I’ve been home a few days now, unpacking, organizing photos, resuming my regular life, and thinking about how to sum up the trip. The drive home offered a few nice views.  Rather than drive west to Portland and then up I‑5, I decided to head east a ways, then north through the Yakima Valley until I…

I just got back to Hood River after a drive around Mt. Hood on what the state of Oregon has designated the Mt. Hood Scenic Byway and the Historic Columbia River Highway Scenic Byway. I stopped in the Passport Pub & Café enjoying a beer and using their wifi. But I didn’t bring the cable that connects…

I want to start this post with a few random observations.

John Day was a member of the Astor Expedition of 1810–1812. The John Day River was named for him. And the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument was named for the river. Today, after a huge and delicious farm-style breakfast of eggs, ham, potatoes, oatmeal, and biscuits & gravy, I explored this area.

Today was a day for feeling peevish and then getting over it.

Yesterday might have been the most gloriously varied day of my trip so far. I hiked in two lava fields, one of which consisted largely of obsidian, went on a two-mile round-trip hike in an underground lava tube, saw two waterfalls and a caldera. There was sun and there were clouds, there was snow on the ground and…

It was all about the rain yesterday, which made this sign an ironic emblem of the day. I drove through some absolutely beautiful scenery.  Fortunately, I have a good imagination, because that’s the only way I could even remotely know how beautiful the scenery was.  It rained steadily throughout the drive.  I decided to go east…

My last day in Ashland started with a trip to the laundromat and ended with a final play at OSF. I didn’t take a single photo today. (The one above, of the Elizabethan stage at OSF, I found on the webs.)

This is Day Seven of my trip.  We started out early with a drive to Crater Lake. The trip there was scenic, and we took a different route back that was also scenic.  And Crater Lake is pretty the way Mozart was talented and Einstein was intelligent.

Two plays today: a wonderful production of My Fair Lady in the afternoon, and a fun masque called The Heart of Robin Hood this evening at the outdoor theatre (where it wasn’t quite as cold as yesterday). The morning started with breakfast and the a walk in Lithia Park, which is one of the nicest…