Little Fox, Archaeologist

Sandy, Sequoia and I are hanging out near the outskirts of the dangerous "wicker district" waiting for a special meeting with the operative.  Sequoia is running security and I have instructed him to stay behind the scenes. 

Waiting. The operative told us to be here at 5pm with our archaeology gear. 

Poof, out of the shadows comes the operative. 

Apparently, he has the line of an old golden key chain that could be beary valuable to the museum.  Seems it has been lost and they need an expert to help find the golden key chain. 

Once the mission was deliver the operative sneaked back into the shadows.

Sandy and I set out on our hike to find the key chain. 

We both caught our breath at the last seen site of the Golden Key Chain.  

Sandy climbed up and around and spotted something near the end. 

Sandy: Little Fox, do you think that could be it?

Little Fox: Be careful, it could be a trap. 

I can't believe it but Sandy found the Golden Key Chain.  Sandy looks beary happy in this picture doesn't he?

Looks like the operative found us as well. 

Sandy: Hello, Operative as you can see we have found the Golden Key Chain.

Operative (rubbing his paws in an evil fashion): Yesssssssssssss, the Golden Key Chain.  I will be sure it makes it to the museum and is placed in safe hands. 

Good thing Sandy was on hand to help me find the Golden Key Chain, another precious item found and returned to the museum.  

Handy Sandy

Hello Blog Pals ~ Little Fox here updating you on our newest activity with my special guest, Sandy.  Droopy asked about an episode of "Handy Sandy" recently on Sandy's blog and it got me thinking.  You know, I have some unfinished projects around the house that maybe Sandy could help me with.

The first project around the house is fixing the screen door.  The screen fell off recently and hasn't been fixed yet.
Sandy: Yup, Little Fox you are missing a screen here.
Little Fox: Umm, thanks. Sandy but I kind of knew that already.

Sandy: Let me get a better look at the old screen and see if it's salvageable.  OK, it looks like I will need to replace the wheels, is there a Home Depot nearby?

Little Fox: Are you sure it's just the wheels?

Sandy: Little Fox, come over here.  You see from this angle you can tell for sure that it's the wheels that need to be replaced.

Little Fox: Ah, yes from this angle it is the wheels.

The next project Handy Sandy worked on was the leaning bookcase in the garage.

Sandy: My goodness, this bookcase is leaning toward the car.  I can help you fix that.  Little Fox, it seems that this case has lots of beer stacked on it, if we drank some of the beer then it would probably lean a lot less.  Thoughts?

Sandy: Let me come up here to your level.  Little Fox, trust me, I am a very handy bear and to fix this bookcase we need to drink that beer.  

Little Fox: Hmm, this is an interesting twist, perhaps Sandy has been spending time with Drunk Fox?

Little Fox: To get Sandy off his beer rant I thought it best that I make a light lunch for us. Let's see, what do we have?  

Sandy: I like your plate Little Fox.

Little Fox: **Rumble, Rumble, Rumble** Ah yes, I found some food that Handy Sandy and  I can enjoy.  Brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and waffles.  I hope this is enough food for our lunch?

Little Fox: Sorry for all the empty calories Sandy.  I can get some carrot sticks and red pepper strips if you prefer?

Sandy: Mmmmmm, this lunch is perfect!

A mountain adventure

Sandy: Little Fox highly suggested bringing my green puffy jacket on vacation and he was right.  I needed the jacket today for sure on our mountain adventure.
Little Fox: Sandy and I are starting our snowshoeing adventure today in the parking lot near Mt. Hood (see that big mountain in the background?). Seems like others are getting ready for an adventure as well.

Ah, this is a better spot for our picture.  Those pesky folks from the previous picture are now out of the way.  Mt. Hood looks good today.

Sandy: Nothing like walking through a snow covered forest to remind a bear of his home country, Canada. 

There is a large snowpack here at the mountain.  This would be a great time for a hot chocolate. 

Little Fox: Sandy and I resting up after our climb to the top of the trail. 

On our way down the mountain (and to lunch) we decided to take one more picture of us in the snow.  Sandy sure looks at comfortable in the snow. 

