Playing Ketchup part 2

We got into Sedona after dark, on a very curvy road. I have to say it was a little on the terrifying side. I’m actually really glad, however that we got there at night, because it is an amazing feeling to wake up to a place you had no idea was so amazing and beautiful! The first day there, we hiked the Airport Trail which was about three and a half miles, and incredibly beautiful.  We also played around on top of the vortex there.

When we got done we decided to utilize the airport by taking a bi-plane tour over Sedona.

The following day, we visited The Chapel of the Holy Cross;
 And then hiked Bell Rock, the pictures from which I seem to have misplaced. While on Bell Rock, Dio the poodle blossomed as a climber, and actually went all the way to the top of the rock. Dio is the most Badass poodle you will ever meet.

After a few days toodling about in Sedona, we went to Montezuma’s Castle, a cliff dwelling that was once inhabited by the ancient Sinagua Indians.

After that we drove to Pheonix, which I really didn’t care for much. Nobody there seemed happy. Everyone seemed to have grown emotional spikes like the cacti around them to keep people out of their bubbles. I guess that’s what happens to any living thing crammed close together in a harsh desert environment.

Playing Ketchup, Part 1

When one is starting every entry with apologizing for being away so long, It might be pointless to try and catch you up. I’m going to try anyway. After Utah, I was overcome with a soul-crushing case of homesickness, which people at home did a great job curing in various ways, and by the time I had planned to leave again, I was more than ready to go. This time, I brought with me some companions.  Remember the stray dog in Utah that I got upset over, and vowed to adopt a rescue dog when I got home? Well I did. This is Dio

Dio is one of the goofiest dogs I’ve ever met and is my constant comic relief. He is a miniature poodle, and I found him at Wood’s Humane Society in San Luis Obispo, CA. (My hometown in case you were wondering.)

My second companion is my brother (Not my brother by birth, my soul brother!) Sky Dog. 

I’ve known Sky Dog for five or six years now, and he is my closest friend.  We have been through a LOT together.

Finally, there’s sky dog’s pup, Kelev.

 Kelev is an unrealistically perfect dog. She loves to follow Sky Dog on his skate board, she almost always does exactly what she’s told. She operates perfectly well without a leash, and I’m pretty sure she understands English…

Anyway, we embarked mid January, and spent a day in Mojave National Preserve. While there, Dio got his leash tangled in  a relatively harmless looking bush. It was then that I discovered that the bush was not in fact harmless. Later, still nursing my wounds, I learned that it was a cat-claw acacia. Unless you have a strong desire to have your flesh ripped to shreds, I suggest you stay away from this bush.

The next day we went over to Joshua Tree National Park, where we spent the next several days.   The first day in Joshua    Tree, the winds whipped around us at 60 miles per hour. Sky Dog enjoyed using his jacket as a sail to skate through the campground roads. Then we trekked into the rocks at Jumbo Rocks where we enjoyed some respite from the wind. Dio, who as far as I know has never really did any hiking before, began to break out of his timid shell and really have a grand time jumping from rock to rock.

That night the winds were so high, we were afraid the pop top was  going to rip right off of Van Van. The next day we discovered a different campground in the park that was mostly rock climbers, and other kindred spirits, not to mention free coffee on weekends. We stayed a few more days in this camp, hiking about in the wilderness;doing yoga on top of very tall rocks;

Being Badass in general:

and alternately enjoying the “wildlife” in the town of Joshua Tree.  On the 23rd of January it was a full moon,  as well as being the Chinese New Year, so we went to a drum circle. I failed to get any pictures of the drum circle, so you’ll just have to imagine what that looked like.  The next day we headed for the next leg of our adventure; Sedona, Arizona.

Utah! Part 3; Adventure! and a Little Bit of Heartbreak

After I finally got my sweet Van Van back in my possession I headed over to Moab,  which was AWESOME! The whole downtown area reminded me a lot of some of the seaside towns in my own county. The day I arrived there was an artwalk and scavenger hunt going on that I was lucky enough to find out about, So I spent the evening looking at local art, and going on a scavenger hunt for facts about Frieda Kahlo. In the following days I did much wandering about downtown and a little hiking. Moab is home to Arches National park. Which I also spent some time in. I did a hike called “Fiery Furnace” which you are not allowed to go on without a guide as it is somewhat dangerous. There was much scrambling, hopping, shimmying and squeezing. The magic of the desert surrounded me and my fellow tourists. 

