Ashland to Salem

Day 6 June 11, 2017 Ashland to Salem

Again, we ate breakfast in the cramped motel lobby, this time in the presence of a young family also from Southern California.

We got out on the road by about 9:30 and began the long drive north on I-5. We were not sure where we going to spend the night, but the first intended stop was the Silver Falls State Park east of Salem.

However, before we arrived there we passed up many interesting stops. The Creamery was again closed, this time because it was Sunday. Hikes either along the Rogue River valley or the Table Rock looked attractive. And I would have liked to visit Jacksonville, a gold rush era town or Grant’s Pass, a national historic distract with the Rogue River flowing through it. And we sailed right past Eugene. All will have to wait for another trip. 

We arrived at the park about 1:45 and had a picnic lunch. The Park is hidden amid old growth Douglas fir in the foothills of the Cascades and is the largest state park in Oregon. After entering the park, we spent almost 4 hours wandering through and even behind several large waterfalls, as well as hiking around the park. Silver Falls at 177 ft. is the largest, but there were a dozen other falls of over 100 ft. The hiking trails were very well maintained and the greenery was awesome. But the highlight of the park and the day are its waterfalls. Some of the trails took us behind the falls where you looked into a cascade of water.

We were on the day use side. If I had done my homework I would have sought to reserve one of the many cabins that are scattered throughout the park.

We then drove to Salem, the state capital, and while doing that made a reservation at a motel outside of the downtown area. La Quinta Suites. Not able to charge the car and overpriced, but a very good breakfast. We drove into downtown looking for some dinner and activity. Downtown Salem was incredibly empty, albeit on a Sunday evening. Most of the restaurants were closed and not much to do. After walking for a bit, we found a cider bar that had a dance floor and salsa dancing. Had a flight and some drinks. The proprietress, whose day job is as an environmental scientist with the state, told us about her experience as a wine maker. We ordered dinner from a local restaurant and took a walk around the downtown including a walk in a park along the Willamette River.

Oregon Shakespeare Festivel

Day 5 June 10 Ashland and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

A two-play day. Great seats for the afternoon performance, but toward the back for the evening performance. The breakfast in the cramped lobby of the Roadway Inn was ample, but that was all.

We planned to start the day with a visit to the Art Museum on the Southern Utah University campus, but it was closed for a reception. Took a short walk around the campus.

Then drove into town and parked at a 4-hour lot. Picked up our tickets at the box office and as we were walking around the three theatres complex the skies opened again so we retreated to a local brewery for an early lunch prior to the first play. The flights of beer were very good, but they lost our food order and did not bring it until after an hour had passed and we had to leave for the first play. The waiter seemed upset with us that we did not accept the food and offered no consideration for the delay. As a result, think I was a little tipsy going into the play.

The play, Mojada, A Medea in Los Angeles, was a modern take-off on the Greek play Madoc. Jason (yes, he of the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece) abandoning his first wife with whom he had two children for a politically advantageous union. The spurned wife kills the new wife and, to especially hurt Jason, also kills herself, and his, children. A major act of rage and desperation.

This play was set in modern Los Angeles and the characters were immigrants. Halfway through the play I thought it was about immigrant abuses and rights, but then it worked its way back to the original. Still a very powerful play about the painful experiences of being an immigrant in America. I wonder how we as a country have gotten to a place where many Americans want to undervalue or deny our layered history? Where does the intense pressure to conform come from and why does it overshadow the opportunity to welcome what can be rich cultural differences? What are we afraid of?

A very powerful play and performances, especially by the female lead. Modern language so I did not have to fight threw Shakespearian language. After the performance, she participated in a discussion group that lasted over an hour. Nice activity, but it cost us a parking ticket as we exceeded the4 hour limit by a wide margin.  However not as high as California penalties and we dropped off the check in the City Hall drop box later that evening.

Still raining so we went back to the motel and ate and drank some more of the prior day’s purchases.