The road back to the car and our lunch destination.

Where will Sandy and I go next? 

Fort Stevens adventure part 2

There is so much to explore at Fort Stevens (hey, I should get paid by the fort for this blog, I better put that on my "to do" list).

Sandy really liked the inside of the batteries - so many secret passage ways and areas to explore.

A circular staircase to the top of the battery just in case Sergeant Sandy needs to protect the fort. 

Sandy and I relaxing at the lookout station.  

Time to explore another part of the fort.  These ruins cannot be explored as in-depth as we want but we can still look around. 

Some sort of secret building built into the earth.  Actually they give tours of this during the summer if you sign up early in advance.  Something else to put on my "to do" list.  I wonder what secrets this building holds?

A nice view of the river that this fort was designed to protect.  If you look far enough you might be able to see Canada. 

Some of the weaponry used to protect the fort (replicas of the weapons as the real ones were either shipped to Europe or scrapped during WWII. 

Finally, a nice overview of the battery.  The park closes at 4pm so we had to leave (don't want to be in trouble with the parks department) so we will have to further explore the park another time.

Fort Stevens adventure park 1.

Sandy I are had a great lunch (fish and chips) and did I mention the $.25 cookies?  Now that we are recharged it's time to explore Fort Stevens.  Fort Stevens was originally set up during the Civil War to protect the Union (the North) from an invasion from Canada in case the British decided to side with the South in the Civil War.  It was an active fort from 1863 to the end of WWII.

The fort has a few building still in tack like the guardhouse (see below)  but most of the buildings were scrapped for supplies during WWII.  Both Sandy and I were particularly interested in the commissary but that was long gone.   

Fort Stevens is on the strategic location to the mouth of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean.  From 1904 to 1944 various batteries were built at Fort Stevens to protect the entrance to the Columbia River.  The first battery we visited was Battery Russell.  Battery Russell is open for exploring. 

Battery Russell looks good for an old building. 

Lots of areas to explore. I am glad an experienced adventurer like Sandy is here to help me explore.

Should we go?

So the batteries were designed as two story structures.  The top floor had the long range guns and the bottom floor has the storage.  There were control rooms, ammunition storage, and crew quarters. 

Periodically you would see a shaft in the battery. The ammunition was stored below so they had hooks in the concrete to lift the ammunition from the first to the second floors. 

Lots of shelves built into the concrete structure.

The park staff has put some chains around the pits where the guns were stored.  The guns at Battery Russell were dismantled and sent to Europe during WWII and/or scrapped for parts. 

Just two friends hanging out at the battery. 

There were all of these low building built into the earth (kind of) where soldiers would watch for ships trying to enter the Columbia. There were batteries on the Oregon side and also on the Washington entrance to the Columbia. 

Finally, the Columbia was once view-able from these low buildings but after the fort was decommissioned they let the trees grow and blocked out the view of the Columbia.

Don't worry friends there is more to explore at Fort Stevens.  Stay tuned.

s

An outing to the beach.

Sequoia and I love the beach and we hope that Sandy will enjoy a day's outing to the beach as well. Today, we are off to the Northern Oregon Coast near the location where the Pacific meets the Columbia river.  I have our parking pass so let's go. 

Right off of the parking lot is the Peter Iredale (or what's left of it).  The Peter Iredale was aiming for the Columbia River but in 1906 it ran ground about 4 miles south.  Due to high tide Sandy and I can't get much further without getting wet. Just in case you didn't know salt water is NOT good for a stuffies fur.

The locals have embraced the wreck of the Peter Iredale (the most accessible shipwreck in the graveyard of the Pacific, thank you Wikipedia).  In the small town near the wreck there is an Iredale street and a place Drunk Fox might have visited had he joined us called the Iredale Inn.  We didn't go to the Iredale in but to the restaurant across the street for fish and chips and they had fresh baked cookies for $.25 a cookie. 

Enough talk about cookies (sorry Jerry). We continued walking along the beach and it was pretty busy for a day in January. 

Cool driftwood

More driftwood

Don't fall in.

Off to another section of the park for a little military history. See you next time.