McKenzie-Santiam Scenic Byway- Central Oregon

This past week John and I drove south through central Oregon.  It was a two day trip that we took in our tow car and which necessitated us to spend one night in Bend, Oregon.  Initially we drove through very dense forests Douglas firs, cedar and hemlock.  Being a fairly wet area, there are also many ferns which dot the roadside.  This is the western side of the Cascades, which receives about 40-100 inches of rain a year.

We climbed Santiam Pass and found ourselves looking at a very different landscape.  This is the eastern side of the Cascades, which receives 10-25 inches of precipitation a year.  Here the land is covered by sagebrush, Western juniper and bunchgrass.  We stopped in the small town of Three Sisters, which was named after the three mountains above.  Middle and North Sisters are on the right, and the South Sister sits off to the left of them.  They were originally called Faith, Hope and Charity by Methodist missionaries in the 1840s.  In Bend Oregon we found a place to stay for the night and then proceeded to the popular scenic viewpoint of the town, which is Pilot Butte.  The high hill is a cinder cone volcano.  Every hill or mountain of the Cascades rests upon ancient eroded peaks.  From the top of the butte we could see the Three Sisters again, as well as other mountains in the Cascade mountain range.  Pictured below are the Blue Mountains of Oregon, which are in the northeastern corner of the state. In the foreground is the town of Bend.

That evening, in Bend, we saw the movie The Butler, which I was anxious to see it before it left the theaters.  The movie did a fairly good job recounting the history of our nation from the 1950s to the present time, but it does have its shortcomings in telling that history through the life story of a White House butler.  The next day, the second day of our trip, we drove out of Bend to the High Desert Museum.  The museum has indoor and outdoor exhibits exploring the culture, history and wildlife of the area.  We got there in time for the feeding of river otters by a docent.  After their meal the otters climbed onto the banks and lolled around, very happily sated from their meal of fish.  We spent the rest of our day touring the Newberry Caldera, more on that in my next posting.

Mt. Angel, Oregon

We are now settled in Silverton, Oregon, which we visited three years ago.  Yesterday we drove north of the town to Mt.Angel, a small town with German roots tucked in the countryside which surrounds Silverton.  We drove by fields of corn and even larger fields of hops.  There are also apple orchards in this part of the country.  Along the way drove through the Gallon Covered Bridge, built in 1916.

The 84-foot bridge earned its name as the place to get a gallon of moonshine during Prohibition.  Coming into Mt.Angel the Glockenspiel Restaurant was the first building which caught our eyes.

After touring Mount Angel Abbey we returned to watch the figures of the Glockenspiel dance about and to hear the music.  The hand carved figures tell the history of the town.  Mount Angel is famous for its Oktoberfest, one of the Northwest's largest folk festivals.  It will be occurring in a couple of weeks, unfortunately we will miss it.

On the eastern edge of the town is a 480 foot knoll which the Native Americans called "place of communion with the Great Spirit".  It was renamed Mount Angel by Father Odermutt in 1882 when he established the Mount Angel Abbey on its slopes.  The chapel of the abbey is pictured above.  The inside of the church is quite beautiful with its wooden beams.

We enjoyed our walk over the grounds of the abbey, which overlooks the farmlands below and has views of Mount Hood off in the distance.  We were going to by-pass the museum of the abbey, but a seminarian encouraged us to see it.  What a surprise!  It had nothing to do with the history of the monastery but has on display various collections donated to the abbey.  There are exhibitions of stuffed animals and birds, as well as pottery from Jerusalem dated 300-200 B.C.  There are also ancient instruments from around the world, as well as art collections.  The museum is in a building off to the side of the main buildings- one would never guess that there are valuable artifacts and art located in that museum.

Portland, Oregon

The Willamette River divides Portland east from west and the Burnside Bridge/street (pictured above) separates north from south.  A series of 11 bridges connects the east and west sides.  It is a city of historic brick buildings as as well as modern glass and steel structures.  John and I made three different trips into the city, during two of those times we spent some time at the Saturday Market in Old Town.

If you want to explore the character of Portland go to its Saturday Town Market.  It is about as quirky as some of its neighborhoods.  We found booths selling trilobites (fossilized ancient marine anthropods), sweet potato cupcakes, as well as purses and lamps made from Hollywood 35 mm film.

