Finally . . . camping in the sun!

Deschutes River Canyon outside of Maupin, OR

The first night of a short trip - I zoomed up the Columbia gorge chased by small showers until I got to the Dalles, then cut South to Maupin. Maupin is a launching point for rafting trips on the Dechutes River.  I'm camped in a little riverside forest service campground - only 12 small sites.  There are a series of small campgrounds all along the river.  Mostly set up for tent campers, there's usually a few sites that can fit a small rig like mine.  Weekdays the fee is $8; weekends $12.

I can hear the river and the crickets; overhead a hawk rides the afternoon thermals.  I have cheese, crackers and wine - the sun is shining . . . ahhhhh!

The view beyond my picnic table

There's a train track across the river and like most camping in river canyons, there's no hiking - pretty much just watch the water run.  It might be fun to stay the weekend and watch the rafters go by - but I'm thinking I don't want to listen to all the traffic as outfitters ferry folks back from various take-outs.  

So, I'll probably head out tomorrow towards the John Day area - pretty rocks, dinosaur bones, and perhaps some good bird watching.

Stuck in the rain for a few more days

45 minutes before I was planning to leave for two weeks of camping, got a call that a room had opened up for my Mom in the memory care unit we had chosen.  So, I'm now half living out of the loaded trailer while we get the packing and moving prep done.

Mom, last year during a marathon visit to the E.R.

Urban Sketching Regional Workshop in Seattle WA

Despite ominous forecasts, it didn't rain all weekend!!

Almost unheard of good luck in the Pacific Northwest for this time of year, but we got away with 2.5 days rain-free!  The Urban Sketchers workshop presenters were UofW professor of 35 yrs, Frank Chin and Gail Wong, a lecturer at UofW for 16 years.  They were great and I learned a lot about sketching buildings and urban scenes.  

Seattle is an amazingly picturesque city with lots of very colorful neighborhoods, vistas and architecture.  We sketched in the Fremont Neighborhood where I found this huge statue of Lenin.  The statue was found face down in a Russian junkyard and brought to the US.  There is some controversy about it and this may only be a temporary location for the statue.

We spent Sunday morning at the iconic Pike Street Market.  This is a scene looking into Post Alley - lots of produce, fresh fish, bakeries and little coffee shops.

After this weekend, I'm psyched to do a lot of sketching during my camping trips this summer.  

I'm off to Idaho/Utah for a couple of weeks later this week.

Hopefully, the last post about tires

A nail through the sidewall . . .

Results in a ride on a very, very big tow truck . . .

Between a full set of new tires for the Honda Pilot, and a new back tire for the scooter, I have spent way too much time this spring dealing with tires!  But, at least I have confidence that I'm all set for summer vacations and around town scooting.