Going to David Duchovny’s Concert

On By stefrobrtsIn concert, music1 Comment

(An excerpt from what I wrote to Heather about going to see David Duchovny’s Hell or Highwater concert at the Aladdin in Portland.)

It was a beautiful blue sky/puffy cloud sunny day (I know, what the heck?) and so I was just in an awesome mood. I wore my Mulder t-shirt to work. Dave had a performance that night so I was taking my friend, Michele, who I finally talked into watching XF this year and she liked it, so she came along without even hearing any of his songs just because she liked him. She goes to a lot of concerts, and she happened to know that the concert venue, which is an old theater, has a little pub attached, and if you go to the pub before the show for dinner, you get in a short line to get in. So we did that, I left work at 4, picked her up, drove over to Portland, and got there just after 5, had a nice dinner, got our wristbands, and we got in the short line, and we were like behind six other people to get in first!! Brilliant! Usually I am in the long line, wondering how the special people got in the short line, but this time I was the one in the short line – ha ha ha!

We started chatting with the ladies behind us in line, and they were there for their friend’s birthday ‘girls night out’, and their friend had gotten the $120 ticket to go in early and watch the sound check and get to meet him. Pretty soon she comes out and she’s just bouncing up and down happy. “He hugged me!!!!” So everyone was like “OMG, what was he like?!” and she was just bubbling over “He was so nice and kind, he’s so sweet!” And then I’m kicking myself for not going for the $120 ticket – lol!

Finally they open the doors and we stroll on in ahead of the crowd and I spot the perfect spot – 5 rows back, and on the outside aisle, but I can tell they are going to keep that aisle clear and all I have to do is watch over the heads of the crowd down front at the stage. Awesome seats. We considered going up and standing at the stage, but I don’t care for getting into a bump & jostle crowd, I have a thing about crowds, and I don’t think that would be fun for two hours. And we were literally about 25 ft away at our seats. I think this is the first concert I’ve been to where being short didn’t result in me listening to the music while staring at people’s backs the whole time (which is what happened at  Barenaked Ladies a few years ago – ugh).

I’m sorry for the crappy phone pics, cameras were not allowed, so I left mine home. Though getting a pic of him would have been the highlight of my photographic life 🙂 This will have to do. They had an opening act that was really good, then after a pause to setup their equipment their band came out and then he comes bouncing out and the SOLD OUT crowd goes wild! I was so stinking happy to see him, like there he is – in real life, just a couple yards away. I was smiling like an idiot, and Michele elbows me and she’s laughing and says ‘I don’t think I’ve EVER seen you so happy!’ I mean, it was HIM, right THERE!

He does a couple songs, and then he moved over to the far right where I couldn’t see him well, and took off his jacket, and I hear my friend say “Oh My God!” and I leaned over to see and said ‘What?” and she says “Look at his arms!” Yeah, his arms are actually pretty magnificent.

He rolled through some songs from his album, and some songs that will be on the next album, and threw in a couple covers, one was a David Bowie song. He said some nice things about how this is a tough time for everyone but maybe it’s good because people will learn who they are and what they really stand for. He played around with the audience by reaching down and touching the folks down front, pretending like he was going to crowd surf off the stage, and at one point hopped down into the crowd and worked his way back to the seats and climbed up on the seats and then worked his way back up on stage. He was trying to get everyone up dancing, and our section was sitting down, and he points right at us and says ‘you guys sitting down, dance in your chairs, whatever makes you happy’ – he was just totally engaging with the whole crowd!

After an hour or so they pretend they’re done and all run off stage, the crowd goes wild screaming for an encore. After a short break they come back out and by now everyone is up on their feet, and he does his big song, which is Hell or Highwater, and maybe another one, I don’t recall. Then they are done, say goodnight, and head off. Everyone cheers for a while, and then the lights come up and the back doors open up and it’s over, so folks start filing out, then they come out AGAIN!

He comes out and says some more nice stuff about being kind and loving each other (the whole night just felt very full of love – everyone in the audience was a huge fan, everyone was totally mellow and being nice to each other, he was talking about loving each other, and brotherly love and stuff like that), and him (and the rest of the band) puts on pussy hats (you know those pink hats all the protesters have been wearing) and they do an awesome cover of The Weight (Take a Load off Fanny), and everyone is singing along – it was magical! It was just the greatest thing ever!