The evening play was a reproduction of the movie Shakespeare in Love. I recall very much enjoying that movie, but I did not enjoy the play as much. It was long and had, for me, difficult language. Nice to see how Shakespeare allegedly got through his writer’s block. He was waiting for inspiration to strike, hoping it will hit him like a bolt of lightning, as he was struggling to write a single word.  All this in the context of gender politics in a decidedly sexist world whose monarch is one of the most powerful women in history. What I think that the play teaches him and us is that the best and most profound inspiration is to be found in the people around you and their unique stories. That is a useful reminder.

After the play in the lobby we by chance met Mr. Amberge in the lobby. He was a well-loved sixth grade drama teacher for my three oldest boys who produced very high-level Shakespeare performances by the students. He did not really remember me, but he recalled the boys and the visit with David in May 2014.

Then we went back to the motel and recharged the car.

Crater Lake to Ashland

Day 4 June 9, 2017 Crater Lake to Ashland

It was cool and overcast when we awoke so, we hung out in the Great Hall for a few hours enjoying the fireplace and the surroundings and reading the paper and emails. The internet was spotty, but no urgency. Breakfast consisted of some fruit and cheese that we had been hauling around and hotel drinks.

The Lodge was opened in 1915 shortly after the area was declared a National Park. It closed in the 1990s for major renovation. It is open only from May to October and hard to get reservations. The Great Hall has a massive stone fireplace and there are additional fireplaces in the Lobby and dining room. The back of the Lodge has a breathtaking view of the Lake. Rocking chairs on the large back porch offer a relaxing, and in my two experiences a chilly, view of Crater Lake’s deep blue waters.

The Lake was formed when the top of a volcano imploded and the resulting crater gradually filled with water. I think it is the deepest lake in the continental US. It is replenished solely by rain and snowmelt, so it is clean and clear. However, about a century ago it was stocked with two varieties of fish. (The Ranger conceded that was a mistake.) It is so large that it creates its own mini climate

We had a lengthy conversation with a tall female hiker. She has been hiking portions of the Pacific Crest Trail which runs through Crater Lake Park, although not close to the Lodge (it also runs through Lassen, although this time of year it was snow covered there.), but doing it “backwards”, from the north rather than the typical south to north route. She was not staying in the Lodge, but was there to get the free coffee and out of the cold.  She had hiked several h hundred miles of the Trail and was thinking of returning to her husband in Seattle. The Trail runs through the Park, but not very close to the Lodge. I could not figure out where she had spent the night or how she had gotten to the Lodge so early since the nearest campgrounds in the Park were several miles away and she did not appear to have a car.  She spoke very disparagingly of the woman who’s hiking the trail had been the subject of a book and movie (“Wild”) staring Reese Witherspoon) claiming that she had hiked less than half the trail and had failed to properly understand what such a hike required, e.g., bought too big a pack and then overloaded it.

After checking out and loading up the car, we took a hike around the rim road, now closed to auto traffic and not open all around the Lake due to snow. It was intermittently sunny, but brisk. The road we were walking on frequently had steep and tall walls of snow lining it. We could take several side trips to the lake’s edge over the snow and were rewarded with breathtaking views of the Lake and Wizard Island. We walked a few miles until we came to a road repair crew. One member was holding a large stop sign even though there was no vehicular traffic. We could have gone beyond them, but instead we turned around and then drove down the mountain to the Visitor Center.

At the Visitor’s Center, we watched a movie and wandered through the gift shop. One of the Rangers was very talkative. I purchased a book on lodges in the national parks. Never found the charging station.

We drove west on highway 62 descending through beautiful green forest. We passed through some very small towns but could not find a grocery to purchase a picnic lunch. Finally, we went into a park/marina and purchased and ate lunch by the water.  

Made a side trip to a small, relatively new, winery off route 227. Tasted our flight of Oregon wines and then purchased a couple of bottles and a corkscrew. We attempted to go to a noted cheese shop, the Creamery, in Crown Point, a very non-descript town, but we just missed closing time.

