AirstreamTour: Just What Season Is It Anyway? A Month in Oregon.

It was the beginning of April, and we pushed north into Oregon. Neither of us had spent much time in Oregon before – so had few preconceived notions about the area. All we knew was that it was supposed to be really green, really gray, really overcast, and really wet – like… all the time… like… ALL YEAR LONG. And, oh yeah, there are supposed to be tons of outdoor activities to do here. We wanted to find out for ourselves, as well as visit some of the cities still on our list of potential places to settle into and call (our future) home. Yes, though not in a hurry, we ARE still looking for places to call home when/should we park the RV.

Since we’ve been here we’ve encountered bright blue skies, fog, dark grey clouds, rain, and snow - about the only thing we haven’t encountered is a heat wave.

We stopped first at Klamath Falls, and the Kingsley Field Air National Guard base. Their website listed an eight site, full-hookup RV Park on base – how could we not take advantage of the service. Turns out that yes, there are eight sites; and yes, there are full-hookups; but they forgot to mention that the sites are located along the edge of the parking lot for the base gym. No matter, we settled in, hooked up, and took off on a search for the nearest grocery store. Along the way we found the store in the picture below. Now Klamath Falls may be in the middle of nowhere, but they DO appear to be more open-minded that we had initially given it credit for.

How thoughtful to cater to such a niche market.

But, tell me again how healthy your food is…

Klamath Falls is a small town (around 20,000 residents) in southern Oregon located in the middle of an agriculture area. In 1860, the Federal Government granted Oregon swamplands owned by the government. By 1867 Oregon opened these lands to settlers. That same year George Nurse secured 160 acres of marshy land and established Linkville on the Link River between Upper Klamath Lake and Lake Ewauna. Unfortunately, the Modoc Indians had been the first to settle in the area and resisted being pushed onto a reservation leading to a tribe rebellion. This led to the Modoc War of 1872, which ended up costing the U.S. Army an estimated $500,000 (over $8 billion in year 2000 dollars). The U.S. Army prevailed and by 1885, the town boasted 384 people, maintained by 7 stores, 3 hotels, 4 saloons, and was served by 4 doctors, four lawyers, and a newspaper. In 1893 the town was renamed Klamath Falls.

The town languished until 1909 when three railroad builders negotiated with local and state leaders for right of ways and land grants in the area. The Southern Pacific Railroad completed a line from Weed, CA to Klamath Falls that year and soon after 90 new businesses and public buildings were opened or under construction. By the 1920s Klamath Falls was a bustling town of sawmills, retain, and wholesale businesses. Since the bust in the logging business however the town has once again become a small rural town.

The area is renown for outdoor activities such as hiking, hunting, and world-class trout fishing. In addition, a complex of six National Wildlife Refuges seasonally draw some of the largest concentrations of water birds in North America, making the area a birdwatcher’s paradise.

The town itself did nothing to attract Heinz and I, so we wandered out to a few places in the general area. First up was an overnight trip over to Ashland, home of Southern Oregon University and the Oregon Shakespearen Festival. Ashland is a small, but lively, town with historic buildings, a marvelous park, paved intercity bike trails, and a busy restaurant scene. Lithia Park was established in 1908 when the Women’s Civic Improvement Club petitioned for the creation of a park along Ashland Creek. The town hired John McLaren, landscape architect for San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, to design it. The result is a 93-acre park along Ashland Creek with undeveloped woodlands, a Japanese garden, two duck ponds, a formal rose garden, volleyball courts, tennis courts, picnic areas, and more, all located in the middle of downtown Ashland.

The Oregon Shakespearen Festival traces its roots back to the Chautauqua movement of the late 1800’s. The movement brought cultural events and entertainment to rural communities across the nation. Ashland’s first Chautauqua building was built in 1893. By the late 1920’s the movement had died out and the building was finally torn down, leaving the cement walls partially in place. Angus Bowmer, an enthusiastic young English professor at Southern Oregon Normal School (now Southern Oregon University) noted the resemblance between the building site remains and some sketches he had seen of Elizabethan theaters. He proposed producing a “festival” of two plays within the walls. The town council cautiously advanced him a sum “ not to exceed $400” for the project. The Oregon Shakespearean Festival was officially born on July 2, 1935 with a production of Twelfth Night, followed the next night by The Merchant of Venice. Reserved seats were $1, general admission adults $0.50 and children $0.25. The Festival was a huge success covering their expenses and making a profit.

The festival continued to grow over the years and has become an award winning (including several Tony awards) and internationally known regional theater company attracting top-caliber professional actors. Currently the festival produces eleven plays on three stages during a season that lasts from February to October. Traditionally, four of the eleven productions each year remain Shakespeare plays. Heinz and I stayed overnight in order to attend a performance of The Tempest. The play was great. A modern interpretation of the drama, it used a minimum of props, allowing concentration on the players instead of the background.

