Oregon Coast and a kink in the plans

So we got up this morning, our last day of the Salem International Rally and the day we needed to depart the fairgrounds.  I got out our packet of important papers and put todays destination on top.....Wait, oh no, Check in to Ft. Stevens State Park July 1st.....Um, someone made a mistake, not saying who, but her initials are MAD.

Well fortunately we're early risers and we had time to recover. I download the Allstays App as recommended at one of the seminar rallies.  I hadn't used it previously but it turned out to provide a good solution.  But remember it is summer on the Oregon coast, prime rv travel time and it's Saturday night.  The first two or three phone calls resulted in the 'sorry, all booked' message.  I should have thought that places with pools, hot tubs, close to the ocean and generally more amenities were not going to be available.

Finally a spot in the Lewis and Clark RV and Gold resort was available!  I really wanted to get out to the coast and not spend more time where we'd been.  Later this week we'll travel back to Portland for a 4 day stay so I desperately wanted the coast.

Turns out it's really pretty here.  Of course the golf course view sites are reserved for  multiple day stays and are also full of Class A's who pull in forward so if we were to back in to a view we'd be awning to awning.  But for one night a pull through in a cool shady spot with nice greenery is pretty near perfect.

Their laundry, restroom and shower are also pristine so I see a nice long shower in my future.

Here was the route today, up the 5 onto the 217 and then the 26 out to the coast.  It was an easy drive and very picturesque.

On a one night stay with laundry to be done and a recommended seafood food truck and dining patio nearby we don't even bother to unhook.  No nesting patio with awning, rug, chairs and plants, but inside still gets the full treatment.

Her are some views from the drive today.  It is so spectacularly beautiful here.  I love the tall trees and dramatic skies.

The spots here are narrow but there are pretty trees, some lawn and a table.  Our outside thermometer is reading 77 but I think that's unlikely with completely overcast skies and a gentle breeze. (mystery solved, Mark just informed me the outside temperature sensor is not outside, it's in an upper cabinet. That explains it!)

Oh and before you ask,the most asked question, yes we do pull it with this SUV and yes it's safe and yes it can pull up mountains with no trouble.  We've been all over the rockies. 

Tomorrow we'll move over to Ft. Stevens and then do some exploring.  For now I have clean sheets and it's time to wrestle them back onto the beds.

Highlights of our stay in Salem

We arrived on Saturday and I spotted a raku class that would happen on Tuesday.  I keep it in mind and I'm happy I did.

On site at the Salem fairgrounds there is a Willamette art center.  The rally event coordinators worked with the art center to provide the air streamers with some art classes during the week.  There was acrylic pours, hand building a mug, water color and raku pottery painting.

The raku sounding intriguing and fit my schedule so off I went.  The three gentleman who took us through the process were potters themselves of course and provided a wealth of information.  First off we picked whichever greenware we wanted and then after a review of available glazes we began painting.

One off my smaller round pots I wanted to do something more decorative then just paint it.  Fortunately I had brought my knitting and had a pencil and more importantly a tape measure.  I was able to measure the circumference which was approximately 11 inches.   I made a mark every inch and then freeform the undulating bands I wanted to paint.  I had the foresight to mark the first one because as you paint the glaze dries and it's hard to see on the second and third coat where you began.

I finished my more tedious one and then did two more pots just covering the surfaces.  This is  where the fun begins.  They preheat the greenware on top of the kiln and then open it and put the glazed pieces inside.  They take the kiln up to a temperature of about 1800 degrees in about an hour and then it's time for the next step.  (This is turning into a long story.)  On day one ( day two is another story) I didn't realize the dramatic moment of the kiln opening would provide glowing orange greenware with flowing glaze.  It was fleeting and by the time I dug my phone out to capture the picture the moment was gone.

The next part of the process was to pick up the glowing greenware with tongs and deposit them in a small trash barrel which was lined with newspaper.  This caused the paper to flame and once flaming the lid was put on.  The lack of oxygen creates the chemical reaction that makes the various colors of the glaze come alive.

I had no idea I would be so totally enamored with the process.  I think what I liked is that you are forced to surrender control.  The variations in the glaze colors cannot be planned.  The fire does what it does.

Here are my three pots from Day One

So.....I loved this technique and asked if they were going to offer it again.  The gentleman in charge said if I had 6 or 7 people they'd do it again.  My neighbor was all in, but that made two of us, so the next morning we carried my pots and solicited anyone and everyone until we had enough for a class!  (The husbands would have had to step up to be five and six were relieved we made our quota) I had been dreaming of polka dots so I brought my tape measure, a quarter, a nickel, a penny and a dime.

