July 22: Seattle to Crystal Crane Hot Springs, Oregon
As it is the morning of July 24th and I have great Wifi service in our current location, I thought I would catch you up with our recent adventures, specifically the ones we encountered on July 22 of our travels.
Our objective today was the town of Burns, Oregon and the Crystal Crane Hot Springs there. Our foray took us through Tacoma, Olympia, Yakima, and Castle Rock, a distance which, incidentally, Bo's father had completed on his recent biking foray (about 100 miles). When we were almost in Portland, we switched to Hwy. 84 and the Salem, Wemme, Zigzag, and Mt. Hood itself. The last time I had visited Mt. Hood, Alexandra had been about 9 and she, Charles and I had stayed together at the Timberline Lodge. Since we were so close, we decided to drive up and revisit the lodge, which had been constructed in 1937 on the south slope of Mt. Hood at an elevation of 6,000 ft. It encompasses about 55,000 sq. ft. and is a National Historic Landmark. It is still being used for its original intent--a ski lodge and mountain retreat. We parked and walked through the Wy'East Day Lodge, with its ski services, restaurant and viewing deck, and then entered the lodge itself. Known as "The People's Lodge," it was hewn by public workers into a monumental masterpiece, and is furnished with museum-quality original paintings, carved linoleum, mosaic glass, sculpted wood, stone, and metal work to create a unique and truly original style known as Cascadian. Three decorative themes including wildlife, Native American and pioneer, appear throughout the lodge. We mainly explored the main lobby, Timberline's main floor living room, and took lots of photos. Alexandra remembered the place very well, and we were elated to experience its charm once again, even though, from the outside, I believe the place to be a rambling structure a bit short on a unified statement and marred by the Wy'East Day Lodge, which really doesn't blend in as successfully as it might with the older building. But of course the beauty of Mt. Hood and the surrounding area trumps all, and we decided to have an impromptu lunch there, partaking of things we had brought with us--pizza from last night, Orangina, and Mt. Rainier cherries, always a treat.
From Mt. Hood, our route took us through the towns of Terrebone and Bend, where we stocked up with chicken curry salad, crackers, a regular green salad, and other items for an evening meal. We were at a little less than half a tank of gas at that point, so didn't fill up--and that figures prominently into the fabric of the next part of today's tale.
From Bend, we headed towards the town of Burns, with a long stretch of state highway lying in front of us. A kind of prairie landscape, with very few houses but lots of hay bales, mountains in the distance, and a seemingly endless road. Interspersed towns had one or two ranch houses with farm equipment and barns, but they seemed like ghost towns open to the sky. Gas stations occasionally appeared, but they had been boarded up, and advertisements for Premium and Diesel proved meaningless. Towns like Brothers and Hampton, once open for business, seemed to have been forgotten, and by the time we reached Hampton, we were pretty close to empty. We stopped at a former gas station / restaurant, to be mocked by its advertisement of food and gas and by an empty gas dispenser lying in the field beyond. However, the sky, at this shank of the evening, was a riot of colors, and with occasional birds taking off from the fields and warbling overhead, the silence and beauty of the place and the ever changing configuration of the clouds proved mesmerizing. Alexandra called AAA for gas and was promised a delivery in about an hour. Meanwhile, we decided to take photographs and then play Scrabble while we waited for the gas to be delivered. AAA called about an hour later--the man who was going to deliver the gas had only been working there a few months and was not supposed to go on any calls beyond 10 miles of where he was situated. Because he had broken that rule, he was fired. Therefore, someone else was going to come with gas, We settled in and started eating the food we had bought in Bend, since this situation was obviously getting more complicated. One ailing truck limped in and parked across the street, and by this time it was getting dark. AAA called again and said someone was going to get gas to us, but that it would take another hour. We decided to play one of my favorite German category games, and about an hour later were joined by a Jeep who pulled in right next to us. A young man about 18 years of age stepped out, and we discovered that he was sitting on empty as well, but had no AAA card. Eventually, the man who was to deliver our gas called and said that he was on his way and that we needed to put together exactly $42.50 in cash for said gas, since the man's credit card machine was down. The $42 was pretty easy to come up with, but the 50 cents had to be scrounged up from every pocketbook and nook and cranny of the car! Meanwhile, the man was going to deliver 10 gallons for us to make it to Burns and our teepee for the night. We posed the young man's dilemma to him, and it was mutually decided that we would take 8 gallons and let the young man, Conor, have two gallons, since the man felt his primary obligation was to see us safely on our way. After the gas-dispensing man and his wife showed up at about 10:45 p.m., we were able to leave, and we followed Conor all the way into Burns, about 60 miles away. Both of us made it, and when we got there, were delighted that one Shell station was open for business. it is the law in Oregon that at gas stations, an attendant pumps your gas, so that was a nice perk. We arrived at Crystal Crane Hot Springs at a bit after midnight, and there was our teepee, bathed in a mellow interior light, while the stars clustered overhead. Taking our luggage inside the teepee, we noticed a tub in the middle of said teepee, and when we turned on the faucets, the spring water filled the tub. Both of us were ecstatic to take the plunge and have the warm waters soothe our tired bodies and souls. Then we blew up the air mattress and retired, though in the middle of the night the mattress deflated and I started rolling to the middle it, being crushed by Alexandra rolling my way. After a quick re-inflation and a dive into a sleeping bag (the night had grown cold), we finally fell into an exhausted sleep. What a day!!! I have never slept on an air mattress, nor have I ever re-inflated one at night! Live snd learn!