We arrived at our motel in Ashland about 6. We stayed about 2 miles from the center of town at the Roadway Inn. Nothing special, but at our request we were given a room at the end on the first floor so we could charge up the car from in the room.  I replenished our food supply from a local supermarket. Turkey and cheese lettuce wraps in the room, along with our newly purchased wine for dinner avoiding a rainstorm. 

Lava Beds National Monument Day 3 June 8

Day 3 June 8


Alturas in far northeast CA. to Crater Lake, OR by way of Lava Beds National Monument

Alturas is a small town, but with about 2500 population and a regional high school (the Braves and lots of signs congratulating the recent graduating class) it seems to be a regional hub for the local agricultural industry, lots of cattle. The population seemed to be all white, but we did not go to the local Thai restaurant

Awoke to two vastly different, but discouraging events. The lessor, but of greater significance to me was that the car would not recharge, but later learned that the problem was the power supply at the Rim Rock Hotel was not adequate to charge up our electric car. So much for getting charged up every night. The greater event was James Comey's testimony before Congress. Nothing materially new or a departure from his prior news accounts or the earlier released prepared statement, but it reaffirmed the ethical morass our President has lead the country into. Fortunately, it was done on east coast time so we could watch it and get out and going at a reasonable time.

 We found a Chevy dealership on Main street in town to check out the car charging situation. I spoke with the service manager and explained the charging problem. She confessed that she had never seen a Chevy Volt, ("we mainly sell trucks") that they had never had one in stock, let alone sold one and were not certified to work on that model. But she was willing to try to help so I pulled in and plugged in. Everything worked and charging commenced. The problem apparently was the Rim Rock motel's electrical system. Relief, but could not stay around to get a meaningful charge because they did not have a super charger.

Off to breakfast at the Wagon Wheel. It was reasonably crowded and the waitresses seemed to know most of the patrons.  They were very friendly and a few stopped to speak with us, where were we from, where were we going, how did we like the town, etc. Prices were low and the portions large, but it is not a good idea to have chicken fried steak as part of a breakfast.

 Took off for the Lava Beds National Monument, about a 1.5-hour drive through some very wooded, scenic and desolate country. Very little up there except forests and as we approached the Monument the landscape became volcanic, lots of black rock fields.

The Monument is set in a forbidding land scape that looks very foreign to this urbanite. It sits on top of a shield volcano that has been active for 500,000 years. You probably have not heard of it because its eruptions from hundreds of surface vents are gentle rather than explosive and rather than creating a volcanic mountain, such what we just visited at Lassen Volcanic National Park, what is left are cinder cones, deep chasms and more then 450 lava tubes. That results in a low, gently-sloping shield-like profile.

Interesting history here. The Modoc Indians inhabited the area before the arrival of the Euro-Americans after the Civil War. The white settlers claimed the “empty” land, conflicts ensued and escalated and violence resulted. The Modoc were forced into a signing a treaty that moved them on to the Klamath Reservation in Oregon that was already inhabited by two other tribes. That proved untenable and the tribe rebelled. The warriors fled to Captain Jack’s Stronghold, a natural fortress of the lava beds and held off several thousand troops under General Sherman. After about a year of fighting the tribe was defeated and its remaining member exiled to a reservation in Oklahoma. That was the last major Indian war in the northwest and the only major Indian war fought in California.

 The other item of historical interest is that this Monument is very close to Tule Lake, which was the site of one of the WWII concentration camps used to confine Japanese Americans. It was reserved for internees who were considered the most dangerous and held all the internees who refused to positively respond to the 27 point “loyalty” questionnaire distributed in 1943.

When I approached the Ranger desk I discovered that I had lost my senior parks admission card. I do not know if I left it in the motel or it dropped out of my wallet, perhaps when I was changing in the Volcanic National Park, but in any event, it was gone. The young Ranger looked at me and said he believed me, I guess my appearance confirmed my age, so he let us in. They gave us each a big flashlight. Karen purchased her own senior card at the end of our visit to the Monument.

