A Christmas Break & New Year!

(*** Editor's Note: Google Blogs has been having issues with downloading of photos.  I hope to be able to add these photos in at a later date.  I also apologize for just not keeping up on my blogging.  Oh, and Happy Belated New Year! )

I have come home to my hometown for Christmas; in the hilly country of eastern Iowa.  I was in need of a much needed break of my traveling style of life.  It's rather hard to move from day to day.  Plus it is always interesting to “go home”.  Of course, there always are those residual memories, both good and bad that remain.  I will admit that it was good to see the family.  But with that also there’s that portion where the family can really drive you to a point of insanity and you remember why you left in the first place.  That point arrived a few days after I arrived.  Mom and I butted heads to say the least.  Family always seems to manage to push your buttons and it’s never a very pretty sight.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love my family but they really do know how to push my buttons.

Photo- The family on the couch for a Christmas photo.

It has been fun revisiting old hangouts.  I went to the old Spring House Restaurant with my mom.  The Spring House was the place where we always used to go eat when I was growing up.  It was relatively inexpensive and there was a sit down dining room area.  Growing up it was bit of a splurge for us to go there because of being a single parent home.  It’s rather amazing when you go to a place like that again and see that it really hasn’t changed all that much.  In fact, I think they still have the same original chairs and booths; just recovered.

Photo- My nephew and I building snowmen.  His snowman is taller than mine of course!

I did manage to have some new fun.  I took one evening and built snowmen with my nephew.  I know his snowman was so much better than the one I tried to build.  His mother supplied us with a couple of spray bottles that had water with food coloring.  It was a choice of yellow, red, or yellow.  In my sick sense of humor, I tended to go overboard with the yellow.  There’s just something about yellow snow.  Oh I’m terrible!  We also went and purchased some new sleds which I hope we will get to break in soon.

Photo- A snow covered empty street in Main Amana, IA.

Another afternoon, we took a drive down to the Amana Colonies where we went around looking at little shops throughout the cute little German community.  The Amana Colonies is a National Historic Landmark and one of America’s longest-lived communal societies.  I periodically have visited the main Amana as I was growing up; mostly during the May Fest which is a large festival.  There are seven different villages of which the main Amana is the largest.  You can read more about the history and the colonies at this link… http://amanacolonies.com/

During our afternoon we tasted wine, had Rubens (mine without the kraut), and walked through all kinds of wonderful shops.  My favorite places I used to go as a kid were the Woolen Mill where they make all kinds of woolen goods and the furniture store where they have a room full of clocks.  I was a bit disappointed because usually at both places they have areas where you can watch people working.  At the Woolen Mill, there’s usually a room where the looms are going and you can watch as material is being made.  Due to the holidays though, there were not any equipment that was being operated.  This was also the case at the Furniture Shop.  They usually have an area that you can watch the wood workers which is always fun and fascinating.  But I got some fun in with watching a dancing clock face in the furniture shop and I almost bought a pair of "Mucka-Ducks" which were heavy woolen long moccasin like socks that looked very warm. 


 Yes, I'm having a bit of time adjusting to the cold weather here in Iowa.  I forgot how cold it can get here during the winter.  Those cold fronts come out of Canada and drift down into Iowa.  They deposit here and seem to want to stay.  Some of the evenings have been getting down to the negative degrees which is something that I haven't had to experience in years living in Utah.  Utah gets the snow but it doesn't get much below the lower 20's.  I'm very much hoping for a bit of a January thaw in the New Year.

For New Year's Eve, the night got down to -1 with a lovely chill factor (a common thing here in Iowa during the winter) it actually felt like anywhere from -15 to -20.  Mom and I had a snack night in front of the TV watching the New York New Year's Eve.  But I had to laugh when I saw on the local news about Prairie Du Chen, Wisconsin did a dropping of the HUGE carp fish.  Leave it to us, Midwestern folk to make things interesting and different.  So they drop a carp almost 100 ft. out of a tree.  I wonder what happens to the fish then?

I woke up with a cold on New Year's Day with a sore throat and feeling yucky.  Yep!  I started the New Year with a cold.  I stayed in bed most of the day and came out only to try to eat a bit or to use the restroom.  Happy New Year to all of you out there!  I hope your year started out better.  And thank you to those of you that have been contacting me to see how I have been doing I haven't been blogging as much as I should have been.  Something I need to work on in the New Year.
 

DAY 33- From Goodbye to Wineries...

It was tough saying goodbye to Aunt Lindy in the morning.  I had stayed a week and she had made me so right at home.  I limited myself to hugging her twice and could’ve hugged her more.  It had been 8 years since I last visited her and I really hope that I get back again before another 8 years pass by.  There are always so many excuses not to do things; why do we do that to ourselves?


Photo- A painting someone did of Aunt Lindy's house.

I headed west on Hwy 140 over to Medford.  I had covered much of this drive when I took that scenic drive on DAY 30- the Rogue- Umpqua Scenic Byway.  The plan was to end up in Roseburg which is north and west of Klamath Falls.  I know some of you out there are saying she’s heading the wrong way, but there’s a bit of reasoning in my slight madness; or I would like to think so.

I saw a wonderful sight about 20 miles outside of Medford; 10 cyclists zooming right along in a tight straight paceline next to HWY 140.  I slowed and gave them plenty of room and so did the car in front of me that had 2 road bicycles on top of it.  I wish I could’ve gotten a picture but it would’ve been too dangerous to the cyclist for me to stop along that section.  I also shortly after that got followed closely by a Sheriff’s car for about 2 miles.  But what a wonderful sight those cycilts were!

Photo- Store sign in Grants Pass.

I barely clipped the corner of the larger city area of Medford before turning north on to Interstate 5.  I headed over to the town of Grants Pass where I ended up having lunch.  I got out of the car and walked around Grants Pass’s historical downtown area.  I took several pictures and just explored.  I also watched this lady that was standing on the corner demonstrating about the war on drugs.  Grants Pass seems to be an interesting melting pot of all types.  I was getting a kick out of some of the signs and names for shops.

Photo- Another store sign in Grants Pass.

I stumbled upon a place called the Laughing Clam.  The Laughing Clam is a small pub that has a very unique flavor.  The beer changes from moment to moment; and in fact, there’s a board that states the beers of the moment with a clock in the corner.  They cross off a beer as it runs out and then when they can they switch it out to another beer.  The gal at in the bar said that there are so many great northwestern micro brews that it seems a shame to stick with just one.  There’s old taps with the names of microbrew beers in frames up along the wall opposite the bar area.  The bar area is an old antique bar with wood and glass mirrors and you pull up to a nice wooden bar that fits it.  The rest of the inside is a rough red brick and there’s a light worn wooden floor.  It just has a wonderful feel.  I had a wonderful Irish stew which was the special of the day with a glass of – you guess it—Heffie!  It also came with a nice salad too.  Yes, I do every now and then eat vegetables!  All of that was at the reasonable price of $11.

Photo- Window of the Laughing Cow.

Photo- The Beer of the Moment Sign.

Photo- Old microbrew beer taps that line the upper wall opposite the bar.

Interstate 5 zigged up and zagged down through a few mountain passes after Grants Pass.  The funny thing was I kept seeing cars with green flags and yellow paraphilia going by me.  There were even some rear windows with yellow duck foot prints.  I kind of found it amusing but there must have been a game nearby or maybe they are really serious about showing their team spirit in this section of the state.

Photo- The Grave Creek covered bridge.

I took a quick stop off when I saw a sign about a covered bridge.  This area has 7 covered bridges in the area and I had hoped to see a few of them.  This covered bridge was a very well-maintained white painted beauty that was about ½ mile off of the Interstate.  The name on it was Grave Creek.  I wasn’t the only one that was visiting it; there were three other cars and I ended up parking and walking up to read the sign information and to take pictures of it.

I got off at Roseburg, located my hotel but it was too early to check in and besides which I was hoping to get a couple of wineries under my belt.  But first I wanted to swing by the Oregon Visitor’s Center that I saw signs for.  Well, I finally found the center after driving by it three times.  They have all of these colorful signs about the center up high and then the actual sign for the center is low and rather obscure.

I talked with the lovely older lady at the center about visiting wineries and she told me about a few that she really liked, and I also grabbed a brochure about the covered bridges in the area.  I was off real quick because it was now about 4pm and most of the tasting rooms close at 5PM. 

Photo- The wonderful landscaping at Melrose Winery.

The first winery I stopped at was the Melrose.  The tasting room was in a rustic barn.  There was a table out front where they were saleing tickets for a BBQ- Wine Stomping event they were having from 4 to 9 PM.  It sounded like fun and was a reasonable price but all I could think of is I would’ve had purple feet and I really wanted to try to visit 2 wineries.  Oh, and did I mention that they were also doing a Lucie lookalike contest too.  Sorry I left my Lucille Ball costume in my 5’x5’ in SLC!  No, just kidding!  I went into their tasting room and I was the only one.  I was wondering if it was closed it was so quiet.  They had three wine tastes for free or 6 for $10 that included the wine glass.  I opted for the 6 for $10; though, I’ll probably break the wine glass in my car.  I like the Riesling because it was very sweet, and they had an award winning red blend that was very nice too.

Photo- Galser's Winery where there's a tasting room in the rear.

Photo- Just off of the Glaser's tasting room a wonderful area to spend some time and taste wine.

Next I went to the lovely little winery of Glaser.  There was a lively bunch in the tasting room here.  I ended up finding out that one of the couples was from Billings, Montana and that they had a daughter that used to work in my hometown of Cedar Rapids, IA; small world!  They had a set price of $5 for the wine tasting and he started you off with the whites and worked you to the reds; the older gentlemen kindly explaining each wine as he poured.  He also had you taste vodka after tasting the wine for no charge.  They were all sold out of a butterscotch and limo cello vodkas; but the vodkas were wonderful!  Also, their Cab-Franc was wonderful too.  It really had a nice mouth feel and I thought it very smooth.  He had me taste it with chocolate and it was even more wonderful!

I then asked the gentleman where a good place to go for dinner locally.  He got out a brochure and proceed to put “x” by several places and explained what to expect at each place.  He was just a wonderful warm and genuine person.  I thanked him and went to check into my hotel.  I got checked in and changed to a bit warmer clothes.  The sun was going down and the temperature was definitely dropping; Fall season is here.

I jumped in my car and found three of the places that the gentleman had directed me to; but Italian just sounded good to me.  I went to Dino’s Ristorante Italiano located on Jackson Street in the old historical downtown section.  It has a warm welcoming atmosphere with pink table cloths and candles.  There are a few different styles of chairs and tables and photos/replica art of Italy that hangs on the walls.  The server just invited me to sit where I wanted and followed up with a menu and water.  I ordered one of the specials of the day… a Pork Milanese which I just ended up adoring the sauce that came on it.  The sauce was a ricotta cheese, lemon, with capers blend that was amazing.  The pork was served with asparagus spears and a thinly layered potato casserole that had a wonderful light creamy flavor of lemon.  The whole meal was a delight and the server suggested a Pino Nior to compliment the meal which was an excellent choice.  I ended the meal with a slice of a Grand Marnier cheesecake and coffee.  What a wonderful way to end the day!  Yummy!

DAY 31-32- Bike Ride, Museum, & Family...

DAY 31- A Bike Ride and Logging Museum...


Photo- Bike path in Klamath Falls near where bike paths meet.

It was beautiful blue skies with not a cloud in the sky and the temp had risen to mid-50’s; as I jumped on my bike to explore the Klamath Falls area a second time.  I will say that Oregon in general is a very bike friendly state.  I was finding that the area of Klamath Falls was holding true to that rule too.

Klamath Falls has 2 main paved bike paths; one that goes along the city’s canal for about 6 miles and another that goes through the heart of the city and out to a small town called Olene.  The 2 paths meet at a bridge where they form an “X” and they make quite a bit of the city accessible via these paths.  There are sidewalks from various neighborhoods that meet up to the path and there are even other short paths that go into other parks or neighborhoods.  All of these path ways are reclaimed areas where the railroad used to be.  There are even additional unpaved trails that spread out from these two paths and if you had something other than a road bike, like me, you could go for miles and miles on this system of trails and paths.    

Photo- The Amtrak Station in Klamath Falls.

There are also quite a few street areas that have painted bike lanes in them too.  While trying to find where the second path started, I happened upon the Klamath Falls Amtrak Station.  I thought that was rather interesting that there was a station here.  But I guess there is a fair amount of tourist business that goes to nearby Crater Lake and commuters from the surrounding areas that use the train.

Photo- A big yard with a big garden along bike path.

Photo- A duck in the canal along bike path.

As I rode along both of these paths, I noticed all kinds of things.  There are a mix of big yards with gardens, ducks on the canal, schools, city swimming pools, farms, warehouses, RV resorts, lumber yards, nice neighborhoods and not so nice neighborhoods.  You almost felt like you were in the country in some areas even though you were only a ½ block away.

Later on, I went to the Collier State Park Logging Museum.  It’s about 40 miles north of Klamath Falls on Hwy 97. (Crater Lake’s south entrance is about 65 miles north of Klamath Falls.)  This museum is more of an outdoor display than the typical standard museum.  During the height of the summer they have state park employees that do demonstrations and give more guided tours of the area.  Well, as per my luck, I was two weeks late for all of that.  So I opted to borrow a map from the state park employee who was manning the information/gift shop and do my own self-guided tour.

Photo- Used to be drawn by horses and used to transport logs down the mountainside.

Photo- One of the first Caterpillars.

Photo- AND the $64,000 question is.... What's a RIP SNORTER?

The museum is set up with the history of logging in Oregon which started in the late 1860’s.  Logging in the late 1860’s consisted of hand tools and wagon-like vehicles where horses were used.  There were all kinds of examples of these items outside under pavilions.  Then, near the turn of the century steam came into being and steam-powered engine orientated machinery came into use.  These pieces of machinery were larger and were generally sitting out in the open.  Next, it was the combustible engine and the logging industry progressed on into our current time.  Most of these pieces were out in the open and on display. 

Photo- A restored original cabin of what the first loggers would have lived in.

There was also a cabin village area to show how most of the men would live while they were logging.  Most of these cabins were one room, with dirt floors, and hew from logs.  They were generally about 10’ x 14’ with a slanted roof.  It was a very interesting place to visit and it was just a very pretty day out.  It was nice just to be out enjoying it.

DAY 32—A Day Off and Family…

I know, I know… I had just taken off another day off just a few days ago and come on it can’t be that hard to be on a basically permanent vacation.  What’s up with that??!?  Well, I did need to catch up with some laundry, try to rearrange the inside of my car, and I wanted to do a bit of painting too; plus, I wanted to hang out some more with my Aunt Lindy too.   I managed to get a couple of paintings done and laundry got done too.  I hung out the whole day with Aunt Lindy and that was nice too.  It was a productive day. 

Photo- "Tickled Pink Shoppe"; Watercolor on 9" x 12" paper.
Based on shop I photoed in Portownsend, WA.

But let me say one thing about family; I think that there are more characteristics than just hair color, eye color, and general appearance that get passed on in a family.  What I’m alluding to is that I am now convinced that the genetic makeup for the open-mouth-insert-foot disease definitely runs in my family. Not that that’s bad but I noticed my family has a tendency to speak our minds and sometimes it’s not the most “Politically Correct” way of stating things.  I guess you could say that it’s probably a good thing that no one in the family is into running for political office because they would definitely be up that creek with no paddle and a ten foot wave coming at them.  But I will say that this same “disease” is part of the reason that makes me so dearly love my family too.  Sometimes, I think that it’s the small idiosyncrasies that make people, relationships and families so interesting; and thus, makes life very interesting too.  

DAY 26 & 27- Hanging with Aunt Lindy & Cousin Kimmie…

DAY 26- A Day Off with Aunt Lindy…

It had been awhile since I had taken a day off from my adventure and I needed to get something’s done.  Laundry needed to be done and some shopping.  So thus, I hung out with my Aunt Lindy the whole day.  We went shopping at the local Wal-Mart and then she took me for a drive around Klamath Falls showing me some of the sights and pointing out a black topped path where people walk, run, and bike.  Then, we hung out and were homebodies together at her house.  It was a nice day.

DAY 27- Lake of the Woods, Fish Lake, & Cousin Kimmie…

Photos- Of Cousin Kimmie's CUTE House....

 

Aunt Lindy and I drove up to Cousin Kimmie’s house to spend the day doing a bit of sightseeing and visiting.  Kimmie's house is located about a 25 minute drive  outside of Klamath Falls.  Her cute log cabin like home is located in a community called Rocky Point.  Kimmie had her house all decorated for the Fall and it’s just adorable.  I gave Kimmie a belated birthday present of one of my watercolor paintings.  After I took a few photos of her cute house and we loaded up the truck off we went.

Photo- A happily married couple cardboard(?), Kimmie, Lindy & me.

We went for a late lunch/early dinner at the restaurant at Lake of the Woods. It’s a very scenic lake and resort area and they serve wonderful food too.  After eating we went walking around the resort area.  They had a wonderful gazebo, beach, swimming area, general store, and a small marina.  There were a lot of people enjoying the area doing all kinds of things like; swimming, sailing, boating, skiing, fishing and camping.  The resort has almost 20 cabins that can be rented out and RV sites with hook-ups that are available too.  We posed and took pictures around the resort; just generally being a bit silly.  It was fun.

Photo- Aunt Lindy ringing the bell.

Photo- The scenic --Lake of the Woods

Photo- Me on the beach with the Lake of the Woods and Mt McLoughlin in the background. 

Photo- Kayakers on the Lake of the Woods.

Photo- All kind of recreating going on at the Lake of the Woods.

Next, we drove around the Lake of the Woods, and got to see some of the summer homes that are built on the other side of the lake.  Some were huge and four stories tall and a few were smaller; and the views they had of the lake were wonderful.

Photo- The quiet beauty of Fish Lake.

Photo- Myself and Kimmie at Fish Lake with Brown Mountain in the background.

Then, we drove over to another scenic lake called Fish Lake.  It was a smaller lake with a great deal of camping sites but no resort area.  It was beautiful and quiet; just a nice relaxing place to hang and Grant (Kimmie’s fiancé) said that he loved to come here to fish because it was nice and quiet.  I could understand that and I watched some ducks dipping in to eat and splashing around. 

Photo- Ducks eating and splashing at Fish Lake.

We went back to Kimmie’s house.  We sat around enjoying her large lawn and visiting.  It was a wonderful way to finish the day.  Thank you Kimmie and Lindy!

RAGBRAI-- Ups & Downs...

Tonight, I'm writing this as I sit in my hotel room in Cheyenne, WY. I'm on my way back to Utah and have had a week of ups and downs. I first left for my hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; last Thursday evening with an optimistic plan of doing a bit of visiting with family and then doing RAGBRAI.

Well, even the best laid plans seem to change. I did some visiting and started RAGBRAI. I managed the first three days of RAGBRAI. The worst three days as far as heat and humidity that RAGBRAI has ever seen in its 40 years (go figure!). All three days were 99 or above with one day climbing up to 104 degrees with 80% humidity. Oh and did I mention there were winds that were up to 20 mph too? These were some tough days and I really found that the humidity was getting to me.

But I will say that those three days of RAGBRAI were amazing! It was a sea of bicycles as far as the eye could see along the wonderful hilly landscape of Iowa's corn and soybean fields. There were people all along the Iowa roads that were cheering you on; some were selling water, cookies, or almost everything. Some were not selling but giving water out for free, or offering to douse you with their hose, or even others were handing out frozen pops. Main streets in small Iowa towns were closed down just to bicycle traffic and filled up with vendors offer to sell food or wares to the cyclists that came through the town. It was just AMAZING! I don't know how else to describe it.

There were tons of references to corn, soybeans, and pigs.  In fact, some of the signage for the ride had me cracking up.  One advertisement had a sign of showing corn with a picture and then soybeans.  Then underneath it said-- RAGBRAI- Need we say anymore? 

There were plenty of things that would only EVER be seen on RAGBRAI.  There were pink buses that were serving up pork chop sandwiches and plenty of riders were enjoying them at what some may consider the un-Godly hour of 10AM.  As one co-team member put it,"Where else could you have 20 cyclists at 10am sitting on the side of the road eating pork chops and thinking that this was the BEST meal ever?!?!"  

FOOD, food, and more food!  There were hard boil eggs on a stick and bacon on a stick being sold right along with bottled water and gatorade.  There was bicycle jewelry being sold next to temporary tattoos.  Breakfast sandwiches, pancakes with sausage, and tacos with eggs were commonly seen too.  Later on you would see smoothies, pizza, brats, tacos, pies, pastries and almost any kind of food you could EVER think of.  One fellow rider said that this ride was ALL ABOUT THE FOOD!  And from what I saw that was VERY true!

I was rather even surprised by the beer and bloody marys that were being sold at 8AM as you're going along.  There were a few cyclists doing that but it wasn't really a majority as I had almost been lead to believe from the rumors that I heard prior.  Most riders were partaking of those beverages after they were done for the day and then limiting what they consumed because they were riding the next day.  Dehydration was a concern and most cyclist that I met were mindful of that.

Photo: Boys-N-Cars watercolor I did of my nephews for a Father's Day present.
The youngest one here is the one with dark hair.

My second day was the worst. I had received a phone call from my little brother the night before that my youngest nephew had passed away due to complications after a surgery. He was only 13 years old. I was rather a bit of a basket case that day and only managed to ride 47 miles of the 85 miles that I should have rode. My head and heart just were not in it. I found I could not keep food down and when you are riding that is NEVER a good sign to have. I ended up getting SAG'd in that day. I did manage the next day's ride but then had to call for help when I was brain dead trying to find the host house. The combo of riding 84 miles with 104 degree humid heat just left me STUPID.

Wednesday night I managed to get a ride back to my mom's. I had opted not to ride on Thursday to give my body a bit of a break but I also needed to be back for a viewing(Friday) and funeral(Saturday). That basically meant that RAGBRAI was over for me. I was disappointed BUT I needed to be else where.  Jerryd my upbeat little nephew who always had a smile will be missed.  Only the good die young and in this case that statement is very true.  He always had a smile and seemed to be easy to please.  Rest in peace little man!

Ode to a Grandma

Grandma 1922- 2011

My last living grandmother passed away this last weekend. She had a series of health issues in the last couple of years and had recently, out of necessity, been put in a full time care facility. I guess we all saw it coming. But even with that expectation, it seemed like the end came faster than anyone expected. That often seems to be the case. But I would like to think that in quite a few cases that it’s a blessing to those that we love that they don’t suffer.

Honestly and sadly, I can’t say that I really knew my grandmother. My memories are fleeting childhood visits to the Northwestern Iowa farm where she & gramps lived. Gramps was the predominate personality in the relationship. He was always laughing, talking, and telling stories. Meanwhile, grandma always seemed to be floating around in the background frying something on the stove in the kitchen. I do remember that she always fed the wildcats that roamed the farm. She would set up food for them out behind the garage. She always chastised us not to try to pet the cats. Of course with my habit of learning the hard way, I chose not to listen and ended up pretty scratch one time.


I must say that most of the other memories that I have of my grandma are not positive. She quite often seemed to be complaining or criticizing one of her daughters (my mother & aunts). She really didn’t seem to care for my mother. It almost felt like she hated her for some reason which I never could figure out. I remember seeing pictures of the other grandkids or the neighbor’s kids in the old farmhouse but never any photos of myself or my little brother. Years ago one spring I drove back to northwestern Iowa from Utah. I stayed with an Aunt that was centrally located among other relatives. Grandma wouldn’t drive the 25 miles down to come see me. If I wanted to see her, I could drive up to see her. But I never did drive up to see her because everyone else had drove over to see me. I thought it would have been rude to leave everyone to go see her.


I know that grandma had a hard life; the few stories that I heard of her life growing up sounded like a very hard life to survive. But it just always seemed to me that she was unhappy. I find that sad because I see life as an attitude choice. I believe that if you choose to be happy you will be. Granted, it doesn’t always work that way but the chances are greater if you approach things that way. Goodbye Grandma! Now, I just hope that you will now find the happiness and peace that you deserve in the afterlife.