Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Beach, Coast, Ocean, Shore...

We just spent a very enjoyable long weekend traveling around parts of Oregon with our neighbors.  And not just one set of neighbors; two sets!  We are incredibly fortunate to live in a place where you can actually get to know your neighbors.  Believe me, I know that doesn't happen everywhere.  And in this case, I really have to give credit to my DH.  The man doesn't know a stranger, and every place we've ever lived throughout our married life, we've collected neighbor-friends.  Right now, we happen to be very fortunate to have fun neighbors.  Neighbors with similar interests, good taste in beer, and a beach house.

We set out on Friday, and following a stop for lunch at P.F. Chang's in Tigard (lettuce wraps...yum), we did a mini-tour of McMenamin's properties west of Portland: Rock Creek Tavern, Cornelius Pass Roadhouse & Imbrie Hall.


Burl mushrooms at the Rock Creek Tavern.  Tried the seasonal Copper Moon here.

The grounds at Cornelius Pass Roadhouse are worth wandering. 
Enjoyed my favorite McMenamin's brew (Hammerhead) here.

From there, it was an overnight stay at McMenamin's Grand Lodge.

 
The view from our room at the Grand Lodge.  I love hydrangeas!  Can you tell?
If you don't try the Terminator Brownie Sundae here, you're nuts.

Saturday morning, we took off for McMinnville and the Evergreen Air and Space Museum.  The drive through some of Oregon's Wine Country between Forest Grove and McMinnville is just beautiful, by the way. I suddenly found myself planning another trip:  definitely need to check out the Sip 47 Wine Route.

The Museum is home to the Spruce Goose, a very fine B-17 (my uncle flew on these during WWII), and the SR-71, among many, many others.  If you have even the slightest interest in flight, this museum shouldn't be missed.  I won't go into all the details, but you can certainly find them here.  The IMAX "Legends" movie is worth every penny, also.

It's ridiculous to even try to capture the entire Spruce Goose in one pic without a decent wide-angle lens.

Absolutely nothing to do with flight, but the rose hips in the museum parking lot are the biggest I've ever seen.  Seriously.  Like big cherry tomatoes.  Or small apples.

And then, we were off to the beach! From these photos, you might think we had three days of clouds.  Not so!  It was gorgeous and sunny most of the time.  But on Sunday morning when we hiked out to Cape Kiwanda, the clouds were a little slow to burn off.  And by evening, they were back just long enough to enhance the sunset.
Clockwise from top left:  View of Pacific City and beach from Cape Kiwanda; a view of the "other" Haystack rock on the Oregon Coast; bonfires at sunset on the beach; the beautiful, rugged point at Cape Kiwanda.

All during my growing-up years in Very Northern California, we would take trips to "the coast".  Some of my friends called it going to "the ocean".  After living in Central Oregon for the past few years, I've noticed many people here call it going to "the beach".  I've heard some of my east coast acquaintances call it going to "the shore", but I've never heard it called that out west.  So, now I'm curious.  What do you call it?

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

All kinds of inspired

Last Saturday was the 35th anniversary of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, and my fourth year of attending.  One of my cousins came over from Eugene for the weekend, and we picked up my friend Sue on Saturday morning and headed for Sisters.  We left Bend a bit earlier this year (8:30-ish), which made for a much shorter sit in traffic on the way (although a normally 20-minute drive did take 40...).  I have to say, if you must sit in traffic, the highway to Sisters is the place to do it...



Life imitating art.  Well, sort of...

In recent years, the number of quilts dressing Sisters' buildings seems to hover around 1,300.  I dare you to see them all (and remember them!) in the one day they're up.  I can't imagine going to this event without a camera; by the end of the day, I was literally on sensory overload...in a good way, but still, without the camera I'd be woefully inept at recalling some of the incredible artwork we saw that day.

Jean Wells Keenan, owner of The Stitchin' Post, started this little event.  I wonder if she had ANY idea the impact she'd be making for the town of Sisters and the surrounding area over the years.  It's reported that some $2+ million comes to the area over the week of the show and its surrounding classes and events.   That's a nice little economic shot in the arm, don't you think?  And all because Jean had an idea to hang some quilts outside.  Inspiring.

  Exterior wall of The Stitchin' Post, featuring quilts from the "Employee Challenge". 

One of Jean's designs.

Each year, I go there thinking that I won't see much new under the sun; that it will be the same techniques, same patterns, same, same, same.  And happily, again this year I was wrong!  Here are a few that made it onto my camera.  I wish I'd done a better job of noting the artists' names on some of these.  Really amazing work.

 Fabric and paint on wood.

 "Leaf Me Alone" by Tonye Phillips

No surprise...I was really attracted to flower designs

See what I mean?

And taken with this one...one of the few quilts I saw that a gentleman had made.  Loved his color choices.

Here's the raffle quilt I (sniff) didn't win.  Love that fence!  Beautiful perspective.

Not to be out-done, the street corners in Sisters were dressed in their finery, too.  More inspiration.

So...another year down, and I'm inspired...seeing some of my favorite fabrics used in new ways and color combinations....by the sheer beauty I saw all around me that day, both hand-crafted and natural...by the incredible talent that participates in the show each year. 

If you'll excuse me, I'm off to go create something.  Maybe a quilt depicting this:

Bermuda.  Also inspiring.

Check with me in 2015 and see how it's going.