Spooky Technology Knows about My Road Trip

Yesterday began at our local French breakfast place. We were going on a road trip to a winery up the Columbia near Biggs Junction across the river. I had not told anyone we were going and our oldest son/family was joining us for the day. We knew the way because we live here. We had not opened maps or even looked at my iphone that morning

It was misty (liquid air we call it here in Oregon) and overcast. The restaurant was full even though it was early in the morning. We carried on a quiet conversation and our granddaughters either colored or read.

We left by two door and as my husband and I approach our car, my iphone buzzed and a notification came up. It said:

"It is 116 miles to the winery." 

Nothing else. Chills went down my spine. HOW DID MY PHONE KNOW WHERE I WAS GOING????

All sorts of things went through my mind but nothing even made sense to me. Why would it do that?

Travelogue of our day...was my phone listening to us all day?

The winery we were headed to is called Maryhill Winery and sits next to the Maryhill Museum. The name came to be because a man named Sam Hill built his version of a castle on the dry, windswept hillside in the eastern part of the Columbia Gorge on the Washington side and named it for his wife.

But the version of that story we alway heard was much different and is enough to draw people to the castle for the story alone. The truth is it is now and always has been a museum.

I seems Sam Hill invited Queen Marie of Romania to visit the site and she dedicated the castle as a museum. Gossip repeated to this day had it that Hill was romantically involved with the queen. It was (and still is) gossiped that she arrived, took one look, told Sam Hill she would not stay and went home! If you saw where it is located you would be with the queen. In reality the story is much different but a romance gone wrong is more fun to tell. Here is the story told in a newspaper article:

Queen Marie of Romania and Sam Hill

On November 3, 1926, Queen Marie of Romania (1875-1938) dedicates Maryhill Museum of Art. The Queen is a friend of Maryhill builder Sam Hill (1857-1931) and is in the United States on a 50-day visit that dominated newspaper headlines. Accompanying Queen Marie are her two youngest surviving children, Prince Nicolas (1903-1977) and Princess Ileana (1908-1991). The museum is to be housed in Hill's half-finished mansion overlooking the Columbia River gorge near Goldendale in Klickitat County.

To this day when someone does something foolish we say "What in the Sam Hill?" Interesting huh?

Our morning started with a green misty sky.

My granddaughter play in the waters of the Columbia (Celilo Lake) near the site where Celilo Falls and native American encampments has always been. Celilo Fall disappeared when The Dalles Dam was built in in 1957. The famous Celilo Falls was lost for all time. The native Americans had fished at the falls for 11,000 years and The Lewis and Clark Expedition has records of their activity in their journals. The people still live in a village close to the falls and fish in the river under treaty rights with the government.

The Gorge hillsides turn brown and arid very quickly as we
travel east of the Cascade Mountain Range

The intersection a Biggs Junction. We turned left toward N. 97.

Sam Hill built a replica of the Stonehenge in remembrance of the
men lost in WWI...the war to end all wars. It is located east of the museum.

Maryhill Winery

The beautiful Columbia Gorge from the deck of the winery. This looking East.

I was raised in the eastern part of Oregon. This dry landscape feels a lot like home. But, as we traveled back west again I was grateful for the cooler air and the green trees. I felt at peace with the world.

Have a wonderful weekend.

b+

Retirement: Thoughts on The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The book called The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel by Rachel Joyce is such a wonder...it tells the story of a retired man that relives the journey of his past as he becomes an unsuspecting and surprised pilgrim. This story takes a look at how the retirement journey can change not only our lives but our very being. While we take our past with us we can also grow out of it and become what we have want to be. But, as Harold Fry discovered, it is not an easy journey. It takes time and effort to get to a place where a person feels comfortable in their skin once again.

Harold has lived for 20 years with a life that is not happy or complete. His wife is very angry with him, his son never really connected with him and his job did not give him any satisfaction or joy. There was only one person that seemed to bring a sense of calm to him and she disappeared as quickly as she had arrived. Her name was Queenie. She was plain and quiet but solid. Harold had a great deal of respect for her courage.

Soon after Harold retired, he received a simple letter from Queenie letting him know that she was dying in hospice care on the far side of England. She just wanted to tell him goodbye. So Harold wrote a letter telling her he was sorry, placed a stamp on it and set out to mail it...and simply did not go home. He began a walk across England with no cell phone or wallet while wearing a pair of yachting shoes.

Without realizing what he was doing, he began a trek that changed his life. He started out out to mail a letter and kept going because a young girl at a gas station told him that if he believed enough, Queenie would not die. The girl knew because she had done that for her aunt. So he decided he would deliver the letter in person.

Harold not only needed to see Queenie...he also needed time and quiet and space to think his own thoughts.

He only found the peace he needed after he had faced all the demons that had haunted him for 20 years. The people from the past took on real form as he talked with people along the road and then as a group of people wanting to be pilgrims joined him. I think that each of those people symbolized someone from his past.

With him gone, his wife faced her own issues and came back from the dark place she had been living in for so many years.

Seeing Queenie one last time, as it turned out, was not what he needed. It may have been that it wasn't the destination after all. But then that is the rest of the story and you really do need to read this one.

As I reflected on the book after I finished reading, I could see how a lot of people might want to do what Harold did. Instead of facing their relationship issues or past mistakes they might just walk out the door and keep going. But I think that anyone that did that would face the same thing Harold did and find that they don't ever leave anything behind.

