Day 25 - Nature's Bounty

I love farmer's markets.  Every where we travel, we look for possible markets to support and purchase fresh local foods.  Sometimes the timing works out.

Asparagus from Eastern Washington

Beaverton Farmer's Market is one of the best, especially this time of year.  I brought my new Olympus camera with me to shoot some photos.

Local Beets

Huge it is and well attended.  I forgot to take photos of the booths because it was so busy and crowded.

Raspberries!!!

I just tried to shoot photos of some groupings of wonderful fruits and veggies.

Asparagus Tamale.  Yes it is!  and yummy to boot

And some flowers too.

Flowers for sale

Then I got distracted and here it is Friday and tomorrow is Farmer's market so we do it all over again. Like Ground Hog Day, or The Edge of Tomorrow without guns.

The first of 3 flats we have eaten in the past week

heh, heh.......

Oh My, What Sweet Lips You Have!

Some random thoughts and photos from past week since I haven't posted in a while.

We have been here in Laurelwood for a week now.  Visiting friends and serving here and there.  Most of you regular readers know our home address is now here at Ananda Laurelwood where education and community is most important.  Not all "Laurelwoodians" live on the property as we do.

The gentlemen farmers

 We visited our long time good friends, Dambara and Manisha, who live just down the street.  Having moved up to Oregon last summer at the same time we did, they bought an acreage and have become "gentlemen farmers".  Last week they bought some Llamas so we went over to meet the new arrivals.

My what soft lips you have!

 I have never before feed a llama.  They have such soft lips.  What fun to sit outside and catch up on happenings the past year while we have been traveling.  Sraddha also is doing more photography.  Mostly with iPhone and she has a great eye.  Better than me.  I am trying to coax her into shooting with our new Olympus camera which is light weight.

Smile!!!

Since we were last here, some new folks have come on the scene.  Elizabeth and Ty are from Portland area and she and Sraddha have bonded over the beautification of Ananda Laurelwood so they are planning all kinds of fun projects.

A little garden right outside the cafe

We usually return to the RV after morning meditation to have our coffee and breakfast, but do take some meals in the Green Hill Cafe which serves a delightful fresh vegetarian fare.

Green Hill Cafe lunch time

 One of our other long time friends, Janakidevi, has a vision for a "Yogananda Garden" in the wild areas up on the hill behind where we reside.  This morning we went for a walk with her, bushwacking through the fields and along the dirt road up to the top of the hill to look at possible places for trails and beautiful resting spots for visitors.  I snapped a few pix along the way.

Walking amidst the brambles

She wants to have a large statue of Paramhansa Yogananda created and installed up on the crest of the highest point.  No spring chicken, she envisions this parklike environment where now is mostly brambles.  Admirable.

View from top of hill looking out west towards coastal range

As we were walking around I couldn't help take in the breathtaking beauty all around us.  This planet has a guiding force of grace and beauty everywhere.  If only we can tap into that energy.

beautiful flowers

While up at the crest I shot this short video on my iPhone scanning the vista while she discusses her vision.  sound is not  very good but we will post more later on.

Days 10-13 - One Day a Desert Rat, the next Day a Beach Bum

Miles Driven - None in RV  some in Jeep
Total Miles - 975
Still on Oregon Coast - heh, heh

One day we are in the last day of 8 months in dry desert, the next day we are on the beach,  Well, to be precise, 2 days later, but, when you are on the beach, hey, you lose track so easily. Know what I mean?

One day Painted Hills In John Day Fossil Beds, Oregon

Next Day Manzanita Beach in Oregon

Well, er, uh, ok, no excuses, like being a beach bum.  Perhaps that is why I haven't written in several days.  Sometimes you just need to take a little break which we have here at Nehalem Bay State park on the Oregon Coast.

We actually did something the other day.  We walked the 2 miles to downtown Manzanita and went geocaching.  Remember, I found my very first geocache last week at the Gordon House in Silverton when I wasn't even looking.  So I downloaded the app and, and opened it up to see if anything nearby.

Second GeoCache

Yep, there was one.  A little hunting, we discovered it behind some bushes in front of a home on main street.  Tee-hee.

One thing about the Oregon coast is how favorable the climate is for plants and flowers.  We admire some of the local gardens as we walked around town.

Admiring local garden

 Back home at the "Rancho del Williams", (aka CharLi, aka the RV), We cooked up some grub from local seafood shop.

I love "See Food"  when I see it, I eat it!

