Sat, Oct 9, 2010

Saturday, October 10, 2010

We awoke this morning to clouds and a light rain as we anticipated.  So it made a good day to just relax for a while and have an extra cup of coffee.  Charles read all of the papers he had collected and I finished another Shutterbug magazine.  Then it was time to get some breakfast and see what interesting things we could find in the area around us.  We went ahead and reserved our same motel room before we left since we don’t want to head toward the coast until this rain moves out. 

Charles had picked out a few scenic roads in the area and we headed out to the north side (Washington side) of the Columbia River Gorge.  Our first stop was at the Maryhill Museum of Art.  A totally poured concrete structure with no wood, it was built in the early 1900s by Samuel Hill.  The museum has a very interesting and extensive history but I’ll try to condense it. He originally planned to live in the house but because of irrigation problems in this remote area he never moved into it.  Mr Hill was very interested in building highways and roads in the northwest and was instrumental in the building of the highway along the Columbia River Gorge.  He wanted to be sure people could enjoy the beauty of this scenic area.  He was friends with Loie Fuller, a pioneer of modern dance in Paris, and she convinced Mr. Hill to turn the unused structure into an art museum.  Thru her association with many French artists she helped him obtain an impressive collection.  The museum has over 80 pieces by the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Another of Mr Hill’s friends, the Queen of Romania (who was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria) came to the US and dedicated the museum.  But the museum was not ready to be opened and a short time later Mr Hill became ill on a trip and died.  Tied up with problems in his estate the museum was finished finally by another friend and has was officially opened on Mr Hills birthday in 1940. 

Unfortunately, we were too early to tour the interior and see the great art works but we were able to tour the grounds and the exterior of the structure.  It sits high on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River Gorge and is impressive.  We hope to visit the museum itself on a return trip.  We did walk around the small town of Maryhill and found the beautiful old Advent Christian Church (now a community church) that was built in 1888 and an interesting old gas station.   

The next road we took was back across the gorge on the Oregon side.  Hwy 74 ran along the Willow Creek. At the small community of Cecil we crossed a section of the Oregon Trail Route. We stopped and read about the route that the pioneers took thru this community and some of the comments they wrote in their journals when they camped in this area. This particular spot was a favorite part of the trail due to the abundant water and grass.   

Further down the road, in the small town of Heppner we stopped at a local tire shop to get a rock out that had gotten wedged behind the brake rotor and had begun to squeal.  The guy at the tire shop, who was extremely friendly, asked where we were going and then suggested we take the Blue Mountain Scenic Byway just south of town.  It was a beautiful drive and we ended up in Pendleton, OR.  After a visit to the historic Hamley’s Western store in downtown Pendleton we headed back to The Dalles and our comfortable room. 

Although we were in and out of the rain again today and we never got any sunshine, it was a very relaxing and interesting day. The forecast for tomorrow is still rain so we will take a look at how much rain we might encounter tomorrow and make a decision about our route then.  We are well tonight and hope that yall are too.

Peace, Hope & Love,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger

Fri, Oct 8, 2010

Friday, October 8, 2010

“The days fly by like wild horses over the hills.” – Poet Richard Hugo

Today was all about horses.  I didn’t know the quote above would be so appropriate for describing the day.

I’ve mentioned numerous times we don’t really have an overall plan but take each day as it comes and adjust according to our interest and the weather.  We travel a lot of dirt roads and back roads in remote areas and the ability to do that is directly impacted by the weather and in particular rain.  In some areas it is illegal to travel certain dirt roads when they are wet.  We had planned to travel the Columbia River Gorge area and then move on over to the coast of Oregon.  As we watched the Weather Channel Thursday night we were disappointed to see some pretty heavy rains predicted on Saturday and Sunday for the coasts of Washington and Oregon. So it became apparent we needed to either change our direction or find a way to slow our progress.   