On our second walk through the historic district we accidentally came upon Voodoo Doughnuts.  We had to check it out because its customers were line up out the door and around the block.  A young boy stepped out of the bakery with a doughnut about the size of a frisbee.  The icing on it looked to be several inches thick and it was topped with marshmallows.  His mother explained to us that the popularity of the doughnut was due to its uniqueness.  A couple of blocks from the doughnut shop there was another long line, it was a homeless shelter and apparently the people were probably waiting for food handouts.  While in Portland we noticed many people sleeping on the streets and in the parks.  We walked past a small lot filled with tents.  The tents were protected from public view on one side by a series of wooden doors.

We read in The Oregonian that the police have swept the homeless out of one camp.  On a more positive note, I read in Street Roots that Portland's Housing Bureau has been successful in finding 717 housing units for low-income families.  We also found in Portland a church that is "unafraid to act out of compassion towards a world that is just and free".  We attended  our niece Cheryl and her husband's church, Salt and Light Lutheran Church for worship yesterday.   It is located in one of the poorer areas of Portland and has opened its doors to meet the needs of the community surrounding it.  One cottage industry, soap making, has been started there, as well as a kitchen tool library.  Community gardens surround the church, and a founding board is being organized to bring the church into a Leaven Community.  Such community organizations work with other faith groups to bring about positive changes within their neighborhoods.  As part of his sermon the pastor had the church members discuss the role of the church in the world today.  Several members expressed their hope that churches will change, and reinvent themselves to become places where people of all ages and from all walks of life will be eager to walk through its doors.  After church and lunch we walked with Cheryl and her son around their neighborhood.  Small shops and food trailers are located along its streets.  Neighbors were friendly and greeted us as we walked by.   We walked past a small lot into which small houses have been moved-  a sign over the entrance reads: "Tiny House Hotel".  A young man, probably the owner, was willing for us to look into the small houses which are on wheels.  I came to like the city of Portland, it will be one of my favorites of the larger cities we have visited.  It is a very vibrant, colorful city.  Today we have now moved on to Silverton, Oregon.

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

This mountain is the youngest and most explosive of the Cascade Mountain volcanoes.  Thirty-five hundred years ago she exploded producing thirteen times more ash and rock than on May 18,1980.  The mountain is about 100 miles northeast from where we are parked here in Portland.  We drove there on Friday, which turned out to be a long trip as it involved a lot of mountainous driving over narrow winding roads which have been damaged by frost heaves.  Unfortunately we never did get a good view of St.Helens because of the heavy cloud cover over her on the day we were there. 

Notice in the picture above grey spots on the hillsides where there are no trees.  In 1980 magma burst from the mountain outward in a hurricane-force blast of hot gas, ash and rock.  In its wake it left a grey patchwork of falling and standing dead trees.  The lateral blast destroyed 230 square miles of forests, most of which lay in Gifford Pinchot National Forest.  Our first stop was at an overlook which gave us a good view of Clearwater Valley.  It lies in the "scorch zone".  Within 2 to 17 miles of St. Helens trees in this area were either scorched or killed.

Thirty-three years ago there would not be the vegetation which we see in the picture above.  Fifty-seven people lost their lives when the eruption occurred, and they were outside of the restricted areas.  On May 15, three days before the blast, a couple left their car and hiked 8 miles to a cabin.  They had signed a state liability waiver so they could be in the "blue zone".  They died, and their 1972 Pontiac is pictured below.

Of course, this car was not a rust bucket when we saw it about 20 years ago!  The blast temperature has been estimated at 400 degrees F. It sandblasted the paint off the car and melted the interior.

Spirit Lake was another of our stops of the day.  The explosive force of the volcano caused a landslide of water sloshing 800 feet up to the adjacent hillsides.  As the waves surged back it swept trees into the lake, many of which are still floating there.  Soon afterwards scientists discovered all visible life was gone from the lake;  bacteria, slime mold, and fungi took residence in its waters.  In five years the lake recovered and by the tenth year the lake was nearly normal again- wind, rain and snow melt helped it to restore.  We hiked down to the lake, and it was interesting to see how the land is now covered with wildflowers and small trees.  After the blast a blanket of pumice and ash 6 to 14 inches deep covered the valley- I wandered off the path once and immediately sunk down a few inches into the grey sand.  It is sad to see all the damage done by volcano, but nature does heal itself.  Interpretive signs at park informed us that downed logs stabilize the shores as well as make ponds for fish habitat.  The pumice keeps moisture in the soil during drought.  Seedlings grow better than at logged sites because there is no vegetation to compete for light and nutrients. Hiking back up the hill from the lake I could not help but appreciate the beauty among the fallen trees.