Then at one point he comes down into the audience again on the far side, works his way halfway back, starts coming over our way and it looks like he’s going to loop right by us, but then gets blocked up and changes direction about ten feet away – I almost died with excitement for a second there! But I was too happy with the whole experience to be disappointed 🙂

I was so happy, I was still happy all day Saturday 🙂 It took that long for the endorphins to wear off. It was the best concert experience I’ve ever had. Better than I possibly hoped for. It was just ridiculously awesome! Love love love love.

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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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Multnomah Falls/Wahkeena Falls Loop

On By stefrobrtsIn hiking, Me, outdoorsLeave a comment
Back to my weekly hiking trip, I decided to do the Multnomah Falls – Wahkeena Falls Loop.  That is 5 miles and 1600ft elevation gain, so not as bad as Tom, Dick, and Harry a couple weeks ago. Oh wait, it’s a mile shorter, and only 100ft less elevation – that probably means it’s about the same or worse. Well, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
Last time I hiked to the top of Multnomah, when I came home all my friends said I should have kept going! Well, I wasn’t quite up to it that time, but this time I am a bit lighter and a lot stronger, so I was up for it. First I had to sit in traffic on the old highway for half an hour just to get to the parking lot, then weave my way through approximately one billion tourists speaking every language you could imagine, I love to see all these people coming to see what we can drive out here and enjoy anytime. 
Luckily the farther you go, the fewer people there are. Some people never go past the lower viewing platform. Many more stop at Benson Bridge. A few more head on up the switchbacks, but it definitely thins out at that point. I was stopping to rest halfway up and chatted with a nice Pakistani couple where were also catching their breath. They were discussing if they could make it up all 11 switchbacks, and I told them the last few switchbacks go downhill – and he translated that for his wife and she seemed relieved 🙂 Indeed, 9 is the last uphill switchback, then you go over the top and back downhill the next couple to the river at the top of the waterfall. 
This time I didn’t even go check out the top-of-the-falls viewing platform, instead I headed upriver. I chatted with some folks coming from that direction to confirm I was going the right way. In this picture, the trail hugs the rock wall to the right.
Then you come to Dutchman Falls, which was a nice little waterfall, with water roaring past on this day, making a cool spot to sit for a few minutes and relax after the long hike up. 
Pretty view back down Multnomah Creek in the direction I came. The trail hugs the rock wall to the left in this shot.
The trail goes under this cool basalt overhang called Dutchman’s Tunnel. Oregon Hiker’s site says this trail was built in 1915!
My favorite shot of the trip. Heck, my favorite shot of the summer so far! Weisendanger Falls. I had to wait a few minutes for the small crowd to clear, but that was the end of crowds on this journey. After this it was just passing by single hikers here and there along the way.
The trail passed right by the top of Ecola Falls, but I only got this peek-a-boo look at it, since I didn’t want to go sliding down the muddy bank to get a better view. 
This whole walk is just ridiculously pretty. It’s like something out of a fairy tale.
Things were a little confusing here. I KNOW I don’t want to go to Larch Mountain, and I am already on #441, but what I’m looking for at the junction is #420. Luckily someone added the note on the bottom to help me out – Wahkeena Falls -> Thataway. That was my guess, but I’ve heard of people getting lost up here, and since I was alone I really wanted to be sure!
Pretty, peaceful walk.
Why can’t someone pay me to do this?
The camera is level in this next shot, to show how steep the hill behind the sign is – VERY steep!
This is what I’m looking for. Definitely on the right trail, and finally heading back downhill. That was a long climb up. 
I saw these cool Indian Pipe plants. I only saw this one little patch of them on the whole walk. They survive on fungus that survive on trees. What a cool adaptation!
Now I guess I’m following Wahkeena Creek back down.
This beauty is Fairy Falls. It is a lovely cascade of water. 
There was a Japanese family I kept passing and then they would pass me, so I asked them to take my picture. I wasn’t sure if they spoke English because I heard them talking to each other in Japanese, but they spoke perfect English, of course! So here I am in front of Fairy Falls (it’s only 20ft high).
And..my last shot of Wahkeena Creek before my camera battery died! 
After this I came to Lemmon’s Viewpoint, named after a firefighter who died fighting fires in the area. Beautiful little overlook of the Gorge, and a nice place to rest up a little. 
I guess I should have shot a pic of Wahkeena Falls with my phone, but I didn’t think of it. I sat on a bench and loosened up my boots for a few minutes (my toes were complaining from the long downhill), then crossed the little bridge that goes right in front of Wahkeena and the water makes a delightful spray on a hot day. Then at the bottom I just had to follow a half mile trail that followed the Old Highway back to Multnomah Falls, and my waiting car. It was a great hike, and the most waterfalls I’d ever seen on one hike! I’m glad my friends told me to go back and do it!
I’ll have to go back and get pics of Wahkeena Falls sometime.
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Johnny – My Miracle Mustang