Our objective today was the town of Burns, Oregon and the Crystal Crane Hot Springs there. Our foray took us through Tacoma, Olympia, Yakima, and Castle Rock, a distance which, incidentally, Bo's father had completed on his recent biking foray (about 100 miles). When we were almost in Portland, we switched to Hwy. 84 and the Salem, Wemme, Zigzag, and Mt. Hood itself. The last time I had visited Mt. Hood, Alexandra had been about 9 and she, Charles and I had stayed together at the Timberline Lodge. Since we were so close, we decided to drive up and revisit the lodge, which had been constructed in 1937 on the south slope of Mt. Hood at an elevation of 6,000 ft. It encompasses about 55,000 sq. ft. and is a National Historic Landmark. It is still being used for its original intent--a ski lodge and mountain retreat. We parked and walked through the Wy'East Day Lodge, with its ski services, restaurant and viewing deck, and then entered the lodge itself. Known as "The People's Lodge," it was hewn by public workers into a monumental masterpiece, and is furnished with museum-quality original paintings, carved linoleum, mosaic glass, sculpted wood, stone, and metal work to create a unique and truly original style known as Cascadian. Three decorative themes including wildlife, Native American and pioneer, appear throughout the lodge. We mainly explored the main lobby, Timberline's main floor living room, and took lots of photos. Alexandra remembered the place very well, and we were elated to experience its charm once again, even though, from the outside, I believe the place to be a rambling structure a bit short on a unified statement and marred by the Wy'East Day Lodge, which really doesn't blend in as successfully as it might with the older building. But of course the beauty of Mt. Hood and the surrounding area trumps all, and we decided to have an impromptu lunch there, partaking of things we had brought with us--pizza from last night, Orangina, and Mt. Rainier cherries, always a treat.
From Mt. Hood, our route took us through the towns of Terrebone and Bend, where we stocked up with chicken curry salad, crackers, a regular green salad, and other items for an evening meal. We were at a little less than half a tank of gas at that point, so didn't fill up--and that figures prominently into the fabric of the next part of today's tale.
From Bend, we headed towards the town of Burns, with a long stretch of state highway lying in front of us. A kind of prairie landscape, with very few houses but lots of hay bales, mountains in the distance, and a seemingly endless road. Interspersed towns had one or two ranch houses with farm equipment and barns, but they seemed like ghost towns open to the sky. Gas stations occasionally appeared, but they had been boarded up, and advertisements for Premium and Diesel proved meaningless. Towns like Brothers and Hampton, once open for business, seemed to have been forgotten, and by the time we reached Hampton, we were pretty close to empty. We stopped at a former gas station / restaurant, to be mocked by its advertisement of food and gas and by an empty gas dispenser lying in the field beyond. However, the sky, at this shank of the evening, was a riot of colors, and with occasional birds taking off from the fields and warbling overhead, the silence and beauty of the place and the ever changing configuration of the clouds proved mesmerizing. Alexandra called AAA for gas and was promised a delivery in about an hour. Meanwhile, we decided to take photographs and then play Scrabble while we waited for the gas to be delivered. AAA called about an hour later--the man who was going to deliver the gas had only been working there a few months and was not supposed to go on any calls beyond 10 miles of where he was situated. Because he had broken that rule, he was fired. Therefore, someone else was going to come with gas, We settled in and started eating the food we had bought in Bend, since this situation was obviously getting more complicated. One ailing truck limped in and parked across the street, and by this time it was getting dark. AAA called again and said someone was going to get gas to us, but that it would take another hour. We decided to play one of my favorite German category games, and about an hour later were joined by a Jeep who pulled in right next to us. A young man about 18 years of age stepped out, and we discovered that he was sitting on empty as well, but had no AAA card. Eventually, the man who was to deliver our gas called and said that he was on his way and that we needed to put together exactly $42.50 in cash for said gas, since the man's credit card machine was down. The $42 was pretty easy to come up with, but the 50 cents had to be scrounged up from every pocketbook and nook and cranny of the car! Meanwhile, the man was going to deliver 10 gallons for us to make it to Burns and our teepee for the night. We posed the young man's dilemma to him, and it was mutually decided that we would take 8 gallons and let the young man, Conor, have two gallons, since the man felt his primary obligation was to see us safely on our way. After the gas-dispensing man and his wife showed up at about 10:45 p.m., we were able to leave, and we followed Conor all the way into Burns, about 60 miles away. Both of us made it, and when we got there, were delighted that one Shell station was open for business. it is the law in Oregon that at gas stations, an attendant pumps your gas, so that was a nice perk. We arrived at Crystal Crane Hot Springs at a bit after midnight, and there was our teepee, bathed in a mellow interior light, while the stars clustered overhead. Taking our luggage inside the teepee, we noticed a tub in the middle of said teepee, and when we turned on the faucets, the spring water filled the tub. Both of us were ecstatic to take the plunge and have the warm waters soothe our tired bodies and souls. Then we blew up the air mattress and retired, though in the middle of the night the mattress deflated and I started rolling to the middle it, being crushed by Alexandra rolling my way. After a quick re-inflation and a dive into a sleeping bag (the night had grown cold), we finally fell into an exhausted sleep. What a day!!! I have never slept on an air mattress, nor have I ever re-inflated one at night! Live snd learn!
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