Lan Su Chinese Garden

Portland certainly has two gems worth visiting, which are its Japanese Garden and the Lan Su Chinese Garden.  While wandering the streets of downtown Portland we walked over to Chinatown, which is not at all like the Chinatown of Los Angeles.  The latter town has numerous Chinese stores and restaurants, and has a very colorful, bustling scene- which cannot at all be said for Portland's Chinatown.  However, within the Chinatown district is the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, also known as Lan Su.  The name represents the relationship between Portland and Suzhou, Portland's sister city in China's Jiangsu province which is famous for its beautiful gardens.  With the gardens is also a home designed in the 15th century Ming style by artisians and craftspeople from Suzhou.  Rocks in the garden are mined from a freshwater lake near Suzhou.

The garden features a bridged lake, open colonnades, and stone paths that wind through courtyards, and nine pavilions.  Doors and windows through out the garden and house form views within views, creating the illusion of infinite space within a single city block.  "Leak Windows" leak the view from one area of the garden to another.  In all there are 52 windows, each having a different pattern.  In the picture below there are windows behind the tree, which offer a view into another section of the garden

The rooms of the house, actually they are referred  to as the pavilions, are equally impressive as the gardens.  The scholar's study is a place where the men of the family studied as well as played.  Here such activities as writing, poetry, practicing calligraphy, as well as reading and admiring art collections took place.

I think that it was in this room where I encountered some fortune sticks.  I shook a cup of them and one fell out.  It said that I was soon going to attain a position which I have always wanted.  Strangely, that is true!  In March I will become a grandmother as Melissa and Spencer are expecting their first child.

The rockery, pictured above, is designed to appear as rugged mountains in the distance, with waterfalls and cascading streams.  An inscription, written in Chinese, on the mountain reads: " Ten Thousand Ravines Engulfed in Deep Clouds".  In one of the pavilions there are six panels which illustrate some ancient gardens of Suzhou.  One the back of one is written:  "Most cherished in this mundane world is a place without traffic; truly in the midst of a city there can be a mountain and forest".  That pretty much says it all about this garden.

Portland Japanese Garden

I had mentioned sometime in the past that we were in the Portland area for a family wedding.  The wedding of my niece Sarah and her fiance Mike occurred this past Sunday, in Oregon City. 

My three sisters, Linda,Gloria and Julia few in for the occasion and brother John drove in from Walla Walla,Washington.  It was great that at least five out of our family of nine living siblings made the occasion.

Sarah is the daughter of our brother Leon, who passed in 1995.  His wife Marta moved out Washington to be with her family and consequently we have not seen much of them over the years.  There are now three grandchildren on the scene.  It was good reconnecting with everyone again. 

Speaking of the cycles of life and death, pictured above are the Heavenly Falls in the Portland Japanese Garden.  Our guide for the gardens informed us that the man-made falls start out from a large body of water (life) and end in a trickle (death).  The gardens are a place of tranquility and awesome beauty.  Symbolism abounds in its five separate garden styles, authentic Japanese Tea House, wandering streams and green walkways.  Plants and tree have been carefully pruned and kept at human scale so the visitor feels at one with the environment.  The gardens have an ancient history influenced by Shinto, Buddhist and Taoist philosophies.  In the Sand and Stone Garden simple weathered stones rise up from a bed of sand which has been raked to suggest the sea. This garden style is typically found in Zen monasteries.

 

The latter garden, as well as the Flat Garden are the more modern gardens in the Japanese tradition.  After we saw those gardens our tour ended at the Pavilion where there is currently an exhibition of Japanese art.  At this overlook we had a good view of Mount Hood.  Thankfully it was a clear day!

Washington Park Attractions

It has been frustrating that I have not been able to get on-line due to the fact that our computer has been in a repair shop.  Nothing majorly wrong with it, just a software problem which took the technician several days to figure out.  We are still in Portland and keeping quite busy, between touring around and visiting family.  Last week we went to Washington Park which, like our Forest Park back home, has a number of attractions including a zoo and a variety of museums.  We purchased an admission ticket to the zoo and then boarded the zoo train for a ride over to Portland's International Rose Test Garden.  The garden is one of the largest in the nation and features over 6,000 rose bushes and 550 varieties.  There are miniature, tree, shrub and hybrids of many kinds- low bushes as well as climbers at least 6 feet in height. The garden rests on a hillside and is surrounded by tall conifers.  It is quite the setting for such an abundance of beauty!