So as we left Toppenish, WA this morning we had only one small portion of our route picked out.  That would be Highway 97 headed south toward Goldendale, WA and then just a short drive over to the Columbia River Gorge.  The route was marked scenic on our map and was one of the only roads we had not taken already on previous trips to Washington. 

We were hardly 10 miles out of town when the highway left the valley and climbed steeply up Hembre Mountain.  Just over the ridge of the mountain and we saw to our east a long ridge (Toppenish Ridge).  It was a vast open area of sage covered hills, draws and canyons and drew us in like a magnet. We knew most of the Highway we were on was in the Yakima Indian Reservation and travel on reservations is usually restricted so when we saw a long dirt road we knew to look well at the entrance before entering.  There was nothing at the gate to prohibit entry and our GPS unit showed we weren’t in the reservation yet so we turned in and drove several hundred yards where we were going to just stop and let the dogs roam for a minute.  It was about 8:30 am and let me just say now that we did not return to this spot to leave until the middle of the afternoon. 

I was born loving horses.  My mom and dad used to say it was in my genes.  Before I could talk I would point to pictures of horses and smile.  I never remember a time when I didn’t want a horse or want to be near horses.  Luckily, Charles is a horse lover as well… just another reason why we are such a good match.  I have not been without a horse since I was nine when my dear sweet Uncle T, Aunt Grace and my cousin Jo gave me a young horse.  It was a life changing experience for me and one that would serve me well thru all the difficult times in my life and the good ones as well. 

When we spotted a small herd of horses on the side of one of the sage covered hills, I immediately took notice.  Having photographed a number of wild horses throughout the Western states we have learned the “look” of a wild horse from a distance.  I immediately told Charles that group of horses was wild.  Ok, we were hooked.  So our day of the wild horse search began.  We took another dirt road to the right in an effort to get closer to this herd.  They would, however have none of that.  As we eased along, they quietly walked over the ridge and disappeared.  We were never within ¼ mile of them and certainly not close enough for a photo.

We figured that was it for getting a photo and returned to the main dirt road and decided to just ride further in and enjoy the solitude and beauty of this high desert area.  As we drove along we began to spot herd after herd of horses, small groups of about ten to fifteen dotting the hills and as soon as they saw our Jeep they began walking away from us, usually up and over the nearest ridge.  After we had ridden in a couple of miles we just sat there in the open, took the binoculars and began to scan the ridges and draws.  The whole area was just full of these small herds of horses.  But unlike some wild herds, who have become accustomed to humans, these horses were very skittish and not at all interested in letting us get close. 

We spent the day moving just a little farther in, spotting new herds, watching them until they became uncomfortable with our distance or just our presence and they would disappear.  Well into the morning we had our closest encounter (which wasn’t that close).  A small band of three mares, one foal, and one stud was on a distant ridge and had walked away from us and entered a draw.  Apparently, they were headed for water in a nearby canyon where there was probably a spring.  Suddenly they popped into view, much closer and definitely walking with a purpose and direction.  When they disappeared again into the canyon, we started up the Jeep and slowly moved further up the hill to see if we might catch them crossing in front of us after drinking.  Just as we were about to give up, they appeared several hundred yards in front of us and they were as surprised as we were and took off.  At least they were close enough that I could quickly grab a few shots.  Charles asked how the photos looked and I remarked you could tell they were horses, that was about all.

The largest band we saw was probably twenty-five or so but most seemed to be groups of about ten to fifteen.  They never comingled with other bands but seemed to always stay an appropriate distance from each other. The vase majority of all the horses we saw were black or dark with usually one or two sorrels.  Several of the bands had grays and one had a couple of palominos. With the exception of one stud who seemed pretty thin the rest were in good shape, especially for wild horses. 

As we drove along it seemed we wouldn’t be able to get close to any of them.  One band seemed more interested in us and we got closer to them than any of the others but as soon as their comfort zone was breeched they turned and glided across the sage hills and disappeared as all the others had before them. 

