Happy Holidays

 Hiya Gang,
Little Fox here.  Me, the gang, and the Christmas stuffies wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday season.  

Hope your season is filled with adventures, hot chocolate, cookies, and good friends. 
LF

Holiday Card Haul

 Hiya Blog World.
Little Fox here. I'm joined today by my pals Drunk Fox and Little Bear.  

Today is a grand day to be a stuffy blogger, yep it's Holiday card season.

First up is a super awesome card from my pal Droopy and Crew.  Droopy cards are known all over the blog world since they are always handmade.  Droopy's human must be beary creative.  Thank you Droopy and Crew for the nice howliday wishes.

Next up is a Christmas card from two pawsome bears in the midwest.  I just looked at the weather where they live and it's not too cold today (high of 36).  A little two cold for my blood but these stuffies are troopers.  Of course they are fortified with hot chocolate, Christmas cookies and lots of hot dishes.

Jerry and Ben sent a nice card wishing me and my pals a Beary Christmas.  Thank you J and B.  

Up next is a holiday card from up North.  Yep, my pals Sandy, Cocoa, and Navy Beanie sent a nice (double sided none-the-less) holiday card.  Sandy also sent a second card (Sandy only on this one). 

Both cards are certainly appreciated. 

Thank you blog pals for the awesome cards this year. Hope you all have a great holiday season.

LF

Time to head home (well almost)

 Hiya Gang.
Little Fox and I here.  Today Little Fox has offered to take me around Hood River.  It's near The Dalles and on the way home why not.

Hood River is a super popular town.  Today we are doing a volksmarch around town.  Hoping to see some sight (check off the Columbia River).  

Met this cool dinosaur outside of the gas station.  This guy is in great shape (except for that pesky sticker on it's side).

A mile or so away from the dinosaur we came across this pedestrian bridge. It goes across the Hood River (which flows into the Columbia).  Sadly no spawning salmon in the Hood River. 

What a nice day. Along the way the volksmarch organizers had all sorts of public art.  This is one our favorites.

So much more adventuring to do.  Lunch, cocktails and a drive home.  This little fox and bear need their rest.

A quick afternoon adventure

 Hiya Gang,a t
Sandy and Little Fox here. This afternoon we left The Dalles to see the stars (ok, more specifically the sun) at the Goldendale Observatory. 

The telescope (the real one, not this model) was built for Clark College in Vancouver.  However, the light pollution was too much in Vancouver.  A few amateur astronomers were traveling through Goldendale in the 70s (Goldendale has a pretty good reputation for sky viewing) and they talked to a diner owner who said the city would be interested. 

Fast forward 40+ years the obersatory is still hopping.  The telescope is a reflecting one, still operating and open to the public.

Whew, what a day.  Adventuring around town, visiting a winery, checking out the observatory, catching a nice sunset.  

This fox and bear are ready for a rest. 

The Dalles has so much to offer

Hiya Blog World.  Sandy and Little Fox here exploring The Dalles.

The Sorosis group was huge in The Dalles.  They were the ones who raised money for preservation of the Fort Dalles Museum.  They also created this pawsome park in town.  It's on the bluff above town so it's got a great view of the Columbia River.  

The fountain behind is very well decorated.  Sandy likes the little touches on this fountain. 

The Vogt family is a very important family in The Dalles.  They have been around for a while, established businesses and gave back to the community.

Time to adventure around town.  

As mentioned before The Dalles is one of the oldest towns in Oregon.  It was a major stop along the Oregon Trail.   In the 1830s - 40s Methodist ministers (they were all up and down the state) started preaching to the Native Americans in the area at this rock.    

Above us is pulpit rock. 

Just south of Pulpit Rock is The Dalles High School.  Sandy insisted that he get his pictures in front of the Art Deco Gym.  Sandy has great taste in buildings.

Off to the Pioneer Cemetery.  Lot's of graves from the 1800s.  All sorts of ages represented in the cemetery.

Lot's of unknown graves.  When they built the neighborhood in the 1920s the Chinese and Hebrew section was moved.  These old signs are someone's graves but the cemetery association doesn't know the residents names.

So many old graves.  

Sandy and I decided it's time for lunch.  We found a restaurant in an old church just down the block.  Seems like the perfect place for us.

Salad and chicken and waffles. I hope this is enough for both of us. 

 

Fort Dalles Museum

 Hi Blog Pals,
Sandy here.  My pal Little Fox has planned a nice weekend escape for me.  The first stop is at the Fort Dalles Museum. 

Fort Dalles was established in 1838.  Behind me are the surgeons quarters.  This is the back entrance (near the kitchen) and now it's the main entrance to the museum.

This is the main entrance to the surgeons quarters back in the day.  As you can see the surgeon and their family had a pretty darn nice house.  

Inside the museum they had all sorts of cool stuff from The Dalles.  The Dalles was one of the last stops on the Oregon Trail and has an unique and vibrant history. 

