Mt Hood, or Bust!

Rose 'n Dave Adventures takes us from the Pacific coast of last weekend to an attempt to climb Mr. Hood this weekend.

• In the winter.
• High winds.
• Just snowed.
• In a Smart Car.
• Icy road conditions.
• A fearless driver and navigator.

April would have probably been a better time to tackle Mt. Hood, but I just wanted to get out the house and go exploring. The weather report was great, sunny skies, temp in the 30's and the winds only about 20 to 30 mph.

It is nice living in Portland between the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade Range of Mountains to the east. Hey, there is Mt. Hood on the horizon from near our place. Actually it is a 11,000+ ft volcano close to Portland that could blow up at any moment (Mt Saint Helens is just north of us), which is why you should only attempt the summit climb in a Smart Car with its "Tridion Safety Cell", 4 airbags, fully computer controlled suspension, and an old crusty pilot at the wheel.  

Mt. Hood 11,230 ft not too far from our place.

We planned to go through Boring, OR, then lunch in Sandy, OR. After that we would see if we could make it up to Government Camp on Mt. Hood, or I would give up if the road conditions got too bad - and they got serious in a hurry.

We just had to drive through Boring, OR on the way. A sleepy little town. Just not much to really say about it. Boring has a sister city - you guessed it Dull, Scotland. You can't make this stuff up.

Boring, OR - Not much to say.

Part of the reasoning for this trip was to have an idea of distance to fly fishing river locations (or as Rose would say, "where to find the body". The road is right in between the Sandy and Clackamas Rivers. There are a number of fly fishing places along both rivers - when it warms up a bit. Rose knows I have a tendency to fall off of, or into things. I always wear a life jacket and when I used to race sailboats I even wore a hard hat - seriously, I did. Rose says I'm not allowed on the roof anymore. So yes, we know that I will fall into and be carried along by one of these rivers at some point. Really not a problem you just have to "Go All Zen" about it and float along thinking like a fish. It has always worked before and there are no sharks here to worry about.

Calamity Jane's Burger Emporium for lunch. Looks like the wild west on the outside and inside, too. If you like burgers try this place. The menu is printed on news print and big. Very busy on this cold day, it must be nuts in the summer RV season. We each had a burger and I had a Black Butte beer. They have burgers for anyone's taste, even the "Inflation Burger", which comes with nothing and costs $978.95 - really, it is on the menu.

We start to climb up Mt. Hood and the road conditions are OK, snow on the sides of the road, with some icy spots in the middle and blowing snow off the trees. SUPER REALLY FANTASTICALLY BEAUTIFUL! Like Colorado Rocky Mountain High (legal in Oregon & Colorado) kind of soul satisfying beauty.

This is the Good section of road before we hit the Ice Truckers Road.

Fun over: There was actually a lot of traffic on the road both ways. We got up around 2,500 ft and hit totally ice covered two lane (don't look down) hanging off the cliff roadway with no way to turn around. It was like being on the "Ice Truckers" TV series - it was really though. We were all sliding around and Rose was terrified. I was concerned, but just wanted to turn around; no point in pushing a bad situation. The problem was there wasn't any place to turn around so we just kept climbing. Right before Governor's Camp there was a little side road, level, with a clear patch in the snow, so we made our u-turn.

On the way down everyone was going really slow. The road was so bumpy you couldn't go fast anyway. In aviation it is called "Contaminated" which basically means they have been plowing the runway / taxiway but it is still covered with ice and snow. Plow Guy's attitude - Its cold out here and I want to get warm and have a coffee so, "Good luck buddy, no braking action for your jet tonight - and ya, don't slide off the runway and get me out of bed later". 

Back to more level ground and a balmy 34 deg. we relaxed again.

What a great adventure. The area is so beautiful. I think I'll put our next mountain trip on the calendar for maybe April.

David

BTH: There were two teams that drove two Smart Cars all the way up to the Aritc Circle in winter, much of it driven on the Ice Roads.

Cannon Beach - Day Trip

Cabin Fever!

A month getting to Portland and 3 weeks working and trying to get setup once here. 
Time to start getting out on the weekends. This weekend to the Coast!

Cannon Beach is a cool little seaside town - picture perfect of what you would expect.
Only 81 miles from Portland (1.5 hour drive) over the coastal range, it is an easy day trip for the people of Portlandia. In fact, on this cool rainy day the town was packed with people. I asked one of the shop owners about it and they confirmed the Portlandia was in the house.

Nice drive through tall Spruce and Douglas Fir trees; lots of farm land; and beautiful rivers. The drive itself is half the fun.

Next September is our 20th wedding anniversary and we are already planning on a long weekend here.

We had lunch at Tom's Fish n Chips, but there are a lot of restaurants to choose from. Cannon Beach Distillery is here. We finally found it, but it was packed with Portlandia, so we gave it a miss. They are supposed to produce a fine line of rums and gins. Devastatingly expensive, though.