We took the dirt road to the top of Topponish Mountain and the East Ridge where it seemed we were on top of the world.  To our left was the huge Yakima valley we had left that morning.  It was a gorgeous view.  We turned around and began our descent.  Just about halfway back down we spotted a small band moving across the hill to our left.  We decided to just drive along and see how close we could get to them.  They obviously wanted to get past us but didn’t want to go further down the hill so they picked up their pace.  We continued along and they disappeared behind a small hill.  As they appeared again they were a good bit closer and so they picked up their pace to a long graceful lope and we stopped and I clicked off at least a dozen shots before all that was visible was their dust.  It was so neat.  Behind me, I heard Paris whine a little and I looked to my right and saw a beautiful gray wolf.  He was too far to my right to swing the camera around with that huge lens and the road was too narrow to reposition the jeep so we had to just watch him lope off. 

We began to make our way back out to the main road and realized it was mid afternoon and we had not eaten any lunch so we found a side road that led down into a tree filled canyon.  After a pretty long hike to search for a spring we returned to the Jeep and had our daily picnic.  As we left the area and pulled onto the highway again we realized we had definitely “slowed” our progress for the day! 

Just a few miles down the road and we took a dirt road to the left that took us to the beautiful Status Creek, an oasis in the sage desert. After letting the pups swim and play along the dusty banks we returned once again to the Highway and made the 50 mile drive thru the Yakima Reservation to Goldendale, WA.  After a stop at a great grocery we made the short drive to the Columbia River Gorge and The Dalles where we are spending the night. 

I had never heard of any wild horses in Washington so I was anxious to get to the room and do a little research on this obviously large group of wild horses.  I could not find any reference to this area having wild horses.  Just as I was ready to give up I found an article written by someone whose grandfather had told him stories as a child about seeing thousands of wild horses in Washington.  This man had done extensive research and could find no evidence to support that these horses did indeed exist.  The Federal Government Agency that oversees wild horse herds throughout the west said they did not exist.  But this guy was stubborn and he was put in touch with a Yakima Indian who told him the story of these wild horses who live on over 1 million acres of Indian land in the Yakima reservation.  Horses are sacred to the Yakima Indians and the women of the early tribes were the caretakers of the horses they used.  There are over 5,000 wild horses living in the area we visited today.  It was a fantastic day with the horses indeed.  We look forward to visiting again on another trip and hopefully bringing back better photographs of these incredible animals.

We are very well tonight and hope you all are too. 

Peace, Hope & Love,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger 

Thurs, Oct 7, 2010

Thursday, October 07, 2010

So far our room at the Quality Inn & Suites in Pullman, WA has the number one ranking for the trip.  Besides being a comfortable and large room with a good layout etc… not only did they have a really nice continental breakfast but Wednesday night from 8:00 – 9:00 pm they had milk and freshly made cookies available in the lobby.  I don’t think anyone is going to top that one!

The forecast for the day was for scattered showers.  Unfortunately, it seems everywhere we went in the gorgeous hills of the Palouse Region the showers were not far behind.  It never was a pouring rain but it did put a damper on the types of photography we could do.  But, as they say, just do with what you have so we did.

We made trips to Kamiak Butte and Steptoe Butte which are both high buttes which overlook the rolling hills of the Palouse.  Both of them have gorgeous State Parks at their summits and we enjoyed both immensely. Kamiak Butte State Park consisted of a nice size Pine forest with huge trees (something that is missing from most of the Palouse area).  There were nice trails and a picnic area that was immaculate and peaceful.  From the picnic area you could see across the Palouse rolling hills of combined wheat fields, plowed fields, and newly planted wheat fields.  The only sounds were the drizzling rain, an occasional meadowlark or a hawk.  

Just a short drive away we climbed up (in the Jeep of course) Steptoe Butte.  This butte was very dramatic with a drive that wound around and around until it reached the top.  The picnic area was down from the top and was full of a variety of fruit trees.  The apple trees were loaded so we stopped and Charles picked a nice bag full.  Due to the rain and dense fog at the top of the butte we didn’t tarry there long since we could just barely see the fields below us.