This was slightly more of a challenge because I decided to paint the dots randomly different colors.  Well it turns out many of the glazes though wildly different in the finished product, look very similar when painting them.  So to identify the dots for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th coats I had to start coding them. There were x dots, and ( dots, and o dots and - dots.  

I was going to leave the clay between dots black but it was recommended to me that it might be dark and to consider a white crackle.  That turned out to be a great suggestion, thank you Kelly.

Kelly was aware of my excitement about seeing my polka dots come out of the raku fire so he had a bit of fun with me, remembering which pot he put it in out of the 5 and left it until last.  After the 4th he said 'that's it, all done' chuckling all the way.  Finally the unveiling happened and I was completely enamored with my newest pot!  Oh it's not perfect by any means, but unlike bead, fabric or yarn, when it's done it's done (except for a bit of scrubbing), and I think that's a good thing.  I could embrace imperfection a bit more.

Here's a photo of the glowing orange kiln reveal.   I was poised and ready this time.

So if you're following my travel blog, this one turned into a bit more of a maker blog (maddesignsbeads.blogspot.com).  But it's still a good topic.

Moving on......The second to last night we had a disco night with music and dancing.  I don't dance often and I don't dance well but when the opportunity presents itself, I enjoy it.  The band was led by singer and sax player Patrick Lamb.  I love saxophone so I loved this shot of the player in shadow.

Friday was our last day and we chose to visit the Oregon garden.  What a stunning place it was.  There were ten or so different types of gardens including this conifer garden with whimsical trees referred to as Dr. Suess trees.  There were over 600 varieties all labeled.  We took a tram around the entire property and learned all about the cooling of the water before it was returned to the watershed through the Pudding river.  It was a beautiful outing.

We followed that up with a trip to close by Historic Silverton where we had beautiful crepes sitting on a charming outdoor patio overlooking a creek bed.

We finished up our last night with a happy hour inviting all of the nearby neighbors we'd traveled with.  

Next up, the Oregon Coast and a kink in the plans!

Day three of Salem International

What a difference a day makes....Yesterday was a high of 88 with no clouds and that is HOT.  With 700 trailers many sitting on blacktop this little temporary city was pretty steamy yesterday forcing many to their interiors with air conditioning running.

I don't really like to be crazy hot and the angle of the sun meant even under our awning we couldn't escape the sun.

We had a nice simple dinner and wandered off to the opening ceremony.  Two hours later we exited to a wild wind storm, very cool temps and then some night time rain, waking up to a nice cool 68 to 70 degree day.  The sun is intermittent so I can't decide from one minute to the next if I'm hot or cold.

I'm a nester so the minute we arrive anywhere I immediately create my surroundings  I travel with two of my collection of Stuart Abelman blown glass solar lights.  A quick trip to Fred Meyers provided the plant to secure them and each night I'm treated to a light show of changing colors.

I also borrowed an idea from a neighbor and created a side panel to the awning which adds privacy, creates some shade and lends more of a room like feeling to my temporary 'veranda'  Here I've tied it back with my Kinga Nichols design flamingos that I beaded.  I mean you gotta have flamingos right?

It's the perfect day for beading and knitting and I've been doing plenty of both.  I somehow lost my mind and didn't travel with enough bead thread (I use 6 lb smoke fireline that is used for fishing but the nearest Cabela's 32 miles away didn't have any in stock).  Through the miracle of modern technology and the wonderful organizational skills of the WBCCI I was able to order it from Amazon and have it delivered to the mail service on site.

My immediate neighbor in our temporary village here is also a beader.  She's done a lot of crochet and stringing while I do mostly bead weaving.  We've had a delightful time sharing the love of beads and tomorrow night we'll head off to join the Portland bead societies meeting.

Here's a photo out my door which gives you an idea just how close the quarters are here!

International airstream rally - Salem Oregon

We arrived!

We left Jackson Rancheria Wednesday morning headed for Red Bluff California and the Durango RV park.  Large beautiful sites some with a river view.  It was pretty and peaceful. We elected to stay hitched and eat in.  I did a bit of beading and generally relaxed.

The Sacramento river had a huge current and the  sound of water was soothing.

