Zip Trip to be Continued

The rest of the story of this amazing zip trip is coming. I didn't forget.

After we got back from the trip, I left my day job and returned to college to finish my degree. I've been absolutely buried in homework and haven't had a chance to come up for air... or laundry... or to wash the kitchen floor. 

Be patient - I'll finish the story and share pictures with you as soon as I have a few minutes to re-read collect my thoughts and upload pictures.

I promise.

Zip!Trip Day 1

Earlier today, we took the bus to downtown PDX, grabbed lunch from a food cart, then good on the Max to go to Union Station to catch the Amtrak Empire Builder, which runs between the west coast and Chicago. You can read about the first leg of our trip here. 

I thought we were just waiting for regular coach seats on a train, maybe heading up to Seattle or to somewhere south of Portland, but D ushered me to the lounge to wait for a sleeper car.

How exciting!

While in the lounge, we met Sharon and Bill, a funny couple from TX, who were intrigued by our Zip Trip. At every stop, when we all got out to stretch our legs, she asked D what the whole vacation entailed. 

"Just whisper it in my ear," she begged.

By the time we stopped in Pasco, WA, I saw D telling them. not wanting to ruin a good surprise, I kept chatting with Michelle, a new mother on board, who is traveling from Medford, OR to visit her mom in Michigan and introduce mom to her new granddaughter.

D had said train travel is very social, and we have already met some very nice people with interesting stories of their own.

The train travels eastbound along the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge and our seats faced ALL the scenery.

The Gorge is breathtaking from the train. I prefer the views from the Washington side, anyway, so it was perfect. My pictures aren't great, as the day was hazy with rain.

I call that kind of weather "Chunky Fog."

Those pictures will be shared later, as they're on my good camera and I'm blogging from my phone and don't have access to those pictures yet.

The sleeping car is called a roomette. It's the smaller of the two sleepers on this train.. I've got the bottom bunk with a view (such as it is on a dark, cloudy night in the middle of farmland.) Dave has the top bunk, complete with a seatbelt net to keep him from falling out of bed when the train lurches. 

It's very novel and amusing to me, like a caravan of connected RVs on a rail.

As I write this we're at the station in Spokane tonight, at 1am, waiting for the train from Seattle to arrive so the two trains can be coupled. Then we need to be up at 6am for the next part of our Zip!

Yay! It's a 4-day Zip!Trip

Today, D and I are beginning a big Zip!Trip that he started planning more than a year ago. I have no idea where we're going, what we're doing, or how we're getting there.

I'm so excited!

We left home about an hour ago and have meandered through part of downtown PDX, grabbed some lunch from a food pod, and are now waiting for the Max (light rail) to take us to our next stop.

It's a cool, foggy, drizzly day, and it's beautiful outside. This weather makes me smile.

So does the sign on this karaoke bar across the street.

Where did we go next? Here's the next part of the story: Zip!Trip Day 1

ZIP! Jar Day Trip - Hood to Bend

On a Friday evening back in March, we decided to get up early the next morning, hop in the car and go for a drive. I had just had shoulder surgery, and knew I'd tire of napping and watching tv soon enough during my recovery, Besides, with a couple of pain pills, sitting in the car for several hours would be fine. (It was, mostly, with just a few adjustments.)

Early Saturday morning, as soon as we'd had a cup of coffee, we pulled a destination out of the ZIP! Jar. Where were we going today?

Take Hwy 26 to Mt Hood, then south on Hwy 97 to Bend,
& come home through Salem. 

Okey dokey! We're off!

D fixed the GoPro on the windshield to capture the drive, and I one-handed it with my phone. It would be a while before I could manage an actual camera again.

Here is Hwy 26 heading up toward Government Camp and all the ski slopes.

There was snow at about 1200 feet, all the way through the pass.

Once over the pass, we turned south toward the Warm Springs Reservation. I'd heard the forest stops abruptly when the high desert begins, and while I wouldn't say it's like a curtain of trees opening up to scrub and sagebrush, the transition was fairly rapid and it amazed me that the terrain could change so quickly.

And 42 miles later, the views really opened up. I do apologize for the hazy pictures. Next time, we'll see if we can find a scenic pulloff from the highway to get some more incredible shots.

It amazes me that this is all within two hours of my home near the forest.

Near the Warm Springs Reservation

These cliffs are breathtaking.

Off to the west, we could see some of the peaks of the Cascades. Living on the other side of this mountain range, many of these peaks are unfamiliar to me. They really do stand out, though.

I believe this was near Redmond, OR. There was a turnoff to go to Smith Rock in this area, a popular place to go rock climbing. On a future trip, I want to see this in person.

At this point, we were getting hungry, and my job was to poke at my phone until I found us a pace to eat dinner. We ended up grabbing a burger in Bend, then zoomed east on Hwy 20, over the Santiam Pass, and down into the Willamette Valley, following this road and that road until we arrived back home.

What a great way to spend a Saturday!

by P

Daytrip to the coast, part 7 - Beachcombing

Beachcombing is really popular in Lincoln City. There are all kinds of interesting things in the sand. Maybe not so many agates these days, but you can easily find fossils and other neat stuff.

The beach in Taft has a ton of driftwood, and not little sticks that you can use to draw in the sand, and not what you'd want to (or be able to) pick up and carry with you. No dog would fetch these sticks. Hah, I doubt you'd want to throw them.