Only minutes from the beach I monitored the sunset possibilities, and dashed out to find a good place to watch.  Much of this time of the year is clouded in with fog banks so you have to shoot these when you can. 

El Rancho del Williams

I found a nice little dune which gave off some reflection of suns rays and spent a good 45 minutes watching the sunset and taking photos.  I ruined the shots from regular camera but managed to get a couple with the iPhone.  Never leave home without it.

Today we drove to Cannon Beach about 20 miles north.  We ate some lunch at local places, I had pizza and she had fish & chips.

Puffins!!

 We walked out onto the beach near Haystack Rock in hopes of seeing some Puffins.  It is breeding time for many birds.  Unfortunately the tide was in so we couldn't get too close.  I got no useable photos except from iPhone (see droopy camera there).  Through Sraddha's scope, we could see some puffins and Murres, and Pelagic Comorants on the rock.

BIRD!!!

We headed back south along highway 101. Interesting to note the cloud bank seems to hang permanently over Cannon Beach this time of year, while Manzanita and Nehalem Bay is usually sunny. (Editors note that tonight the clouds moved back in so no sunset.)

looking south towards Manzanita Beach.  Note fog bank further south 

This few days of R&R have been fun.  We spent the mornings walking and also researching and making some reservations for next winters trip to Florida.  Have some fun places booked. It gets crowded down there so wanted to make sure we have some places to stay during peak season.  Mid December through March 2 is now booked.  The rest, we will wing it.

 If you have read this far, I will let you in on a big secret......Promise not to tell anyone? We get to spend my 65th birthday next January in......

.......

wait for it.......

The Florida Keys!!  Woo Hoo

Off to Ananda Laurelwood for a few weeks.  So I won't post daily but hope to put up some photos and some fun things.

Day 11 - Coast Ho with a kinky cable!

Miles Driven - 146
Total Miles - 975
Silver Falls Sate Park to Nehalem Bay State Park on Oregon Coast

The adventure continues.  Did you know that, in California, we used to get our Christmas trees from this area in Oregon.  We drove through miles and miles of farms like this en route to Silverton, Oregon.
We had just left 8 months of being in dry, desert like conditions, to now feeling the soft, moist, soothing air caressing our skin.  mmmmmmm.

Christmas Tree Farms

Upon arriving at David Gortner's home yesterday, in Silverton, we noticed our Jeep brakes were smoking hot.  What is happening here.  We were parked on a downgrade so could not disconnect.  Had been noticing the brake lights remain on the jeep when we stopped earlier and have been doing this for a while. Something is not quite right.

We had our coffee and visit.  Was fun to catch up with David, but the brake issue was in the back of my mind. Just to let you know that we were able to disconnect down on the bottom of his street before driving onto public roads.  Sraddha set up to follow me in Mr. Toad.

The culprit- a kinky cable.  Please excuse the desert dust.  

We then headed to South Salem to shop at Trader Joe's and refuel at a Safeway gas station.  I got on my cell phone, did some research, ended up speaking with the tech support guy for the braking system installed in our rig and did some troubleshooting.  Turns out not an electronic problem. Whew. However, the cable that runs from under the drivers seat to the brake peddle appears to have a little kink in it, so consequently it is sticking a little bit when the actuator initiates during braking of RV and doesn't allow the cable to completely release.  We hope our brake drums are not destroyed.  Will take in for check in Portland.

Sraddha drove the jeep independently without issue all the way to the coast and will drive it back to Laurelwood next week where we will take it into a brake specialist to examine the brake system and fix as needed.

Short Coastal Pine trees lined the drive into the park

I have an appointment in two weeks down in Salem with a dealer who will install a new cable which, hopefully will fix the issue.

our campsite for the weekend.

We will be in Laurelwood for next 5 weeks before heading inland and wanted to be on the beach for a few days so we headed to the coast. By the end of the day, when we arrived, we were ready to be done with the daily adventure.

I did manage to capture the last sun of the day on the beach with iPhone.

May not blog too much over the weekend.  We will see.  Stay tuned!

Day 10 North - A Water fall

We stayed our first night on west side of Cascades at Silver Falls State Park east of Salem.

North Falls from Overlook

This park is known for its 10 waterfalls spread out through the largest state park in Oregon.  

North Falls from other side down the trail

You can hike along the 9 mile trail to see all 10 falls if you have the time.  I hope to return someday to do that.

I got up early in the morning and, after morning tea, drove over to North falls trailhead. The trail leads down UNDER the falls and all around to the other side.