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the next day, I went horseback riding in the back-country. I felt like a real cowboy(cowgirl?)  I wish I’d gotten pictures of the horses, but I didn’t. Suffice to say it was amazing! My horse’s name was Riley and he was super friendly, although pretty stubborn. He kept trying to take shortcuts back home, but it’s amazing what those reins can do once you know what to do with them.  After 3 hours of straddling a horse, I was so glad to get in the hottub where I was staying. I did some shopping the next day then, feeling homesick, I decided to start heading to Arizona so that I could go home sooner. On the way through southern Utah, I stopped at a museum whose name I don’t remember in a town whose name I don’t remember, but it was super awesome! There were all kinds of Native artifacts including a whole room full of ancient Pueblo-an pottery, and the preserved ruins of a pre-European trading post and underground kiva that you could actually go inside of.

I lost most of the pictures of that museum, but this is the sole surviving image, and also happens to be the coolest; the view from inside the kiva.

Then I continued on my way towards the Utah/Arizona border.  In Mexican Hat, right at the end of town I stopped at a cafe that was completely deserted. Needless to say, I didn’t get any food. On my way out, I saw an extremely emaciated border collie mix digging through the trash. I called the sheriffs and they told me there was nothing they could do. I tried in vain to get the dog to go in my car so I could take it to a vet.  I couldn’t. It was a lost cause. no one I called could help. The sherriff told me that ALL the dogs on the reservation were like that, and he probably belongs to someone.  I gave the dog a meal of dog  treats and can of tuna. He at least got a great meal out of me. I decided that when I got home for the holidays, I would adopt a dog from our local shelter. Exhausted and heart broken, I continued until I got to Cameron, Arizona, got a hotel, and passed out.

Utah! Part 2; Stuck in the Cretaceous

So last time, I told you that this time I would tell you about the terrible hotel in Salt Lake City. That was a lie. I need a scanner in order to share the very silly details with you, therefor that little story shall appear out of sequence at a later date.   Starting Van Van in the morning worried me a bit I smelled gas and it took FOREVER to warm up.  I left SLC via the 15 and enjoyed lovely snow dusted mountain ranges all along the highway. The traffic on the other hand was atrocious. the speed limit was 75, and there were too many people on the road, and no one gives anyone any room. It was like  rush hour traffic for hours. I’d hate to see what actual rush hour looks like! I stopped in Provo to find a coffee shop. This was a huge mistake.  Provo, in case you didn’t know, is the home of Brigham Young  University. BYU  is a very Mormon college bringing the Mormon population in Provo to 80% (as opposed to SLC’s 20%).  The result? Well since Mormon’s don’t drink coffee, I bet you can guess what the problem might have been. That’s right. No coffee shop for me.  Also, NOTHING in Provo seemed to be locally owned. It was all chains and strip malls consisting of chains. To be fair, I did not explore very thoroughly. I found a whole foods, and thankfully they had kombucha which satiated my need for caffeinated liquid. It did not however satiate my need to look at googlemaps. so, still feeling quite unsure of my whereabouts in relation to my next destination (which was supposed to be Moab) I got back on the freeway.  I knew that I was supposed to turn on the 6, and luckily, the six came soon. I stopped at a truck stop that was advertising real fruit smoothies, and got a banana one since it turned out that banana was the only one that actually was made of real fruit.  It was delicious and wonderful. On the way out I met a blue macaw named Boyd who belonged to some fellow travelers.

Then through the winding landscape of Utah did I meander.  And three times that drive Van Van stalled! I stopped in Price because  that was the third place that Van Van stalled so I took her to a mechanic and got a hotel room. As it turns out, I had a bad fuel pump, and it had to be replaced. So the four days waiting for the part to come in were spent meandering about Price on foot.  And the payoff?  The USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum!  I got to go learn all about dinosaurs and Indians while poor Van Van got to sit all alone at the mechanics. I took way way way too many pictures. Therefore; slideshow.  You’re welcome.

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Utah! part 1; of hills and snow and lodging and such.

Oh yes, dear readers. I am terrible. 50 self inflicted lashes for not posting for about a month. My deepest apologies. Can you ever forgive me? You can? Oh good. moving on…

The night before my many hour drive out of Idaho, a first snow fell. That morning, I decided to purchase a one day Idaho fishing licence, and went fishing for trout in Snake River. I headed down, and on the way, saw where Twin Falls, Idaho got it’s name. I could see the trout in the river swimming around my bait and teasing me, but I had no luck. The two Russian gentlemen next to me caught four trout; three small rainbow trout and one great big Snake River cutthroat trout. They took pity on me and gave me some of their rainbow trout. At noon, I decided it was too damn cold to fish any more and I hit the road. Luckily, the highways remained ice-free, while the grass, wheat, and corn on the rolling hills of southern Idaho sparkled with the white dusting that barely weighed it down.  The further south I drove the more snow littered the fauna, and the prettier the scenery became. I’ve never driven through snow or ice, but my nervousness was somewhat dampened by the beauty that surrounded me, and the knowlege that Van Van is nice and heavy. I finally crossed the border that evening, and found myself in a tiny tiny little town which was aptly named “Snowville.” Snowville was of course snowy, but not too snowy, since the night before had been the first snow. I found an RV park that was totally empty, except for me. It looked out on a tiny golf course that was free for campers to use, and was overlooked by some really lovely snow-peaked mountains. The office was unmanned and went by the honor system, which I honored.  Then I went about attempting to filet my fish.