We drove thru a number of small gravel roads and found some interesting things to photograph but soon were aware there would be no lovely sunlit fields for us today.  Still, there were, at times some nice vistas and a huge old barn and a house with the most beautiful flower gardens you can imagine.  Not only was the entire front yard full of beautiful flowers but there was a garden of flowers by the barn as well. 

After a nice picnic lunch, we continued to drive west and were soon leaving the wheat fields for a more desert environment with the wheat replaced by sage.  I was driving and Charles was taking a well deserved nap.  To my surprise, I spotted something in the road off in the distance.   A had not seen any traffic on this particular road so thought I might be in a position to stop and get a quick picture of maybe a coyote.  As I got closer I realized it was not a coyote but a badger.  I woke Charles and got him to ready the big lens.  Luck was with us again because I was able to ease up to the spot where the badger left the road and he was standing perfectly still with his rear pointed up toward the road.  I focused on what he presented to me and waited and bless his heart he turned back and looked right at me before scrambling out of sight.  But it was too late, I had a full head shot!! 

In order to even get to an area with motels it was time to put some miles behind us and the rest of the afternoon was spent driving toward the Columbia River Gorge. We have stopped for the night in Toppenish, WA.  The motel does happen to be a Quality Inn but I haven’t heard anyone mention milk and cookies.  Oh well, I think I used all my luck up today on that badger.

We are well tonight and hope you all are too!

Peace, Hope, & Love,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger



Wed,Oct 6, 2010

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

After a good night’s sleep, everyone seemed content to sleep some more this morning.  Our room in Hamilton, MT was nice and the bed was super comfortable.  In some of the smaller motels that we stay in out west, this is not always the case so we took advantage of this luxury and lounged around for an extra hour or so.  Even Paris & Dodger seemed content to just move to our bed and go back to sleep instead of staring at me to see if I open an eye or move a limb which is their cue to tell me it’s time for breakfast.  So we all laid up in the bed like four pigs in the sunshine.  It was pretty nice.

After a good continental breakfast at the motel we left headed north.  Just outside town we hit some fairly thick fog.  Not bad enough to stop traffic but it did add interesting atmosphere to our first few photographs. Our first stop was just a few miles up the road in Stevensville, MT at Saint Mary’s Mission.  A beautiful old log mission it was the site of the first white settlement in Montana by several Jesuit missionaries who had been sent for by a tribe of Indians called the Salish. They had been told of Christianity by a group of Iroquois Indians who had come to the area as trappers and had stayed and joined the Salish tribe.  The original mission was built in 1841 but the building there today was built in 1866.

As we were leaving Stevensville we stumbled upon what must be a Halloween decorating contest with over 30 individual decorations lining a bicycle path just off the main highway.  I took a photo of just three of the thirty but they were all neat. 

From there it was on to one of our favorite drives on Highway 12 from Lolo, MT toward Lewiston, ID, the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway.  This route was used for centuries by the Indians and then by Lewis & Clark as a passage across the rugged Bitterroot Mountains. This ancient trail does take you back in time as once you cross over Lolo pass (heading west) you literally drop in elevation gradually for about 100 plus miles.  It winds thru the forests and the entire route, which starts out beside the Lochsa river until it joins the Selway and then they join the Clearwater River, stays beside a river the entire route to Lewiston, ID.  There are only a few signs of civilization along the entire route even today.

We made a number of stops along the way.  One of our favorite is the Devoto Memorial Grove which is a grove of old growth red cedars and fir trees.  This stop was established as a memorial to a local historian and conservationist, Bernard DeVoto who was a scholar of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.  It’s a very peaceful spot and sits beside the Lochsa river. 

From there we continued down the Byway with a stop at the Warm Springs crossing which is just one of several suspension bridges used to cross the Lochsa river either on foot or horseback to enter the Bitterroot Wilderness.  After a leisurely picnic on the river we continued our descent toward Lewiston. 