On By stefrobrtsIn cars, mustangLeave a comment

I don’t normally post on this blog about the Mustang so much, because it has it’s own blog, and this is where I post home and family stuff. But this is big news, and Johnny IS family – and Johnny is running again. I sent him over to my friend Jim’s house in October, right before getting laid off from my job 😦 Jim did an amazing job of putting Humpty Dumpty back together again for as little $$$ as he could manage. Maybe this should be called the Bionic Mustang, because he is better, stronger, faster than ever before!

Jim squeezed a 302 under the hood. This is considered nearly impossible in some circles, because 74 Mustangs have a smaller engine bay that was never intended to hold a V8, in fact when I discussed it online someone had the gall to tell me I was lying because it was impossible! Nope, not impossible.

 

Either way, Johnny is my Miracle Mustang, because Johnny was my first car in 1987, and I sold it in 1993 shortly after we got married. Then I kicked myself for doing so for years while I bought and restored other Mustangs, until I couldn’t stand it anymore, and knowing that the odds were that someone had junked it and cut it up by then, I went looking for it in 2005. Thanks to help from other Mustang lovers online, I found it. I handed over the cash and brought my old friend home, not running. Then I proceeded to have rough times that stopped me from really spending the money on it that I wanted to for years, until I met Jim (completely coincidentally – he came to look at a part I had for sale – not even a Mustang II part, but he saw my pony in the garage and said ‘hey, I have one of those, and a bunch of extra parts too’). He had the parts, and the know-how to make it happen. And he is just an all-around awesome guy!

So I pulled the old drivetrain out, rebuilt the brakes, resealed the gas tank and cleaned out the fuel lines, and sent it over to his house. He did all the magic.

 

It’s got a ways to go before other people will be too impressed by it, but to me..sigh, I’m more than a little in love with this silly yellow Mustang that my Grandpa found for me 29 years ago! Back then I paid $1000 which I had saved up from my afterschool job at the pet store. Today, I’ve got more than that in the engine.

Here’s my reward:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/173540723
Mustang II – New 302 Engine from Stephanie Roberts on Vimeo.

Seeing it roll out of the garage under it’s own power for the first time since..well, it wasn’t running when I brought it home in 2005, so..first time in a LONG time. And it sure as heck didn’t SOUND like that back in the day!

A couple days later he declared it finished enough to go home. Still lots of work to do:

 

but it’s running and driving.

 

 

We rearranged the garage to make room. Now I have TWO completely impractical cars! Lucky me!

 

I started playing around with polishing off the oxidation to make it look a little nicer. I plan to take it to some cruise-ins this summer, even if it is ugly.

 

And I can even drive it on errands, like here where I drove it to the gym. It’s a real car now, it runs and drives!

So, that’s my amazing project Mustang. Mustang #7 for me, and yet also Mustang #1. It’s something so many car enthusiasts wish they could have – their first car, the one they drove their friends around in at school, the one they took their first dates in, and I’m so incredibly lucky to have sold mine, and then found it again. Not one ‘like’ it, but my actual, honest to goodness, first car. Grandpa never would have guessed I’d still have my yellow pony all these years later!

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Just for fun

On By stefrobrtsIn navi, petsLeave a comment
I wanted to get the dogs photographed against a beautiful blue-sky-puffy-cloud background. Finally had the perfect sky for it, so I enlisted Dave’s help to get Navi to pose up on a bench, while I got down low to try and get the sky behind her. Barclay wasn’t interested in participating.

Nice Profile

Navi is so eager to do right and be good, she is just delightfully goofy sometimes.

