Clackamas Geocoin Challenge 2012

Yesterday my daughter, Catherine, my son, Christopher, and I did the Clackamas Geocoin Challenge along the Clackamas River.   I chose Blazingthrewthewoods "Chiller" gift at the GEOregon Holiday Party.  I put two cups of hot chocolate in the "Chiller" yesterday to take along with me.  It was a really chilly morning so it warmed me.  Catherine and I picked Christopher up at the church where he is the pianist.  We took him to his apartment near Portland State University so he could change his clothes and feed his cat.  We found 11 caches.  We did not find the last three caches as there was black ice on the road.  We turned in the forms at the Estacada Library to get our Geocoins.  We stopped at A&W/Taco Bell in Estacada to eat a late lunch.  I had a very weird Cheese Chili Dog.  We drove through Sandy on the way home, stopping at Joe's Donuts.  Never stop on a Sunday.  Very few donuts. It was a beautiful day for a drive.  The high temperature was a chilly 43 degrees with clear blue skies.  Once the sun started going down the temperature dropped.

Christmas Tea 2012

My daughter Catherine and I had Christmas Tea 2012 at The Gathering Place at Pomeroy Living History Farm from noon to 2:00. We had Cucumber Sandwiches with Herb Butter, Turkey with Avocado and Provolone Sandwiches, and Radish Sandwiches.  Also Scones with jam/preserves and Devonshire Style Cream.  We had Individual Trifles, Chocolate Nut Tortes, Lemon Tarts and Peppermint Christmas Cookies for dessert.  Afterwards I wandered through the lower floor of the 1920 Pomeroy Log House to view the Holiday Decorations.

Lunch at Albertina Kerr, Magoos and Caching in the Dark

I had lunch at Albertina Kerr in Portland.  Just before lunch I shopped at their thrift store where I purchased a sterling sliver thin bracelet on sale for $4.00.  I had lunch at 1:30 of Albertina Classic: Holiday House Salad, Apple Cider Chicken and delicious Homemade Pumpkin Pie topped with a bit of whipped cream.  Afterwards I purchased a beautiful paperweight at their store for $28.00.

Bluemoth found the cache to applause from above (us not the Heavenly Father).  Boringgirl, Bluemoth, silliemillie, vikingchick92 and Geodude2008 drove to Mt Scott following the happy holiday get together at Magoos on NE 42nd. The log was signed "Timon's Army" in memory of Boringgirl's cat Timon who died last night. We were being watched by a man above us on top of the rock wall. I bet he was trying to figure out what we were doing on a dark, drizzly night. There was a great view of the city lights!

On Monday evening, December 17, 2012,  I attended the Scandia Christmas Party with my son, Christopher.  Christopher is the pianist for the Scandia Singers.  After dinner I went upstairs to the church to hear the Scandia Chorus.   Afterwards we had dessert.  I took Christopher back to his apartment near Portland State University.

On Saturday, December 15, 2012, I arrived early for the Lighted Walk Down Peacock Lane in Portland so I could get a parking place close to Walgreens.  I read Dave Barry's "Lunatics" for awhile.  About 6:00pm I walked across the street to Walgreens where they were celebrating their Grand Reopening.  I ate some celebration cake and had a couple small peach drinks.  I was given a large red Walgreens bag filled with various items that will be great for putting in caches.  I met up with the Geocaching Group at 7:00pm.  Since the 1920s, each house in this quaint SE Portland neighborhood has been decorating for Christmas with lights and other decor with ardent holiday glee.  Mostly Tudors, the houses are adorned with not only beautiful sparkling lights and carolers, but also nativity scenes, rotating Christmas trees, life-like replicas of Santa, Frosty, Rudolph....and all things in between.  After wandering down the street looking at the brightly decorated houses and talking with several cachers I returned on my own to look more closely at the decorations.  I took several photos.  Afterwards I drove to east Vancouver where I found a cache that I could not find earlier in the day.

On 12-12-12 I attended an event cache by WSGA Southwest Chapter at Juliano's Pizzeria on SE Mill Plain Blvd in east Vancouver, WA at 6:30pm.  I had an enjoyable time this evening.  The Chefs Salad was one of the best I have ever eaten (it would have been great to have the traditional hard boiled egg though).  I found a night cache with other cachers after the event.  I enjoyed the festive holiday lights as we wandered through the streets.  I took more than memories home with me.  I discovered a small snail curled up on the toe of my shoe when I got home.

