Category: dave

Ashes Lake

On By stefrobrtsIn boat, dave, fishing, kayak, outdoors, travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

We went out in search of bass at Ashes Lake. Ashes is down Hwy 14 almost to Stevenson. It is one of those lakes on the north side of Hwy 14, separated from the mighty Columbia by a berm with a little tunnel between them. I was told it had plentiful small and largemouth bass, as well as pikeminnows, and would be a great place to break my losing streak.

The road down to the lake, visible on Google Earth else I would never have believe it was a road, was an overgrown path between blackberry bushes that was not quite a Flex wide. So unfortunately I culd hear it scraping along the side of the car all the way down to the tiny parking area which only had room for three cars. Luckily there was only one car there when we arrived.

We parked and unpacked the kayak and walked it down the hill to the water. The road was very rough and I wasn’t sure I wanted to make the Flex try to climb back up that hill on loose gravel . Pretty soon we were paddling our way out into the lake.

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It’s a big lake, and it was really pretty, and a perfect tempurature, blue sky day. But like it often is in the Columbia River Gorge, it was also windy. So paddling was a challenge, and unless we were both paddling, it felt like we weren’t making any headway during gusts.

Finally we made our way to the sheltered west end of the lake, and it was very nice. There was a family of canadian geese floating around, we saw fish jumping, and every tree overhanging the lake seemed to make a shady spot for fish to hang out in the rocks.

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I got several nibbles in this area, including one that grabbed my bait and took off, dragging the float behind him! But I was unable to hook up. I certainly had fun trying anyway!

We still don’t have an anchor on the kayak, so we tried drifting up against a log where I could cast towards he shore. The log seemed to be popular with tiny blue damselflies who were hanging around, landing on our paddles. Big dragonflies also zoomed overhead, with clear wings with black spots on them. Strangely enough, the majority of birds we saw were seagulls, and they seemed to be flying around high up in the fir trees around the lake in big flocks the whole time we were there. They looked spectacular, flashing white against the blue sky! We also saw a bald eagle at one point.

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We came around a corner and found a secluded little beach, and went ashore. The kayak’s seats are made to come out and be used as beach chairs, so that’s just what we did.

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We kicked back on our own private beach and had a snack and watched the world go by for a bit.

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Since it was such a nice beach, I waded in and did a little fishing with a bobber and worm. Still no luck, even though I saw some big fish jumping not far off shore. They were not interested in what I was offering.

Finally we decided to head back. While out there we had seen a couple other kayaks and small boats join us, and when we got to the launch the 3 parking spots were full, plus one more truck which they had parked right in the middle of the beach where everyone was launching from, so everyone else had to walk around them! There was a guy there who had come in the truck, but it wasn’t his truck so he couldn’t move it, and there was some younger guy with him who looked completely wasted. So we just packed our stuff back up the hill, walking around them as they made no effort to move out of the way.

All around though, it was a great day, and I could have stayed out on the little beach all afternoon except we needed to get home to the doggies. No fish were caught, but I had some exciting close calls, learned some stuff, saw some things, and spent some great time alone with Dave to catch up on our week. Perfect.

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Fishing at Mosquito Lake

On By stefrobrtsIn boat, dave, fishing, kayak, outdoors, travelLeave a comment

We had a rare free weekend for a change, and I wanted to get out and do something fun, so I decided we would go up to Goose Lake, which I have heard has good trout fishing. We got up at 6am and drove up to Trout Lake, and stopped by the ranger’s station to ask about conditions. She asked what we planned to do at Goose Lake and I told her we brought our kayak to go paddling.

She said “This name is going to sound off-putting, but you might have more fun at Mosquito Lake, because Goose Lake is super popular in the summer.” Dave said later she probably took one look at us and went ‘oh, these aren’t Goose Lake people, I’d better send them to Mosquito Lake!’

So we zipped on up there, and almost blew right by the parking area, because it is so small. Just room for 4 cars, just off the PCT, but the lake looked glorious! Beautiful clear water reflecting the perfectly blue sky.

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We put in at the beach by the parking area, and then had to weave our way around a little serpentine path to get out to the lake. Along the way we had to go over an old collapsed dock, and it was pretty shallow and narrow. But pretty soon we were out there, and I cast out a streamer on my sinking fly line and let it drift behind us as the breeze slowly blew us across the lake.

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No need to paddle when you’ve got wind!

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Dave is helpful for holding my rod while I tie a new streamer on after losing one in the reeds. We drifted halfway around the lake before I checked and discovered it was gone – doh!