Now, I have never been shown how to filet a fish, but it was an adventure trying to figure it out. As it turns out, rainbow trout is full of bones and I ended up massacring my fish instead of properly  fileting them. This didn’t really matter as it was still quite tasty. I accompanied the fish with a collard green and quinoa salad I made, and it was delicious. Then, exhausted and smelling of fish, I went to bed.

When I awoke, I discovered that It had frozen INSIDE my van. All liquids I had with me had frozen, and it took FOREVER to warm up my faithful steed. Finally, with a tea-slushy in hand I set forth to continue my journey.

I set my destination for something I was half dreading, like when you’re in a line of cars behind a really bad accident that you don’t want to see, but you just can’t help looking. I headed to Salt Lake City.

On the way to SLC, I discovered that so far Utah has the best rest stops. Each one is practically a museum with all kinds of pamphlets and guide books etc. Some of them even have videos about Utah on an endless loop, and some of them even have people there to answer questions.

On to Salt Lake City! Surprise of surprises? I actually thought it was kind of a cool town. As of yet, It is the easiest capital city to navigate as it’s all set out on a grid. The architecture is truly lovely and I regret not taking more pictures. I got my nails done and my hair washed, Had dinner in a really cute coffee shop, and then found a really terrible hotel to sleep in.  You’ll just have to learn about to hotel next time in; Utah! Part 2; Stuck in the Cretaceous!

Ida who?

I spent my last night in Oregon in a campground I don’t know the name of in a town I don’t know the name of.  Then, On to Idaho!  In Idaho, I visited the Idaho State Historical Museum in Boise. I liked the museum quite a lot, but as a whole did not care much for Boise. I decided not even to stay there for the night, so I trekked on down the highway until I found a little town called Bliss. It got dark pretty soon, so I decided to find lodging. The first place I tried was called the Amber Inn Motel. It looked really nice from the outside, but the front desk guy was very rude, the sole furniture in the room  besides the bed was a carpeted countertop(why the fuck would you carpet a countertop?), the room phone wouldn’t make long distance calls, there was no cell reception in the room, and the door didn’t properly lock, so after shaking of a major case of  the creeps, I got a refund, and headed over to the only other hotel in town. The guy at the Y Inn motel was friendly and  courteous, the room was much nicer, with nothing creepy about it, there was free Wi-fi, my phone had full bars, and I got a good night’s sleep.  Don’t stay in Bliss, but if you have to stay in Bliss, stay at the Y Inn Motel. Also, I woke up to this.

Then, I went through a town called Hagerman. On the way there, I saw a golden eagle, flying over beautiful landscape.

Hagerman is known for its fossil beds and particularly for the Hagerman Horse, so of course I had to visit the fossil museum there.

Equus simplicidens is actually more closely related to zebras than to horses, and is sometimes referred to as the American zebra

The Zebra is only one of the many fossils found in the fossil beds there. Here is the jaw of what is known as a “bone crushing dog.” and I got to hold it!

Borophagus hilli jawbone withworn down teeth from a lifetime of crushin' bones

The fossil beds also contain ancient beavers, camels, woolly mammoths, and a diversity of other ancient critters.

Then on the road again, I saw this;

only a couple of the many many waterfalls on the 30 in Idaho.

And to Miracle Hot Springs Where I got a private soaking tub and an amazing massage. Fully relaxed, I moved on to my next destination, which was Twin Falls, Idaho. I stopped at Annie’s Cafe and Lavender shop, where I got the first non-fried food I could find in Idaho. It was a delicious turkey sandwich on marbled rye.  The salad, instead of being a big pile of iceburg lettuce had spinach and baby greens, and it was delicious! I also got some lavender soap, since I was out of soap. Annies is an oasis in a desert of tater tots and iceburg lettuce.