What a pretty girl!
“The hand of God” 🙂

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Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain

On By stefrobrtsIn hiking, Me, outdoorsLeave a comment

I screwed up my courage and headed off on another solo adventure – to Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain. This is my first hike outside of the Gorge. It is a 6 mile hike, with 1700ft elevation gain, so the most strenuous hike I’ve done so far. It is up by Mt Hood, with spectacular views, and along the way you pass by Mirror Lake, with a beautiful reflection of Mt Hood. On a clear day, anyway.

The trailhead is right on Highway 26, so I found a spot and started walking. Among other firsts, I got to cross a scree slope, which I’ve always thought would be pretty scary, but the well-used trail was actually quite stable on the slope. I crossed several of these by the time I was done.

The trail continued on through lovely forests. Everything was a little muddy, because it had been raining, and was actually raining off and on during my hike. Enough that everytime I thought it was over and tried to take off my rain jacket, it would start sprinkling again. So I had my jacket and hat on the whole hike.

Notice the rhododendrons blooming along the trail – neat!

Finally I came to Mirror Lake, which is only a mile and a half in. This was a nice place to stop and rest a little, have a snack, and enjoy the view. That lump on top of the ridge straight ahead is where I’m going. At this point I was looking at it and thinking, no, there’s really no way I’m going all the way up there! It looked pretty high from the lake.

I started to walk around the lake to see the view of Mt Hood, but I could tell it was clouded over. I got to the trail to Tom Dick and Harry and thought about it. No way, I’ll never make it, I told myself. There was a family at the trail junction with three little kids, and they said ‘you go ahead, we don’t want to slow you down!’ I thought, NO ONE has ever slowed ME down, I’m the slowest hiker out there! But seeing them was the push I needed, and I thought, I’ll just go up the trail a ways and see what it looks like – I can always turn around when  I’m halfway tired.

Another first for me – hiking in a Wilderness area!

Bear Grass

A pretty view of the valley, but no mountain.

Pretty, whatever it is! I think it’s Indian Paintbrush.

Still plugging along, another beautiful viewpoint, but no mountain.

Pretty little flowers,

Getting closer to the top. Still no mountain.

Funky moss on a rock.

I was stopped for a rest from the relentless uphill climb, and saw a couple coming downhill, so I chatted them up about the hike. They said it was worth it, and they got a view of the mountain at the top! But they warned me, I was about ten minutes from the rockpile, and after that it got ‘climby’. Ok, not sure what that means…

Rockpile!

Oh, THAT’S what ‘climby’ means…

So, it looked like that off and on for the last 20 minutes, and then finally, I climbed up a rocky bit, and tah dah! On top of the world! Looking down on Mirror Lake – and no mountain.

Tom Dick and Harry is cool, look at all those rocks pushed together! I read it was formed through glacial action, as opposed to all the basalt/lava I’ve been seeing in the gorge.

There was another family at the top and I chatted with them. They were visiting from North Carolina, and they were eating lunch and hoping it would clear up and give them a view before they had to head back down.

Nope.

So I sat down against a boulder to eat my lunch..and it started SNOWING on me!!

The snow cleared up and I walked around and took some pictures. I think this is Columbine.

TD&H also has a beautiful view of Mt Jefferson to the south. On a clear day…

So my new friends and I took pictures for each other, and they reluctantly headed on down. Here I am with Mt Cloudy in the background.

Now I had the top of the world to myself, so I settled down on top of a boulder and decided to soak up the sun and rest a bit.

I closed my eyes and opened them when a raven flew by so close I could hear his feathers rustling! Cool. I closed my eyes again. So quiet. Just the wind…and some rocks clinking together. I heard it again. I was not alone up here!

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels! There were two of them, running around. One even came up and sat right next to me on the boulder, and then took off before I could catch a selfie with him!

After about an hour of resting on the top, I decided to head back down. It was beautiful, and I can’t wait to go back. On a clear day, next time!

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Bridal Veil Falls, Horsetail Falls

On By stefrobrtsIn hiking, outdoors, travelLeave a comment

Back to the Gorge for some more waterfall hiking. Stopped at the Portland Women’s Forum Overlook again. That’s a nice place to get out and stretch after getting on the old Highway.

This sign had a nice history of the building of the highway. I particularly liked this part:

“Standing here I realized the magnitude of my task and the splendid opportunity presented. Instinctively there came a prayer for strong men, and that we might have sense enough to do the thing in the right way…so as not to mar what God had put there… Samuel C Lancaster, Engineer, 1915”

I think that’s an attitude that is sadly lacking in so many endeavors today. Many thanks to those who created the access for us to enjoy this natural playground.

