Bear BACK in Charge Blog #13.

Hello Blog World,
Welcome to the great wildflower hunt day 1.  Baxter here in charge of the blog.  Today, I am at the Dalles Mountain ranch in wine country in Washington state.

Dalles Mountain Ranch is an old ranch.  Now it's a state park and you can hike along the old ranch roads.  Lots of space to explore.  Let's go. 

Some sort of yellow flowers.  Let's get a closer look.

Looks like Balsam Root.   Can you see how windy it is?

Lupine is out.  It smells very fragrant, one roommate thinks it smells like lavender.

The Columbia River in the background and Mt. Hood.  What a great day.  

I bet this is what Jerry's garden is like.

Good thing this bear doesn't have any allergies.

I have to admit, it's hot today.  You know what would be refreshing?

Soft serve ice cream, hmm maybe a slurpee, or a big glass of ice tea.  I know, I know.  I will convince my roommates to take to Dairy Queen.

An ice cream sandwich all to myself?  This is the life.

Gotta eat my snack before it melts. 

Bear BACK in Charge Blog 12? Road Trip!

Little Fox's roommates told me to pack my bags today.  We are taking a road trip.  Should I pack for a day trip or a longer trip?  Ack!  Such decisions, luckily for me my wardrobe doesn't vary much so in a nutshell....I'm packed!

The roommates took me east today.  The first stop was near the town of Hood River.  The fruit trees should be blossoming today so I hope to get some good pictures.

  Hood River isn't served by Amtrak but Bingen Washington is (Jerry and Ben...hint hint).   Bingen Washington is served by Amtrak so if you two are ever taking the train west let me know.  I know a great ice cream shop to recommend, along with good coffee, an artisan bakery, and a few wineries.  

After buying some farm fresh eggs from the side of the road we made our first official stop. Apple Valley General Store. 

 

Free samples of jams, jellies and they sell fresh baked treats. 

 They have a nice picnic area.  Some of there trees are blooming too.

 A nice place to relax and enjoy a fresh baked treat.  Should I get a turnover?  Maybe a slice of pie?  They also have milkshakes and a couple of flavors of ice cream.

They are advertising huckleberry milkshakes.  If they are advertising them they must be good. 

After Apple Valley it was off to Parkdale, Oregon near Mt. Hood. Oh, this place looks good.  Let's stop here.

Before lunch we had to walk around and explore the town.  Nice views of the mountain behind me. 

Fruit trees are blooming, when does the fruit come?

The Mount Hood Railroad is coming into station.  It's a couple hour trip from Hood River to Parkdale then an hour or two in Parkdale.  Lot's of blooming trees and good views on the way up and down.

Enough chit chat. Let's eat.  There's a great BBQ place here called Apple Valley BBQ.  It's an offshoot of the Apple Valley store I visited earlier so I hope it's good.

Sandy waits at the airport.

Sandy and LF here.  It's time for Sandy to start heading back home.
I'm at the airport waiting for my flight.

Ah, here it is.  Canadian Goose Airlines flight number 820.  

CGA flight 820 is the midwest route.  Where am I going to next? 

A bit of exercise before a plane ride.

Sandy Bear here.  LF and I decided to get one last hike in before my flight on Canadian Geese Airways to an undisclosed location.  Frequent fliers of CGA often know that using them as an airline is cost effective but they can be slow.  Best to get one more chance to stretch the paws before the flight.

Here we are on the Pacific Crest Trail.  The trail stretches from Mexico to Canada.  If we were to go south, really far south we would end up in Mexico.  Tempting, but today's hike won't be that far.

The wildflowers are out. Foxglove, one of LF's favorite flowers is in full force.

Sequoia is happily posing for his photo.

This trail was closed for a few months a couple of years ago as there was a big wildfire in the Columbia River Gorge.  There's lots of damage from the fire, but the flowers are starting to come back.

More wildflowers. 

Our first major stop along the trail.  It's called Dry Creek Falls but they are never dry.

This falls is the water supply for the small town of Cascade Locks.  They have some old damming equipment before the water storage tanks were built in town.  Remnants of the old equipment is lying around the falls.

Back on the trail to our next stop:  Herman Creek Pinnacles.

The Pinnacles are large chunks of basalt that slid off the Columbia River Gorge during an ancient landslide.  Lots of land has eroded by the pinnacles but you can still see them. 