The retirement stage of our life leaves us with our naked being, no job to protect or validate us, a past that needs to be put in perspective and a blank slate to be filled with the rest of our life. The journey is not over. In fact, the pilgrimage is what it is all about. Even if there is no Queenie in our lives there might be a regret or a problem or even a relationship that needs to be tended too. The pilgrimage the retiree (or anyone for that matter) sets out on will be what it is because they have faced the past and can then move into the future.

This is of course a wonderful book.  It has won the acclaim that it deserves. Reading it is a journey in itself!

b+

10 Photographs of Road Trip from Oregon to Arizona

It rained 6' that week. My garden had gone to sleep and all the flowers had been dead headed. The trees were only beginning to show a hint of the cold that was to come but I felt like a snow goose ready to fly south.

I don't think it was about the rain or even the cold though. I think is was about the people that inhabit my life. Children were off to school. Parents were going into that rainy season working mode and we needed to go out into the world in search of new scenery and flowers that were just beginning to grow.

I like the road trip from Oregon to Arizona. It gives me a chance to bring my soul along with me. When I fly, it takes two or three days for it to arrive. In the meantime, I am walking in a dream. Driving takes three days so it is all good.

The change in scenery as we travel along allows a gentle transformation.

Entering the Columbia Gorge at Sunrise (Oregon) (iPhone)

East end of the Columbia Gorge...the desert begins (Oregon) (iPhone)

Wind generator above the Columbia River (iPhone)

Restaurant in Salt Lake City overlooking the Wasatch Mts. (iPhone)

Las Vegas skyline. (Sony SNX-5N - telephoto with digital telephoto)

Arizona Strip between Utah and Nevada just outside St. George, UT
Virgin River on the right. (iPhone)

Wickenburg, AZ. Small plaza with restaurant (dive) and small shops. (iPhone)

Near Wickenburg...fall colors take my breath away. (iphone)

Scoring the good chairs by the pool in our resort winter home.
We are the first to fly south! (iPhone)

Our park model...winter home on the corner of beautiful and friendly! (Sony NEX-5N)

So here we are in Arizona. Life is good, we are busy and friends will be coming very soon. My garden is growing with more flowers than I even dreamed.

b+

Note:  All of these photos, save the one of our park model and the pool, were taken as the car flew down the freeway at 75-80 miles per hour. It all depended on the speed limit. It is amazing what our cameras can do anymore. I love it!

Road Trip: Las Vegas to Portland

Doris Montgomery Pass Nevada Highway 374 (Photo credit: D'oh Boy (Mark Holloway))

It has taken me about 47 years to actually appreciate a trip through Nevada. This is a place unlike any other. In prehistoric times much of the land was cover by a very large lake bed surrounded by mountains. The land is flat and the roads are as straight as an arrow.  We traveled down roads that went as far as the eye can see.  The land is covered by gray green sage brush and very little else grows in between.

The occasional "Brothel" along the road north of Las Vegas
breaks the monotony! This business also features aliens and gas.

The thing that is so remarkable about the area is that the water does not drain into an ocean.  That explains the alkalinity of the lakes and the collection of salt in many bodies of water. Even though agriculture does prosper in many places, the battle against the build up of minerals in the soil is ongoing.

Austin, NV Cemetery

I think it is the endlessness of the vista that is almost frightening. But beautiful it is.

Alkali lake bed.  

Great Basin

Leg #1:  Las Vegas to Winnemuca (Travel Math)

Leg #2: Winnemuca to Lakeview (Travel Math)

Leg #3: Lakeview to Portland (Travel Math)

Rim bordering flat dry lake bed just north of Lakeview, Oregon.

Miles of nothing gave me a chance to play with my iPhone apps.
(Zoom Photography and Snapseed)

 Note: All of the photographs here were taken with my iPhone as we raced down the road at 75 miles per hour...quality it not guaranteed. :)

b+

Vintage Retro Hotels: Road Trips with a Twist

Source: jenzahigian.blogspot.com via Celebrity HotSpots on Pinterest

Tablet Hotels

We are packing to go home to Oregon. We have made this same trip for many years so you can understand how we are always looking for something unique to make the journey more interesting. Even though there are a lot of routes we can take we are beginning to find the long drive boring. When I saw Tablet Hotels list of 11 revamped hotel across the United States this morning, I had the aha moment. This might be the way we can keep a very long drive interesting. We could plan our trip around retro motels in the places we pass through. I have a collection of retro motel signs I have photographed during our travels. This would be great opportunity to add to them.

The only thing we would need to keep in mind when we are planning to do this is that most of these motels are not on the freeway. A back road or a slight detour is usually required. I would check ratings on Trip Adviser. I happen to think that the ratings on this website are spot-on. We will look for Retro Motels Trip Adviser or Vintage Motels Trip Adviser in the Google search line when we make our plans and reservations online. It is not enough to find an old motel. We want to be sure it is hip, clean and bedbug free (sorta).

The thing I love about these places most is the cost. Even in San Diego (La Jolla) where everything is California'd to the enth degree the retro hotel listed (The Pearl) has had specials at around $76 lately. In Portland (home town) The Juniper is a favorite of the locals as well as tourist. Tablet says it is

"deeply casual, effortlessly hip and impossibly inexpensive."

Yes, I think this might the perfect way to make the long trip home a little more fun. It could be a real adventure.

Have fun.

b+

More Links:
Vintage Roadmap
10 Places to Stay at Vintage Motels (USA Today)
Hip and Vintage Motels and Trailers
Roadside Peek
Roadside Motels (NYT Frugal Traveler)