The Oregon Zoo also sits in a similar setting, among tall pine trees with deep lush green ravines surrounding it.  The zoo advertises that it is green in more ways than one.  It is currently in the midst of a major construction project and that seemed to limit the variety of animals which we were able to see.  We did however, see some exhibits and animals which we had never seen before, as the Mandrill Monkey.

His snout is quite colorful!   He lives in dense rainforests and is an endangered because his home is being destroyed by farms, logging and roads.  He is also hunted for the bush meat trade.  The zoo recently had the birth of its 28th Asian elephant in the past 50 years, a record for North American zoos.  Baby Lily was born about 9 months ago.  She is pictured below nursing from her mother Rose-Tu.

Most interesting to us at the Oregon Zoo was the Rodriguez fruit bat exhibit.  The are quite rare and hail from an island in the western part of the Indian Ocean.  It was hard to pull ourselves away from them as they were actively engaged in a variety of activities, including feeding and mating.  What was interesting to us was that they washed themselves after feeding. It is another creature affected by deforestation.

As you can see in the picture above, the bat wraps himself around the fruit as he feeds from it.  We also saw another bat hanging upside down with his feet clamped on a piece of melon.  In Washington park is also an authentic Japanese Garden, I will write on that in my next posting.

Historic Columbia River Highway

On Monday we moved our home to a park just outside of Portland, Oregon.  This coming week-end there will be a family wedding in Oregon City.  We have relatives in the city of Portland so this seemed a good spot to roost for awhile. 

 

We have traveled along the Columbia River Gorge several years ago when we were last in this area.  This time, however, we traveled on a different road to see the sights of the river valley.  For further orientation as to where we were; we traveled on U.S. Highway 30, driving from Portland east on the Oregon side of the river.  Our first stop was Chanticleer Point on Larch Mountain, where we had a wonderful vista of the Columbia River.  At one time this high point was the site of the Chanticleer Inn.  It was around the time of the turn of the last century when visionaries started thinking that the wonderful vistas of the Columbia River, as well as access to the largest concentration of waterfalls (77 all total on the Oregon side) should be available to travelers.  A highway was built and by 1920 the Columbia River Highway was dubbed the "King of Roads".  Roadhouses and inns were constructed to serve the travelers.  In 1916 Vista House was built in Crown Point State Park.  It was to serve as the gateway to the many Oregon State Park properties which dot the southern end of the Columbia River.   The stone building was constructed in the style of Tudor Gothic.  Inside are marble panels and stained glass windows.

In the building we also found volunteers willing to help us plan our trip through the gorge.  There were many waterfalls to see but it was getting late in the afternoon.  We learned that some of the waterfalls required a certain amount of hiking over steep rocky paths in order to get a good view of them.  We also received an interesting brochure describing the eight different forms of waterfalls.  Latourell Falls was our next stop.

This fall of water is described by waterfall watchers as having the form of a plunge.  The waterfall, which has a length of 249 feet, drops vertically and away from the cliffside, loosing contact with bedrock.  Multnomah Falls, the longest and most famous of all the falls, is also a plunge waterfall. Its upper falls has been measured at 542 feet, the lower part at 69 feet. 

We had our most strenuous hike of the day at Bridal Falls, pictured above.  It has a tiered form, described as separate falls that can be viewed all at once.  They fall, then fall again and again.  We also saw this form at Wahkeena Falls.  In case you are curious as to what the other waterfall forms are, they are known as the horsetail, fan, punchbowl, block, segmented, and  cascade.  I do believe that in our travels we have seen all of the forms.  Our day ended at Mulnomah Falls, where we enjoyed a delicious supper in a restaurant located at the foot of the falls.  Waterfalls aside, it had been a great drive along towering cliffs and through rows of massive trees whose branches touched each other as they stretched across the highway.

Chihuly Garden and Glass

Several years back Missouri Botanical Garden had a Chihuly glass exhibit placed throughout the gardens, which John and I did see.  And thankfully those gardens purchased some of the glass artwork so they could forever remain with the park.  Consequently John and I are very familiar with his work, and we have seen more of it during our travels over the states.  At the Chihuly exhibit in Seattle we learned more about the artist and also were able to view the whole scope of his work as it has emerged over the past fifty years.  The information which I provide in this posting, regarding the artist and his work, I obtained from the numerous interpretive signs and videos which are available at this art museum.  Chihuly grew up in the northwestern part of our country and his work Niijima Floats was inspired by his memory of Japanese fishing floats found along the beaches of Puget Sound, and by a visit to the Japanese Island of Niijima.