On Saturday, December 8, 2012, I attended the 4th Annual GEO Holiday Party at TEBO's Restaurant in Gladstone, Oregon.  I stopped at the Milwaukie City Hall to take several photos of the monument honoring the founders of the city.  I sat at a table near the round fireplace.  The halibut fish and chips was terrible.  The Key Lime Pie was good.  I participated in the gift exchange.  I had a great time.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012
This morning I rode the MAX light rail and the streetcar to The Old Church at 11th and Clay.  I saw "Relatively Speaking" a 1965 play set in 1965 by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn.  The action of the play takes place during a summer weekend in the bed-sitting room of Ginny’s London flat and on the garden patio of Sheila and Philip’s home in Buckinghamshire, outside London.  The play was hilarious!

On Sunday, December 2, 2012, I rode the MAX Light Rail into downtown Portland.  I went to The Oregon Historical Society for the 45th Annual Holiday Cheer - A Celebration of Oregon Authors at noon.  I especially wanted to meet Phillip Margolin as I had read a couple of his books recently.  After I looked at the books and talked to a few of the over 70 Oregon Authors on the 1st and 2nd floors of the museum I had a few of the tasty holiday dessert samples.  I explored The Oregon Historical Museum.

When I tried to post photos for the Pomeroy Farm Afternoon Tea I got this message.  So unless I pay the piper there will be posts but no more photos.

"Whoops! You're out of space. You are currently using 100% of your 1 GB quota for photos. "

On Saturday afternoon, my daughter, Catherine, and I went to Pomeroy Living History Farm for Thanksgiving Afternoon Tea.  We sat at our usual table.  We had Cucumber Sandwiches with Herb Butter, Ginger and Apple Sandwiches, and Sundried Tomatoes, Walnuts and Cheese Sandwiches.  We had Scones with two kinds of Jam and Devonshire Style Cream.  We had Pumpkin Tea Cakes, Orange Tarts, Walnut Ginger Cookies and Chocolate Mousse for dessert.

Afterwards we turned left from Pomeroy Farm to drive along the Lewis River to Moulton Falls.  There was a lot of water in the Lewis River from the recent heavy rains.  We drove back to Vancouver via Battle Ground.  We stopped at the Fort Vancouver Regional Library where I picked up two novels by Maria Semple.  I met her at a recent book fair in Portland.

On Wednesday, Nov. 7th, I did the Wilsonville Geocoin Challenge.  I had to find ten Geocaches - seven required caches and three additional caches.   One of the caches was The Old Barn.

On the ninth cache, I had trouble finding the location.  The car Garmin nuvi GPS led me astray.  When I finally found the parking area and the cache location I found the cache scattered along the creek bank and in the middle of the creek.  I walked down the path aways to locate a very long branch.  I pulled the soggy notebook and cache container bottom to shore with it.  I also grabbed the lid off the lower bank.   My feet slid on the muddy bank near the water line and I fell on my bottom!  I left the notebook in my car to dry out overnight.

I left the container and notebook at the Wilsonville Chamber of Commerce yesterday, Thursday Nov. 8, when I went back to pick up my Geocoin. Afterwards I drove home via I-205 stopping in West Linn, Oregon at the Lavender Bleu Tea Room to have a lovely Afternoon Tea.  

On Tuesday morning, Nov 6, 2012, I rode the MAX Light Rail from Delta Park to PSU and then the Streetcar to The Old Church at 11th & Clay.  Portland Civic Theatre Guild presented  "The Guys",  a play by Anne Nelson and directed by Stephanie Mulligan about the aftereffects of the collapse of the World Trade Center.  In the play, Joan, an editor, helps Nick, an FDNY captain, prepare four eulogies for an unprecedented number of firefighters who died under his command that day.  Nick was played by Danny Bruno who often appears in "Grimm" filmed in Portland, Oregon.

Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler, Nov. 3, 2012

Early this morning I drove from my home in Vancouver, Washington to Portland, Oregon to ride the Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler on a one-way cruise as she departs Cascade Locks in the "Heart of the Gorge" to Portland for the winter season.  We rode the buses from Caruthers Landing in Portland to Cascade Locks.

It was great weather: very "Twin Peaks" with whispy clouds, no rain and wind, and calm waters of the Columbia River.  We saw many sights including Bridge of the Gods, Bonneville Dam and Locks, Beacon Rock, Horsetail Falls, Multnomah Falls, Crown Point/Vista House, Rooster Rock, and the bridges that make Vancouver/Portland famous: the I-205 Glenn Jackson, I-5 Interstate, St. Johns, Fremont, Broadway, Burnside, Steele and Hawthorne.   We had breakfast, lunch and dessert.  We arrived in Portland about 5:30PM.