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We paddled back across the lake to the starting point, but we were really fighting the wind, which had picked up a bit. We could only make progress when we were both paddling hard together. Back at the parking lot end I spotted this little area in the reeds where we could park it for a bit and not have to fight the wind. I’ll be glad when the rest of my anchor parts show up – an anchor would have been really useful today!

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The water was the clearest I’ve ever seen. You could see all the way to the bottom over most of the lake. There were lots of water lilly pads still under the water. I’ll bet this lake will be packed with them later in the summer.

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Sitting in the reeds we could see some little trout – like 2-3 inches. I guess they were trout, they were shaped like trout and had spots. We had fun watching them, while just kicking back, discussing vacation plans, and enjoying the day. When we had enough, I cast out my streamer one more time and we paddled back to the parking area. I didn’t even get a bite, though I saw a lot of big fish jumping. Maybe next time.

The best part of this trip – no mosquitoes and NO people! Yes, we had this little lake all to ourselves. It was so quiet you could sit and just hear the wind blowing through the trees. Sometimes you could hear a car driving by on the forest road, but that was about it. As we were packing up to leave, another car drove up with 2 kayaks on top. Well now they could have the lake to themselves!

On our way home we decided to go by Goose Lake just to take a look at it. Along the way we saw a sign for Natural Bridges and stopped there. The area was a collapsed lava tube.

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Kind of hard to get the scale without a person in the shot.

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I’m not sure that helps, but it was a really big tube, maybe 50 ft deep. And in places there were natural bridges where the tube had not collapsed fully, and you could cross over the culvert left by the tube.

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It’s just really hard to photograph. Neat area though. I would like to come back here next time we are nearby and work on photographing it better. There is a lot of interesting lava in this part of the woods, and Goose Lake itself is right next to The Big Lava Flow, which looks very rugged, but we were too tired to explore today.

We continued past Goose Lake, and although the lake was pretty, it was full of partying people, and so not for us. We continued to Stevenson, where we stopped at our favorite lunch spot for post-Gorge activities, Big T’s Diner in Stevenson, Washington, with a spectacular view of the Columbia River Gorge and delicious Hawaiian Burgers. We enjoyed our well-earned lunch which watching wind-surfers playing on the river below. The perfect end to an unexpectedly perfect day.

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Fly fishing from the kayak

On By stefrobrtsIn dave, fishing, kayak, Me, outdoors, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Ignore my blindingly white pacific-northwesterner legs, so you can see how much fun I am having casting with my fly rod in the kayak this weekend.

We took the kayak out and I prepared my fly rod with some sinking line and picked up a few streamers so we could try just trolling around the lake. I thought I got one nibble, but otherwise no fun. I did get to practice casting from the kayak, which went really well. I think the high seating position works pretty well. Im also getting the hang of my new PFD/tackle vest. Fly fishing feels kind of minimalist compared to spin fishing. I like the simplicity of it.

Dave paddled us around while I fished. This was the first time the water was low enough to get our big kayak under the bridge and into the neighboring lake! So we had fun trolling around there as well.

As always, catching fish would be nice, but just hanging out together on the water is a great way to spend part of the weekend.

Backyard remodel

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, dave, garden, navi, TheRancho, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Last year we did the front yard, taking out the overgrown bushes that the previous owner had put up to create a buffer between our house and the crack-house across the street, and putting in a nice lawn. That went very well, and it is still looking beautiful. This year the project is the back yard.

When we moved in the backyard was a formal garden, with pathways and sitting areas, a big dahlia garden, a vegetable garden, and a flower garden. The previous owner had been retired, and he obviously spent a LOT of time working on it. It was a maintenance nightmare for a couple working folks like us. So we had slowly cut back on the formal stuff anyway, but this year the lawnmower wouldn’t start in the spring, and by the time I got a new carb for it and got it running again, things were extra out of control.

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So we rented a walk-behind string trimmer, and I worked my butt off mowing it all down. I was kind of sad to see it go, because it reminded me of our pasture in spring, and I loved watching the grasses wave in the breeze.

With everything back under control, I figured it was time to begin the backyard remodel I had been planning. There were a few problems. As previously mentioned, Navi is a digger, so any gardening needed to be fenced away from her. Also, there is a plum tree in the corner of the yard, and the dogs enjoy eating the plums and chewing up the pits, which are toxic, so I had it temporarily fenced off with a dog x-pen, but it was not a permanent solution. I have this plan:

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Which I have deviated from slightly as my desire to have a garden got stronger. When we lived on the farm, I had a huge garden, and I worked really hard to get better and better at it every year, and I hated to give it up when we left. This year I finally got my act together enough to put in a tiny container garden with a few tomatoes and peppers and herbs. But I would like to grow our own lettuce and greens as well. So I took the corner marked Bushes on my plan, and fenced it off to make a garden, and keep the dogs away from the plums.