Underneath with mist

I should have brought my earplugs as the roar of the falls was echoed throughout the underside.

Sitting in the back of the cave like area looking out under the fall.

Hiking back up I noticed some beautiful trees with moss growing on limbs.  A true rain forest.

Nearby in the campground, behind our site I walked amidst deep vegetation. We left Silver Falls State Park vowing to return for a longer stay and hikes its trails.  We drove to Silverton through Christmas Tree Farms, to see and former colleague from Ananda Village, David Gortner who lives in the area with his author wife, Lennie Martin.

Then we decided to drive to the coast.  Which is another adventure story.  Stay tuned

Day 8 - Travel through Time in the John Day Fossil Beds

Miles  Driven - 101
Total Miles -     653
Clyde Holliday State park to Ochoco Pass NF Campground

We began the day driving west down the John Day River valley.  Being May, it is still green.  Never having driven this section of Oregon before, it was pretty neat.  My main impression of central Oregon had been over by Bend, and also along the basalt bluffs of Columbia River where it is dry desert sage brush.  Amazed at the ranches, pine forests, and beauty.

In eastern Oregon lies one of the most complete natural history of the past 60 million years.  The John Day Fossil Beds National Monument occupies 3 main units in eastern Oregon.  We visited 2 units.  Driving west from John Day, Oregon we follow the river through the narrow Picture Gorge where we see 17 different volcanic layers each representing over 8,000 years of time.

Picture Gorge.  17 volcanic layers averaging 8,000 yrs each.

This is an amazing place.  Essentially, there are layers of volcanic ash dating back 40 + million years ago in which fossils the whole Mammal Age can be found.

The monument was inaugurated in 1975 with 3 distinct units.  We first visited the Visitor Center on the John Day River, spending 3 hours touring one of the best educational displays we have ever seen, which covers each era of which there about 8-10.

Amazing displays at Visitor Center

We then drove further north to the first unit, the Blue Basin and pulled into the parking lot trusting there would be room to turn around.

John Day River Valley near Blue Basin

 We were assured by the ranger that we could turn around in the parking lots so we headed in.  There was room.  Whew.  Ya never know.

Backside of blue Basin Overlook Trail looking north

Two hikes were recommended. We set off on the Overlook trail first  which took us around the backside then steep switchbacks up about 800 feet to the overlook.

Overlook of the Blue Basin

We hiked about a mile along the rim before descending via switchbacks to the center of the canyon.

Most of our photos were shot with the iPhone, however I did manage to shoot a couple with the big Canon.  They will be on my Flickr page.

Is it really that blue down there?

 The second hike took us down into the center of the canyon.

Blue and Green Volcanic Tuff with many layers on top

The blues and greens are volcanic Tuff layed down 30+million years ago. Over time, many layers heaped on top caused compression and metamorphosis of the tuff turning it these fascinating colors

Yep, it's blue all right

 All during the hike, CharLi and Mr. Toad waited faithfully in the parking lot.  Just barely fitting in.

Charli and Mr. Toad waited in the parking lot, waaaayyy down there.

Our second visit was to the Painted hills unit about an hours drive west.  It was after 5 PM when we departed back to the main highway, over a mountain pass, down into another river valley, north 6 miles just hoping we arrive in time before the sun pops behind clouds for rest of night.

Painted hills.  Also Volcanic Tuff like blue basin.  Just different color

We were not disappointed.  In fact the clouds accommodated us quite nicely, darkening the distant hills and accentuating the painted hills.  Photos do not really depict how incredible the beauty really is.

Love the 10 second delay on the big camera.

We didn't want to leave but had to head out at almost 8 PM because we didn't know where we would camp this night and still had, maybe an hour of useable light left to park.  After all, there are no Walmarts around here.

Shooting the Painted hills.  I only had about 20 minutes of good light.

We drove back out to the main road.  Along the way we did see one possible BLM dry site, however, with the fading light, was not sure we could make it in there and didn't know about rain overnight leaving the road muddy and stranding us.  Such wusses we are.  Plus we did know of a Forest Service campground up on Ochoco Pass (4723' elevation) which we thought would have space for us.  

Turns out we found a sweet pull through and cost us only $6 to camp in the tamarack and pine forest.  We pulled in around 8:45, dropped the levelers and out go the slides.  Sraddha had started some Posole early in the morning which just needed to be reheated and seasoned.  We ate, listening to the wind rustling in the trees and slept soundly, quite satisfied of a full day or hiking, learning, and being in some incredible natural beauty we had not even imagined a few days before.