Oregon 2

Backpacking 35 miles:
Hike Panther Creek to Spur Creek - 15 miles
Hike Spur Creek to Gillette Lake - 16 miles
Hike Gillette Lake to Columbia River - 4 miles
Hitchhike to Carson Hot Springs for a soak & a towel wrap - Priceless
Flowers along the Pacific Crest Trail (including trillium, bear grass, groundcover dogwood, and wild yellow iris.)

...

...and a couple of stories:

Comparing newspapers: op/ed in the main section, classifieds in business, obituaries in living?

Headline - '13 firs in Sills Park to be cut.' They are serious about trees here.

A friend lost some property taken over by the city for a light rail line. He renamed the wine produced on his remaining vineyard 'Eminent Domaine'.

My hetero friend M is always curious about the gay lifestyle. 'Do you know any evil queens?' Enough to give Disney a run for the money, baby.

Taking a soak at Carson Hot Springs - When I finally relaxed, I leaned back in 1880's era, cast iron tub and listened to all the different water sounds - strong rush out of the tap, gentle dripping, rhythmic sloshing. Very calming...until I opened my eyes to see that the sloshing was made by this fat guy flipping over in his tub, face-down, like a walrus looking for fish, sticking his black-bottomed, claw-toed feet up in the air. (I guess even Bigfoot needs a soak now and again.)

All in all, a very relaxing experience, until the attendant came over to scrub and then hose out the tub next to me; suddenly it became very elephant house at the zoo for me.

A whale washed up on Seal Beach while I was in Oregon. The paper stated that following an autopsy, the body would be buried. Remembering a news story from years ago, this would avert the disaster following a previous whale death when officials attempted disposal by dynamite. (Immediately following that fiasco, it wasn't men it was raining.) link

The next day, a follow-up story was headlined 'Police seeking anyone who took dead whale parts.'

Weather - Temperature got up to 87 deg on Tues and I heard a lot of 'Boy, it's hot!', but with the humidity at only 30% and a low of 54 at night, it was v. comfortable to me (Atlanta had the same high, but only got down to 64 in the evening.)

Waiting on a stoplight at rush hour next to several bikers lined up in their own lane.

A flyer posted in brewpub/theater window: 'Wanted - Used saxophone for 8 year-old girl whose influences include John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Lisa Simpson.'

Lottery ticket proceeds pay for new State Park land.