Utah to Oregon Road Trip – Day 4

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Caroline Wise at Crystal Crane Hot Springs in Burns, Oregon

Up before the sun shows its face, and it’s freezing cold out here. It’s so cold our car is covered with frost, but the water is hot, and the sky is on fire.

Caroline Wise at Crystal Crane Hot Springs in Burns, Oregon

Trust me that it’s a lot comfier in the hot tub; photos, though, are equally important for helping us remember these incredible adventures, so I sacrifice myself by jumping out for an obligatory photo as the sun crests over the horizon.

Caroline Wise at Crystal Crane Hot Springs in Burns, Oregon

Sure, it’s a little bit blurry, but it’s the idea that is important here. On a morning when the temperature is below 32 degrees (-0 Celsius), and we’re the only people up and stirring here at Crystal Crane Hot Springs in Burns, Oregon, we must commemorate our experience. What an amazing way to enter the Thanksgiving holiday.

Crystal Crane Hot Springs in Burns, Oregon

These are the kind of views those who don’t need to sleep in are offered.

Caroline Wise at Crystal Crane Hot Springs in Burns, Oregon

Out of the tub and into the small lake, or is it a large pond? We moved back and forth and only missed a return to the cedar-lined hot tubs in that shelter on the right. Last night we had reserved an hour in the “sauna” and wish that we’d booked another this morning. By the way, our cabin was $54 for the night, and the indoor tub was $30 for the two of us.

Mt Hood, Oregon

From the Burns area, we drove west, losing a couple of hours in Burns proper while we bought a new tire and had breakfast. Interesting discussion with the owner of the restaurant, who had just finished letting a couple of locals know that they were not going to get a new plate of food because the first one wasn’t perfect (not the first time they’d tried pulling this on the guy). He told us of the alcohol and meth problem the town was having and how many people were on welfare due to the lack of jobs and being off the beaten path for tourism. Back on the road, we headed from Bend towards Corvallis.

The road to the Oregon coast

The road from Sisters is a majestic drive through the forest. This is not the first time we’ve traveled this path.

Short Bridge in Cascadia, Oregon

On the way to the coast, we drove through Cascadia and took a short detour to check out a covered bridge. This one, built in 1945, is called Short Bridge and crosses the South Fork of the Santiam River.

In the forest somewhere in Oregon

Moss on rocks because MOSS ON ROCKS ROCKS!

In the forest somewhere in Oregon

Needing the tire replaced earlier and dawdling along the way with stops at the covered bridge, time to gawk at Mt. Hood and inspect the various mosses and undergrowth meant that we were getting to the coast in the dark. Our destination for the day is Lincoln City and Devils Lake State Park, where we’ll be spending the next couple of nights in Yurt C18Y.

Utah to Oregon Road Trip – Day 3

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Coffee Mug Family Restaurant in Elko, Nevada

The first stop was coffee and breakfast at the Coffee Mug Family Restaurant in Elko, Nevada. It’s cold out here today, enough so that before we leave town, there’s still a thick layer of frost on the roof of our car when we stop to fill the tank.

Interstate 95 going north from Winnemucca, Nevada

Wide-open space will stay with us all day as even our destination is in a desolate corner out in the middle of nowhere. If you think we get bored of this kind of scenery, you’d be sadly wrong, as out here, we know we are heading into adventure and new sights the likes we’ve never dreamed of.

The old Orovada Store in Orovada, Nevada

While difficult to read these days, the Orovada Store in Orovada, Nevada, closed more than a few years ago. Interestingly, the old red gas pump displaying Ethyl for $0.74 per gallon also claims the pump was retired in 1993, so while this place might look like it has not seen business for about 50 years, it must have closed somewhere during the past 20 or so.

Caroline Wise and John Wise at the Oregon state border

Not able to remember if we’d taken a photo at this state border crossing, it was time to pull over for another obligatory selfie in front of a state sign. We’ve got quite the collection of these by now as we’ve been snapping these for the better of 15 years, give or take.

Interstate 95 traveling north in Oregon

Four hours into our trek north, and there’s just enough civilization out there to suit us fine.

Lunch courtesy of Giovanni Scorzo of Andreoli Italian Grocer in Scottsdale, AZ

When you cannot find nearby civilization, you look into your ice chest, and there it is. Lunch is courtesy of Giovanni Scorzo of Andreoli Italian Grocer in Scottsdale, Arizona. There is so much to tell about this generous man who has spoiled Caroline and me during the previous year, but that’s a story requiring its own blog entry. This kind of roadside feast is a luxury that adds perfection to the day.

Interstate 95 traveling north in Oregon

Still traveling north on Interstate 95, we would be ready for a nap if it weren’t for the compelling vistas that snap our attention to being fully alert.

Highway 78 in Oregon

We’ve transitioned over to Highway 78. That’s right, even more desolation.

