The Oregon Trail - June 12, 2007

June 12 – I could not take a shower as there was no hot water in my hotel wing. I received a complimentary buffet breakfast in compensation. When the repairman was replacing the circulation pump to the hot water he blew the breaker and they did not know where the breaker was located. The elevator did not work so I walked down seven flights of stairs.

At 9:30 I rode the shuttle/buses to downtown K.C. I visited the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. I photographed the “Crying Giant” by Tom Otterness (2002). I saw the special exhibits “Phantasmania” which featured works by 17 young, emerging artists, and “Picturing Artists: Photographs by Dan Budnik” plus the regular collection.

I walked a couple blocks to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. I photographed Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s “Shuttlecock”. I wandered through several galleries. I do not like the new, contemporary Block Building Addition--not in keeping with the older building and not very functional (a lot of wasted space). I ate dinner at Tanners Bar & Grill.

Tonight I saw the revolving airport beacon (Benchmark: KE1428) from my room window. I did not take a photograph as it just would have been a white light in the distance.

The Oregon Trail - June 11, 2007

June 11 -- I traveled First Class using my frequent flyer miles from Portland, OR to Phoenix, AZ and on to Kansas City, MO via U.S. Airways. The flight was delayed in Portland for a half hour due to mechanical problems. I was able to find a motorized cart to take me quickly to my connecting flight in the Phoenix airport. No food on either flight – just snacks and drinks.

I took a photograph of the Red & White oval shaped tank (Benchmark: KE1427) at the Kansas City International Airport. It looked quite small. I was really surprised when it was just across the freeway from my hotel room on the 7th floor at the Radisson Hotel Kansas City Airport. I saw the red obstruction light atop the tank tonight.

The chain on my favorite sand dollar necklace broke at the end when I boarded the hotel shuttle. I was able to put it back together by latching the last chain into the hook but it should have been a sign of events to come.

I had a BBQ Beef Sandwich with Cole Slaw for an early dinner at Tanners Bar & Grill at Four Points by Sheraton next door. I was exhausted. It had been a long day beginning at 2:30 am (PDT). The weather was muggy and stormy.

The Oregon Trail - June 10, 2007

I headed west from Independence, Missouri on Thursday, June 14, 2007 with an Elderhostel group because I wanted to "see the elephant" - to see something new and exciting. In the days to come, I will write about my 2,000 mile journey to Oregon City and then home to Vancouver, Washington. I definitely "saw the elephant".

Ellen Morris Bishop [ice age floods]

On Wednesday evening, May 16, 2007 at 7:00 PM at the Museum of the Oregon Territory in Oregon City, I heard the author, Ellen Morris Bishop, the accomplished geologist and photographer, explain the Ice Age Floods (there were several) through geologic time with a global climate change perspective. She is the author of “In Search of Ancient Oregon”, “Hiking Oregon’s Geology”, and “Best Hikes with Dogs: Oregon”. The event was sponsored by the Lower Columbia Floods Chapter (LCFC) of the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI) and the Clackamas Heritage Partners (CHP).

Besides the Missoula Floods of 18,000 to 13,000 years ago, she talked about the other great floods: the Bonneville about 18,500-15,000 years ago that went through Hells Canyon and along the Snake River; Altay Mountains, Siberian which may have been the Earth’s greatest floods; the Three Glaciers Flood—along the Arkansas River, Chaffee County, Colorado of 20,000 years ago; North Simpson Desert in Australia; and Glacial Lake Agassiz Floods (Hudsons Bay) of 8,200 years ago.

Waiting for the Locomotives

On Saturday, May 12, 2007, I stood at the south end of the asphalt just behind the "No Trespassing" sign and waited from 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM at the Vancouver Train Station in Vancouver, Washington for two of the country's most famous steam locomotives to arrive on their way to Tacoma for excursions to Everett and back to Tacoma. The locomotives were the SP 4449 from Brooklyn Yard in Portland, Oregon and the UP 844 from Cheyenne, Wyoming. The locomotives are both Northern class passenger trains, and each has eight 6-foot-8-inch-high driving wheels. UP 844 was built in 1944 and weighs about 455 tons with tender. SP 4449 -- which pulled the Freedom Train during the Bicentennial -- was built in 1941 and weighs about 435 tons with tender. They linked up near the Columbia River Rail Bridge in Kenton. They were pulling UP SD70M; 18 vintage UP Passenger cars. All that five hour wait for about five minutes viewing but I got some great photos! I put one of the photos on my Railroad Bridge waymark.

“Ages End: Art About the Missoula Ice Age Floods”

On Saturday, May 5, 2007, I drove to the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center at The Dalles, Oregon to attend a new exhibition, “Ages End: Art About the Missoula Ice Age Floods” by Stev H. Ominski. He has turned the unfolding tale into visual images of various sites such as the Ice Dam, Dry Falls, Palouse Falls, an Erratic, and other important features. The Artist’s images have appeared in newspaper and magazine articles about the Ice Age Floods, throughout the region. Currently he is producing pieces for Washington State Parks interpretive sites.

The Oregon Trail

I will be traveling the Oregon Trail from Kansas City, Missouri to Portland, Oregon the last two weeks in June. I will try to post blogs with photos along the way.