Afternoon Tea in Longview, Washington

I had Afternoon Tea at The Brits in Longview, Washington.  It was the strangest Afternoon Tea that I have ever had.  The bottom plate had two long pieces of white cheese, large carrot stick, large celery stick, sliced hard-boiled egg, two tomato wedges, cucumber slice, two black olives, two apple slices and two orange slices.  The middle plate had a mini ham and white cheese pizza cut into four slices, a herbed puff, a mini cucumber and cream cheese sandwich and four sausage rolls.  The top plate had a large marionberry scone already cut in half, some soft butter, a mini chocolate cake, a mini cream puff and three mini almond roca bars.  I also had Earl Grey tea.

Donna and Glyn's Visit, October 16-17, 2012

My longtime friend, Donna, and her husband, Glyn, came to Portland for a day and 3/4 visit via Amtrak from Iowa   We rode MAX light rail from the train station to their hotel where they left their luggage.  We rode MAX to former-mayor Bud Clark's Goose Hollow Inn where we had the world famous reuben sandwiches for lunch.  We rode MAX through the tunnel to the Zoo station and saw the earth core samples along the walls.  We had planned to take the shuttle to the Japanese Garden but we found out that it was not running.  We rode the MAX train to the Chinese Garden.  After a guided tour of the garden plants, we had tea in the tearoom.  We rode MAX to the streetcar line.  We visited Tanner Springs garden.  Sometime during the day we visited Pioneer Courthouse Square with the statue "Allow Me" (see photo) and saw "Portlandia".  We returned to downtown on the streetcar where they caught the MAX train west to their hotel.  I caught the MAX to Delta Park and my car.

I arrived at their hotel at 8:00am.  We drove to Troutdale where we had a light breakfast at McDonalds and got gas in the car.  We drove the Old Columbia River Highway from Troutdale to the Womens Forum.  Low Clouds obscured the view unfortunately.  The highway was closed to Bridal View however I drove east anyway to the Viewpoint Inn that appeared in the prom scene in "Twilight".  It caught fire earlier this year.  The Inn was gutted.  The owners had no fire insurance.  We drove back to Corbett and down the hill to I -84. At Bridal View we stopped at the small post office.  Donna sent four postcards.  We stopped at Multnomah Falls.  We stopped briefly Horsetail Falls.  We saw the fish going through the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam and the enormous sturgeon at the Fish Hatchery.  We traveled west, crossing the I-205 bridge to Vancouver where we had late lunch at Burgerville.  We stopped by my house briefly.  We drove past the Aviation Museum, Fort Vancouver, Officers Row and the new Fort Vancouver Regional Library.  Donna and Glyn arrived back at Portland Train Station in plenty of time to catch their train back to Iowa.  They arrived home safely but their train was 2 1/2 hours late.

GPS Adventure at the The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

I went to The Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, an aviation  museum in McMinneville, Oregon, which displays a number of military and civilian aircraft, most notably, the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose".   I went to the museum primarily to visit the GPS Adventure Maze.   My Treasure City was Yellowknife.  After doing the maze and looking at some of the military and civilian aircraft, I had lunch at the museum cafe, took the 1:30 guided tour, had a double scoop of ice cream and walked over the spacecraft museum.  I was the most impressed with the section of the Berlin Wall.  It was an interesting day.

"A Thousand Clowns", Tuesday, October 2, 2012

On Tuesday morning, October 2nd, I attended a 1962 American play, "A Thousand Clowns", by Herb Gardner.  The play was the October reading for the Portland Civic Theatre Guild's First Tuesday Readers Theatre.  A Thousand Clowns tells the story of a young boy who lives with his eccentric uncle Murray, who is forced to conform to society in order to keep custody of the boy.  The play was read at the Old Church at 1422 SW 11^th (at Clay) in downtown Portland. Tickets were $8.00 and included coffee and light refreshments at 10:00 am followed by the reading at 10:30.

Vancouver to Vancouver - Day 9

Monday, September 24 - I rose very early and took a taxi to the Amtrak Station to travel from Vancouver, B.C. (Gastown established 1867; Vancouver incorporated as city in 1886) to Vancouver, Washington (Fort Vancouver was built in 1825; Vancouver was incorporated as a city in 1857).

Amtrak was supposed to depart at 6:40 however we sat on the tracks for an hour while they repaired an electrical problem.  I had a double seat on the "water side" in coach.

Shortly after the train was underway I got a Apple Danish Pastry and Yogurt Parfait in the cafe. Three customs agents came aboard at the border to check our passports.  I took two photographs of the sculpture.