As with any older town (The Dalles was established in 1857)  there were lots of buildings.  This board was used at the Umatilla House.  

The Umatilla House was known as the best hotel west of Chicago and North of San Francisco.

Many famous people stayed at the Umatilla House including Mark Twain, but lots of "regular" people stayed there too including gold miners in the Winter.  Apparently, the owners of the Umatilla House were very generous and when people could not pay their bill it was not a problem.  They often told people to send the money when they could.  

The Umatilla House cellar could hold 2,500 gallons of whiskey, could hold 200 men at a time, and was rumored to be more profitable than the profits on room and board together. 

Time to try my luck on an old slot machine. 

Outside of the surgeons quarters was a garage with a variety of old cars, wagons and transports. 

While in the garage we met this friendly cat. 

Smart cat, he's hanging out by the old milk wagon.

A few more old cars. 

Time for this bear and fox to check in at the hotel and get a good nap in before we head out on the town. 

A little road trip

 Sandy and I are off to the Gorge (final destination: The Dalles) but on the way we decided to stop and see Multnohmah Falls.

Great hiking nearby (sadly mother nature disagreed with us and presented us with rain, light snow and chilly weather).   Off to our next stop. 

A coastal adventure day 2.

 Hiya world.  Day 2 and it's time for Little Fox and Sandy to explore the beach.

Little Fox here: I hope Sandy likes the beach. Today our adventure starts out at South Beach State Park. This tree in the background has some damage to the bark, I wonder if that was animal created or human created?

What a day!  Taking a break on our walk and the archaeologist in me wants to explore the old building in the background. 

Sandy's game but the roommates said and emphatic "NO!".  Onward.

The beach was so pleasant today.  Not too many people.  Great weather.  Kind of windy but us stuffies are strong.  Sandy and I enjoyed hanging out and watching the world go by.  

Eventually it was time to go back to the bearbandb we rented.  Sandy wanted to stop and get a gift for me and the roommates.

How generous!  Thanks Sandy.   We'll have to open this up with dinner.  Speaking of dinner this fox and bear got their picture taken before the food was devoured.

All that adventuring tires out little stuffies and they need their sustenance. 

 

A coastal adventure.

Greetings Blog World.  Little Fox and Sandy here today.  We are taking advantage of our unseasonably warm weather this weekend and decided to head to the beach. 

Destination: Waldport.

Little Fox was telling me that many of these bridges up and down the Oregon Coast were designed by Conde McCullough .  

McCullough believed bridges could be built economically but still have beauty.  Most of the major bridges up and down HWY 101 in Oregon were designed by him.  Signatures of his work include: Art Deco obelisks, Gothic Spires etc.

The original Alsea Bay Bridge was decommissioned in 1991 after the new one was built however they kept the decorative pieces. 

Some of his more striking work include the Yaquina Bay Bridge.

Speaking of Yaquina Bay, it's an area of the beach with many commercial fisherpeople (is that correct)?

Anyway, Little Fox and I found this boat that was selling Tuna and Salmon straight from the boat.

Time to explore. 

 

Timberline Lodge!

 Hiya Blog World. Little Fox here.  Today, I'm taking my pal Sandy on the abbreviated tour of Timberline lodge. As you can see, Sandy is posing in front of Timberline Lodge, built from 1936 to 38 by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) members and designed by the same architect who did the Ahwanhee Hotel in Yosemite. 

My goodness, if these walls could talk.  Built in the late 30s this lodge has been through a lot of history.  Still an operating hotel ($210.00 for tonight), it features a  nice restaurant, and a super bar with some local craft brews.  Cool furniture too.  This chair is what I envision old webbing to be like.

So many fun things to do here.  The hotel is a stop along the Pacific Coast Trail (PCT) so a few days in mid August the patio, restaurant and lobby is full of through hikers taking a needed rest, charging devices and playing games.  I wish we had more time to play a round of shuffleboard.

The lodge was not only built by the CCC crews and they were pretty resourceful.  Most of the things in this picture were reused or dare I say  upcycled (I want to stay on top of the current lingo).  The grates to the fireplace grill were tire chains in a previous life but thanks to the CCC they fashioned a safe fireplace grate.

The thingy's  to the right of Sandy were....wait for it.....yep reused rail tracks fashioned into a decorative andiron (the thing you put the wood on in a fireplace....thanks google). 

Sandy really likes this chair (he guesses it was also upcycled back in the day).

Timberline lodge has been in the movies.  

Did you ever see the Shining?  If so, you might recognize the exterior of the Timberline Lodge as the Grand Overlook Hotel in the Shining.

Let's see if we can get a better view.  I think this is good.  You see the balcony up there with all the flags? 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt himself stood up there as he dedicated Timberline Lodge in 1937. 

Kudos to the maintenance staff, they have kept Timberline in tip-top shape all of these years. 

Time to head back to town.  On the way I saw this sign and knew I needed my picture in front of it.