Travelogue: Taking the Oregon Trail to Olympic National Park...and beyond

Just returned last Friday from a two-week journey from Colorado to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.

Boulder to Brigham City, UT - I-25 to the 287 cutoff west of Fort Collins meant we didn't make it up to Fort Laramie, one of the rest/refuel stops on the Oregon Trail so I had to be content with following the contour of the trail as it arced up to Casper, WY and then dropped down to cross the continental divide at South Pass. We crossed the Divide ourselves after Rawlins (where we ate lunch in pretty Washington Park) and before Rock Springs.  We hooked up with the trail at Ft Bridger, and then left it to stop over at Brigham City (north of Salt Lake) where we spent a glorious morning at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and a glorious afternoon at the Golden Spike National Historic Site in Promontory where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads met on May 10, 1869. We talked to an awesome ranger there who told so many entertaining historic stories.

Brigham City to Boise, ID - A short drive to Boise took us along the Snake River, which the trail followed closely.  We had a wonderful stop at Glenn's Ferry (Three Island Crossing), where thousands of pioneers attempted to cross the Snake, and some made it. We got to Boise with plenty of time to visit the World Center for Birds of Prey, which has a successful condor breeding program, helping to bring condors and other endangered birds back from the brink of extinction.

Boise has loads of charm - We stayed at the Modern, which is a revamped 1950's era motel, and felt hip and healthy (one of the very best hotel breakfasts ever!).  We enjoyed walking around the downtown area, watching lots of people catching Pokemons.

Boise to Hood River, OR - Mostly followed the trail, and had a great stop in Baker City, OR where we visited the Oregon Trail Interpretative Center and bought way too many books.   Lunch in Pendleton at the Great Pacific Wine & Coffee Company, which is a favorite stop on our frequent treks to WA.  Then, we hit the Columbia--what a gorgeous river.  By the time we checked in at our river view room at the Vagabond Lodge, we didn't want to leave so we just hung out, watching the river slowly fade to darkness (it gets dark late up here in the summer!).

Hood River to Lake Quinault, Olympic National Park - Hood River was also a charming little town and we explored it a bit before heading down river, only to get sidetracked at the Bradford Island Visitor Center, just west of Cascade Locks on the river.  They have underwater viewing of the fish that migrate upstream, lots of info on locks and dams and other nerdtastic stuff.  After leaving the trail at Portland, we headed directly to the coast and had lunch at the Buoy Bar in Astoria, before heading up to Lake Quinault, our first stop on the Olympic Peninsula.

Lake Quinault - Absolutely gorgeous.  Two days of hiking through temperate rainforests with enormous trees that were shaggy with moss.  Stayed at the Lake Quinault Lodge--love the national park lodges, and this one had tons of charm and personality (i.e., almost non-existent wifi, tiny bathrooms, windows that don't want to open, but lovely and old and mellow).

La Push  - Moved on to stay oceanside in the fishing village of La Push, which is part of the Quieleute (pronounced Quil-lay-ute) reservation.  Hiked on the beaches, which were rocky, saw at least a dozen bald eagles, and lived without wifi!  Visited the Hoh rainforest and the Sol Duc falls, both of which were magnificent.  Drove up to the Makah reservation in the nw corner of the peninsula, and walked out to Cape Flattery, the most nw point of the contiguous 48 states.  Spotted a river otter grooming on a rock, more bald eagles, black oystercatchers, pigeon guillemots, cormorants, and a murder of crows and a conspiracy of ravens!

Port Angles - Three nights here, with hikes up Hurricane Hill in Olympic National Park, and whale watching in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  The captain of the Puget Sound Express (out of charming Port Townsend) heard we were birders (or twitchers as our UK friends call us) and he swung by Discovery Island so that we could see puffins!  For dinner, let me recommend the Next Door GastroPub - a fun place, with outside dining, great service, and outstanding, upscale pub grub.  We went there twice!

Heading home - we stopped in Tacoma, one of our favorite towns, and where our oldest went to college for a wonderful stay at the awesome Silver Cloud Inn.  We did a pass through Point Defiance Park, with a walk through the bloomless rhododendron garden, and then we did more walking along the shore of lovely Commencement Bay.  We spent the night in Boise again, and retraced the Oregon Trail back to Fort Bridger, stopping this time in Park City instead of Brigham City.  I wasn't thrilled with Park City--I think Colorado does the mining town to ski resort thing better than Utah, but then I am prejudiced and probably ready to be home!