  Over the years Dale Chihuly has traveled extensively and applied what he has learned in his travels to his glass artwork.  He has been the only American glassblower to work at the Venni Factory in Venice.  In 1886, while experimenting with new forms, he started nestling small shapes into larger forms.  From that he moved to an architectural framework, mounting them on larger pieces of glass and suspending them overhead.  This was his Persian Ceiling series.  I could forever sit under this ceiling and always be fascinated by its many shapes and colors!

It was in 1971, while an art instructor at Rhode Island School of Design, that Chihuly began to experiment with blowing botanical forms.  The Glass Forest elements, pictured below, were created by simultaneously blowing and pouring molten glass from the top of a stepladder to the floor- where the deflated bubbles solidified.  The glass stalks are illumined with electrically charged neon and argon.

In his travels to Japan Chihuly admired the Japanese art of flower arrangement, which inspired his Ikebana Series.  I have seen an Ikebana exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, so this was interesting to me.

In the garden outside of the art museum there are four monumental Chihuly glass sculptures.  There are also other installations nestled among a beautiful backdrop of plants, flowers and trees.

Seattle Revisited

We were not successful in reserving a spot for our rig in any area in Seattle or even near it.  Next time we are here we are going to have to do that months ahead of time, especially during the summertime.  Consequently we had to settle for Fall City, which is about 25 miles north of Seattle.  In 2010 I wrote a post about a visit we made to Snoqualmie Falls, that place is located about 3 miles from where we are presently parked.  We have been in this park now for several days and I am thankful that we could not get into any other place!  Our home is surrounded by tall pines, large-leafed maples and  ferns which offer lots of shade and keep us cool.  There is little grass on the ground because it is mostly covered with moss.  Across from us is an empty lot and its borders are lined with many blackberry bushes.  The bushes are heavily laden with the ripe sweet fruit, which we have already indulged in rather frequently.   Today our nephew Andy and his son Ben visited us, and, while returning from the pool, we saw three pileated woodpeckers.   Maybe you can understand why we love it here.

Yesterday we made arrangements to visit John's cousin Gretchen and her husband Tom who live on Bainbridge Island.  After getting together for lunch with them at a restaurant on Seattle' waterfront, John and I headed out on our own to see some of the sights of Seattle.  Our first stop was Pike Place Market.  We had been there in the past, but could not pass up another chance to look at fresh seafood, beautiful cut flowers, yummy pastries- well, maybe you get the picture. This time we found a back alley which took us into one of the entrances of the market.  And YUCK, a wall of already been chewed gum greeted us!

Hope it does not gross you out to see a close-up of the mess.  The gum surrounds a ticket window for a comedy improv theater.  For some reason John wanted to ride the Seattle Center Monorail.  It had been built in 1962 for the Seattle World's Fair.  It whisked us from the Westlake Shopping Center to the Seattle Center in about a minute and one-half.   At the Seattle Center area variety of museums, the Space Needle and Chihuly Glass Garden and Glass Exhibition.  I will write more on that in my next posting.

Our final stop for the day was at the Olympic Sculpture Park.  It is a 9-acre sculpture park designed for visitors to experience sculpture outside in an urban setting.  On display are primarily contemporary works.  The main path zigzags 2,200 feet down past a miniature meadow and forest grove to the waterfront.  Another path brought us back to the concrete and steel reality of city life.  In case you are wondering, one of the sculptures is in the foreground.

It was good to spend a day in the hustle and bustle of a big city, but we were quite happy to return home to our motor home sitting in some very quiet deep dark woods!

