Trip to John Day, Oregon

We finally made it to John Day in Oregon--Alyosha's birthday wish come true. If you ask him a question he will find a way to include dinosaur, paleontologist, fossil, petrified wood or something of that genre in the answer--no matter the question. We had a beautiful time and a peaceful weekend in Eastern Oregon. The geography is just amazing there. While we were rolling through we couldn't help but imagine what the pioneers were thinking when they were traveling this way to make their homestead somewhere in this vast silence yet enormous explosion of land. I describe the great rifts and bulges almost like being on the moon. Enormous hills and valleys--then cracks so you can see 50 million years worth of layers like an epic tale unfolding as quickly as you can lay your eyes on a new inch of earth.

On the road to John Day. We couldn't have asked for better weather. We were all beginning to get a cold-or maybe the swine flu, you never know, but as soon as we got into the dry sunny high desert, the sniffles and coughs disappeared.

The kids were pretty good--reading books and marveling out of the window

Alyosha put his eyes on every piece of dust floating around John Day. He found a fossil or imprint in everything--and even though we weren't allowed to disturb the environment in the monument, Alyosha still came home with a ton of rocks. (most were legitimate finds in places that are legal--Alyosha follows the law to the letter, no matter how much he would want to keep something, he wouldn't if it isn't allowed.)

Barry, the camp host, told us about a special place that had exposed volcanic ash from a volcano that erupted about 12 million years ago. The ash has been compressed to fragile rocks--kind of like chalk. If you look closely, you can see imprints from the plants when this area was a swamp and horses, camels, bear-dogs and rhinos lived in the area. So much to discover if you search out. Alyosha's best find here was a 'rock' that had tree ring imprints--a tree that lived 12 million years ago.

adventures of a paleontologist

Luka was more interested in finding poop--not the fossilized kind. You can even tell what he is saying in the photo!

We stayed 3 nights in the Fish House Inn in Dayville and Barry was our host. He was wonderful and warm. He told us some secrets about the area and just shared about life in general in Eastern Oregon--pretty opposite from life in Portland, but still interesting. People come from all over the world to study at the fossil beds. This is pretty much in the middle of no where. There is one cafe, occasionally open and a Mercantile--for sale--by the way. I will admit that we imagined buying the little Mercantile and fostering the kids interest in everything ancient and turned to stone. Even better, there is a little ranch for sale next to the Dayville Mercantile--perfect to host a R.V. and camping site...any takers on our Eastern Oregon adventure?

The Fish House Inn is in the background here. We cooked out on the grill they provided every evening. I am sure the cafe in Dayville was nice, but we had German brats and steak with Washington state Merlot and whole milk, depending on your age... It was DELICIOUS.
We did a 3.4, can't leave out the .4--you will see why, a 3.4 mile hike with the kids up and down the Blue Basin Trail inside the fossil beds monument. The kids, excluding Niki, walked the entire trail. According to the official travel guides, the Blue Basin Overlook hike is "Strenuous, 600 ft. elevation gain. A strenuous, but rewarding, loop trail brings you to a spectacular vista overlooking the John Day River Valley. It is dusty in places and may be impassable in wet weather" Alyosha and Luka hiked every step of the 3.4 miles and they explored and wondered at everything-the complaining was minimum and only for food--which we stopped for 2 snacks along the way. They enjoyed the hike and the beautiful fresh air. Four hours for 3.4 miles isn't too bad. I love it, and it is really encouraging for when the boys get older; we are going to get into even more amazing adventures together.

Papa and Niki at the start of our hike. It was chilly, but perfect for our hike. The sun was shining and the air was crisp and fresh. At the beginning of the trail we had 2 choices; either the .75 mile walk inside the valley or the 3.4 mile hike around the valley. We looked at each other and wondered which road to choose--the difficult one was a thousand times worth it.

Alyosha and Luka spotted a deer that was finished off by a cougar a while ago. Of course, the deer skeleton wasn't a deer on our discovery mission--it was a plant eating dinosaur who stopped to take its last drink in the ancient river then got attacked by a velociraptor and died here.

One of our picnic stops. We had sandwiches and apples on the side of the trail and only a couple of other hikers passed us along the way. October is definitely the best time to come here. You can really experience the quiet and the significant spirituality of the area when you have it to yourself.

Look at that view in the background. Luka kept saying "it is dangerous, dangerous" because the trail was so steep on one side. He kept imitating falling down the slope with his sounds..luckily not his body. I held his hand the entire walk!