We got a mid morning start and arrived at the KOA Grants Pass where we pot lucked with the other caravan members.  It seemed my potluck skills which are minimal at best were severely challenged.  I decided on salmon salad since I had lots of it in the freezer.  Capers were a flavor ingredient, but were nowhere to be found.  A quick check suggested fresh dill....nope, no fresh dill either.  Also suggested was mixing plain yogurt with mayonnaise which sounded like a good idea so I scoured for plain yogurt which is not an easy find these days, but I found one or so I thought.  Mixed up the dressing and decided to taste before mixing it with a 1lb or more of salmon.  Thank goodness, it was awful.  The container revealed the reason, I had gotten vanilla by accident.  Fortunately I had enough ingredients to remake with without yogurt and in the end it was nice dish, but potlucks stress me out! I am no culinary queen for sure.

Our next days travel was to arranged for meeting in a Walmart parking lot near to the fairgrounds where the event was being held. I can say it makes quite a scene when 20 or so airstreams are parked in a Walmart parking lot. We all arrived at various times and then at our scheduled time we caravanned over to the 'bullpen' where you wait to be parked.  It's quite the organizational feat for them to park over 700 trailers and arrange water and electricity for most of them.

I am a fan of the airstream 'on the road' photos and wanted one of our airstream so I enlisted any members of the caravan who happened to be behind us to take some.  A huge thanks to Ruth and Paul who obliged us with some great photos!

This is the arrival at the bullpen, we're on the right. We are definitely in the minority pulling with an SUV but it works for us.

The official  opening ceremony is tonight and then there will be lots of different seminars and programs.  Mostly though I am eating well, visiting with friends, beading and knitting.  There is one building dedicated to hanging to and doing needlework which I will visit and there are some art classes offered on various days.  I think I will sign up for Tuesday Raku class.

A pretty Day in Sutter Creek

Two full days in one place which is a luxury when you're in 'get there' mode.  Yesterday we went off to the close by town of Sutter Creek.  It was a Monday so not all the restaurants, tasting rooms and shops were open and those that were open were being impacted by some serious street construction making a one way road right through the middle of town!

Having said that there were some nice shops there and it was also fun looking at the real estate which has kind of an East Coast vibe.  Sadly I didn't take any house photos.

The first three photos are of an antique garden shop which was nicely curated and very organic.

Again given it was Monday our restaurant choices were limited but the hotel Sutter had nice ambiance and served a good salad.

I stopped into the FineEye gallery and was impressed with their selection of art.  After seeing these whimsical birds around for many years I decided to choose from their large selection and bring one home to entertain me in the airstream.  They are made by Jim and Tori Mullan and are called Songbird Sculptures.  I am smitten with mine.

Color!  The airstream is a neutral palette and so I was craving some color!  These dish towels fit the bill!

After returning from our putting we were joined by four others in our caravan who are headed to Salem.   We spent a lovely evening being social with new friends.

Tomorrow we'll caravan to Durango resort in Red Bluff.  Always fun to see new places, but I must say I've loved our time here and will definitely return.

Bakersfield to Jackson California

It was an eventful day as not only did I drive, I drove starting with leaving the RV park.  So.....four years ago, a year after starting this airstream journey I decided I needed to b able to drive while towing.  We cans tart b y saying a am a fretful driver at best and I'm never truly relaxed while towing but I don't think it's reasonable for Mark to drive every leg of every trip and what would happen if he were ever ill and I HAD to drive.

I started out with him pulling onto a large shoulder and then I'd take over on a large straight freeway for a couple of hours, changing back at a rest stop or another large shoulder.  No turning required!  Well yesterday he said, want to drive from the start?  Me? Out of the RV park, turning corners?  ok.....

I know that it may sound silly to some of you.  There are many far more fearless than I, but trust me for me it's kind of a big deal.  But I did it and I did fine.  Still learning those wide turns!

Highway 99 t thorough the central valley.  Beautiful white fluffy clouds!  The kind of sky I love.

Mark took over halfway into the 4 1/2 hour trip, but I got my feet wet for this trip and I'll drive some more next leg.

There were many many grapevines along the way.  This one we took Lincoln Road off the 99.  Both Lincoln road and 88 were 2 lane (one each way) small country roads with no shoulder.  Not my favorite kind of driving but by then Mark had taken over. 

Right now we're here for three whole nights which is nice because it's a beautiful park. Jackson Rancheria RV park in Jackson.  It's associated with a casino, which is not so nice because as with most/all? casinos smoking is still allowed and it permeates the entire experience.  So no casino for me.  But the park has large spaces and ours is a back in meaning we have a beautiful canyon forest view out our back window. My pink glassy baby is named BFF and was the one that started my collection.  I'm excited that we'll be in Seattle the home of glass babies.  I expect that my collection may grow.....

