John Day was a surprising pleasure. From what appeared to be a small farming town came spectacular camping and hiking. A short drive out of town leads to the Strawberry Wilderness area, which looked like it could be at the base of any alpine mountain. Firs, both true and Doug, larches just about to turn yellow and an undergrowth of a healthy ecosystem filled miles and miles of landscape. As per our habit, Balin headed out running to the top of the mountain while Piper and I walked at decent pace to the lake, waterfall and a little further. The wind was crazy and it was clear that it wasn’t going to stop. So we turned around after 5 miles and waited for Balin at the car. You can watch the video here:
That night was another peaceful evening of painting, dinner and games.
The next day we loaded everything up and headed towards Portland. We utilized ChatGPT and asked what was interesting to see between us and Portland and the Painted Hills area came up. After an hour and a half of driving we pulled into the parking lot, got our bikes out, put Piper in the trailer and headed out for a ride. It was such an excellent way to see the sites. Fresh air, sunshine, moving our bodies and there were few cars and fewer fellow cyclists on the road. Perfect way to explore. Check out the video here.
https://youtu.be/Bt7oeXcHp3Y?si=BNH370-mA6eofSku
We arrived in the Portland area and decided to stay at a state park in Boring, Oregon, just east of the city. We unpacked, got a walk in just before it started to rain. Welcome back to the Westside.
Today, Friday, we met up with our friend Christie Wilson, who works for Generous Giving, for lunch in downtown Portland. Lunch and discussion was life giving and exactly what we want to be doing on our road trip - seeing people and spending time with them. Downtown Portland is not what we wanted to see. I literally saw someone lighting up a crack pipe and saw several people with the fentanyl bend - where they are standing but are bending at the waist towards the ground. It’s so very sad, on so many levels. And complicated.
From there we went to River City Bicycles and picked up a gravel bike that I had ordered a couple of weeks ago. Now we have road/gravel bikes and mountain bikes so we can ride all over the place. Can I tell you how excited I am. I feel like a kid with new tennie runners. Watch me go. Best part about it is Piper can go with us too. We purchased an old kid-bike trailer off of Marketplace and now it’s Piper’s chariot. I think Balin might be embarrassed, but I think it’s SO cute. She loves going in it as I think she just wants to be with us everywhere!!
Tomorrow we head to Newberg where we’ll meet up with some friends for a weekend of wine tasting…and rain. Thankfully we’re all staying in an Airbnb cause otherwise…I’d be chasing me some sun.
Comments