We first went to the Mushpot tube. That is the only one which is lighted and has a paved path. About 800 ft. in length, it was not too difficult. It was cool in the tube and there were only a few places requiring bending. We then drove out on Cave Loop Road to Upper Sentinel, which connected to Lower Sentinel. Together they were about 3800 ft.  If the flashlights were turned off it was very, very dark in the tube. The footing was uneven and the ceilings were covered with lots of bumps and protrusions, so progress was slow, but no stalagmites. It took us about 30 minutes to traverse that tubes and we did not have to retrace our steps. That was a least challenging tube, so emboldened we next went to Sunshine tube, which is rated moderately challenging. This was much shorter, about 800 ft. and had three openings to the sky so although the terrain was more difficult, it was not too forbidding. Then we went to Golden Dome tube. This was also rated moderately challenging, but it was 2200 ft. and no skylights. It was difficult and dark. On the return trip, we had difficulty finding the way back. We took a few seemingly wrong turns and it would have been easy to panic in there. But we saw the lights of some incoming visitors and finally made our way out.   

That was enough tubing for the day, so we drove out the north entrance and quickly passed into Oregon. We skirted around Klamuth Falls and shortly thereafter were caught in a torrential downpour that necessitated pulling off the road for a few minutes. When we turned onto the road for Crater Lake Park we entered an incredibly green and lush forest.

 As the road climbed he tress became thicker and taller and we road along a roaring creek. We arrived at the park entrance after the ranger station was closed and began a seven mile climb to the Lodge and the edge of the crater.   

 I think that the entryway and Great Hall in the Lodge are awe inspiring. Soaring ceilings held up by tree trunks with large windows overlooking the lake and large comfy chairs and two large fireplaces make for a nice way to spend an evening. Our room on the first floor was large, but as in all rooms at the Lodge, no TV. (That was fine.) Alas unlike during my prior visit I was not permitted to charge up the car at the store’s loading dock after hours. Instead I was directed to a charging station seven miles below in the Park’s village.

The first time I look over the cusp of the caldron at Crater Lake takes my breath away every time I experience that. The blue water, mists over the lake and alternating clouds and sunshine make for a magical vista. Lots of snow fields on the slopes surrounding the Lake. All this can be viewed form rocking chairs on the wide porch.

We took a brief walk before cold and rain drove us indoors. We had a wonderful dinner at the Lodge restaurant. That is not to be missed. Our service staff was from Macadonia and Ohio. 

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Day 2, June 7, Lassen Volcanic National Park

Got a late start and did not even eat breakfast. The latter was a mistake. Most of the delay was due to a lengthy phone call with son Jason. He is good.

We drove east over what I thought would be secondary and back roads on a route shorter and more scenic than the freeway. It was shorter. However, this is a very rural and undeveloped area and as we pushed deeper into the woods the pavement initially gave way to gravel and then to dirt amidst increasing concern about the reliability of the map and the impact on the car before we rejoined blacktop. It was only 45 miles to the park’s northern entrance, but it took an hour to get there.  The road going through the park was closed near the southern entrance due to the large snowfall this year which is why I was going north.  That meant we did not get to see the hydrothermal areas.

Most of the park will not be open until July this year due to the large snowfall, but that means lots of water for LA and the Central valley farms.

At the northern entrance we sailed right in waving the Senior National Park card and parked at the closed Visitors center. Not many visitors. Took a leisurely 1.75 mile walk around Manzanita Lake. Very peaceful. Bigly trees, lots of green, many birds, superb views of snow covered Lassen Peak and a shimming lake. Encouraged by our success, we then set off on the 4-mile trail (r/t) to Crag’s Lake. This required more effort. A gradual incline became a steeper switchback laced trail halfway up which in total rose about 1300 ft. up to 7500 ft. elevation. Lots of more bigly trees and good views many of which still had large snow accumulations. While steep in some places, the trail was well maintained and easy to traverse. The alpine lake at the end of trail was at the base of landslides that were labeled as Chaos Jumbles. They were formed from erosion of the Chaos Crags which are lava plugs pushed up more than 1000 years ago. Within the Jumbles were small coniferous trees that constitute the Dwarf Forest. Almost two hours up and an hour down, so it was too late to see the Lava Beds Monument that day.