The drive home was interesting. We started out in warm sun, drove through heavy rain, then snow, then rain, then back to warm sun. Driving a Smart Car is both reassuring and fun through the mountains. They are really surefooted little cars.

Our Mrs. Bean has now been coast to coast - from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

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TV Setup - what a nightmare it has been.

1) Got a Vizio Smart TV from Target for a good price - Got it home it had a cracked screen.
2) Took it back to Target and they didn't have any more.
3) Got another TV from Best Buy with their suggested Samsung Sound Bar.
4) Got it home, they didn't bother to tell us we needed a special cable.
5) Back to Best Buy to get the cable and a Chromecast to connect the computer to the TV for DVDs.
6) Samsung Sound Bar is not compatible with the TV, despite Best Buy's recommendation.
7) Google Chromecast not not compatible with our router. In fact it is not compatible with many.
8) Took it all back to Best Buy.

The TV is OK, has a bunch of stuff built in including Netflix, Youtube, etc...
I guess we'll get a regular old Blue Ray / DVD player and Vizio Sound Bar.
I hope they work.

Of all the technical stuff I have mastered in my life - Audio Visual is not one of them.

David

Furniture Arrives!

Finally, got some furniture. Here is some of it stacked up in the living room.
We are already building desks, chairs, tables....
Yep, we have to build it all.

Rose Gets Her Flat Screen TV

Who needs a pickup truck, we have Mrs. BEAN!

Rose is Ready to Go Out!

Still No Furniture!

Multnomah Village for Lunch

The area is full of little villages. We live in Hillsdale and about 1.5 miles to our southwest, and downhill all the way, is Multnomah Village.

I mention "downhill all the way" as in "uphill all the way back".
For Rose that walk would just be warming up, for me it would probably be crippling. However, I'm going to give it a go someday. I figure if I walk it that means I could drink more beer at lunch - I like that plan.

Rose has a lot of activities there, like beading groups, beading stores, beading ?? Ah, there must be more beading stuff...

Our post office is there and I'll ride my bicycle up and down the step hills daily for exercise. Seriously, it is like San Fran here. I can ride fine, just not walk. Actually, there is a post office nearer our place in Hillsdale, but the locals say only the truly unsuspecting venture through the door. The old women that runs the place commutes in via broom everyday. Best to respect the "Local Knowledge". 

The "neighborhoods" or villages around Portland look like they are stuck in the 1970s, which is a good thing. They like their old buildings. The roads are narrow for horse and buggies.

That brings up a good point, your postal address here is Portland. Doesn't matter what town, village, neighborhood you live in - it is Portland. So, the locals say what "neighborhood" they live in. Reminds me of living in the islands. The waitress would ask you what you wanted to drink and you'd say a Coke, then she would ask what kind of Coke you want and you'd say a 7 UP. Made sense down there anyway.

We had lunch at Renner's Grill. Reminded me a lot of O'Keefe's back in the 1970s. Dark and freindly kind of local bar with food. The owner Steve came over and introduced himself and gave us the rundown of the place. The food was good. A real Slider of a greasy cheese burger, clam chowder, and good fries with a homemade sauce for them. OK, we had Bloody Marys, too.

The town has lots of small places to eat, shops, bike shop, bars, good lunch window shop spot.

We came across a "Hand Bag Sale for Charity" being held in one of the shops. I blindly followed Rose into the bowels of hell. There were women everywhere, wholly crap, the terror of it all rose up my spine. Quick to the Door! I think I see light between those two gals, and, yes, out the door. Once outside I found a couple of much older, and obviously wiser, men standing around. They smiled at me, told me to come over, as it was safer away from the door. We laughed about should a fight break out over a handbag and the ensuing bloodshed. Periodically, a wife would appear to show her husband a bag and to get the "nod" was it OK to really spend that kind of cash, "It's for charity" you could see on their faces. Now, we all know, this is just a polite jester on a wife's part, as a husband has no say in the matter. Proof of point, one guy told his wife she could get a bag, minutes later she came out after buying two bags! She said one was for her daughter. He looked and me and said, "I should have know that was coming". All fun stuff. I like hanging around with the old guys. They can tell you a lot with just a smile, or a nod.
David 

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No Furnature Yet!

We are sooo sore!

We didn't bring our old furniture from Florida; time for a change, and didn't want to haul the old stuff across county. Why burn good gas hauling old furniture I say.
 

We figured we would just order the office stuff from Ikea and go from there and really checked out the apartment.


Didn't figure on it taking 2 WEEKS for Ikea to deliver. 

We have been sitting on Igloo Coolers working all day and eating dinner on the bed and watching shows on the computer at night. 

Ya, no TV either. Planned on getting that once the furniture was delivered to make sure it fits.

Got our buts 3,100 miles across country without a hitch.
Don't have a chair to sit on.

David

Down the Willamette River to Lake Oswego

After a week of computers, computers, computers.. Ah!
This sun is shinning the people and walking and cycling.
Time to get out of the house and explore.

OK, now I have gotten lost every single time I have gone out in the car. If not for our cool little homemade GPS mapping system, I would certainly be lost somewhere in Idaho looking for a gas station.

Today was no exception, I planned to cross the highway and head south along the Willamette River to Lake Oswego a little south of us.

Child Please! I ended up on the highway heading north at 65mph. Now for most people this may not be a real problem, but for a professional navigator like me, it is ego crushing. There is not a straight road around here the hills where we are make San Francisco look like the plains of Nebraska.

OK back to the story.

Nice drive down the river. OMG the mansions along the river with their docks!
The river is beautiful. We were on the beach, yep at the beach in Portland, and saw, twice, huge fish crashing the top of the water! Now that's what I'm talking about. And there were ducks, I guess, I did hear quaking, but I was looking for fish damn it!

Lake Oswego is a nice little town the Native Americans used to hang out at, and live in peace. When the "BFUDRWP" (big fat ugly disease ridden white people) got here, they took over and created a foundry to make iron pipes to sell to Portland. Apparently, Native Americans never really needed iron pipes - they were happy without them.  Nice big lake and the river going by. Cool, old town we will have to come back to for a lunch and explore.
David

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Neighborhood Grocery Store - Food Front

Portland seems to be all about food and music. We'll get to the music another time.

In our area we have several food shopping choices. One you have seen already is the local Hillsdale Farmers Market.

Another is the "Food Front Cooperative" in town, a short walk. It is like a Rolling Oats, or Fresh Market. Most all of their products are organic from local farms, or from Sustainable Farms. You pay $5 a month membership, but you get more than that back in discounts, and eventually get to vote on company decisions.  So, I get to vote on what my local grocery store does and carries - cool.

Everything is great, and they have a bulk foods section - even carry sushi rice! Can't wait to get back to making sushi, we really got into the habit of it as an easy (yes, it is easy) evening movie dinner. I do spring rolls a lot, too. As long as Rose does not have to cook and clean up, I can basically make what I want to - LOL.

We have really been excited about the food here. Our other shopping choice is Fred Myers, a long walk, and it is a big store more like a Wegmans, Krogers, etc... but still has that Portland "Foodie" spin to it.

We are tying to adopt the "Eat lots of Vegetables and Fruit with a little meat" approach.
We listened to, and later purchased, the "Eating on the Wild Side" book about food, food history, how to buy it, store it, and cook it to get the most out of it. It was a real eye opener driving across the farm lands and experiencing the coast to coast travel as a head a broccoli, or lettuce. We could see them in the long trains heading east. No wonder the food tastes so good our here; it is all grown out here. I was not too lively after that coast to coast trip myself and I was not even gassed in a rail car to make me dormant.

Getting gassed in a rail car may be good for an evening out, but I'll have to leave that to the younger generation. Cheers, from Captain Dave, aka "Hey, Old Man".

First Day Back On the Job & Business

It was good getting back into the swing of things today. 
Had a good video chat (we use Google Hangouts for the business) catching up on the Fuse Lenses gang on anything I missed and priority jobs upcoming. Great to see everyone again!

Google Hangouts is great, as we are able to video conference people from multiple cities, and share screens and files. Makes working remotely a lot easier than in my old "Road Warrior" days.

Rose got her computer up and running and processing orders for our business.
We put up a notice on the websites that we were traveling and orders would not be processed until the first week of November, but customers kept on ordering anyway. Thank you. Less than if we hadn't had the notice, but we thought it fair to let people know. She couldn't do them all, and anyway, after a full day back at work I had to pack them all up.


Still in boxes here with no furniture; both of us stilling on coolers while working.
Planned of getting a bunch of stuff from Ikea, but they don't have all we want. Oops.

David

Hillsdale Farmers Market - Organic & Local

OMG! What Fantastic Food...
The bright vibrant colors! Nothing like I have ever seen before.
All organic from local farms.
This is a 'small' farmers market they say with only 52 vendors.
Produce, seafood, bread, honey, meats (lamb, buffalo, beef, yak, alpaca...) and more.
All from area farms.

Open all year and about 1,000 feet walk from our apartment.

Now that is fresh Brussels Sprouts

Salmon every way you could want - all from local waters.

Cauliflower in every color, and huge cabbages.

Carrots in yellow, pink, purple, and orange.

Mushrooms! Tables of them!

Lots of local area apples.

Many varieties of pears.

More nice carrot varieties, beats, and leaks. Organic and local.

Local honey. We got some from Mt. Hood area.

Now that is a Large Cauliflower. Local farm.

These cauliflower were so bright I had to adjust the exposure on the camera to shoot them.

Captain Dave heading home with the weeks fresh vegetables and bread in tow. Yum!

Pictures of our Apartment in Portland

Here are a few outside pictures of our appartment.
We are on the ground floor, with three sides looking out.
The patio with the sliding glass doors is ours.
Beautiful trees all around, next to us along the creek are large Weeping Willows.