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We had a lovely mild day, not too hot, not too sunny. Mowing and weed-wacking commences…

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Then we went to Lowes and found a no-dig fence style we liked. They have stakes that you pound into the ground, and then slide the fence panels onto them. Tall enough to keep out the dogs, and they look nice.

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The corner already has a brick outline, but it was curved, and the fence could not curve as much as the bricks, so we made the fence line fairly straight and left the curved areas outside it for planting some bushes to soften the area up. We also got a nice no-dig gate that fit perfectly in the little entrance-way.

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Completed. Now the dogs are unable to get to the plum tree, or any planting beds I want to put in there.

We continued mowing and trimming around the rest of the yard.

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Much better! Still needs clean up, but it will get there. This is where I want a stone patio eventually.

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Dave gets a well-deserved rest and smooches from Barclay ❤

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Day 2

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The garden area has these two brick circles, one on either end. This one had a greek statue on it, and it shifted and she fell over a couple winters ago, so now she is up on the patio. I am not fond of these brick circles, they look sloppy, and appear to be full of debris – broken bricks, old tile, etc. I want to take one down and reuse the bricks to outline a garden bed.

So I started tearing the other one apart, and discovered 1) it gave shelter to the biggest spiders I’ve ever seen and 2) it was hiding a stump! I picked through the bricks one by one, brushing off spiders and tossing them into the fenced area, then arranged them into a curvy garden bed.

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Leaving behind the stump, which is much less obtrusive than the brick circle had been.

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Meanwhile Navi dug holes big enough to stick her whole head in! That’s the next area to work on.

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But that’s enough work for one afternoon. I stickballed Barclay until he was worn out and jumped in the tub to cool off, and called it a day.

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Bonus – tomatoes growing in my container garden – yay!

 

 

 

 

Trout Lake 2018

On By stefrobrtsIn airstream, barclay, dave, navi, outdoors, pets, photography, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Over Memorial Weekend we took our annual trip with our Airstream friends to Trout Lake, to our usual campground snuggled under shade trees with a gorgeous view of Mt Adams. This year the weather was windy, but otherwise fine. I was a little worried about reports of ticks being bad this year, but we tried to stay out of the grass.

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We set up the X pens in front of the trailer door to make a little yard for the dogs, and the door was pretty much open all weekend, so they could hang out inside or out, and watch all the goings-on around the site. Of course there were also lots of walks, including walking into town to get lunch at the hamburger/milkshake/gas station/coffeeshop (it’s a small town!)

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Sunday morning I woke up at 5am and realized the trailer was lit up pink, so I pulled on clothes and grabbed my camera and went out to see what was going on.

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Just a beautiful mountain sunrise. I was enjoying photographing it when I thought, what this picture needs is an elk.

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Why, thank you very much! I was so excited to see the elk, I was almost shaking! How cool is that?!

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The river behind our campsite was high, and I would have loved to fish it, but it was not open until a week later.

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Everyday there was gorgeous. I just can’t believe we get to hang out someplace with this amazing mountain right there on the horizon, it is in the background of everything we do.

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We had a tinfoil hat contest (Dave and I just watched):

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Everyone was so creative!

And every night it was music and sing-along beside the fire.

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Full-moon night-shot.

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I brought a book to read on my kindle. Dave played a game of cornhole and got into a card game. Navi snapped at our friend Gary when he wouldn’t quit petting her. Barclay was chill as usual.

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The trailer functioned perfectly – not bad for a 50 year old trailer. Basically a good time was had by all. In no time another fun long weekend was over, and we all went our separate ways, until next year.

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Another Duchovny concert, this time in Canada!

On By stefrobrtsIn dave, music, travel, vacationLeave a comment
A few months ago I heard David Duchovny would be doing a concert in Vancouver BC, and on a whim I bought the tickets and said ‘whatever happens, I am going to this, and we’ll just see who is going with me as we get closer.’ Dave was expecting to be in a play that would actually be going on that weekend, and Michele thought she might be in it too, and so Sherry said she would go if I needed a partner for this escapade. I’d go by myself if I had to. Glad I didn’t have to though, turned out the venue was sketch as hell. We’ll get back to that. 
It turned out Dave didn’t get cast in the play he thought he would, and Michele was an understudy, so we went ahead and planned our trip. Right before the trip she got moved from understudy to actually being IN the play, but she had already told them she needed that weekend off, so they had HER understudy cover those days. Our little adventure was still on!
 Michele thought it would be fun to rent a room instead of staying in a big hotel, so after much discussion we all agreed on a little 2 bed, 1 bath flat downstairs in a 1920s house in Kitsilano. It was walking distance to stuff. Parking wasn’t terrible (we found a spot on the black every time). It was a cute little place. Upstairs we could hear the landlords family walking, talking, playing piano, their little dog’s nails tapping on the wood floor and yipping. It was fine though. I liked it. It felt a lot more personal than just being in a hotel. 