Like this one.

So what do people like to do with all the driftwood?

Build shelters from the wind, of course!

Lots and lots of shelters.



Here's the crown jewel structure of the day:

This structure has a pretty sturdy roof, considering it's only held together with gravity and beach bum engineering.

Not all structures are as sophisticated. Some are just enough of an organized pile to divert the wind. Keeps the sand out of your ears, and helps you keep the bonfire burning.

D and I were wandering through the driftwood when we smelled smoke. Then we saw it. Then a lick of flame. Some idiot didn't properly extinguish their bonfire and it was still burning after they left. It's a little hard to see, but D is looking at the fire. Can you see the smoke? I can still smell it.



I really really want to plan a trip back here so we can have a bonfire on the beach. My mom did that on the beaches of Lake Superior when I was a kid, and I always loved it.

Lots of these driftwood wind breaks dot the low dunes between the surf and the residential neighborhoods just inland from the beach.

As for beachcombing, there are some really neat rocks scattered around the beach. Many are either sandstone or igneous (from volcanic eruptions), but every now and then you can find something worth a second look. 

This one has fossilized layers of shells and other things in it.

I call these two "Crocodile Rock(s)"
No, I did not place them this way, I just stumbled upon them and immediately saw the croc.

Here's a driftwood knot that looks like the eye of some prehistoric critter.

As the wind blows, it separates the larger (darker) particles from the smaller (lighter colored) particles, resulting in this amazing pattern.

Beachcombing is irresistible. I ended up carrying a fossil and some little driftwood twigs around with me. I'm happy for the chance to take lots of pictures of the other things that were out there. 

Can't wait to get back to the coast!

by P

If you missed the other posts from this daytrip, click on a picture below to see more.

 

 

 

Daytrip to the coast, part 6 - Lincoln CityWildlife

Yesterday I was telling you that the seagulls were fishing for dinner, and that we were just starting to realize that there was a raft of sea lions sunning on the sand across the river from us.

Can you see them over there?

Note: When sea lions are out of the water, a group of them is called a Raft. When they are in the water, they are a Colony. I learned this when we were looking at the on the docks in Newport earlier in the day, but was amused at how confusing this can be. There was a colony of sea lions in the water circling the raft of sea lions on the floating docks...which some might refer to as tethered rafts. So, one might say there was a raft of sea lions on the raft.

Sigh. That makes my head spin.

D and I decided to watch the birds to figure out where the sea lions were. This was a great deduction, and we were surprised by where they went.

The birds flocked to an area not far from where we were standing.

As they flew toward the ocean, we saw some dark dots in the water. Sea lions!

There were so many! In this picture we count at least 19. Number 20 could be a sea lion or a shadow on a wave. But still, there were at least 19 visible above water this close to shore. D pointed out there may have been several more underwater that didn't make it into this picture.

This lady was walking her dog along the waterline when a sea lion surprised her. She picked up the pace to get her dog away from there. I'm not sure if her dog would have wanted to jump into the water to say hello, or if a sea lion might have come to shore to see if the dog might make for an interesting dinner.

D went down to the water to see if he could get a picture close up. He and I disagree about how close he was to them, but nevertheless, he was very close. How cool!

I'd say this was the most exciting part of the day, getting a sea lion surprise on this beautiful beach.

Come back tomorrow to see some more pictures of our evening in Taft. We saw a Crocodile Rock, a driftwood tent, and a neat fossil.

by P

If you missed the other posts from this daytrip, click on a picture below to see more.

 

 

 

Daytrip to the coast, part 5 - Lincoln City's Taft District

Lincoln City was incorporated in the 1960, from handful of smaller towns along the 7 mile stretch of coastline. Today's city still has districts from the old towns, and the Taft District is on the southern most end of the city at Siletz Bay.

As we arrived at Lincoln City, I asked D to pull into the Taft District and like magic we found the perfect parking spot in the busy area.

After a quick change into boots and coats, we set out to the beach to see what there was to see.
Holy cow, did we see some amazing things!

First, we meandered onto the fishing dock, which hundreds or thousands of fishermen have used over many many years. The wood is worn smooth and there are grooves and notches along the length of the railing.

I love taking pictures of textures and shapes.

After looking at the mouth of the Siletz River from the dock, we wandered over to a path leading down to the beach.

We looked at the wind waves made in the sand...

D skipped rocks. He's really good at it.

Since this area is the mouth of the Siletz River, some of the beach is freshwater from the river, and other parts of the beach are seawater from the ocean. It's an interesting mix, We marveled at how calm the water's edge was on the river end...

...and how different it was closer to the ocean.

I was wearing my fancy new rubber boots, and feeling quite smug that I'd be able to play in the surf and keep my feet and pants dry.

I didn't calculate how deep the water would get, though. Whoops!
This is just the beginning, but it sloshed over the tops of my boots and yes, I got my pants and socks wet.

Oh well. It was worth it.

At this point, D pointed at the seagulls across the water on the sand spit. The entire flock suddenly flew up into the air like a black cloud. 

It turns out, they were fishing for dinner. What we thought were brown rocks at the edge of the sand over there turned out to be hungry sea lions. This is when the day got really exciting. Come back tomorrow and I'll show you what we got to see!

by P

If you missed the other posts from this daytrip, click on a picture below to see more.