Foggy skies heading into Ashland, OR.

Advertising Poster (courtesy Oregon Shakespearean Festival).

All over southern Oregon we kept running across coffee kiosks called the Human Bean. Heinz kept asking the staff what a human bean was – and of course got crazy looks. I kept asserting that it was an agricultural project of the Southern Oregon University Experimental Farm located by Kingsley Field. The resident scientists were combining human and green bean DNA in an effort to produce beans that would pick themselves. My version of events was supported by the server handing over a large seed with each cup of coffee ordered, obviously a ploy to get the general public to assist in the research by planting them in home gardens.

The supplier of Human Beans.

Heinz contends that this is a candy coated coffee bean…oh ye of little faith…don’t you recognize a Human Bean seed when you see one!?

My theory was bolstered further by this dehydration rack we ran across in Ashland. Heinz insists it’s just really bad sculpture…HA, what does he know!

We took a break from all that culture and drove up to Crater Lake National Park, just north of Klamath Falls for a taste of the outdoors. Crater Lake was created approximately 7,700 years ago when a massive volcanic eruption left a deep basin in the place where Mount Mazama’s mountain peak once stood. Centuries of rain and snow filled the basin, forming a deep blue lake whose waters are some of the clearest and deepest blue of any in the world. No streams flow into the lake, so very little sediment clouds the pure water. Precipitation, balanced with evaporation and seepage, keeps the lake water level consistent.

The road to Crater Lake.

Local native tribes have oral traditions of members of their tribe witnessing the cataclysmic eruption, details of which closely parallel known geologic details. After the eruption, the area became a prominent ritual site for the tribes. Some years back, archeologists uncovered 75 sagebrush sandals from a cave nearby, buried under a layer of Mount Mazama’s ash, lending credence to the tribal oral traditions.

It may now be asleep, but Mount Mazama is not an extinct volcano. It may awaken with a new eruptive phase some day as the geologic processes that built the Cascade Range continue just as Lassen Peak and Mount St. Helens have done.

Crater Lake – 1,943 feet deep, 4.5- 6 miles across, 4.9 trillion gallons of water.

We spent some time looking around the Visitor Center and the edge of the lake before meeting up with the park rangers for a special treat…a snowshoe hike!

Summertime entrance to the Visitor Center, there was an access path dug out on the end of the building for now.

One side of the access path.

Side of the park store and snack shop, the windows are on the third floor.

This shot was taken along one of the plowed roads, apparently this was a winter with very little snow…the average annual snowfall is 43-45 feet!

The ranger-led snowshoe walks are a great way to experience winter at Crater Lake. I’ve never hiked on snowshoes before; heck, growing up in Louisiana I thought snow only belonged on postcards – certainly nothing one hikes in! But I was game to try, so Heinz and I rented some waterproof boots in town and were ready to go. The rangers supplied the snowshoes to a group of about thirty of us, showed us how to strap them on, then divided us into two groups led by one ranger each. The walk lasted around 2½ hours across some moderately strenuous terrain. What a great experience…as I told the ranger, snowshoeing could make me learn to like snow and winter.

Pre-hike doubts ALL OVER my face!

I thought this was snow ”shoeing”, not “surfing”.

Are you sure the best way down is headfirst?

You know, this is actually kind of fun!

Heading across the meadow into the woods.

Post-hike grin that I just could NOT get off my face.

View of the lake at the end of the trail.

Leaving Klamath Falls we moved a few hours up the road to Eugene, OR, another city on our list of possible retirement towns. Eugene, at a population of 157,000, is the second largest city in the state. It is another college town, home of the University of Oregon Ducks (Really? With a mascot like that, is it any wonder they lost to LSU!). We enjoyed the town, but it didn’t make the cut for a future home. Some of the nicest aspects of the area are easy access to outdoor activities and good motorcycling roads, along with close proximity to the coastline. We did take some time to explore the gardens in Hendricks Park. The park, much like the one in Ashland, is in the middle of the town and has both wild and cultivated areas, hiking trails, picnic areas, etc.

Heinz in front of a magnificent white rhododendron.

Rhododendron.

Japanese Magnolia.

Yellow Fawn Lily.

After Eugene it was off to Portland. This city has a reputation for rain, rain, and more rain. Yes, we did get some rain, but most days were a mix of sun, clouds, and afternoon showers. Out of curiosity I googled the rainiest cities in the contiguous U.S. Surprise, surprise… Portland doesn’t even make the top 30. Mobile, Alabama is number one at 67 inches annually followed by Pensacola, Florida at 65 inches and New Orleans, Louisiana at 64 inches. Contrary to what we thought, the Pacific Northwest didn’t even show up on the list until Olympia, Washington at number 29. On the other hand, Seattle tops the list of cloudiest cities with solid overcast an average of 226 days per year. Portland comes in second with 222 days.

