Still catching up 05-24-18

I left you in Bend after a great dinner and a good rest.  On Monday, May 21 I left Bend and headed for Sisters, OR, where I made the compulsory visit to the Stitching Post, well known quilt shop that has a huge outdoor quilt show every July.  It is a charming small town and if room reservations are made well in advance it might be fun to be there on the day of the show.  I spent an hour and $92 at the quilt shop. 

As I said earlier, Bend is not the cow town I remember,  Driving through the outskirts there were a great number of newer houses, townhouses, apartments, dwellings!  Amazing. 

The three sisters showed up again across fields and pastures with cows and horses. 

 The sisters are off frame to the left and I think this is Mt. Washington on the right.  Lots of bicyclists around Bend and out onto the highway.  I believe the streaks in the sky are dissipating contrails. 

There is a nice little vista point that gives a diagram of the mountains, but not the one on the right!  In the middle of the picture is a post with a bird house right on the horizon line.  

The house is occupied by a pair of tree swallows who were gathering bugs for a brood.  They are very fast and I couldn't get a good picture.  But here in the bottom right corner is one that stopped to rest.  

Still life with lava rock. 

Here is the famous Stitchin' Post in Sisters.  

Awesome sight upon entering the door. 

Lovely little birdies.  They are from the book "Quilting Row by Row". 

Interesting quilts hanging on the high walls. 

I have seen these hill climbing houses somewhere before, great colors. 

They show modern quilts also, too bad this picture had to include a sunlit window. 

On one edge of a parking lot is this line of blossoming trees.  

Don't know what they are, fruitless something.  Cherry?  Apple? 

Then on the road again heading west.  It was a long slow drive, my average speed n Sisters and the I-5 at Salem was 42mph.  There was TRAFFIC.

The road started out nice and flat, but soon turned into a twisting uphill, downhill, narrow road with mostly two solid lines down the middle.  

Looking to the east side of the road the noon day sun turned everything bright green and the tree trunks a deep reddish brown,  Lovely. 

And, of course, the orange "cones" appeared.  We were high up in the mountains and at some time in the past there has been a fire in this area. 

Here we were diverted into the eastbound lanes while the westbound cars waited in a long, long line.   Do any of you remember before there were walkie-talkies or cell phones when there would be a guy at each end of the detour who would hand the red flag to the last car in line.  The driver of that car would pass the flag to the flagman at the other end of the detour.  And he would start the opposing traffic on its way.  And back and forth the flag would go.   

Here is the first of the line of cars going east.  See the flagman in the lower right.  He doesn't need a flag because he has a walkie-talkie or a cell phone or some such device. 

At last on the go again, behind a auto pulling a trailer.  He was my view for many miles. It seems that all the passing lanes are on the uphill (eastbound) side of the road. 

This is a river full of snow melt from higher in the mountains. 

When I got around the auto/trailer I started following this big flat bed truck. 

But the scenery was nice when I could take my eyes off the road.  Scotch Broom is wide spread up here, covering banks, fields, and roadside ditches.  

From here and throughout the drive to upstate Washington, it is everywhere.

At last I-5 above Salem where they have planted California poppies in the median strip. It was after 4pm and the "rush hour" traffic was heavy from this point on.

I took I-205 to the east of Portland, still heading north, and stopped at one of my favorite view points overlooking the falls at Oregon City and giving a great view of Mt. Hood when it isn't covered with clouds.  I was lucky this trip. 

This is the mountain I grew up with and I get very sentimental about it!

So, on around Portland and over the Columbia River near the airport.  Spent the night at a Hampton Court in north Vancouver.  Just snacked from my food box and had a good night. 

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Catch up photos 05-23-18

Guess I might never catch up.  Wonder how I did this on all my past Road Trips.   Here are pictures from 05-20-18 and 05-21-18. 

When I drove into Alturas the first thing that caught my attention was a Starbuck's sign.  A Starbuck's out here in the "wilderness"?  Yes, it is located in a very old hotel right on the main street.  Of course, I stopped and ordered a venti latte to carry me through the miles ahead.  

Diagonal across the intersection is this wonderful mural of sandhill cranes flying in front of the snow capped peaks.   Unfortunately this guy parked his car in front of it and had to be in the picture!  One odd thing, notice the raggedly corner of the building in upper left.  Odd. 

One street over is this elegant Modoc County Courthouse.  In the past this town must have been much larger, mostly closed up now. 

In Alturas and further on in Lakeview, OR, there were many lilac bushes/trees in bloom.  And someone had planted red poppies in between the highway and their fence. 

The wind was giving them quite a whacking, but they seemed to be holding up.

Lilacs in pale lavender....

... old fashioned lilac color.....

...and pure white.

Whenever I am traveling in the springtime and see lilacs blooming along a fence line, not in someone's yard, I stop and pick a few to perfume the car.  I use a water bottle for a vase and put a stone in the bottom to weight it into my cup holder.  What a heavenly fragrance!  We cannot grow lilacs in SCalifornia where I live, but a sometimes I find them for sale at TJoe's and buy some to perfume my entire house.  

They cheer my entire self. 

There are places along the highway where many large rock formations are exposed, this was probably blasted away in the early 20th Century. 

I have never seen a road cut that is an actual cut, but I think this had to be cut rather than blasted.  What kind of a saw would they have to do this?  Very startling, I turned around and went back for a photo, but there was no place to pull off so I just slowed down to a creep on the highway and snapped this one.  Couldn't see a vehicle in front or behind.  

I hadn't passed any towns or buildings for quite a while when this greenhouse structure appeared.  Wondered if it is a "weed house".  There are lots of bug spots on my windshield. 

I believe this is Arnica growing wild.  A medical plant used for pain relief for centuries. 

The very long and large Goose Lake.  And the clouds are looking threatening. 

Even worse out the other side of the car. 

 OOPS!

Uglier and uglier. 

But still blue sky to the west. 

Oh, no!  Here it comes. 

A downpour near Lakeview, OR.

And then NW on Hwy 31 - the start of my low gas experience. 

And more rain, but not as heavy. 

Ahhh, the clouds moved SE and the sky cleared. 

And finally checking in to the Hampton Court in Bend where these pinks are planted along the foundation.  Very bright and very fragrant. 

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