My daughter sent me this image from their Facebook page.  

and I found this floating bridge event scheduled for a day I'm going to be there...oh Tracy????

http://www.glassybaby.com/seattle-wa-floating-bridge-brewing-party-jul-8

This is the office at Jackson Rancheria RV resort which tells you about the design aesthetic, very nice.

If you didn't know I'm a fancy girl.  My mother was too.  She never had much money but she always had nice things.  Cartons were never allowed on the table and she always used her finest things.  So how does one bring along their best glass?  

and here I can be found relaxing in my favorite way!  This is the back of a vest for Mark.  It's wool silk and cashmere and knitted on size 1 needles, so it's fine stitches.  The yarn is beautiful.  I finished the back yesterday and will cast on the front today.  It's good mindless knitting for visiting which we'll be doing a lot of during the next two weeks.

Friends gave me recommendations for the area, especially dining recommendations so we'll be checking some of those out and we'll report.  Last night we had a lovely and easy meal cooked in.  A simple grilled chicken breast with a caprese salad made with burrata cheese, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil.

Stats:

Route  58 to 99 to Lincoln Road to 88 to Dalton Road

7:30 a.m. to 12:50 p.mm. 5 hours and 10 minutes with two quick stops

Seattle Bound - summer of 2018

Well a little less than a week ago we returned home from a trip to Spain and readied ourselves for our next adventure in the airstream.  You see I get restless.  Last year the information came out that the Airstream International rally would be in Salem Oregon this year.  We've never been and it was on our coast!  Oh and I mentioned restless right.  I guess I was probably home for a few weeks and feeling the need to make plans.

Since we were going to be all the way north in Oregon why not go to Seattle too!  So the planning began.  Turns out a number of folks from our own San Diego unit are also going and so a caravan was arranged.  Due to Spain we couldn't join up at the region rally in Mammoth lake so we'll meet up with the caravan in Jackson California on Monday.

So what does all that planning look like?  A 1/2 inch of paper with all of our maps, reservations, dates and important papers with multiple clips to keep the piles organized because Mark's an engineer.

Given I am never entirely relaxed while towing (although I'm way better than I used to be) I like to keep travel distances short so we planned a midway stop in Bakersfield.

Instead of the hustle of Los Angeles we decided to take the more inland route which is only about a twenty minute penalty....well it would have been if someone hadn't forgotten one very critical box at home....one hour in we turned around, so that's how todays journey started.  We drove 268 miles plus another 80 or so for the return of the forgotten item.  With a lunch and gas stop it ended up being just under 7 hours. This is a view of the golden rolling hills of California somewhere on highway 58.

We've used this park as a stopover before.  It's convenient, full of orange trees, has big level sites and good wifi!  It's also, contrary to reviews I read, not crowded.  For mid June I think they might be 1/4 full but then it's mid afternoon and since many use it as a stop over I'm guess it will fill up more as the day goes on.

With the Good Sam Discount it was $40 a night which fits the budget just fine.  It's 96 outside so I am thankful for full hook ups and air conditioning.

Typically the first thing I do when we arrive somewhere is create some zen.....then I can carry on with the relaxing! My poor air plant had a mishap in the back seat of the car so I'll be looking for a new one (which I am aware might not be that easy)    We won't even unhitch today, just spend the day in the cool air.  I'll probably knit and then cook.

I had a long chat with Maya and we're establishing boundaries.   I brought her favorite igloo bed and I told her she'd need to be in it unless we could establish a fair distance.  She prefers to be millimeters away from my thigh at any given point and it makes it hard to get in and out of the seating.  I'm hoping my iPad case will serve as reminder.  I love her, I do but six weeks of her on top of me is difficult.

Am I good Mom, is this good?

I'm trying, I promise

 Always nice when your kitchen window perfectly frames another airstream.

So today is the start of a six week journey.  I'm typically bad at keeping track of where we've stayed and how long we've driven and where we've eaten and what places we found to be beautiful and friends we've met along the way, so I hope to take you along on the journey while we create some memories.

Stats

Lemon Grove to Bakersfield

268 miles + 80 for the return of a forgotten item - 7 hours (lunch and gas stops)

Route 125 to 52 to 15 to 215 to 138 to 14 to 58

Diesel $3.99/gal $87.50

Orange Grove RV park $40 1 night