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon

On our way to Crane, Oregon, we spot a sign alerting us to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. It’s early enough in the day, so we decide to stop in. The visitor center was closed, and I can’t remember if it was because of the time of year or if this particular day was their day off, so we headed to the lake. That road to the lake does not take us to the lake. Instead, it takes us to a dead-end that, from our vantage point, suggests it’s quite the hike to the water’s edge. We would have been well-served to go on that walk.

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon

Somewhere between the bridge in the previous picture and near this sign, we got a flat tire. There’s NO cell service out here, not that it matters, as we have a spare. I get to changing the spare on what “looks” like level ground, and as the left front tire is just finished being unbolted, the car starts to roll forward. Yeah I know, emergency break, brick behind a tire, or something, but this was my situation. Caroline had to lean against the front of the car to stop the thing from rolling off the jack. I’m panicked because if the car rolls off the jack and the tire falls off, we’ll never get the car jacked up again, and there’s NO cell service and the visitors center is CLOSED. Of course, walking to the road would have been an option, except it was 6 miles to the road and 58 miles to the nearest town. Well, it turns out that this wildlife refuge had even more excitement coming to it after our minor situation when, six weeks later, the refuge was occupied by the Bundy family. By the time we arrived in Crane, it was dark and seriously cold.

Cold was perfect, though, because we weren’t just staying in Crane; we were booked for the night at the Crystal Crane Hot Springs, where a giant natural pool of 102-degree water steeped in minerals was awaiting our visit. There can be no exaggeration about how perfect this was, and we can enthusiastically recommend a visit to this place. BTW, we had also booked some private time in one of the bathhouses with a giant tub of mineral water in a cedar-enclosed room. All-in-all a wonderfully perfect day.

Utah to Oregon Road Trip – Day 2

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Kanab, Utah early in the morning

Red rock, sandstone, and short scrub in an arid environment mean we are still in the desert, but that doesn’t mean we love the landscape any less. We live out west and have gazed upon scenes like this countless times, and still, we appreciate it as though it was the first time.

Roadside in Kanab, Utah in the early morning

I don’t believe we’ve ever been through here in summer; matter of fact, I think it has almost always been winter as opposed to fall or spring. Why come through this way during the winter months? Quiet and serenity, just like this pond next to the road.

Caroline Wise and the roadside donkey in Glendale, Utah

We’ve lost count of how many times we have stopped here in Glendale, Utah, to say hi to this now-old donkey named Maisy. My guess is that we first met her about 20 years ago. By now, we’ve also met her owners, Cloyd and Sherri Brinkerhoff, and when the day comes that this super sweet donkey is no longer in this field, we’ll be truly sad that our visits with her are over. She’s never failed to come over to the fence and bray, which on occasion has made other wanna-be visitors get back in their car and promptly leave.

Snow on the horizon somewhere north of Glendale, Utah

While I pointed out that we typically visit in winter, I didn’t let you know that it can be cold out here; really cold.

Frozen waterfall next to the road on Highway 89 in Utah

Yep, that cold!

Caroline Wise standing in the Great Salt Lake off Interstate 80 in Utah

Cold, though doesn’t stop Caroline from her first steps into the southern end of the Great Salt Lake. I point out the southern end because there’s a chance she stepped into these salty waters on a previous trip when we visited Antelope Island further north. The weather has obviously been beautiful while we’ve been out on this leg of our road trip, but then again, no matter the weather we always find a silver lining to whatever nature delivers.

Interstate 80 in Utah

Struck by immense beauty, we are forced to pull over and gawk at the reflections and snowcapped peaks.

Tree of Utah off Interstate 80 in western Utah

This is Metaphor: Tree of Utah out in the middle of nowhere “growing” in the Bonneville Salt Flats between Aragonite, Utah, and West Wendover, Nevada, off Interstate 80. This sculpture was created by Swedish artist Karl Momen in the 1980s.

Bonneville Salt Flats in western Utah

The Bonneville Salt Flats stretch for miles across a flat, desolate landscape that is spectacular in its asceticism.

Pooling water on the Bonneville Salt Flats in western Utah

Not a blade of grass, bush, tree, or sign of wildlife was met out here. The salty brine of the pooling water on the salt flat appears to sterilize the environment, although it also seems to welcome the reflection of a kind of beauty not found near other bodies of water.

Caroline Wise taking in the last moments of sunlight on the Bonneville Salt Flats in western Utah

While our drives can be lengthy, this one was 503 miles and took all day into the evening; we never forget to stop and gaze at the sights that feel so uncommon to our wandering eyes. Orange and lavender light lifts off the glistening salt, all the while looking like fresh snow as the sun sets once more on this former lake. Fifteen thousand years ago, during the last ice age, the lake that stood here covered nearly a third of Utah and was about the size of Lake Michigan. Now, with the lake evaporated, a salt bed that is nearly five feet thick in places is all that remains.