We had a lot of fabulous food while we were there, starting with a place right down the street called the Oakwood that did a menu with small plates to share. The food was amazing! The poutine with glazed brisket – drool! We waddled out of there and then took a nice long walk to Safeway for some snacks.

Can’t go to Vancouver without visiting the Aquarium. Lots of cool displays.

After the Aquarium we headed to English Bay Beach, and I found a restaurant with a view on Google, so that’s where we were headed. The XF Season 11 trailer had just come out the week before, and it showed a scene of Mulder next to some crazy laughing statues.

Found ’em!

Saturday night was the concert. We drove by ahead of time to check it out and it looked super sketchy. Lots of homeless people around. The parking looked iffy – since we have the Flex with the giant kayak rack on top, it couldn’t go in a parking garage. Dave found street parking a few blocks away. He dropped us off since there was already a line forming, and Michele and I got a place in line while he parked the beast.

We had to stand in line for a bit, but the other folks in line were friendly and chatty, and everyone was pretty chill. Folks kept walking by with dogs, and since I missed our dogs, we kept pointing them out. At one point Dave pointed out someone had a little corgi-esque dog with a fluffy tail, but I was short and couldn’t see it from where I was. Eventually they opened the doors and we all went in.

The venue didn’t have seats, just big open areas for standing, dancing, and a few tables around the edges which were pretty much taken. I wanted to stand up by the stage, so I staked out a spot and made like a rock – nothing would move me from my spot – close to the stage, and the exit door – just in case. I’m not fond of crowds, but I had Michele next to me and Dave behind me, and the rest of the floor just filled in until they were packed like sardines. I have never been in a concert like that! Michele proved to be a master at chatting up people, and ended up talking to some folks next to her about the wildfires in Santa Rosa (where she is from), because they were from the Bay Area too – small world!

Finally the show started about a half hour late. DD seemed tired, not nearly as energetic as the last concert. Seemed like he hit a lot of sour notes too, maybe his voice wasn’t up to it, or he just wasn’t feeling it. After a while he started to loosen up and it got better. I liked the songs he sang off the new album. And he played guitar this time, which was cool.

There was a group of girls behind us who were absolutely plastered by the time it started and were super obnoxious, falling over, dropping their bottles, squeeling randomly, waving a lighter around (for god’s sake, use a phone like everyone else before you set someone on fire!), shouting stuff out. Finally a stage hand came over and asked them to chill. At the end of the show our friend Michelle went over to thank him for doing that, and he said no problem, and said ‘oh, here, you might like this’ and handed her the setlist off the keyboard station. So she gave me that, and when we got home I hung it on the wall next to Mulder 🙂

It was a fun concert, and I wish I could have brought my camera because the pics would have been so much better, we were way closer than the cell phone pictures make it look.

The next morning we were talking about the concert, and I pulled up Twitter to show Michele a picture of Duchovny’s dog, Brick, and Dave says ‘Hey, that’s the corgi-esque dog I saw while we were in line!’ What?! You got to see Brick and I didn’t?!

The next day we went up to the Bloedel Conservatory, which is full of exotic birds and plants. Very cool.

All the beautiful birds! I can’t wait to make art out of some of these.

But Dave got tired of chasing birds and looking at plants. Poor Dave.

Then I think we took a long, meandering trip over to the north shore of Vancouver and drove until we got hungry, driving through little touristy towns that were hopping on Sunday afternoon. We had lunch at a random spot in a strip mall next to a grocery store, and the food was amazing! I don’t know how we got so lucky every stop.

We continued back, doing a loop around what used to be the XF studio, not sure if they are still filming there, and then back over the bridge and around Stanley park, stopping to take pictures of the city at sunset.

You’ll just have to trust me that this pic looks amazing blown up. The blog just can’t handle it.

The next day we swung through Steveston on our way home, and like everything it has grown a lot from the sleepy little beach town we found on our honeymoon. We also stopped in Bellingham to see this cool old sailing ship Michele had gone on a tour/crewed on. Then we pretty much hotfooted it home, because Dave had a rehearsal to get to. It was a fun weekend, I’m so glad Michele was able to join us, and ultimately even if the concert wasn’t the greatest concert ever (super hard to beat the last one), it gave us an excuse to wander around Vancouver all weekend, and that was pretty awesome.