Coal Mine Trail to Roslyn

I had no plans to write any more postings until we were in the Seattle area.  However, we had such an interesting day Saturday on our bike ride, that I thought our readers would enjoy hearing about it.  The Coal Mines Trail runs from Cle Elum to Roslyn.  The trail follows the right-of-way of the Northern Pacific Railroad branch line developed in 1886 to export coal from the Roslyn Cle Elum coal fields. In 1987 the railroad branch line was decommissioned and the tracks and ties were removed from the right-of-way.  The trail is 3.5 miles long, and seemed to us to be quite doable for our small bikes.  We also thought that, since the weather had been quite cool, we had no danger of becoming over-heated.  We were wrong on both counts.  It was a steady uphill climb from Cle Elum to Roslyn, on a gravel path.  We did not get over-heated, but the uphill struggle on loose rock did cause us to sweat a bit.  Then I thought that maybe it would all be worthwhile if a deer crossed our path, but all we saw was one lone squirrel.  That short distance took us about an hour- returning to Cle Elum took 15 minutes- we coasted most of the way!  On our return trip our path was shadier, and a cool breeze wafted out across our path bringing with it a wonderful pine smell.  Occasionally we could get a glimpse of the Cascade Mountains between the tall pines.  And we were surprised by the presence of a great blue heron on the bike path!  I braked suddenly, and the screeching of my brakes sent him into instant flight.  I also have to mention here the profusion of wildflowers which we saw along the trail.  It was surprising how much more pleasant that ride home was!

Our morning trip to Roslyn left us quite thirsty and tired.  After sitting and lingering over a long lunch hour in a restaurant, we felt up to tackling a hike to the historical cemetery located on a hill a short distance out of town.  As we soon found out, it was one of the most interesting cemeteries which we have ever toured.  The complex covers 19 acres of woods and hills and has within it 26 separate cemeteries from prior to the turn of the 20^th century.  There are sections dedicated to the African American miners, veterans, and many different fraternal organizations.  We found one lodge which we had never heard of before- the Redman organization.  Apparently for their meetings they wore buckskin clothes and leather moccasins to “preserve American traditions”.  Heaven help us!   Seriously, the lodges were probably important for providing sick benefits, as well as caring for widows and orphans.   Work in the mines took many lives.

 As in many coal towns Roslyn was a melting pot of many nationalities.  In the cemetery there is a section for the Italians, Slovakians, and Serbians, to name but a few. In the Polish Lithuanian section is a large sign explaining that after immigration to America the two nationalities shared churches, societies, and cemetery ground.  However, due to “reawakening of nationalities” in their home countries, the two groups parted ways here in America.  I would assume that happened around the time of World War l.

There is also a section for foresters.  In 2001 a forest fire took the lives of four local young people.  Their cemetery section is quite beautiful with blooming flowers and sculptures. In the picture above two burnt stumps are placed among the animals and flowers.  It may seem a bit morbid to get excited about a cemetery, but for me this one certainly spoke to me about the lives of Roslyn's citizens through the years.

Cle Elum, Washington

On Thursday we drove further west into the state of Washington.  We passed through the three-city area of  Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland.  They lie at the confluence of the Columbia, Snake and Yakima Rivers.  After noticing the harvesting of wheat in the Walla Walla area, it was interesting to see the wheat sitting in large piles at the wharfs waiting to be shipped out.  Heading north we drove through a section of the Yakima River valley where there are many peach and apple orchards as well as vineyards.  I now fully understand why it has been said that Washington produces the most apples of any other state!   Climbing out of the valley we suddenly left the lush fields and pastures to discover a vast canyon spread out below us.

 That evening we parked outside of the town of Cle Elum, a town named after its namesake river which flows down from Cle Elum Lake 8 miles to the northeast. In the Kittitas Indian tongue Cle Elum means “swift water”.  The Yakima River flows into the Cle Elum River, we are currently parked close to the Yakima River.  At the present its level is quite high and it, as well as the Cle Elum River is flowing very swiftly. 

 Yesterday, Saturday, we drove into the town to tour the Carpenter House Museum.  In the early part of the last century Frank Carpenter was a successful banker- his bank was one of the very few which survived the Great Depression years.   His house is a large three-story frame building.  In one of the bedrooms we were surprised to find furniture made by John’s past employer, the Boeing Company.  During World War I most planes were made of wood and therefore Boeing had many wood craftsmen.  Pictured below is a French styled bed painted cream with floral wreaths, made by the company.  It was in the nursery of the home.

 

From the town of Cle Elum we wandered north and stopped to take hike the Salmon Viewing Trail along the Cle Elum River.  Unfortunately this is the wrong time of the year to see their passage down the river- that happens in September and October.  Along the river there are bleachers from which to view the salmon.

 Our furthest point north Friday was the town of Roselyn.  It was once used as a backdrop for the television series “Northern Exposure” and given the fictitious name of Cicely, Alaska.  In reality it was a successful coal mining town founded in 1886 with its population peaking at 4,000 in the 1920s.  It is now a town catering to tourists, with many restaurants and small shops.  What makes it so charming is that the town has kept many of its older buildings, many of which were built in the early part of the 20th century.