A Fiber Freak’s Dream

The next day, I ended up in Pendleton, Oregon, and got breakfast at the Red Lion Hotel where I received good food and excellent service and then skadoodled on over to the Pendleton Wool Mill where those wonderful wool blankets are woven. Below are some pictures of the process. Click on the pictures if you would like to see them bigger.

The mill receives wool, which has sometimes been dyed, but not cleaned or processed in any other way

Next, The wool gets sent through a series of carders, which are big drums that spin past tiny comb teeth. The teeth pick out all the impurities in the wool as well as orient the strands so that they are all facing the same way.

Between carders, the fiber is layed out in sheets for the next machine

Then the fiber passes through a rubbing machine that rubs it into rolled strands called roving. Roving is not twisted or spun so it is not strong at all. There's nothing really holding the fibers together yet, so if you were to pull on it it would just come apart.

Then the roving gets sent through the spinning machine. It hardly looks like its moving while the machine is moving, but it is actually moving about a mile a minute. If someone were to try and touch any of the moving parts while the machine is running there would be a very big bloody mess. After the yarn is spun, it gets steamed for several hours so that it will hold the twist.

So much yarn!!

Then, the yarn gets woven into beautiful blankets. There are two kinds of looms at the Pendleton Wool mill. They have several Jaquard looms, which are computerized looms and create pretty much any image you feed into the computer, and there is at least one dobby loom, which is only good for making stripes or solids, but is a much faster loom.

These unfinished blankets are waiting to be sent off location to be washed and softened. Most blankets also go through a flocking process as well where they are sent through another series of combs which loosens some of the fiber to make the blanket extra soft and luxurious.

Here is a finished blanket from a very very long time ago. The business began in 1909, and this blanket was one of the first that they made.

Next I stopped at a Native American Cultural Museum called the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute I did not take any pictures there as there’s a big sign at the front desk saying not to.

Then I hightailed it on down the freeway for some time, until I entered Baker City, got some delicious food at a restaurant the name of which escapes me, unfortunately.  The service was phenomenal, and as a thank you, I left them a yarn bomb in their tree.

Halloween, some yarn, and leaving Portland.

The Pacific Northwest is a great place to find Yarn Bombs, and I did indeed find several in Portland, as well as Seattle. Unfortunately I did not get the chance to photograph the ones I found in Seattle but here are a few I found in Portland.

Found on a door handle on NE Alberta, Portland

So of course I had to leave a bit of myself behind as well. Here’s the tag I left on Hawthorne.

For Halloween, I decided to be Clint Eastwood.  Somehow the only pictures I managed to obtain of myself I look rather drunk in. Hmmmmmm I wonder why THAT could be!

My mule don't like tootsie rolls

The next day, I re-embarked on my journey having spent far too long in Portlandia. It is a very difficult place to leave. Soon I found my self having to use the restroom, so I followed signs saying there was a fish hatchery with an information center. Information centers almost always have bathrooms. I ended up exploring the hatchery, and learned that about half of all wild caught salmon are born in fish hatcheries. Let me repeat that. Half of all wild caught salmon are born in fish hatcheries.  The only reason salmon is ever labeled as farmed is if the fish spends its whole life at a fish farm. At this hatchery I also saw rainbow trout and HUGE Sturgeon.

I had lunch at the White Buffalo Bistro in Hood River, OR.  Their spanikopitas were exactly what a spanikopita should be. Spinachy, gooey, and flaky and oh so delicious. They also had this enormous statue out front.

I drove and drove and drove quite some time, until I reached a 12 hour rest stop around dusk and called it quits for the day. When I woke up there was an 8^th inch of frost on my windshield, so I couldn’t actually leave for quite some time, since I had to scrape both the outside AND inside of my windshield. If anyone can tell me why none of my other windows had frost on them, I should be forever grateful. It is currently a mystery to me why only the windshield gets frosty. It doesn’t seem to me that the angle should matter.

dead folks and some fish.

As I have stated before, I am a sucker for museums and similar venues of curiosity. It should come as no surprise, then, that while in Portland I visited the Body Worlds exhibition  at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. It was a pretty huge exhibition which covered two stories, so my pal William and I spent a couple hours looking at cut up dead people.  You really aren’t supposed to take pictures there, but I was very sneaky.

Here's Will and a skeleton man.

I learned a lot about the human body, and I really had to wonder about the doctors that do this stuff.

I'm a bundle of nerves

By the time we left we were both feeling pretty ill, despite having a good time there.

A couple days later we decided to go look at something more savory, so we went on a little weekend camping trip to the coast with a final destination at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, OR. After a couple nights camping in VanVan we arrived in Newport and had a fantastic breakfast at the Newport Cafe. If you ever find yourself in Newport, and are definitely not vegan, I recommend it. Then, on to the aquarium! When we got there, we noticed there were a bunch of people in Halloween costumes and as it turns out they were having an event that day. So we went back out to the parking lot and painted our faces.