Loved, loved, loved our trip.

Happy trails to you!

August, September, and October Reading

Between getting ready for my trip to Italy (I just got back after 2 glorious weeks, more on that soon), traveling, and lots of family activities, my book posts have dwindled dramatically.  This is not to say that I haven't been reading, though!  I actually have a host of finished books to report on, and so I decided to get caught up in one fell swoop.

Here's what I've been reading...

Recent releases
The Girl on a Train (audio), by Paula Hawkins - I succumbed to the hype and totally loved this book.  I thought the triple narration worked, and the mystery keep me guessing until near the end.  Can't wait for the movie, though disappointed to hear it is set in the U.S. and not the UK.

The Oregon Trail (audio), by Rinker Buck - Loved, loved, loved this memoir of a 60-something writer and his brother doing a modern crossing of the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon and mule team.  I learned so much about the trail itself, the lives of the pioneers, western history circa 1840-1860, and modern middle America.  I couldn't help but think of it as similar to Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, but with mules.  Rinker's brother Nick was definitely in the Katz role--larger than life, irreverent, impulsive, but essential.  It was also quite a nostalgic read for me--while Rinker is about 10 years older than me, I have brothers his age, and the parts in which he reminisced about his childhood in the 1950's and 60's made me think of my own family.

Reading Italy
Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes - I thought I had read this book, but in reading it I realized I had actually only seen the movie, which deviates quite a bit from the actual storyline of this memoir.  I enjoyed it and plan to read more of Mayes's books about life in Italy.  Easy to read, interesting, and well-written.

The Agony and the Ecstasy, by Irving Stone - I loved this book about the life of Michelangelo Buonarotti and thought it an excellent way to familiarize myself with both Florence and Rome before visiting them this month.  It's well-written and fascinating and definitely a classic of fictionalized historical biography.

The Italians, by John Hooper - Overall a pretty good book that attempts to explain how a country that gave us the Renaissance and Opera also gave us the Mafia.  Until I embarked on my Reading Italy project, I confess that I really didn't know that much about the history of the country itself, apart from the big things like the Roman Empire, the Renaissance, and Silvio Berlusconi.  Hooper is an American journalist who has lived in Italy, so it's pretty much all opinion, but interesting and informative nonetheless.

Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi, illlustrations by Sara Faneli - Recommended by Lucy Pollard-Gott of The Fictional 100, and definitely an interesting read given my only knowledge of Pinocchio before reading this original story was courtesy of Walt Disney.  Like the Grimm Fairy Tales, the original is darker, more complex, and definitely less cute than Disney's version.  I read that it is actually a satire on 19th century Italian politics, but I'm too ignorant to get what was actually being mocked. I'll have to reread Lucy's chapter on Pinocchio now that I've read the original!

From Pompeii: the Afterlife of a Roman Town, by Ingrid D. Rowland - This turned out to be a bit less interesting that I had hoped.  It was about the discovery of Pompeii in the 18th century and the efforts to excavate it, and some info on various visitors to the site over the past couple of hundred years.  I found it a bit tedious at times, but stuck with it.

Falling in Love, by Donna Leon - I read this on the plane to Venice and loved it.  The latest in Leon's Guido Brunetti mystery series, and all about opera (Tosca again--The Uncle from Rome also was about a production of Tosca).  These mysteries aren't heart-stopping but they are so enjoyable to read--Guido and his family, life in Venice, work within the Venetian and Italian bureaucracies, detailed descriptions of food and meals and markets and life!

Roma, by Steven Saylor - I read this for the two weeks I was touring Italy and finished on the flight back to Denver.  Very much in the style of Michener and Rutherford, Saylor's Roma starts with the earliest settlers along the Tiber and follows a couple of families through time, ending with the assassination of Julius Caesar and the rise of Caesar Augustus.  Saylor isn't quite as good as Michener and Rutherford, but I will definitely read more of Saylor novels set in Ancient Rome.  Overall, fun to read and easy going.

