Rodeo and Traveling in Oregon and Washington

Sept 10-16, 2001

(Most all pics Thumbnailed)

I don't know what to say except that it seems like every trip I take lately is better than the last. I arrived in Portland, Oregon on Sept. 10 and was met by Steve who is a friend of Vic and Andy's. Steve took me on a tour of Portland, and then since I was not hungry for Italian, we settled for McDonald's. I was dead by the time I went to bed back at Steve's because my East coast brain was telling me it was 2:00am. By the time I got up Steve had already been working on the farm and asked me it I was sure I wanted to get up. I asked him why and he turned on the TV to a picture of Manhattan in a cloud of smoke. What a way to start a vacation!! And, to think I had been flying around the night before and had just flown through Washington/Dulles the weekend before. Was I going to get home? I figured I would, but gave me a lot to think about over the week.

That morning Steve took me on a tour of his 500 acre family farm where they grow turnips, green beans, cucumbers, beats, and carrots. It was very interesting to see how they are processed and was one of the highlights of my trip. After that Steve helped me with some directions and I was on the way. I first went over to the Portland Gardens, and then left the area to go to Mt. St. Helens. I was amazed at how far away you can see the volcano. Here in the East where the mountains are not so tall and we have humidity, you don't see too many things more than a few miles away. I could see Mt.St. Helens from 70 or more miles away. It was an awesome visit. The areas of disaster and lava/mud flows are still there to be seen. Nothing has grown back up much yet because the volcanic ash is very low in nutrients. There were trails in the area, but big fines if you wandered off them even an inch. It was interesting the effort they are going through to protect this unique environment. One of the visitor's centers takes you right to the side of the mountain that blew off, and you can see the new lava dome building inside of the crater. It was an amazing area, and the pine forests there were cool too. Nothing like we have here in the east.

The next morning I toured around Mt. St. Helens a little more and the left for Mt. Rainier. I thought Mt. St. Helens was big and awesome, I had not seen anything. Rainier was amazing. The area around is a National Forest/park as well and the views of the trees and mountains were great. I probably enjoyed the sights around Rainier most on my trip and wish I had more time to do a little hiking. I stood on a bridge that was about 8' across that went over a gorge that was about 120' deep with a fast river going through it. Kinda scary, but very cool. I could see the glaciers on Rainier and the pine forests were spectacular. It took me forever to drive through, and I was dead tired by the time the day was over.

Thursday, I toured the Olympic Peninsula and National Forest. It was very nice. The coast of Washington is nothing like here. It is butt cold and has trees on it. The sand is gray and has rocks in it. Very interesting. They get so much rain there that they even have rain forests which is mainly what I had come to see. The rain forests were all pine trees and every inch of exposed ground, stump, and dead log had something growing on it. Everything was covered in moss, trees, and ferns. There was one stump and had another tree growing right on top of it. Same as the tropical rain forests you see on TV, but different plants. It was very cool, and I wish I had a lot more time to spend there. The trip around the peninsula took forever and I saw some great sights. I stopped at Crescent Lake to eat. The lake was beautiful and had big mountains rising in the background. The water was crystal clear with a slight blue/green tint and you could see to the bottom in 15' deep water. I came out of the area through Tacoma in rush hour. What a mess. I did get to go over the Tacoma Narrows bridge though. It's the one that you see on documentaries about suspension bridges (Galloping Gertie) and on the weather channel. The one that stood there before it was destroyed by a wind storm and fell into the river in 1940. It it a quintessential example of bad engineering. Very cool pic of this.

Friday I was driving to the rodeo in Pendleton, Oregon and toured the Columbia River Gorge National Park on my way. 25,000 yeas ago there was a flood up to 1000' deep here and the gorge it carved and waterfalls it left are awesome. There's not much to say about what I saw. You just have to look at the pics or better go there yourself. It is worth a trip out just to see this area. As you get closer to Pendleton, the area turns almost to desert except there is dead grass from where they do get rain in the winter. For someone from the east though, this is pretty cool too. The rodeo was Saturday, and I was finally able to meet up with Andy and Vic plus Ray and Jordan. The competition was top notch and the scenery was more than exceptional. My neck was tired within minutes. One event of note was the wild cow milking. Milk cows are tame and will stand there while you milk them, but not a regular old cow from the herd. They don't like it. In this event there were 2 cowboys. One had to rope the cow and the other had to come along and grab it. Then while the one guy tried to hold the cow still the one on the horse got off, ran over, and tried to get some milk. First team with a little milk back to the judges was the winner. It was a hoot. Some of the guys got kicked, stepped on, and drug around the arena. Another great part is the participation of the local American Indians. Crow, Collville, Nez Pearce, and Umatilla tribes were there and there were several races and events that featured the Indians. At one point the chief and elders of the tribes formed a parade around the arena. All the people there stood up and clapped in respect and to honor the chiefs. It was very cool. We in the East don't have the ties with the Native Americans that they do in the west. After the rodeo, Andy and Vic took me to a party given by some friends. There was about 30 people there and I met some nice and some very good looking guys. I had a great time at the party.

Sunday I drove all the way back to Portland. I was so tired and the drive seemed to take forever. I wanted to get to the airport to see what kinda hassle I was going to be faced with in the morning. After talking to the ticket agent it looked like I was going to be dealing with a couple hours in line just to get to the gate. I asked about a flight east that night and before I knew it, I was on a "red eye" to Atlanta. The plane was empty so I got a little sleep and I was home by 100pm Monday. Remind me never to fly out of CRW again. I had one of the best times ever, but as always, there's no place like home, especially if you live in the South!!