As luck would have it, we got a five dollar discount for being in costume. We win! Below are some pictures of all the fun we had that day!

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The Great Man Man Adventure!

As I mentioned in my last post, This last weekend I went and saw Man Man, who happens to be my favorite band that still exists. I brought with me my best friend William White, a camera, which i did not use nearly enough, snack items, and of course my faithful steed which has now been dubbed “Van Van.”  We left Portland via the 30, and enjoyed a ridiculously beautiful ride along the Columbia River, and then breached the border of Washington. Out of all the states I have visited, Washington has the best highway signage. The signs that tell you which highway you’re on are all shaped like George Washington’s head, and their anti-littering slogan is “Litter and it will hurt.” Damn straight, Washington!  It is also, so far the most beautiful state I have driven through, though Oregon is a close second. Both states are incredibly idyllic.  We got to Kennewick at about 4:20, though the show wasn’t set to start until 8. We decided to walk around and see what there was to do in Kennewick. We quickly discovered that the answer to that question was absolutely nothing, so we got a pumpkin smoothie to share, and walked around aimlessly for a while. When we got back to the venue where the show was to be, we rounded the corner and saw none other than Man Man themselves unloading their van, so we offered to give them a hand. I got to carry some bongoes inside for them. I got Honus Honus, the lead singer and keyboardist to sign my van (thus the name Van Van). This photo reminds me that I have yet to post any pictures of Van Van on this blog, and considering she is a key character, that seems rather vital to me.A future post shall have to be a tour of my home on wheels. Don’t let me forget!

After that we met some  folks that were also waiting for the concert, and had a banjo, ukelele and ashiko jam in the parking lot until it was time to wait in line.

My pal Will

Then we got on our war paint and awaited the opening of the doors. At long last we were let in, and I got an excellent t-shirt, and soon the opening band began. They were called The Seaworthies and were very cute and sweet. They were a couple that sang really pretty harmonies and accompanied themselves on a nice little drum set/ keyboard setup and guitar.  Next up were Grandchildren. Who fucking ruled. They were a noise rock band, and all of their bandmembers seemed to be able to play every instrument they had, and consequently kept switching off. They were fantastic to dance to, and fantastic to listen to. Next up was the one and only Man Man. Easily the best show I’ve ever been to. Their elaborate set up was amazing. Their energy was spot on, and they held my attention at every second. Not to mention they were incredibly theatrical. During the song Butter Beans Honus personally thanked me for jingling my keys, and later tackled my head.  I also managed to grab some confetti and feathers that he threw during the song Haute Tropique .

After the show, my companion and I decided to go find a place to camp, but before we were able to leave, this kid who had attended the concert asked us for a ride to the next town. We figured that since he was a local he’d be able to tell us where we could find a place to camp. He said he knew a place, but it turned out that not only did he have no clue where anything was in his home town, he also was terrible at directions, and borrowed Will’s phone to make litterally 20 phone calls (at midnight, by the way. ) and only managed to reach one person. He had us drive him all over creation. Eventually we got to a place he was satisfied with, and sent him on his merry way. Good deed done, we asked three different people directions to either a campground, or a rest stop, or a Walmart to sleep at. Apperently no one in Kennewick knows where anything is, because only the third person could help us remotely. We ended up boondocking in the WalMart parking lot there after a long and tiring evening adventure. The wind was ridiculous.

The next day we drove to Seattle to see a second Man Man show. Before the show we drank a lot of coffee, had some very tasty Thai food, and wandered about extensively in Downtown Seattle. The show was at the Lazer Dome there next door to the space needle. It turns out the show was part of a larger festival, and they let all the folks with festival bracelets in first before letting anyone else in. We made it by a hair. There was a huge line behind us, but only two people behind us actually got in. While in Line, we re-warpainted ourselves, and actually got pictures this time!

Yes, the cross eye was on purpose.

Then the show! There were no opening bands, and this show was not only a concert, but also a laser show! The set list was also a little bit different, and the crowd was VERY different. The crowd in Kennewick was tight packed, but you could move around a bit. The crowd in Seattle was a squeeze-fest. Awesome, but in a different way. I’m glad I got to go to both shows because they were both very different. Half way through the show, the laser dome caught on fire somehow, and everyone was evacuated. I was amazed at how well everyone cooperated. Out in the courtyard, Man Man did a beautiful acoustic rendition of Steak Knives, and then everybody left. The night ended with a long, but good drive back to Portland.