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Eclipse 2017

On By stefrobrtsIn airstream, dave, fishing, Me1 Comment

The Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017 passed right through the heart of Oregon. As an amateur astronomer, I really wanted to see it. I had seen partial eclipses through the telescope, and lunar eclipses, but total solar eclipses are very rare. I heard last year that the Oregon Airstream club was planning something in Eastern Oregon, but at the time there was no way I could afford to sign up for that party, as I was still unemployed and Dave and I was struggling to keep it all rolling – I was starting up my Real Estate Photography business, and he was doing baggage delivery for airlines all night long. There was not any extra money for the big rally, and I heard it had filled up.

Fast forward to this May: I was gainfully employed again, and Dave had taken over the photography biz, and we were doing ok again, everything was getting caught up. I had to skip Trout Lake because I had done a terrible job of winterizing the trailer and the main water pipe broke, and camping without water is no bueno. But we drove out to Trout Lake for an evening to have dinner with our friends and catch up with everyone. While talking about our plans for this year, Jim Jordan mentioned that there were openings at the Eclipse rally, and I should look into it. We went home and discussed it. Dave might have a play during that time, and it was an expensive rally, so I decided to go by myself. I have never taken the trailer anywhere by myself, but I’m pretty confident I can do it. I drive nearly every trip, so I’m not really worried about it, so I signed up and paid my dues. Now I’m going to see an eclipse!

As we got closer to the eclipse Dave did not get a part in the play he thought he might be in, and as we heard more and more warnings about how many people would be travelling to Oregon to see the eclipse, we started to get worried. Authorities were warning people that grocery stores could run out of food, gas stations might run out of gas, cellphones might not work, and they expected traffic back-ups that would last for hours in 100 degree heat. Dave decided he should come along too. So we asked Scott and Sherry to watch the pups, and prepared for a crazy eclipse weekend.

I took that Friday off from work, and we drove out at about 11pm Thursday to avoid the traffic. People were already talking about crazy traffic in Madras, and that’s where we were headed. Our campsite was in Pelton Park on Lake Simtustus, and we wouldn’t be able to check in until noon on Friday, so we rolled into the Warm Springs Casino at 1am and parked it for the night. Dave went to play the slots for a bit while I went to sleep. The next morning he went to play a bit more while I hung out in a chair in the shade of the trailer, reading Travels with Charlie while answering questions from curious travelers about our Airstream. It was hot and a little smoky from a nearby brushfire.

Since we were heading for a lake we packed the Yak for the first time on an Airstream trip. I think they fit together just fine.

I was a little worried about heading for Eastern Oregon in August, with no AC, and no electricity to plug into to run it anyway. Turns out Pelton Park is actually a really nice park with lots of trees and shade. I loved our spot with a view of the lake. I wish we’d had one of those front-bedroom Airstreams with the table in the back – the pretty view was out our bathroom window!

Just a small assortment of the Airstreamers filling the overflow lot. I heard there was something like 130 Airstreams, some of which were at the neighboring park where we had the big tent setup (coming up).

The park also had a marina with boats to rent, tackle, a little grocery, and a diner. Very nice! We will have to come to this park again!

At the big tent at the Suntustus campground down the street, we had a mandatory meeting to discuss all the goings-on that were planned for the weekend, and security (they were worried about party-crashers trying to sneak in). Meanwhile the sky tried to distract us with one of the most amazing sunsets I have ever witnessed.

When we got there we immediately found friends, and discovered the Trout Lake contingent were all parked together at the other end of the park. I brought my fiddle and got some tips from Jim on stuff to work on so I could play along with everyone next time, and enjoyed sitting in and listening as everyone played under the streetlight behind Janet and Gary’s trailer, since campfires were not allowed.

The next morning we took the kayak out fishing bright and early, and missed breakfast. It was totally worth it because..

I caught a fish!

I didn’t know what it was, so I released it. Turned out it was a Northern Pikeminnow and they are invasive, and you’re supposed to keep them if you catch them. Oh well. We also saw some deer up on the hills, and a black cow that was just hanging out by itself.

On the way back to the dock a sheriff’s boat stopped us and said he could see we had PFDs, but did we have a noisemaking device. I said yes, we had a whistle. He said ok and said, but do you have an Oregon Aquatic Invasive Species permit? Well, no. He told us we needed to get one before we go out again, somewhere up the road at a fly shop. We didn’t want to go out because of the warnings about traffic and craziness in town, so we packed up the kayak for the remainder of the trip.