Brave souls can climb up the rocky trail to the top of the pinnacles.  Us two stuffies are going to play it safe today.  In fact, the pinnacles are so big that to see us two stuffies you have to look really hard.

A professional photographers view of the pinnacles.  I bet you this professional picture wasn't taken on a cell phone.

Enough chit chat.  This bear has a flight to catch (after a snack at this restaurant).

Sandy Bear has left the building (um, I mean the state of Oregon). 

Sandy Says Goodbye.

Sandy here.  It's time for me to start packing up and get ready for my next adventure.  The Oregon stuffies have been so helpful and outgoing that I wanted to take some time and make them a healthy dinner.  

My dinner starts off with quinoa.  According to the packaging quinoa is a super food.  

You can't go wrong with  corn on the cob.

LF mentioned that the easiest way to cook corn on the cob is on a fire, but we don't have a firepit like I do in Canada so we'll use the bbq.

Grillmaster Sandy watching the corn. 

The corn is ready.  I hope LF and gang doesn't mind if I use rotisserie chicken instead of farm fresh chicken.  This bear is an expert on cooking brats, eating salmon and enjoying a good beer but cooking chicken isn't in my skillset.....yet that is. 

LF is impressed with my knife skills. 

Time for Sandy's secret chicken sauce: Salsa,  chipolte pepper paste, lime juice, salt, pepper, and cumin.

Cilantro.  Some people love it.  Some people can't stand the taste. This bear loves it, especially since it's mixed on top of the quinoa. 

The gang is assembled and we have said all of our goodbyes.  You'll notice Big Bear is wearing his Hawaiian lei.  Big Bear always puts his lei on in the summer in honor of the teachers who worked hard all school year. 

Enough chit chat.  Let's eat!

Sandy signing off.  Time to do the dishes, pack up and catch my flight.

A Portland Adventure

Sandy here:  So many things go on in town over the summer.  Festivals, food carts, special events, and so much more.  The weather is great, the people are out and this fox and bear are ready to explore.  We have our bus pass and we're ready to go.

Our adventure today begins on MAX.  MAX is light rail and one of the best ways to get downtown.

Our first stop is at Goose Hollow.  Yes, there were many geese back in the day but not so much anymore.

Anyway, we decided to walk up to the Rose Garden to see the famous roses.  Yes, there is a bus but we decided to walk since today was so nice.

So many nice views along the route

The rose garden is a test garden.  Lots of cool roses and it's  one of the best places in town when the flowers are blooming.

 I bet you Jerry would love this garden.

 It's a popular place today.

 Hammie Red

 These yellow roses are cool

Portland is known as the City of Roses.  Back in 1889 the Rose Society of Portland was founded and in 1906 a local businessman decided to plant roses in front of his business as a decoration.  He always snipped a few to take home in the summer and encouraged other business people to do the same and the rest is history.

Portland is home to the Park Blocks.  A couple mile strip of park in the middle of the city.  A nice and quiet place to relax.

Relaxing is over, time to explore.  LF has taken me to the Pioneer Courthouse Square.

 In the 80s they were going to turn this lot into a parking garage instead it's a cool park. Concerns, festivals, and Christmas tree lightings happen here.

 These statues really call to me. 

This bear and fox need a lunch break.  Pizza and salad are on the menu.

Portland's Union Station is the rail hub for the area.  It's an old building but in really good shape.  

From this terminal you can take a train to Canada, all the way east to Chicago, or all the way south to Los Angeles.  

Heading south toward the Willamette River.  Another cool park, called Waterfront Park. 

All sorts of people hang out at the park.  It's beary lively.

See those bridges?

  Another name for Portland is Bridge City.  Make sense. 


LF is taking me on a unique bridge. 

 It's only open to walkers, bikers, public transportation and emergency services.  It's the newest bridge in town.

 It's called Tilikum Crossing, AKA the Peoples' Bridge.

It's the first new bridge to cross the Willamette River since 1973.  It's one of the only bridges in the United States that is open to walkers, bikers, public transportation and emergency vehicles.

There are some great views on the Tilikum Crossing bridge. 

The Hawthorne Bridge is an old bridge but beary useful. 

 Busses, cars, trucks, walkers, and bikes use this bridge daily.  Vacationing stuffies also use the bridge.

 We caught MAX on the way home.    Hopefully, we can  come back and explore the east side of town another time.

It was a great adventure today.  We walked quite a distance and when we got home Baxter had a special treat for all of us.