Historical Fiction
Demelza (audio), by Winston Graham - My new favorite series.  Eager to get started on the next book in the Poldark Saga, Jeremy Poldark.  Wonder if it's available on audio yet?

World War I and II
The Monuments Men (audio), by Robert M. Edsel - I loved the movie and happened upon this at the library and decided to listen to it.  So interesting--now, I'm eager to read Edsel's second book about the Monuments Men, Saving Italy, which focuses on the recovery of stolen art in Italy.

The Guns of August (audio), by Barbara W. Tuchman - I have had this on my TBR shelf for so long that I figured the only way to actually get to it would be to listen to it.  Totally blew me away.  Basically a day-by-day, almost minute-by-minute analysis of the first month of WWI.  Tuchman's premise is that the events of August 1914, the decisions, mistakes, and assumptions shaped the rest of the war.  I am really trying to wrap my mind around WWI as a way of understanding the 20th century, and this approach (while incredibly dense) gave me a good foundation for learning about the rest of the war.  Truly a classic and definitely worth reading, but by no means easy reading.  It took me several months to finish this.

Classics
Excellent Women, by Barbara Pym - What a joy to read.  The more I read of Pym the more I like her.  Mildred is an excellent woman and while the kind of life she leads is pretty much dated, the portraits of the people in the Pym world are timeless.

Non-Fiction
The Brothers Grimm: Two Lives, One Legacy, by Donald R. Hettinga - I read this along with the GoodReads TuesBookTalk Read-Along group and enjoyed it for the most part.  It did seem aimed at a YA reading level and that made the scholarship seem a bit suspect, but that could be a personal bias on my part.  I found it interesting to read about how these two brothers came to collect and publish the German folktales that even in their late 18th century/early nineteenth century world were starting to fade from everyday life.

Meeting the Challenges...

The Guns of August, Pinocchio, and Excellent Women all count in my Back to the Classics challenge for 2015, bringing me to 8 out of 12 categories done for the year!

A Sudden Country by Karen Fisher

Back in 2010, my husband and I drove home to Colorado after taking our oldest daughter up to Washington state for her freshman year in college, and we indulged ourselves during the two-day drive by stopping at many of the Oregon Trail landmarks that dotted the highway along our route. This prompted me to research some novels that take place along the Oregon Trail during its heyday, and the one that got the most recommendations was A Sudden Country, by Karen Fisher.

I finally got around to reading it in March and was both blown away by it and irritated by it.

It is extremely well-written. Fisher is adept at crafting poetic, dreamy descriptions of the land and the feelings it evokes as well as using language and narrative technique to tell a troubling story of troubling characters.

Here's a quick summary of the plot. Lucy Mitchell and her family journey to Oregon in 1847. Her first husband died a few years earlier and she remarried a widower, Israel, with a daughter--Lucy has two daughters from her first marriage, and two with Israel, one of which is a baby. Lucy didn't want to leave her house in Missouri but was given no choice. Israel decided that the family had to move and that was that.

Enter James Maclaren. A trapper and trader who was married to an Indian woman who abandoned him and their children, who subsequently died of smallpox. Maclaren is an honorable man who is trying to understand how his life fell apart so fast.

When the Mitchell's wagon driver quits early in the journey, Maclaren signs on to work for them. Lucy finds in Maclaren traces of the feelings she once had for her first husband and in relatively no time she has an affair with him.

It's a good thing the writing is so good because the plot was melodramatic, sordid, and depressing. I found myself really disliking Lucy for much of the book--as a character I found her selfish and arrogant. She complains that Israel is not the man her first husband was or that Maclaren is, but she married him for the simple reason that she wanted and needed a male protector and provider but then wasn't willing to uphold her end of the bargain (i.e., fidelity). I also couldn't stomach how willing she was to abandon her own children, the teen girls as well as her toddler son and baby daughter, for a roll in the hay with Maclaren.

I found Maclaren more likeable as a character--he really did have a rough time of it. He truly loved Lise, his faithless wife, and was a kind and faithful father to his children, nursing them and then burying them and mourning them. However, I found it had to stomach his seduction of Lucy after his own wife had been seduced away from him.

