Corvallis Oregon! (aka the lost Sandy blog #2)

Hiya everyone,
It's Sandy here and when LF and I got together this summer there was another adventure/blog that the sekrebearies forgot to post in a timely manner.  LF says this is to be expected being that his sekrebeary works cheap.  Humans, what do you expect?

Anyway, today's adventure takes us to Corvallis, Oregon.  Corvallis is home to Oregon State University, GO BEAVS!

OSU is the agricultural and engineering institution in the state.

College is out of session so campus is pretty quiet.  OSU has a good baseball team  and a so-so football team but what LF says they are most known for is the marionberry.  It's a berry cross developed at OSU from way back in the stone ages (1956).

 Go BEAVS!

Corvallis is a nice little college town.

 It's located on the banks of the Willamette River.

Corvallis is the county seat.  Here's the courthouse.

Luckily, this bear and fox have been staying out of trouble so we don't need to visit the courts but it's important to vote.  We are voting for the "pro stuffie" candidate.

One of the reasons the roommates wanted to go to Corvallis was to try some beer at FlatTail Brewing.

They have a cult classic beer only brewed in the spring.  It's called "El Guapo" and it's cucumber, limes and habernero peppers.  Little Fox really likes the dark beer.  Sandy is showing more constraint.

It's hard to find in stores so the humans decided to come down today to see if they had any bottles left for sale.  Nope, no bottles for sale.


Next stop is 2 Towns Cider Works.  They produce lots of cider and distribute it all around the northwest.

 Dry apple cider but also fun flavors like mango, strawberry, pineapple and marionberry.

Perhaps you should slow down Little Fox?

That's better.  Everyone is upright and ready to go. 

All this exploring is making these two stuffies hungry and as we all know no adventure would be complete without lunch.  Luckily, a McMenamins was nearby.

This McMenamins is near OSU and offers lots of heart healthy options (none of which we got).

One neat thing about McMenamins is that they have lots of original artwork in each pub.  Time to explore.

Fun games like Shuffle Board.

A nice colorful picture.

More sinks on the walls.

In a few minutes we need to catch the stuffie express back home. 

Here it comes. 

Treat yourself (aka the lost Sandy blog #1)

**Note: Yes, this blog is out of place.....hence the title the lost Sandy blog #1. I have had a few choice words with my sekrebeary but when they work for peanuts what do you expect?


Baxter here - I was watching a couple of episodes of Parks and Rec on Netflix today and came across this scene from 2013.

Donna and Tom have some good advice.  It's time for Baxter to "treat himself".   There is only one place where an ice cream loving bear should go, that's right to Salt and Straw Ice Cream.

They have so many flavors. What is a bear to do? 

I think I will do a tasting here at the store and pick up some pints to enjoy at home.

The first flavor I tried was wildflower honey with ricotta and lavender.  It was good, not my favorite but not bad.  Extra bonus points for a cool purplish color to the ice cream.

Does anyone mind if I eat out of the carton?

I got lots of flavors to try.  What should I try next? 

Double chocolate mocha.  Yep, that's a winner.

This one is a straight up honey lavender.  Not bad.  I give it two paws up.

Coffee with freckled wood block chocolate.

Pear and blue cheese.  Surprisingly this was my favorite. 

The pear and blue cheese is almost gone.

One of the great things about ice cream is that it's meant to be shared. Sandy helped us taste test some ice cream when we he was here.  He wanted to try the India Pale Ale flavor, it tasted like an India Pale Ale beer. 

Salt and Straw started in Portland and now they have expanded to Seattle, Los Angeles, downtown Disney and a few places in Orlando.  They have gotten really popular and in fact they have a cookbook.  Perhaps my roommates will get me a copy of this book so I can try some of the recipes on my own.

Baxter's Building Company.

Baxter here.  It's good to be back blogging.  I have been hired by the roomates to build a raised strawberry bed.  The first step in any building project is to read the instructions.

Assembling the team is beary important too. 

Little Bear found a problem.  Luckily, a little glue and patience can fix this problem. 

This is a lot of work for a little bear but I am up to it.

My pals noticed I could use a paw or two.  Fox is trying to tell us something by staring at this board but we don't speak fox (and Little and Drunk Fox speak a different dialect of fox than this fox so we are all lost on what he is trying to say).

We did it.  The raised bed is ready to be stained.

Sequoia is carefully watching the staining process.

Best to start in a corner and work your way to the middle. 

Wow, that was quick.  The container of stain was very clear that you only put on one coat of stain.  So, that's what I did. Time to get some strawberry plants (yes, my gardener friends this post is very outdated).

Time to relax.  I could use something to drink. 

When the word "drink" was mentioned guess who came out of the woodwork. 

That's right.  Drunk Fox.  He has a soda for himself but got me a nice tall beer. 

Looks like Drunk Fox wants to trade.  Not on my watch buddy. Enjoy your soda my friend.

Baxter signing off.  Time to get my construction bill ready for the humans.

Bear BACK in charge blog, #14

What a day!

I'm at a state park in Oregon where the Deschutes river flows into the Columbia.  Lewis and Clark paddled by here many years ago.  Of course, the pioneers on the Oregon Trail probably stopped here too to let their oxen rest, drink water, and prepare for the end of their journey.

The river is pretty quiet here.  

A few rapids on the river.  It's a Sunday (post dated blog you know) and there are a few rafters coming down the river.  Probably took a nice weekend rafting trip. 

Are there any fish in the river?

Back in teh day two railroads were competing to get service to Bend, Oregon.  Bend was one of the big timber areas in the 1850s.  The two railroads were aggressively competing against each other to build the line to Bend.  Crews would steal dynamite, sabatoge the other crews food supply and intentionally mess with the other side.  Eventually, the railroads realized that if they work together they could create a line to Bend, Oregon to get the timber.

I am on an old road that was part of the railroad.

I was hoping for a spectactular wildflower show but I think I am too far east and too late in the year.

Cool old rock formations.  Is it time for lunch?

I just need to find the right picnic spot by the river.