New plan, rather than stop over for the night in Klamath Falls after the Lava Beds, we looked for lodging in northeastern CA. Very little there. Aside from the mountains, the countryside is primarily employed as hay and cattle farms. Way more cattle than people up there We travelled through some very small, no stop light towns without any success, or restaurants, so we decided to go a small bit out of the way to The Rim Rock Motel in Alturas in Modoc county, population about 5,000. That town is a small regional center. It had a high school and a locally owned non-profit movie theater (no showings that night).

We drove the short distance into town for dinner at an Italian restaurant. No problem parking. Our waitress actually moved into the town, albeit 30 years ago with her daughters (no mention of the husband/father) and she said, like many others in the town, she worked multiple jobs. She spoke highly of the town, but conceded that the vacant storefronts were a problem and indicative of decline. Based on her recommendation we had the spaghetti specials and some extra meatballs. Nice craft beer.

The friendly clerk at the motel provided an extension cord to plug in from an outlet in the utility closet to charge up the car, but alas it did not work. The charging unit did not work even when I plugged it into an outlet in our room, so I feared that my charging unit was broken and despaired of replacing it on the trip.  Comey testifies tomorrow, so there will be a late start.         

Day 1, June 6, 2017 From Hermosa Beach to Red Bluff

As most Californians know, it is a long state and up the middle, on the drive on I-5 through the Central Valley, is a long, boring, sleep-inducing, highway hypnotizing slog. 

We started late, not until about 10 am. Post retirement, my sense of urgency has slowly drained away. Late, whatever. Even at that hour the 405 through west side LA was congested, but once we cleared the Sepulveda Pass and entered the Valley I could put it on cruise control at an arbitrary 72 mph. That, plus the climb into the area of the Angeles National Forest drained the battery after 38 miles. This trip will devastate the average miles per gallon for the car, but it could not be done in an all-electric vehicle.

After we came down from the Grapevine and passed the 99 I-5 split we entered agricultural lands as far as the eye could see broken only by patches of land on the west side of the freeway that are without access to water and thus brown and desolate. I imagine that is what most of the Central Valley would look like without the Central Water Project and the California Aqueduct. Sometimes gov’t does good things, a fact that based on voting results many Central Valley residents seem to overlook.

As we motored through the southern part of the Valley, (my definition, south of Sacramento) we observed some dairy farms, more than a few citrus orchards, some horses and cattle farms, signs for unseen towns, occasional fruit stands and gasoline station, (but nary an EV charging station). However, the most ubiquitous sight was nut trees, I think overwhelmingly almonds. They stretch forever and their output reaches around the world. When we were in spice bazars Turkey last year they were selling California almonds. I even saw them in a market in Katmandu, Nepal last year.

The undifferentiated scenery and the straight, flat road challenged my ability to stay alert. Raucous, downloaded 60s music, interspersed by news reports highlighting the latest indignities (or triumphs depending on your persuasion or loyalties) emanating from our national capital helped to keep me awake. Until we approached Sacramento, where the scenery and road changes there were only a few stops for gasoline, restroom breaks, stretching of legs and the now expected checking of the phone. On the plus side, at the last of the rest stops we reserved a modest motel room in Red Bluff, which was as far as I expected to be able to travel before dark and was a convenient gateway into Lassen Volcanic National Park. I am still amazed that I can make such reservations so easily on the phone via the Internet.  Lunch was at a non-descript burger joint off the freeway, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It was very hot, up to 100 degrees as we powered through the Valley so we hit the climate control buttons on the dash.

Approaching Stockton, we spied a Ghirardelli Chocolate factory outlet. That warranted a break. The outlet store smelled wonderful. The firm goes back over 150 years and the process of making the chocolate began when a clerk noticed the cocoa melting in the heat. Ate some samples and ice cream, and bought some discounted Christmas candy and a large dark chocolate bar. The prices were not much better than the retail store process, unless you bought double digit pounds of chocolate. Too much anticipated heat in the car for that.