I took several photos of the Nimitz.  According to Wikipedia, the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) is a supercarrier of the U.S. Navy, and is the lead ship of her class.  She is one of the largest warships in the world. She was laid down, launched and commissioned as CVAN-68 but was redesignated CVN 68 (nuclear-powered multimission aircraft carrier) on 30 June 1975 as part of the fleet realignment of that year.

The ship was named for WWII Pacific fleet commander Chester W. Nimitz,  who was the Navy’s third fleet admiral. She is the first carrier of her class and the most recent supercarrier not to be named for someone who held elective office in the United States.

Nimitz was homeported at Naval Station Norfolk until 1987, when she was relocated to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington.  Her homeport was changed to NAS North Island in San Diego, California in 2001.   Nimitz home port was again changed to Everett, Washington in 2012. 

I photographed the Bridge of Glass and the Museum of Glass in Tacoma.

When the train stopped in Seattle I got a sandwich and a bottle of Apple Juice in the cafe.  I chatted with an interesting woman named Margerita from Colombia, South America during the train ride to Vancouver.  She took a photograph of us.  I talked about the Road Scholar programs to the woman in the seat behind me.  I photographed the Tacoma Narrow bridge. 

I arrived in Vancouver late and was picked up at 4:30PM.  It has taken me a few days to fully recover from the trip.

Golden Princess and Vancouver, B.C. - Day 8

Sunday, September 23 - I had a good nights sleep.  I woke very early so I could get breakfast at Horizon Court on Deck 14 Aft before leaving the ship.  I packed my suitcase and gathered up my things.  I was off the ship rather quickly and through customs.

I am glad that I went on this brief cruise however I will not likely go on another cruise.  I recently read in an article  "The greatest drawback of cruising is you are not in any place long enough to truly experience it.  You do not learn much about its geography [and geology] and wildlife or its people, their culture and history."

I took the Sky Train to Yaletown Roundhouse Station and walked a few blocks to the Comfort Suites hotel on Howe Street.   After settling in my room #626, I took a photo of the view from my hotel window.

I walked back to the Sky Train Station in Yaletown and rode to the Waterfront Station.  I purchased a ticket at 10:30 to ride the Blue and the Red lines on the Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley.  After I rode the Blue line I got lunch at Starbucks of Fruit and Cheese Plate and slice of Lemon Poppyseed Loaf.  I rode the Red line stopping at the rose gardens and flower gardens and the totem poles.   As we came near the end of the Red line I left the Trolley to join the Blue line.  I rode as far as Granville Island.

I had a cheeseburger and beer for dinner at bridges while I watched the football and soccer games on the televisions in the bar.

I rode the little ferry boat across False Creek and walked several blocks to my hotel.  I had a good nights sleep.

Golden Princess Cruise to Vancouver, B.C. - Day 7

Saturday, September 22 - I had a good nights sleep.  I took a couple photos of the view from my room at The Moore hotel in downtown Seattle.

I packed my suitcase and took it down to the lobby to store until I was ready to leave for the cruise ship.  I checked out of the hotel at 10:45.  I ate a late breakfast at the cafe on the 4th floor of Nordstrom.  I had a Garden Veg Omelet with no potatoes and extra fruit, orange juice and toast with strawberry jam.

I walked back to The Moore hotel to retrieve my luggage.  I caught the city bus at 4th and Stewart for Pier 91.  I met two men on the bus: Arnold and Robert.  We walked about 1/4  to 1/2 mile to the check-in building.  Almost everyone else drove cars, arrived by cars, arrived by taxi or arrived by tour bus.

My room was in a perfect location.  I rode the elevator to Aloha Deck 12, turned right, entered the hallway and my room A703 was right in front of me.  I was quite impressed with the room with a large bathroom with shower, large closet and bedroom with Queen size bed, side tables, easy chair, small refrigerator and television.   The balcony had two patio chairs and a low round table.  Great view of Seattle and when underway the Washington coast.

I dressed in black for dinner.  I had interesting dinner companions - three women from Grants Pass, Oregon and a couple from Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  I had delicious crème brulee for dessert.

I attended the Production Show: British Invasion in the Princess Theater, Decks 6 and 7 forward.  It was enjoyable.  I went back to my room to change into a sparkling top.  I went to the Marriage Match Game Show at the Explorers Lounge, Deck 7 Midship.  It was hilarious at times.  I am sure that one of the wives will have words with her husband after the show.  He told the Cruise Director during the game that if he had to chose a second wife he would chose his wife's friend, Elizabeth.  It absolutely did not sit well with his wife.  She leaned very far away from him in her chair for the rest of the game.

About 10:30 I went up to the cafe where I had three light desserts including a delicious rice pudding.  I went back to my room and promptly fell asleep after a warm shower.