Ann and Terry Come to visit Part Two June 24 - 26, 2017

I did not take any pictures while working hard on moving Ben and Martha's furniture and clothes on this unbelievably hot weekend - Saturday's high was 99 degrees and Sunday's high was 103 degrees, ungodly weather for Portland.  Saturday morning was spent packing things into boxes and garment bags.  Sunday morning was spent loading up both cars and the bike trailer.  Ben rode his bike with trailer from Sunnyside to the new home, Martha and Patty went in the Subaru and I drove the Volvo.  We simply cannot believe how much they have accumulated.

Sunday evening, we all went to the Airbnb rental Ann and Terry had - they have air conditioning and a decent sized living room, so a pleasant evening was had.

Monday was the big day.  The movers arrived around 8:45, then Ben and Martha headed off for their vacation - leaving Patty and me to supervise the move.  The movers were quick, getting everything out of the house by 11:45.  Ann and Terry showed up with their luggage then because they had to be out of their Airbnb rental by noon.  They left their luggage and went out exploring for the day, while Patty and I went to the new house and supervised the unloading of the truck.  We could not follow Ben's carefully laid out plans for three reasons.  First, landlords Sharon and Jeremy still have a lot of their stuff in the house. Second, Ben and Martha have too much large stuff (it was nice in the huge Sunnyside house, but not in a more normal size house).  And third, the queen size box spring would not fit down the stairs so it could not go in the desired bedroom.

This means that a lot of Ben and Martha's stuff has been left out on the back deck - we tried to select things that would survive the weather until Ben and Martha return Saturday, after Sharon and Jeremy and family have left.  And we had to swap the basement bedroom with the first floor bedroom, as that was the only place to put the queen size bed.

Patty and I got back to Sunnyside around 5:00, gathered up some of our stuff and went to our Airbnb rental.  After resting there for a few minutes, we then returned to Sunnyside to meet Ann and Terry.  We then took them to the airport for their return to South Carolina. 

Ann and Terry come to visit, part one, June 20 - 23, 2017

Martha's mother and step-father, Ann and Terry arrived late Tuesday evening, here in Portland for a week planning to attend the Friday night party to honor Ben's completion of his residency.

On Wednesday, we took them to Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.  We began with a stop at the visitors center and watched the 20 minute video that gives the history of the fort.  Then we visited the replica of the fort - the original burned in the 1800s, but I learned that the replica was built in 1976 for the USA Bicentennial.  We visited the counting house, woodworking shop, archeology center, doctor's quarters, blacksmith and the factor's house - Terry got another visitor to take a photo of us with the cannons that are in front of the factor's house.

We then had an excellent lunch at the Grant House cafe, so named because while U.S. Grant never lived there, he was stationed at Fort Vancouver as the quartermaster.  After lunch, we strolled down officers row and we visited the Marshall House.  Then a one star general, George C. Marshal was stationed at the Fort 1937 - 1939, including when a crew of three Russians flew the first non-stop polar flight from Moscow to the USA, making an unscheduled stop at Fort Vancouver's Pearson Airfield.  On our prior visits to the Fort, we had not visited the Marshall House - our guided tour was excellent and it is a very nice memorial to Marshall.  He was Chief of Staff of the Army during WWII, then Truman's Secretary of State creating/implementing the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, then Truman's Secretary of Defense for the first year of the Korean War and finally president of the American Red Cross.  He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.

On the way home, we stopped by Ben and Martha's new home.  The owners are still there, so we only drove by the house without stopping.  But we parked at the end of the street and showed Ann and Terry the park that has the grand views of Forest Park, the Port of Portland and the Willamette River.  Even though it is a small park, there are large trees there.

Thursday, we loaded both cars with boxes and other items to be moved, and Terry, Patty, Ben and I took them to Ben and Martha's new home.  Thursday afternoon, while Ann rested, Terry, Patty and I visited the International Rose Test Garden and Holocaust Memorial in Washington Park.

Friday morning, Ann, Terry, Patty and I took a shorter hike than planned at Powell Butte - Portland, like other locations around the world, is experiencing record high temps.  Friday it was in the mid 90s and the forecast for the weekend is 100 or more for both days.

Friday evening, the big event celebrating Ben's completion of his residency, took place at Southeast Wine Collective.  Martha and Ben planned a great party with family and friends.  He has become a fine physician and we know he will do well in the next year when he completes his palliative care fellowship.

Milo McIver State Park Tuesday June 20, 2017

Tuesday morning we drove to Milo McIver State Park in Estacada.  There is a visitors center, but it is in the Clackamas Fish Hatchery which is in the park.  They did not have any printed copies of maps for the park, so I took pictures of the map so that we could navigate the trails.  This was fortunate, as the trails were easy to find but had no signage as to which trail you were on - no names, just signs pointing the way for horses or hikers.