From a thematic standpoint, I got how the journey from Missouri to Oregon enabled Lucy and Maclaren to "find themselves," and ultimately Lucy ended up reconciling herself to her fate as Israel's wife. She emerged at the end of the journey as a stronger person who was no longer had to search for lost love but was able to find meaning and satisfaction in the life she had.

A Sudden Country was inspired by a journal kept by the author's ancestor, Emma Ruth Ross, who was one of Lucy's older daughters. The letter itself is fascinating and Fisher incorporated the content of the journal into the novel. Rest assured, Emma doesn't mention Maclaren at all, and Fisher acknowledges that she invented his role in the family's journey west.

I did earmark a number of pages, a sure sign that I liked the writing. I just wish I liked the story more!

One more note, A Sudden Country reminded me on more than one occasion of Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain. Both alternate between telling the female protagonist's story and the male protagonist's story, and the characters of Ada and Lucy and Inman and Maclaren are somewhat similar in their moral ambiguity and rootlessness. Both stories also often include their characters's dreams, and the prose itself has a hallucinatory, dreamlike quality.

I do like Western fiction, and I did enjoy reading about their journey along the Oregon Trail, checking the map at the front of the book frequently and remembering details from Lewis and Clark's journey as recounted in Undaunted Courage.

A Sudden Country is definitely worth reading. I'm not one who has to love or identify with the main characters in order to like a book, so don't take my grousing about Lucy as a slight to the book. It was thought-provoking, and that is definitely a good thing.

Ultimately, the novel is about telling our stories to each other. Emma Ruth's sparse journal of her journey west as a child was the creative impulse that Karen Fisher used to explore her view of our collective Western journey. As she writes near the end of the book:

For every life we know, we are expanded.

There is no forgiveness without stories. There is no dignity. There is no way to speak in other tongues but that.

Travelogue: Tacoma and points south

Last Thursday I flew up to Seattle to meet my daughter and husband, who had driven up from Colorado earlier in the week. She moved into her freshman dorm on Friday, we did the parents part of orientation, took her out to dinner on Saturday, and then drove back to Colorado on Sunday and Monday.

Before I left on Thursday, I had been feeling pretty poorly--stressed, depressed, and generally battling the blues. When we left Tacoma on Sunday morning, I was riding an emotional high--she was happy, the school was great, and our second encounter with the Puget Sound area convinced us that it really is a wonderful part of the world.

On our first visit we stayed in the downtown area and I fell in love with the cool, gorgeous swirly glass art of Dale Chihuly which adorns the area, both in museums and in public places and spaces.



This time we stayed further north and spent a lot of time walking in the parks along Commencement Bay--the weather was absolutely perfect (mild, slight breeze, sunny).

We continued to find wonderful little restaurants that had great food, great service, and were interesting, unique, and not outrageously expensive. Pacific Grill did not disappoint--we tried to go here last time, but couldn't fit it in--this time it was top priority, foodwise. We also made a return visit to our favorite from our previous trip, Primo Grill, where we pretty much ordered what we did last time--a variety of appetizers followed by the prosciutto/fig marmalade/rosemary/goat cheese pizza.

Sunday morning we got up early and headed home...making the all-important pilgrimage to Rosalyn, WA, which plays the part of Cicely, AK in one of our favorite TV shows, Northern Exposure. It was too early to hit the gift shop so I'll have to wait until next visit for my t-shirt and coffee mug. As it turns out, we're rewatching the series and are currently in the midst of season four.



We then proceeded to follow the Oregon Trail in the reverse direction, stopping occasionally at the historic sites. I am newly inspired to find a diary from someone who migrated west along the Oregon Trail. It's a topic of great interest and yet I still haven't read much about it...yet.

We stopped for the night in Twin Falls, ID, where we discovered that the Snake River had carved a magnificent gorge. It was absolutely breathtaking, and we found a restaurant with a terrific gorge view where we could relax and unwind after a long day of driving.

The second day of driving took us across Wyoming, where we must have encountered roughly 100,000 orange road construction barrels. I think there might have been 10 miles of highway that wasn't under construction along I-80, but I doubt it was that high a number.

Now we're home, and I'm ready to get serious about getting some posts up on all the great reading I've been doing, but first I have to go on another business trip tomorrow, and then I can write this weekend...I hope!