Saturday, October 31, 2009

Outback

Wandered thru Oregon visiting. Came to Sparks via Oregon Outback and Nevada's Black Rock Desert and Pyramid Lake. Friends caravaned down with me in their 5th wheel.
A lot of Trick/treaters in Sparks tonight.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Washington Park and museum

Turns out it didn't rain afterall. Had a long walk in the park along Wildwood Trail, Beech trail, magnolia trail and others. The Fall colors were brilliant. We were on a quest to find the cherry tomato vine growing wild inside the park. It was huge.........covered about a 10' diameter circle (well, sort of a circle). Had lots of tomatoes. Mostly green ones now. We came back down the trails after dark and that was my spooky Halloween thing. Wouldn't have wanted to be there alone trying to find the trails after dark. With company, it was fun.

Today we went to see Raphael's "The Woman with the Veil" at the Portland Art Museum. The painting is on loan from Italy and we had to have a ticket for specific time. We could see the painting between 3 - 3:30pm.

Listened to street band playing at a PSU pregame Block Party on one of my walks with Chet. Music, hot dogs, tables and beer at the blocked off street.

Sidewalks were golden with fallen leaves and have now been cleaned with blowers.

A bright cresent moon above red and golden trees makes a nice ending for my day.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Settling in to Portland for a few days. Will go to art museum tomorrow. Doing this posting to see if I can post from my mobile.
Grabbing my rain gear and heading up to Washington Park for a walk with Chet.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Blogging is a new experience for me, but I am going to try this instead of email for my friends.

Winter Raven is the name of my RV and Chet, my Springer Spaniel, and I are off on another drive about. Our journey began Oct. 13th on the ferry to Bellingham. Chet is a seasoned traveler and easily adapts to the routine of 15 minute car deck calls at 8:30a, 2:30p and 8:30p on the portion of the ferry ride between Ketchikan, AK and Bellingham, WA. Our stop in Ketchikan was wonderful............sunny and warm. Absolutely amazing for mid-October. Well,.........amazing to have sun at all for most of the year in Ketchikan. We were in port from 10am to 5pm so had plenty of time for a leisurely stroll in to town and Creek Street shops. Yes!, the Parnassus bookstore is still there. Previous owner Lilian is now in Ketchikan's Pioneer Home and the store is managed by Hunter. I am currently reading John Straley novels and bought 3 while there.

Arrived in Bellingham Oct 16th and drove with a friend down to the Stonington Gallery in Seattle to see an exhibit of NW Coast Art pieces.

Spent a couple days in Victoria, BC at an RV park beside the bay and just a couple miles from downtown. I could see across the bay to the Parliament building and Empress Hotel. Visited my friends there and we went to another art show: this time in Sidney, BC.and then driving around to see sights, walk in the forest and on beaches. Went to Victoria by way of Anacortes and left on a ferry to Port Angeles. I was fascinated by an art piece in Sidney made of fused glass and a solar collector. The piece was about the size of a door, looked like stained glass and would turn on at dusk for about 4 hours using the stored solar energy.

Port Angeles was a "blast from the past", as my friends put it. We had not seen one another for over 20 years and it was delightful to catch up so easily on a long ago friendship.

"Find a wheel and it goes round round round..............." Chet and I continued on, this time to Bremerton family.

Winter Raven, Chet and I are heading on our Southward journey to spend 3 months or so in Loreto, Baja. I'll see what I can do with this blogspot to keep you aware of our journey