We spent a few minutes learning about the spring Chinook rearing program and the fall Steelhead rearing program, with fish produced for both the Clackamas and Sandy rivers.

Outside the visitors center, they had some landscaping which included these unusual flowers (we never found a name for them).

The trails were nicely shaded by the trees we hiked through, and one flower that was rampant was foxglove.

While we started out near the river, we quickly ascended in the hills as we hiked Riverside Trail up to the overlook of the river. 

As we came back down from the viewpoint, we noticed both that the foxglove was very tall and healthy, and included both purple and white varieties.

As we returned to the parking area, we crossed the road to the Rivermill trail which followed along the river for the first half of the loop trail.

Using my plant identification chart, we found red elderberry bushes.

When we returned to the parking area, we found signage about keeping the river clean - the Clackamas River feeds Portland's water system.  That said, people can enter the river here and we saw kayakers and people on inner tubes.

On the drive out of the park, we stopped at the Milo McIver Memorial Overlook.  It is new construction and appears to be nearly completed.   McIver was a member of the Oregon Highway Commission from 1950 to 1962 and he was a strong supporter of state parks activities.

On the drive home, we saw this car - instead of "Got Milk" it asked "got thomas?" I had to take a photo.

One of the unique things about Portland is that instead of simply throwing things away, people regularly put things out for others to take and reuse or recycle; they often include a sign indicating that the item(s) is/are free. A few blocks from home, we came across this sign for "free dirt."

Oaks Bottom Wildlife Preserve Monday June 19, 2017

A quiet Sunday of packing was followed by going to hike Oaks Bottom Wildlife Preserve.  We have hiked here several times.  There was not much to see, but there were a lot of healthy looking Canada Geese in the water next to the trail.

Starting to move Saturday June 17, 2017

We packed and moved two carloads of stuff to Ben and Martha's new home.  After unloading the two loads, we checked out the nearby Mocks Crest Park and the views of Forest Park and the Port of Portland.

Then it was back to our cars and to the current home.

Later, while Patty and I were out walking, we saw this cute bumper sticker.

Tryon State Park, Thursday June 15, 2017

Thursday, Tyron State Park was still damp for the very wet winter and spring, so on our hike around the perimeter we came across many large banana slugs.

Among other bridges, the trail includes the Terry Riley Bridge - I texted pictures to Terry Bailey suggesting this might be a place to hike when he and Ann would be in Portland next week.  He noted that swapping the R for Ba would make the bridge his namesake.

We saw many more slugs and some snails.  Some of the slugs' soft tissue bodies were identical in color, shape and size to the soft tissue bodies of the snails, as if they were snails that lost their shells.  This caused me to do some further research - while snails and slugs are related, snails shells are integral parts of the snail's body, they cannot leave their shell.

Then it was to Living Room Theater to watch the British Film "I, Daniel Blake."

"Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) is a 59-year-old widowed carpenter who must rely on welfare after a recent heart attack leaves him unable to work. Despite his doctor's diagnosis, British authorities deny Blake's benefits and tell him to return to his job. As Daniel navigates his way through an agonizing appeal process, he begins to develop a strong bond with a destitute, single mother (Hayley Squires) who's struggling to take care of her two children."

After watching this movie, I have a better understanding of the despair of working class people in Britain and why they would vote for change such as Brexit - the painful exit they are negotiating from the European Union.

Champoeg State Park, Wednesday, June 14, 2017

On Wednesday, Patty and I drove to Champoeg State Park.  The website describes bike and hiking trails along the river and a historical Country Store.  We stopped at the Butteville General Store to get lattes and a pastry - it has been open since the late 1800s.

When we parked at the visitors center, one of the first things we saw were birdhouses - they are to help the Western Bluebird that used to be common here.

Just outside the visitors center, we learned about portable burrstone mills used to mill grain grown by the local farmers.

Inside the visitors center, we learned more about the history of the state of Oregon, including the 1843 meeting and vote in Champoeg to form the first Provisional Government, which eventually led to territory status and then to becoming the 33rd state in 1859.

Champoeg Creek and surrounding land made an ideal place for farms, a town and access by river.  Plans were made for a center of government - but nature intervened in the way of a massive flood that washed the entire town away in 1861.  We saw these markers as we hiked west from the visitors center.

At the western end of the park, we found the riverside trail and enjoyed hiking in relative shade.

The trail ended because of a creek too big to cross, so back out on the main trail the Townsite Trail starter.  There were markers showing where the actual and planned streets were located, all in a grid plan like any modern city - except that it is all fields and woods now, making for nice hiking in the shade.

We finally came to stop 46 on the Willamete River Water Trail, an easy place to stop whether hiking like us or boating on the river.

From there, it was a couple of miles through other parts of the park, including the 18 hole disc golf course and other day use areas, and then back home to Portland.