Several more stops included Fish Creek Trail, The Old Man Creek, and Tumble Creek Falls before we finally left the Byway with most of the day gone.  We took another river drive along the Snake River as we left Lewiston, ID heading for the Palouse region of eastern Washington.  There we made a quick stop just outside Pullman, WA to watch the sunset over the hills of the Palouse. 

We have a nice room in Pullman and will head out in the morning to try and photograph the rich rolling hills of this farming area of Washington. 

Once again the weather was perfect… after the fog lifted the sun came out for the day and the temperatures rose to the lower seventies where they stayed all day.  Again, all I can say is it was heavenly!

We are very well tonight and hope you all are too.

Peace, Hope, & Love

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger



Tue, Oct 5, 2010

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

We slept a little later than usual… well if I am to be totally honest, I slept a little later than usual.  When Paris and Dodger jumped up on the bed to make sure I was aware it was time for breakfast, Charles was already up, had showered, dressed and made coffee.  I did enjoy the extra sleep though. 

We decided to wait and look for a local café down the road since neither of us were particularly hungry.  As we left West Yellowstone, there were ominous clouds overhead and soon we were in and out of a light rain.  We like changes in weather and the opportunities it presents in different types of photography so it doesn’t really deter us unless we get in one of those all day, raining cats and dogs systems.  But this was not the case today. As we road along it might be raining for thirty minutes or so but then would quit and at times the sun popped out as well. 

The drive north out of West Yellowstone we chose was gorgeous.  The road followed the Madison River for a long time and there were huge valleys between mountain ranges with equally large ranches with cattle dotting the landscape.  The vistas were expansive and the “big sky” theme was true all morning.  As we got further north, it was apparent we were in “fly fishing” territory.  At the small town of Ennis, MT we found a local café where we had a good breakfast.  They had a US map up on the wall with push pins showing the location of many of their patrons.  There were two pins on Meridian and I’m guessing it was two fishermen.

Our next stop of any length was in the old mining towns of Virginia City and Nevada City.  Although the tourist season is over and none of the local businesses were open.  We enjoyed walking around the historic buildings.  Virginia City was, in the middle 1800s the largest city in the northwest territory primarily due to a gold rush.  It is remarkably well preserved due to the purchase of it by a couple who must have made it their life’s work. I believe they bought it in the late 1940s .  It is sort of frozen in time.  One business, that was a ladies clothing store closed and the entire inventory is still there in the building. It is like they just woke up one day and walked out. 

Nevada City just down the hill shares the same history and also has a neat collection of old train cars. Although it was drizzling by the time we got out to walk around, we just had to try to get a few photos of the old passenger cars.  My dad was a railway mail clerk and I have many fond memories of trips to the railroad depot in Meridian to drop him off or pick him up.  As the rain began to get harder, we were forced to return to the jeep. 

As the drive continued we soon made our way to the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway.  Luckily the rain had given way to partly cloudy skies and we had a gorgeous drive thru diverse terrain.  Always our favorite portions are those that go thru the old ranches.  The Byway travels the length of the Pioneer Mountain range and it is like stepping back in time to the homesteading days. 

We saw some wildlife, nothing to compare to Yellowstone, but we did luck up on a nice antelope herd and the spot of the day came just outside the small town of Wisdom.  There we saw, sitting on top of two old beaverslides (hay stacking apparatus) were two adolescent bald eagles. They looked like they had been playing in the mud because neither had completely lost the mixture of white and brown feathers common to young eagles.  They were very cooperative and waited until I got a few shots before flying off.

We decided to stay the night in Hamilton, MT and found a nice Best Western.  After a good dinner at a café across the street we are catching up on some reading and relaxing. 

We had a very nice day of our usual road trip fare… leisurely driving, puppy breaks for swimming and at least one picnic interspersed with photography and now that my knee is better a little more walking.

We are well tonight and hope you all are too.

Peace, Hope & Love,

Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger