Lincoln City Geocaching Event, September 26, 2009

Christopher, Catherine and I went to the Lincon City Geocaching Event on Saturday, September 26th. We picked up our answer sheets at 2:00pm at the Lincoln City Community Center and then set forth to find the answers to the 17 questions (basically it was virtual caches). I never saw so many flags before in one location for the first question!! We ate lunch at Subway and got delicious take out pizza at Gallucci's which we ate in our motel room overlooking the ocean. We especially enjoyed the hike around Spring Lake (GC1HP54) on Sunday morning. Besides the Geocaching Event we found 11 geocaches. We had lunch at 60s Cafe before heading home. We turned off Hwy 18 and somehow missed our next turn and ended up traveling a one lane forest road to the top of Cougar Mountain. Really broke in my 2010 Subaru Forester. All in all it was a great weekend.

11th Annual Harvest Celebration Tour

I went with a college friend, Connie Dees, on the 11th Annual Harvest Celebration Tour showcasing the bounty and variety of agriculture in Clark County from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. We visited six farms and a winery: Kunze Farm, Clark County 78th Street Farm, Northwest Organic Farm, Wynneshire Farm (incredible dahlias), Rusty Grape Vineyards (great wines; movie nights), Half Moon Farm and Bi-Zi Farm (one of the best). We stopped by Costco so Connie could shop for a few things. I sampled foods at the tables along the aisles finishing with cookies with chocolate centers and pumpkin bread samples. The weather was perfect with lots of clouds in a blue sky and temperature in the 70s.

2010 Camellia Red Subaru Forester Travel Bug

I purchased a 2010 Camellia Red Subaru Forester 4 DR X AT last Tuesday. The S.F. shown is 2009 as I could not find a photo of the 2010 model. Besides the basic model I got Auto dimming mirror/compass, Cargo tray, Luggage compartment cover, Bike carrier, Trailer hitch, extra Floor mats, Rear bumper cover and Splash guard kit. I was also able to get two Cargo organizers with my accumulated points. Included in the price was Sales tax, License & Title, Service Contract and Documentary Service Fee. I plan to purchase a Vehicle Static Cling Travel Bug to place on the rear window.

Lemonade Social 2009, August 30th

On Sunday August 30th, my daughter Kimberly, my son Christopher and I attended the Lemonade Social 2009 at beautiful Hillendale Park in Oregon City for an afternoon Meet & Greet of fellow geocachers. We played eight games of Bingo. We guessed geocachers names from a picture chart “Who Are They??” which I enjoyed doing. There were hot dogs, lemonade and cookies. There was a Door Prize drawing at the end of the afternoon. Afterwards Kimberly, Christopher and I went geocaching and benchmarking in Oregon City. We saw five deer in a cemetery. Three of the deer were eating the flowers and wreaths at the gravesites.

The Missoula Ice Age Floods Trip, August 29th

On Saturday, August 29th, I went on a field trip of the Columbia River Gorge Chapter of Ice Age Floods Institute from Mosier to Arlington, Oregon. We met at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Hood River.

I rode the shotgun seat with the group leader, Terry Hurd, driving and a geologist in the rather small back seat. The others were in two cars. One of the cars was a Prius which I later “ruined” according to the car owner – a man with control issues -- by removing the car ignition key after the car had been stopped about 5-10 minutes. The husband and wife were arguing about removing the ignition key as it was ringing. She wanted to sit in the back seat in the shade with the door open to catch the breezes while he went for a hike with the others. I just got tired of listening to them so I removed the ignition key and, of course, the ringing stopped. He was furious!!

We had planned to stop to view the Ice Age Flood Glacial Erratic in the midst of the ODOT gravel pit but the road was closed because of the “Microwave fire” (I went back a couple days later past “Road Closed Ahead” sign and saw the erratic). The 6'x8'x12' erratic is quartz monzonite with large 1/4" to 2" crystals.

We traveled east on the Historic Columbia River Highway (HCRH) (Hwy 30) to Rowena Crest. Looking across the Columbia River to the Washington side of the Gorge, you can see that where the land was stripped by the floods below about 950 ft. elevation. A large eddy bar underlies most of the town of Lyle. Far below us near the river we could see a kolk lake and several Mima mounds.

We took Hwy 197 briefly at The Dalles. We saw both pillow and columnar basalt at a road cut. We traveled east on Fifteen Mile Road, turning left on Old Moody Road. I was told where I would find the Pathfinder Marker (Virtual Geocache) further up Fifteen Mile Road. We stopped at couple overlooks including Celilo Falls Overlook. Before the gates closed at The Dalles Dam in 1956, one had a magnificent view of the roaring Celilo Falls from here. The Dalles Dam drowned Five Mile Rapids and Celilo Falls. We stopped at Heritage Landing at the Deschutes River for the restrooms which left a LOT to be desired.

We got lunch at Subway to take with us. Traveled on I-84 past the John Day Dam to Exit 123 where we ascended Philippi Canyon. We had lunch at a winery – Wheatridge in the Nook. I had a glass of Chardonnay with my Subway sandwich. We saw a small glacial flood erratic at about 1060 ft. elevation and several geologic features in Blalock Canyon and Alkali Canyon. We stopped in Arlington for restrooms. We entered Interstate 84 westbound, arriving back in Hood River late about 5:30PM.