That didn’t put an end to all the fishing fun though, because they had a Fishing Derby planned for the next day. So I signed up and went out with David and Laura, who were both very experienced fishermen and kayakers, and also have a small farm so we had plenty to talk about! They were super nice and helpful and we trolled up and down the lake all morning.

The landscape along the lake is amazing! Very cool rock formations.

I’ve never seen rock formations quite like this. When you have a question about rocks in the NW, the answer is almost always ‘Volcanoes’.

Got a picture with a little Pikeminnow I caught. I caught two of them, and one little Rainbow Trout, which I gave to David to cook up with the ones him and his wife caught.

That was a blast! Then there was a charity hotdog lunch to support local firefighters. While standing in line someone’s beagle got away from them and was running around refusing to get caught. After I got my hotdog the pooch made a pass and I offered her a piece, but she only sniffed and kept running, so I handed it to her dad (he had camped with us at Trout Lake last year). But then she made another pass and I offered her another piece and she stopped to sniff it, then have a nibble. So I got down on the grass with her and set the hotdog down in front of me and she slowly snuck up on it, and didn’t even notice when I gently took her collar. Her dad was grateful and the crowd clapped 🙂

While I was fishing Dave went to the Casino, then we both crashed the rest of the afternoon. What a great place to crash!

This might have been the night we had dinner and got a tour of the constellations from our friendly astronomer-in-residence Brian from Fresno. Or it might have been the night we got to see Antsy McClain do his stuff. He’s awesome, what a treat!

Monday morning came, and it was time for the big event. The eclipse was going to happen at 10:21am, so we all gathered at the big tent for viewing, and then afterwards we would have brunch and have an astronaut come talk. It was a little smoky from nearby brush fires, but it looked like it was still going to be ok.

We found our friends and pulled up chairs to sit with them.

We tried out a box with a pinhole projection going on to see the eclipse as it progressed towards full, and checked out the telescopes, including Brian’s fabulous funnel-projection setup on his 8″ dob.

Big crowd for the main event!

Dave and I lookin’ fab in our eclipse glasses!

And the big moment…

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I didn’t take any pictures of the eclipse! This was actually on purpose. If I had tried, I would have been fiddling with my camera. There are lots of people who did, who enjoy that, who were happy to spend their time that way, but I just wanted to spend the whole two minutes watching the eclipse, and I did. I watched the last of the sun disappear behind the moon, whipped off the eclipse glasses to see an inky black hole in the deep blue sky with white rays stretching out from it. A parachute opened near the sun as some daredevil jumped and enjoyed his eclipse from the air. Venus was visible. It was kind of like twilight, but not quite, and it was sunset all around. It was amazing. Absolutely jaw-dropping amazing. And then, less than 2 minutes later, it was over. The instant it was over, and the sun came out form behind the moon, it was immediately too bright to look at with the naked eye. So the difference between a 99.9% eclipse, and 100% eclipse is everything! It is a completely different experience.

Afterwards we had lunch, and the astronaut talked to us and answered questions, and then we helped clean up, folding chairs and stacking tables. There was no cell service there, so to get reception you had to drive up to the top of the hill, and you could also see the highway from there. After brunch we had gone up there and saw the highway was crawling with people heading back to town, so we went back to camp to relax. Back at the campground we crashed for a bit, then while Dave was napping I went to see what Janet was up to. I didn’t find her, but I found Carolyn and Loren. I just started visiting with them, when Janet popped up and said Gail had rented a boat and there were two more spots! Carolyn didn’t want to go, so I went for it. We had a pontoon boat! Gail drove us down to the other campground and then down the lake a ways. Gary was stretched out on the front deck, Jim had his mandolin out plunking away, everyone was chatting and telling stories, it was fantastic!

We hooked up the trailer and had everything ready to roll before sunset, and then relaxed, planning to pull out in the middle of the night again. That night all our friends pulled together everything we had left for a potluck. After that Dave went for a nap, and I hung out listening to music. About 10pm one of our neighbors came back and said he’d been up to cellphone-point and the highway looked normal again. I went and told Dave it was time to go. We rolled home with no issues, and no traffic, and got in about 1am.

I’m so glad we took the time and spent the money to spend the weekend camping with our Airstream friends and making new friends and really enjoyed ourselves. It was the best rally we’ve ever been to, and then there was an eclipse too! Also, a big thumbs up for Pelton Park, and the awesome folks who run the marina there. We will definitely come back.

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The Big Blue ‘Yak

On By stefrobrtsIn boat, dave, fishing, kayak, outdoors1 Comment

I have been wanting to get out on the water for years.

For a brief time I had a boat I was trying to restore:

That’s a half-truth – I had two of them!