Travelers Motel in Elko, Nevada

You are looking at a large part of the criteria on how we choose motels when we are traveling. Pay attention; I did not say hotel. For those who don’t know the difference, in a hotel, you enter from an interior door, while a motel room, is entered from an exterior door. Consequently, motels are cheaper as they are probably deemed not as safe from those who veer a bit far into paranoia. But it is not the door that helps us choose a place to spend an overnight visit; it is the sign. Caroline has a soft spot for nostalgic neon signs reminiscent of the golden age of travel in the 1960s, so the cheaper the room and more colorful the sign, the greater the chance that we’ll be checking in for the night. Tonight’s stay here at the Travelers Motel is in Elko, Nevada.

Utah to Oregon Road Trip – Day 1

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Caroline and John Wise departing for vacation on 11 November 2015

Per my wife Caroline Wise’s request, besides taking her on vacation, she has asked me to blog. So here I am, fulfilling that special wish of hers. During the previous 20 years, we often went on road trips between a minimum of 5 times up to 24 times a year (that was back in 2004 – our record year!). In the dark ages before that, we were novices and only took road trips between 1 and 5 times per year, though that included journeys around Germany, Holland, France, Belgium, and places like that; remember that we lived in Frankfurt.

This afternoon, we left Phoenix for Kanab, Utah, where we won’t be going to Moqui Cave; 1. it won’t be open when we get there or leave; 2. we’ve been there and highly recommend you go too.

Not much preparation was done for this excursion until the last minute as we weren’t certain I’d find the time, but obviously, I did make the time. Originally, we were going to head to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, but the weather looked foreboding. Instead, we will turn left in Crane, Oregon, and head out to the coast. We tried to avoid the Oregon coast. Seriously, we did because we know we’ve been there way too many times, but we love it, and so that’s that.

Doing of a Thing – TimefireVR

JWise TimefireVR

poster4_transmutationOfAwarenessRESIZE

Where do the impulses that guide our decisions to do something extraordinary come from? How do motivation and drive find and guide us for the “doing of a thing?”

I’d venture to say that there are two common ways of leading one’s life: resignation or bitterness. And then there’s the rarer third way: meeting it with exuberance and delight.

In a sense, I’m describing the conscious and subconscious minds that lead us to the Pollyanna principle. This principle states that at the subconscious level, we tend to focus on the optimistic, while on the conscious level, we have a tendency to focus on the negative.

Most people I’ve met are certainly caught up in their conscious minds, while a small group, a very small group, has figured out a way of bringing their subconscious minds forward, allowing themselves to revel in the amazing. Nobody who is mired in frustration chooses to be unhappy, though. Unless they truly enjoy a traumatic struggle to find happiness.

In America, we tend to focus more on the external qualities of life than the internal. Hence, our lives, to a large extent, are a manifestation of the lifestyle we are able to put on display. We are a composite of our belongings, clothes, brands, pop culture, and devices.

What we are not is the sum of our intellectual longings or imaginative observations. We are effectively forced to kill that playful part of us while still in our teens as society asks us to be serious and accept the pain of existence.

Yet, we are the ones who make existence difficult. We allow the perpetuation of turning play into toil; we do it by telling the young person they must turn away from fun and games and start to reconcile that they will now focus on work. Homework, classwork, yard work, chores – these are a kind of punishment, a penance for existing. It is behavioral conditioning that follows us through our lives. Think about it: how we describe “Rolling up our sleeves and facing the hard work ahead” as though we may not return or at least we may suffer for our efforts.

Learning, playing, creating, and experiencing that offer delight should be our daily reward for breathing. The archaic conditioning of outmoded industrial structural dominance that has governed us needs to be cast off. We must start to bring the subconscious mind forward and return to play.

The constant complaining, maligning, verbal, and visceral recognition of what is wrong with the world does nothing but enforce the bitterness within ourselves and those around us. The silent resignation and acceptance of a bad situation is not a solution either. By either accepting the status quo or constantly complaining about everything, we are the ones who are filling our sandbox with cat turds of our own making.

We have to re-employ our intellect and see that we intuitively know the social, environmental, societal, and geopolitical problems that exist and then do something about them. We are a species of thinkers. We use words and other symbols to alter our world and build new visions. The writing is on the wall right in front of us; we must be willing to do the thing, to do something, something positive.

And so it is that one person shares a vision of doing something while having more than a dozen people contribute by lending their creative talents to the endeavor. I also offer my gratitude to those who have offered their money to help realize the dream of someone who is trying to help us take one more small positive step forward.

Conflagration Nation

JWise Photo of the Day

Making a Conflagration Nation at the Gladly Restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona

Conflagration Nation is being prepared by the nun behind the bar here at the Gladly. On Halloween, which should clue you in on things. The drink starts with rye whisky, bourbon, amaro bitter liqueur, ruby port wine, calvados, and mint simple syrup, and then finishes with a glass that’s been smoked with burning pipe smoke. Caroline’s newest favorite, but sadly, it won’t be served much longer at the Gladly as the person who invented it has left their employ. [This cocktail was featured in Smithsonian Magazine because it is just that good. I am still wishing I could have another taste in 2023 – Caroline]