I headed on down the highway to Bridal Veil Falls. It is one of the first falls you come to, and it is just an easy walk to the falls, not even a half mile, on a very civilized gravel path, so of course it was quite popular, and I was lucky to get a spot in the trailhead lot.

Pretty little flowers along the path.

Finally the path goes up some stairs, over a couple little bridges, and takes you to the waterfall, which is kind of around a corner. There is a small viewing platform for admiring it.

The water flows into the pool, and then continues downhill, but walking down to the stream, you can barely see the waterfall.

Very pretty, still. I was happy with this shot.

And a little farther downstream, past one of the bridges. I love the way the water turned out on this one.

Afterwards I took a stroll around the path that goes around the parking lot, and out to the edge of the cliffs. I stopped to read this sign about Native American traders, and was a bit taken aback by how they slipped ‘Slaves’ in there with basketry!

More flowers on the path.

The path goes out to the cliffs with a nice view across the river to Cape Horn. Phoca Rock is visible out in the river. You can click on this pic to get a bigger version.

I was certainly not worn out yet, so I headed on down the old highway, looking for something else to do. After driving past some of the bigger attractions, I came to Horsetail Falls, and was surprised to see it was right there by the highway!

About then the rains came back and I decided to head home. Nice easy day of visiting waterfalls though. I really enjoy my weekly ramblings.

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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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Panther Falls and Falls Creek Falls (and Cave)

On By stefrobrtsIn dave, hiking, Me, outdoorsLeave a comment

For my weekly outdoor adventure I decided to drag Dave along. For one thing, I hadn’t forced him out into the woods lately, and I thought it would be good for him. For another thing, it was a LONG drive out to the woods, and I didn’t want to be alone if I broke the Miata.

So we headed down Highway 14 to White Salmon, and headed north into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We had a guidebook, ‘Curious Gorge’, but in retrospect next time I’ll bring some accurate maps. This wasn’t like driving the old highway to Multnomah Falls. Forest roads are winding and poorly marked, and I was a bit worried we were going to get lost more than once! And it’s not like someone is going to come along and help you find your way, there’s not a lot of people out there in the middle of the week!

First stop: Panther Creek Falls.

I was told this is the most spectacular waterfall you’ve never heard of. There isn’t even really a trailhead, just a wide spot of rutted dirt to park alongside the road. Then you walk back along the road about 50 ft and there’s an arrow hand-spray painted on the road that says ‘falls’ – we almost missed it. Follow the little path there into the bushes, and suddenly you are walking on a lovely path through tall trees.

The path goes down to follow this stream a short distance, protected by a fence, and then to a viewing platform for this:

 It’s difficult to capture how big this is! It’s two streams flowing down this huge wall of rock.

 The streams that tumble down to the waterfall are pretty impressive on their own.

So that was a very short walk to a very spectacular waterfall. People told me if it wasn’t located deep in the woods, everyone would be flocking to it. I agree!

 Next stop – Falls Creek Cave.

We didn’t do much at Falls Creek Cave except look at it and change our minds about going any further. I think I would do this if I came with more people, but with just the two of us, if someone got hurt, it would be bad. We decided to hold off on this adventure.

Next stop: Falls Creek Falls

So, again, people told me this is the best waterfall in the Gorge (though it’s quite a ways from the Gorge itself. They assured me it was worth it. It’s a two mile hike in through a lovely forest along a river for much of the hike.

One neat feature, again – hard to capture in photos, was this section where you cross over a little stream coming down the hill, and the rocky area the water is coming out of is all covered in beautiful moss. It was really other-worldly.
The trail continued along past this neat rock wall all covered in moss and ferns
Finally we heard the falls, and looking up, way up, we caught sight of it – the upper falls. Seeing photos of it did not prepare me for how HUGE it was, and the spectacular roar of the water, and the rush of wind coming off of it. It was amazing!

Midweek hiking for the win! We had the viewpoint to ourselves.

Lunchtime, with a view!

Dave climbed down to the lower viewpoint to try and give a little more perspective. As he said, it looked like something you’d expect to see in the jungles of Peru or something!

Finally we headed back, and Dave took a picture of me crossing the bridge at the beginning of the trail. It was a great hike, and a spectacular waterfall.

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