After that it was non-stop to Red Bluff, rolling past the skyline of Sacramento, the hulking Sleep Train Arena, formerly Arco Arena, changing crop patterns including an increasing number of vineyards and a spreading sunset to the west.

After about 525 miles we exited at Red Bluff as dusk was descending and easily found our motel. The proprietor was a pleasant Indian-American who seemed interested in our prior trips to India, although he was not from the regions we visited. He had a very bad and pessimistic opinion of the chances for peace in Kashmir deriding both the peoples of the area and the national armies.  I charged the car up at an outlet running the Coke machine, but the owner asked for a few bucks compensation.

We did not go into downtown Red Bluff. We were told that there was not much there, but instead walked over to a local mall and ate in a pizza shop which looked as if it had been devastated by a large party. Good salad bar and some sandwiches. Walked back to our basic, but functional 2d floor room to get some sleep and an early start on the trip to Lassen Volcanic Park.

   

Beginning the Revised Trip

November 2, 2016

To any readers who stumble upon this site, welcome back, or just welcome.

This will be a renewed, but much shorter series of observations of overseas travel, albeit with no borders beyond the US border.

Some of you, as I was, were expecting this to be about observations about Iran. I was very much looking forward to to seeing and experiencing the differences and paradoxes that society presented. The US is the Great Satan mantra that almost daily emanates from there was very different from my few hours encounter with a group of Iranians last year in eastern Turkey.

Alas, it did not happen as the Iranian government denied us entry visas. No reason given and no appeal possible. Maybe they think we are spies.

In any event, we had to revise our plans. After almost two weeks in the Loire Valley relaxing post Nepal spent primarily cooking, eating three times a day, running to counteract the eating, slowly trolling the Internet  and playing Wii (ask someone with kids if you do not understand that reference) with step grandkids, we took off on the A 10 in the ancient Twingo for parts south in France, initially Bordeaux.

What was supposed to be a 4 hour trip ending in daylight, was delayed, took much longer and ended in darkness. Initially inertial lethargy slowed our movements, then lunch appeared, so we had to eat, and thus we had a delayed departure. My client could not accommodate a time change for a conference call so I had to take that call at a rest stop on the toll road with my papers spread out on the dashboard and a computer in my lap. That consumed over an hour, rush hour traffic getting into Bordeaux (it was worse going out), the usual getting lost, notwithstanding talking GPS, in the maze of now darkened streets in the center of a European city and the time change (one week earlier in Europe) resulted in a post sunset arrival. No parking either, so I was urged to and did park on the sidewalk for the night.

The rest stops highlighted one of many differences between France and the US. The rest stops in France are plentiful and well maintained (we stopped at three, one because my client changed the time of the call at the last minute). Somehow it is considered a social good in France to tax (I assume through the very high toll road fees) to support such amenities. I recall Arizona a few years ago shutting down all its highway rest stops due to lack of funds. Arizona is a large state. Driving across it without going to the bathroom requires an iron bladder which no kid and many adults do not possess. Yet many in the US are unwilling to tax for such purposes.

We stayed at the ChamBres a Bord'O Bed and Breakfast. Nice location just outside of the city center, but very close to a tram stop and a pleasant walk into the center if desired.  Small, four rooms and run by a former accountant who also owns a B&B in Morocco. Following unloading and check-in we walked down a major street, Avenue Thies, into a plaza housing a giant blue lion statute at the entrance to the Pont de Pierre, the oldest of Bordeaux's many river crossing bridges. It was built in 1842. It was beautifully lit up even in the fog at night by a necklace of street lights. 

After pursuing many menus, we settled on the Cafe du Port for dinner. It extended out into the river and after the fog lifted we had a nice view of the bridge and the city lights. Monkfish and duck were our choices. Very good along with the local wine. Tomorrow off to the city!