Cape Disappointment

Every time that I visit the U.S. I generally find myself following the Lewis and Clark Trail. This is where it ended. I could not find out WHY it was called Cape Disappointment, but I don't think it was named by L & C. While travelling on this latest journey, I decided to read the book Sacajawea by Anna Lee Waldo. It's one of those epic tales, mostly fiction, about the Indian woman who guided L & C to the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia River. I'd have to say that the book was a "disappointment" in that it really tried to romanticize the relationship between Sacajawea and Clark. I did like the short introductions to the chapters and I would say that I learned a few things about life in the west in 1805, but any readers would be better off with something shorter and more realistic. I was inspired enough from my travels to purchase the edited journals of L & C.

Look Alikes

If travelling south and Death Valley seems to be just too far to go for unusual clay colours, I'd suggest the John Day Fossil Beds in north-central Oregon. In our usual escape from nasty weather, we'd headed east from Portland and south at Deschutes River State Park in Oregon. Our route took us over the OR 97, 218, and 19 highways to the towns of John Day and Canyon City. There are three "pockets" of John Day Fossil Beds and if you ever want to see Death Valley in minaiture, visit one. It's got the colours, the contrasts and none of the tourists (at least not in April)! This photo demonstrates some of the "green rivers" in the area. There's a couple of tourist type walks around the formations. And if you get all the way to the townsite of John Day and make use of the internet at the library be sure to follow the rules and only do email on the computers intended for email - tsk, tsk.

Goal One

One primary goal of our trip was to observe the desert flowers of Death Valley. We knew before going that there had been "spotty" rainfall so it wasn't going to be a stupendous showing in the flower department. However, the promise or warmth dragged us forward. This little gem, called the Desert Five Spot, was one of my favourites. Does it count if you see the flower by the Visitor Centre? I think so because the site does not have an organized garden, something I would encourage park officials to develop to spread the knowledge of desert plants. We love to walk so got out to observe lots of flowers. Our guide was a small brochure, Wildflowers of Death Valley National Park which was quite useful. The other guide was called 100 Desert Wildflowers of the Southwest which I did not find useful at all. There were no descriptions of the leaves and we were constantly stymied by all the yellow, white, blue and pink flowers. One hundred flowers doesn't even begin to approach the variety of plants that we saw. My general knowledge of plants doesn't seem to give me any hints once I hit the desert - I've got lots of learning to do.

Points South

We're back from 3 weeks in sun and warmer climes. It was pretty sunny for most of our trip, although the temperatures weren't particularly hot. One exception was Death Valley where this picture was taken. We arrived there on April 4th and immediately changed into shorts. Had a couple of nice walks in the desert and enjoyed a huge variety of desert flowers, although this year was not a spectacular flower show. We did spend a couple of nights here close to the full moon and I rather like this picture, taken near Texas Springs in Death Valley. Clear skies allow lots of night sky viewing and we were fairly impressed with the number of people who climbed up steep hills to say goodbye to the day or to greet it as the sun was about to rise.

In With the New

We've been slowly accumulating some new dishes and now that my birthday is past I have a set of four dinner plates, bread and butter plates and bowls. I really like them. It's a particular joy to bring them out of the dishwasher, of course! We've been using the same dishes for the past 25 years and they are still in really good shape. I will continue to use them. However, it's spring and it's refreshingly wonderful to have something new and different to admire every day. Thanks, Scott, for the plates!

The High Alpine

We spent this past weekend going to the alpine cabin at Lost Ledge. Getting there requires a half-hour road trip to the ski-doo unloading area. The ski-doo trip takes about 45 minutes, and from there it's a 75 minute uphill and flat ski into the Hut. Dave and I skied in during fairly heavy snow - there'd been a least 8 cm of new snow the night before. I had my first chance to ski in really deep powder - knee deep and higher. It raises the confidence level because you can't ski fast in the deep, deep snow.

Today, I had a lovely x-country ski out with the Wednesday Walkers on the old Kaslo Wagon Road. The brilliant sunshine has lasted two full days (a first for this year!!) and we skied from Retallack to Bear Lake. Hopefully, this is our last blast of winter, but it's good to be out in the high alpine in its winter beauty.

The Toys: An Update

Yup, that's me driving a ski-doo, something I've said I would never do. This picture was taken last week, driving "home" from Empire Basin. Yesterday, we went up there again and there was lots of fresh snow. Dave drove and I must say driving a ski-doo is an extremely athletic endeavour in those conditions - the ski-doo always feels as if it will tip over and it requires constant leaning and hopping to the outside of the machine. The bruises on my knees are a testament to my position in the backseat as Dave jumps over the seat wearing his ski boots. I tried driving a few metres in the fresh snow - no, thanks! As we descended, the new snow was minimal and I drove 6 km - making 10 km my new total. I still have really mixed feelings about the machine - it remains noisy, smelly and cumbersome, but I love going to the blue skies.

We both LOVE the dishwasher. It seems to clean things pretty well (if we load it properly), it's quiet and it truly does seem to be a labour-saving device.