Portland is a dynamic city with something happening constantly. One day just after we got there, Heinz told me to dress in nice jeans and shirt because he had an evening surprise for me. So I got dressed and we headed out to poke around the city. First up was a stop at Voodoo Doughnuts. Famous around the world, this doughnut shop has over 90 different luscious bits of dough on their menu.

The original Voodoo Doughnuts, there are now 3 other locations in town.

Voodoo goodies, right to left: Portland Cream (filled with Bavarian cream and topped with chocolate and two eyeballs), Classic Cruller, Voodoo Doll (filled with raspberry cream, topped with chocolate, and a pretzel stake through the heart), and an Old Fashioned Cake doughnut.

That night I got my surprise. Heinz had gotten tickets to see Diana Krall, my absolute favorite jazz singer. I was ready to do flips…if I thought I could actually do flips! I was in seventh heaven during the entire concert. Once again I had one of those grins that took hours to disappear.

Ready to tap my fingers, move my feet, and be enthralled.

In no particular order we did quite a bit in Portland. We spent some time in the original Powell Books in downtown. This is the world’s largest bookstore offering over four million new and used books. The store takes up an entire city block and is three stories high. It’s the only bookstore I’ve ever been in that gives out maps so patrons can find their way around!

One city block...

4,000,000 books and counting, and one ecstatic book lover called Teresa!

We also stopped in at the Architectural Heritage Center (AHC). This is a non-profit resource for historic preservation. As “home base” for heritage conservation in the Portland area, the AHC hosts programs, tours and exhibits each year to build awareness of older and historic buildings in the area. There was an exhibit of antique house hardware on display the day of our visit. Heinz was completely enthralled.

Doorknob, late 1800s.

Door hinge, late 1800s.

If you need a break from the hustle and bustle of the city the Lan Su Chinese Garden is a quiet oasis in the middle of the busy city. It is only one city block in size but leaves the impression of a much larger garden. Completed in 2000, the garden is considered the most authentic Suzhou-style Chinese garden outside of China. Most of the building materials, including more than 500 tons of rock, came from China and were assembled by artisans from Suzhou. Lan Su Garden is designed to engage all of your senses from the rock mosaics underfoot to the sounds of rushing water, and seasonal blossoms. There’s even a teahouse with over 45 teas available for tasting.

Rock mosaic footpath.

Entrance to teahouse.

Teahouse from across the Fish Pavilion.

“Reflections in Clear Ripples”, a corner by the Fish Pavilion.

Who knew there were so many teas?

We finally decided on a “flight” of three oolongs with almond cookies to munch.

View from inside the teahouse.

On a nice sunny morning we drove down the Columbia River Gorge, heading east on the Washington side of the river and returning on the Oregon side. The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest, rising in the Canadian Rockies and flowing south into Washington, then turning west to form most of the border between Washington and Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. In total the river drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven U.S. states and one Canadian province.

The river supports several species of salmon, including sockeye, Coho, Chinook and steelhead. Dams along the river interrupt the migration of these fish, so some of the Columbia River dams employ fish ladders. These are effective to varying degrees at allowing these fish to travel upstream. At the Bonneville Dam Visitor Center, underwater windows offer an eye-to-eye peek at the thousands of Chinook and Coho salmon wriggling their way up the dam’s fish ladders each fall.

Bonneville Dam. Sorry, no pictures of fishing scurrying up the ladders – they’re still out at sea.

About halfway down the gorge, we crossed over to the Oregon side at the Hood River Bridge. This is a vertical lift bridge in which the center span rises while remaining parallel to the remainder of the bridge. It leads into a nice small town called appropriately, Hood River. We spent some time tooling around the area and thought it quite a nice place, except...its main claim to fame is the amount of wind that channels down the river gorge. These winds make Hood River the world’s best location for wind surfing and the city annually hosts the world championships.

Hood River Bridge.

Hood River, OR.

Local artists creating a blown glass vase.

Apple orchards outside Hood River. The 35-mile Hood River County Fruit Loop circles through the valley passing cherry, apple and pear orchards, vineyards, berry farms, alpaca ranches, pumpkin patches, and lavender farms.

We took a day trip out to see Mount St. Helens. This volcano erupted on May 18, 1980 killing 57 people and blowing down or scorching miles of forest. Luckily the eruption occurred on a Sunday when over 1,000 logging employees were enjoying a day off or the death toll would have been much higher.

Shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, the north face of this tall symmetrical mountain collapsed in a massive avalanche of rock and ice. In moments the avalanche slammed into (and obliterated) Spirit Lake, crossed a ridge 1,300 feet high, and roared 14 miles down the Toutle River. A lateral explosion ripped through the avalanche and developed into a stone-filled wind that left over 150 square miles of forest blown down or left dead and standing. Over 650 miles of logging and public roads, 16 miles of railroad, and 19 bridges were buried in ash or washed away by mudflows. A vast gray landscape lay where once the forests grew.

In 1982 the 110,000-acre National Volcanic Monument was created. Inside the Monument the environment has been left to respond naturally to the disturbance for research purposes. Outside the Monument, logging and lumber companies have replanted the forests after harvesting the downed trees for processing. The recovery effort saved 850 million board feet of timber - enough to build 85,000 three bedroom homes.

Mount St. Helens.

Trees blown down by the eruption in 1980.

National Monument schematic of the sequence of events around the avalanche.

Former location of Spirit Lake.

Panoramic photo of the valley.

After two weeks in the Portland area, we headed west to Astoria OR. Astoria was the terminus of the Lewis and Clark expedition and later Oregon’s first boomtown - a hub for fur traders and fishermen.

One of the town’s landmarks is the Astoria Column. Built in 1926 on the highest point in Astoria, 600 feet above sea level, it was styled after Trajan’s Column in Rome. It rises 125 feet from base to crown. Spiraling upward, a graphic timeline depicts the history of the
Old West beginning with early explorers’ first contact with indigenous peoples and ending with the building of the railroad. Heinz tackled the 164 spiral steps to the top, but I opted for the ground view and stayed put.

Astoria Column.

Astoria-Megler Bridge over the mouth of the Columbia River (from the top of the Astoria Column that I didn’t climb).

Of course Heinz and I have to explore the surrounding countryside whenever we hit a town, so off we went to Tillamook, OR - of milk, butter and cheese fame. The first settler in the vicinity was Joseph Champion, who came in 1851 and made his home in a hollow spruce tree he called his “castle”, if that gives you any idea of the size of some of the trees in this part of the country! By 1859 the tax roll for the county listed 48 taxpayers worth $29,774.75, total taxes paid that year was $428.17. In 1885 the county tax rolls boasted “3,335 sheep, 30 goats, 2,207 hogs, 19 mules, 4,430 cattle, 500 legal voters, and 352 females over 18.” In 2011, the population of Tillamook was 4,675 (and the county over 25,000), “with just about the same number of cows”.

We passed on the cheese factory tour and went straight to the Air Museum. The museum is housed in one of the few remaining WWII blimp hangars in the nation. In 1942, with supplies of steel scarce, the U.S. Navy began construction of 17 wooden hangers along the U.S. coastlines to house K-class blimps to be used for anti-submarine coast patrol and convoy escort. Each hangar was 1,072 feet long, 192 feet high (over 15 stories), 296 feet wide, with over 7 acres under the roof. Each hangar could house eight blimps – they’re HUGE! Today, these remaining hangars are the largest wooden clear-span structures in the nation.

Hangar B, home of the Tillamook Air Museum.

Hangar doors, each door is 120 feet high and weighs 30 tons.

Photo taken during construction in 1942.

Stationed at Naval Air Station Tillamook was Squadron ZP-33 with a fleet of eight K-class blimps. The K-ships were 252 feet long and filled with 425,000 cu. ft. of helium. With a range of 2,000 miles and an ability to stay aloft for three days, they were well suited for coastal patrol.

Airship sizes flying in 1942.

Location of naval blimp stations during WWII.

The ones in black are existing hangars.

With the war over, Naval Air Station Tillamook was decommissioned in 1948 and the hangers ceded to the town. Over the years, they were used for varied industrial purposes. In 1992, Hanger A was being used to store hay when a fire broke out. Local firefighters could do little but prevent the fire from engulfing Hanger B. Since 1994 the remaining hangar has been home to one of the top five privately owned aircraft collections in the nation. All planes in the collection are maintained and flown on a regular basis.

P-38 Lightning, note the oil drips under the plane.

Japanese Ki-43 Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) called “Oscar” by Allied reporting forces. It was often called the “Army Zero” by American pilots for its side-view resemblance to the Mitsubishi A6M Zero flown by the Japanese Navy.

War production poster.

On the side of the hanger were some old train engines and cars that were rusting away on an unused line of track. There was no information about them but they made for some really interesting photo opportunities.

We were staying at the Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Base in Warrenton, OR. As you pulled out of the base there was a small church and cemetery at the side of the road. We stopped in to explore one day, and discovered that the church was the oldest Presbyterian Church in Oregon, first meeting in 1859. The cemetery was the Clatsop Plains Pioneer Cemetery, established in 1850 “as a common burying place for all persons wishing to bury in the same, free of expense”. It is still used for that purpose today.