And honestly, if I had room at our new downsized house, I would have brought another one home by now. But they got swept away in the great depression, and that is how life goes sometimes.

Meanwhile, we’ve had a rubber raft for years which we have taken out to paddle around many times. It’s fun, but it’s not comfortable to use. It paddles hard and slow, but it has been fine. Still, I’ve had my eye on getting a nice kayak for a long time. Particularly a [particular brand that will remain unnamed] fishing kayak. They are supposed to be wide and stable, and really well designed. I’ve been keeping my eye on them for many years. So I was excited to actually find out the local kayak shop was having their free paddle weekend at the lake (I usually find out about it after it’s over!) On that Saturday morning I headed on down to Vancouver Lake bright and early to check it out.

Dave was at rehearsal, so I was on my own. Since I’m kind of shy, I just sort of walked up and down the beach, peeking at this and that and listening in on other people’s convos. I found a guy at the end talking a lot about fishing, he was the Jackson Kayak rep. I’d never heard of Jackson. He went through his whole schpeal and was moving on to another couple who had question when I thought I’d pipe up and ask some questions about their big tandem fishing kayak. He happily set me up, handed me a paddle and launched me off on my own to try it out.

I was immediately amazed at how confident I felt in it. My last kayak experience, when we’d rented kayaks on Lake River a couple years ago, had been scary, the kayak felt wobbly, and the current was working against us, and I had a miserable time. But this kayak was stable, and smooth, and I was jammin along in no time, paddling around the lake all by myself. I was in love!

I got back to shore and asked him how much they were, and he said $1800, and I immediately gave up any hope of having one. Why do they have to be so expensive?! My last car cost that much!

I wandered on down the beach and watched some water rescue demonstrations and took a short ‘How to paddle’ class, and eventually wandered back to the beach and found they had brought out a couple [unnamed brand I’d been pining for for years]! After all this time I finally had a chance to try one out!!

I waited in line for my turn to try on the [unnamed brand] pedal kayak (you sit up high and sit back and pedal like a bike), and I wobbled out to the lake, steering by way of a rudder, and…I HATED it! All this time I’d been waiting to try an [unnamed brand], and it was just not my thing. I pedaled it back to shore quickly and was relieved to get off it without dumping myself in the water!

I meandered around a bit more, and found another brand of fishing kayak that looked interesting – Eddyline. The sit-on-tops looked sleek and stable, and had all the goodies, including what looked like comfortable seats (one of my biggest complaints about the raft was that discomfort always forced us to call it a day quicker than I wanted to). So I took one of those for a spin.

It was ok, I liked it fine, but I didn’t feel super stable,. The guy manning the Eddyline booth was really helpful and directed me to another Eddyline sit-on-top to try out and I took it for a spin. It was better. I paddled it around a bit and considered if we were to get a kayak, would it be better to get a tandem (big and heavy), or two singles (lighter, but more expensive overall). Was it better to get a sit-on-top, or a sit-inside?

I brought it back in and went down to Jackson again. That Jackson Kilroy DT sure had paddled nice, and comfortable, and was adjustable to be tandem or single. It had a flat deck so you could even stand up in it. It was basically the Cadillac of fishing kayaks, and if you can only have one…

So I told Dave the bad news, and he said ‘you know, if you really want one, you can afford it, just make sure we’ll use it’! I did some research (I’d never heard of Jackson, and now that [unnamed brand] was off my list, I had some catching up to do). By mid-week I was down at Alder Creek Canoe and Kayak on my lunch break asking what they had in stock, how much was it, if I wanted one how long would it take to get it, and the end result was that by that weekend:

 

We were the proud owners of a beautiful Jackson Kilroy DT in the only color they had available – but it is actually the color I liked best anyway – black and blue! Since that bad boy weighs almost 100 lbs, I bit the bullet and went with the Thule Hullivator for the Flex. The Hullivator tips down along the side of the truck to load the kayak on, and then lifts back up into place with gas struts to help you lift it (though it is still VERY heavy), which makes loading the beast easier. What a pair, don’t you think?

We took it to Horseshoe Lake in Woodland for our initial paddle.

 

Paddlin’ and Fishin’! It’s so comfortable!


 

And back at home, it sits neatly on top of the Mustang. It’s 14ft long, which means it is as long as the Mustang!

 

We’ve taken it out three more times, each time to Lacamas Lake, which is much closer to home than Woodland (though I really like Horseshoe Lake, so I’m sure we’ll be back there again). The first time there was a church group of paddlers there, and we paddled quite a ways down the lake with them, then stopped to fish for a while.

