I snapped a lot of photos when Andrew and I hit the road last month, I think a few of them are worth sharing here.
Our first stop was along the east fork of the Hood River, after travelling around the back-side of Mt. Hood. I stopped to admire the fuzzy verbascum (above), but then realized I was standing in the midst of hundreds of lady beetles. They were coming in from all directions, it was amazing. I called Andrew over, who said (in an offhand manner), "looks like they're getting ready to hibernate"...what? How did I not know that lady beetles hibernate?
Homebase for the next three nights was a hotel on the Columba River in Hood River, Oregon. The moon-rise was dreamy...
And the sunrise the next morning was equally dazzling.
We walked down the rivers edge for a bit, here I'm looking back at the Hood River Bridge, connecting Oregon and Washington.
Of course this trip involved fishing, well, for Andrew. These frost-nipped ferns were alongside the first spot we visited, at the beginning of the Hood River Penstock Flume Pipeline Trail.
In a better protected spot they were still bright green, and there were snowberries too. Well that's what I'm calling them. I have no idea what they're really called.
The trail starts by this old abandoned powerhouse. It seemed rather picturesque on a sunny, cool, morning.
And I won't lie, a little creepy too...
I took two steps inside that door but that's as far as I dared to tread.
The river.
The trail follows along the river banks...
...eventually ending up on top of an old pipeline as it snakes along, and over, the river. Sadly we didn't make it to the pipeline part of the trail, but if you're curious
this video starts on the pipe and walks the trail backwards to where we were.
When your roots don't have to venture deep into the soil to find water...or maybe the soil was washed away?
After some exploring I left Andrew behind and went to cross a couple of nurseries off my list.
Unfortunately at the season's end neither one had much to see. I was impressed with how much space this one (Good News Gardening) had available though. In the summer it must be fabulous.
There was a small indoor space with tools, containers, and a few houseplants. There was also a café with a few tables in the mix. I didn't linger because there was an (unmasked) couple having lunch. It sure smelled good!
Day three of our adventure we crossed over the Columbia River into Washington State.
Andrew had marked a few stops along the Klickitat River that he wanted to fish. I went exploring...
I've no idea what this plant is, but it made a great groundcover.
This groundcover (rockcover?) was really interesting. My go-to source for ID on plants like this (my friend
Evan, he knows everything) IDs it as Selaginella wallacei, and after looking it up, I agree.
Isn't it fabulous? Since
this site says "Conservation Status: Not of concern", I'll go ahead and admit a little piece of it came home with me. I hope I can keep it alive.
A rock with a plaque on it. I assumed someone must have died here, maybe drowned in the river?
Nope. Arnold and his friends went hunting.
A few hundred yards away I found bones, the third such siting on this vacation. I believe these were from deer, probably not Arnold and his friend's work though.
Here's a view of the Klickitat River as it winds through a narrow cannon. It was getting late or else I'm sure we would have found a way down there...
Instead we made our way back to the hotel (through The Dalles, where I got
my agave fix). The next morning it was time to pack up the car and head back to Portland. Our 4-day getaway was a lovely, relaxing, time...
Weather Diary, Nov 16: Hi 52, Low 47/ Precip .14
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