treatment on his back, and the boys and I head over to the campus of the UofO and Track Town to see what we can see and do some shopping. Finally, Asa has on some clean clothes.

This is the back of Hayward Field and the scene of some of the Field Events.

Hayward Filed was really set up for the Olympic Track Trials.

This is the main entrance to Hayward Field.

This is a warm up track and some of the stands for the Field Events.

Here's one of the Phil Knight/NIKE funded buildings on the Campus of the UofO.

For the folk who did not have tickets to the track events (like us), they had a public area next to the track where you could watch the competition on a couple of big screens. There were lots of tents, some really big, selling and marketing all sorts of stuff.

After our time at the Olympic Trials, we head over to the Cascade Presbyterian Cookout. Gretchen is here getting something for Jack and Molly to chow down on.

Kyle has done a lot of work remodeling the patio, as well as installing some City required drainage and re-sodding the back yard.

Gretchen sure will be glad when all this dirt is covered with pretty green Oregon grass.