 

Another day we took it out and hung out on the end of the lake near the bridge to Round Lake, and watched other paddlers sneaking under the bridge. We’ll wait for the water to go down a bit more before we try it!

Today we hung out on that end fishing for a bit, and then paddled over to the first pond full of water lillies, which had yellow blooms all over them. I fished there for a while, casting between the lilly pads and retrieving my lures, then my Rapala fish lure got stuck on a lilly pad and the line snapped! I told Dave ‘paddle over there so I can get it back, do you know how much those things cost?!’ so he paddled over there the whole time chiding me that all these lilly pads looked alike and there was no way I would find it. He paddled me over to where I said and there it was laying right on top of the leaf it had caught on 😀 Dave was amazed!

So that’s my new toy – I finally got my boat! It’s fun and comfortable and easy to paddle, and relaxing, and yet still good exercise. I’m really glad we finally took the plunge and got it. I think this is something we will be enjoying for a long time, taking on trips with our Airstream to try out new lakes farther from home, and generally exploring and fishing.

 

 

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Cruising around the Hood

On By stefrobrtsIn dave, Me, outdoors, photographyLeave a comment
Dave and I headed out to wander around Mt Hood. He had recently been on a drive for work that took him around the East side of the mountain, and I wanted to see it from that side too. We headed out to Hood River, but stopped first at Elowah Falls, since I saw it without him last time, and wanted to show off the crazy natural amphitheater it sits in. He was suitably impressed.

Then we headed on to Hood River, and up to Panorama Point, which has a beautiful view out over the Hood River valley (famous for it’s fruit farms), and the mountain.

After That we continued up Hiway 35 to Parkdale to see the Parkdale Lava Flow. Unfortunately it’s entirely on private land as far as we could tell. We could drive up close enough to see it, but not to actually get out and walk on it.

Eventually the highway wraps around the mountain, and we stopped to stretch our legs at this sno-park – now devoid of snow.

Continuing on around the mountain, we followed signs up to Timberline Lodge. We hadn’t been up here in ages, so figured we should swing by.

It was such a nice day we took a stroll around the lodge. The mountian looks so small from up there, like you could just hike up to the top, no trouble at all.

Actually, maybe it’s bigger than it looks…

From up there you can see way out into Eastern Oregon, where the green turns to brown desert.

And to the South you can see Mt Jefferson and Three Sisters.

After that we headed back down, with a stop in Gresham at Abby’s Pizza before heading home. Made a full day of it, and got to know our local mountain a little bit better.

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Back to Trout Lake

On By stefrobrtsIn airstream, dave, outdoors, photography, travelLeave a comment

This year was an unusual one at Trout Lake, because although we had the date marked off on the calendar, as we do every year, Dave had just started a new job (delivering lost luggage using our tow vehicle, the Flex), and he had to stay home and be on call. We considered just skipping it, but decided he could tow the trailer over there and leave me and it there for the weekend, while he went back home with the dogs.

So here we are with a couple of the neighbors for the weekend. The little silver one is mine. I had gotten it all prepared and tested at home, but the one thing I did not notice until I was here and living unplugged, was that my battery was dead! It wouldn’t hold much of a charge for long. So it was ok for the lights, because they are LEDs and don’t need much juice. A little tougher on the waterpump, because it is a power hog, but I can get by just fine without it by keeping a pitcher of water handy The fridge ran fine on propane. But it was pretty cold up there at night, and not having a heater was going to be a bummer. Luckily I had friends who brought over their generators and charged me back up to full every day, which was enough to get the heater running at night long enough to warm the place up, and I had a couple warm blankets too, so it wasn’t bad at all.

The mountain was jaw-droppingly beautiful, as usual.

And there was this weird cloud that didn’t even look real just hanging out that afternoon.

More happy Airstreams

No Airstream gathering is complete without flamingos

Jonathan was chopping wood…

So he could make campfire magic later. He’s a fire wizard!

Then the musicians start gathering

And a fine time was had by all!

I never get tired of the view.

Magical clouds over ‘Sleeping Beauty’

Stars over the mountain at night. So many stars I don’t even know what I’m looking at. That’s Cassiopeia over the mountain. I guess the skyglow is from Seattle? We’re a long way from it, but it’s in that direction.
More music. We never get tired of music.
The electronic devices come in handy when no one can remember the lyrics!
(not my trailer – that’s Gail’s trailer, which is very similar to mine)
The last morning. What a beautiful morning! Dave came back and hooked up our little trailer and we headed home. It was great to see everyone, as always, and we missed our friends who couldn’t make it this year. Trout Lake is always the best kickoff anyone could want to the camping season.
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