Bench brake on the walk. Luka didn't want to sit still--keep going, keep going. We are only a third of the way through at this rest stop.

Here we are at the peak. The blue-green claystones began as volcanic ash-falls deposited 28 million years ago by the ancestral Cascade Mountains. These volcanoes were precursors to those active today like St. Helens. I want to emphasize--that is volcanic ash--that has been compressed for 28 million years. Can you imagine the volcano that erupted? Those eruptions are inspiration for almost every picture Alyosha paints right now.

Niki needed his snacks about every .75 miles too. He loved the fresh air and the hike just as much as we did. Roma made sure not to miss a step either--I don't think that Niki would enjoy a roller-coaster fall down the Blue Basin into the valley.

Roma's reasoning for staying ahead of Luka and I on the downhill of the trail was so that he could catch us in case we fell down the 'dangerous' slope. Can you picture Roma jumping with Niki to grab onto Lukas 'arm' (leg in Luka language) before he slips over the edge? That is a scene for a movie.

grand

Luka looking over his triumph.

Here is a picture of all of us on the downhill slope of our hike.

The daze after a hike is a good feeling

Exploration in the old West

This barn has been here for over a hundred years--this used to be a prime sheep herding area. Unfortunately sheep wool production doesn't pay off anymore and cattle have taken over.

Alyosha the photographer

Our car is comfortable and made the trip smooth and cool. We don't use it in the city much, but I am so thankful that we have it--and that it is paid off!

That is Sheep Rock in the background. Sheep Rock, is 1,100 feet above the John Day River.

Here we are on the 45th parallel, exactly between the equator, my home climate, and the North Pole, Roma's home climate. It is a perfect compromise for us--maybe we should move here.

Soccer time

Alyosha is playing on his first organized team sport. Hillside Soccer Club has teams for kindergartners through Jr. High (5-13). The little kids only play scrimmages and they don't really keep score, but they play serious ball. I think the kids are having a great time...when they aren't breaking down because someone stole their ball. It is great to see the boys play together and tell secrets and work as a team.

Coach Roman and his team--pretending to be cheetahs

The crowd watching the soccer players in action

Coach Roman giving advice--"kick the ball and keep your tongue in your mouth"

Look who is about to get wet!

What a sport; Roma was dunked by his team.

Playground talk

Who knew seven kids could fit on one tire swing?

The other day Alyosha woke up in the morning and the first thing he announced was that he didn't sleep all night long. I said that was too bad because his body won't be able to run and play so much because it needs to sleep every day. After that, he amended what he said to say "My body was sleeping, actually, just my brain was awake all night. And in the morning (at 6 am--the new normal) my brain started screaming at my body to wake up."

Luka always defends me to say that my eyes are blue while Alyosha and Roma make fun and say they are grey/green. Luka was mad at me for some reason or another the other day and he said with a squished angry little face that " Your eyes are NOT blue!"

On the slide after school today I heard Alyosha say "I am so tough I beat up a seven year old and now he is afraid of me" The friend he was playing with on the slide said he was 5 and a half and he is the oldest and toughest in his family (he has a 2 year old sister and a 10 month old sister). Alyosha said he was 5 and a half and the biggest and oldest brother in the family too. Why do little lion cubs have to prove who is the toughest?

Luka came up crying and saying "my elbow, my elbow!" I looked at both of his elbows and there was nothing there. He continued to cry and say he got a bobo on his elbow. Finally he pointed down to his knee and with a sly smile and tears still running down his face he said "my elbow has a bobo!" He calls his legs his 'arms' and apparently his knees are 'elbows'. But, with the smile, I know he knows the difference, it is just his joke. I tell you though, he can keep it pretty straight because he consistently calls them his 'arms' and now, 'elbows'.

Alyosha got in a wrestling fight today--it was playful but his necklace broke. He has gotten into a habit of fighting on the side of his friend Amelia against an other team of boys. They wrestle at soccer practice and, as I learned today, at recess too. When his necklace broke, the participants helped him pick up the beads and they are all friends now; especially Amelia, she might even be his best friend right now he said. On the bike ride home Alyosha had a question that he almost didn't ask me because he thought it was too funny. I got him to ask and he said "Mama, do you think it would be funny to marry your best friend?" I said that I thought it would be a great thing to marry your best friend--but asked him what if his best friend was a boy. He said, no that isn't possible then started naming off the names of all the girls he knows. "Amelia, Hailey, Sofie, Milana, Danicia--I have five girlfriends!" He was so happy that he ran into a parked car--no damage done, physical damage that is!

Baltic Amber

Baltic amber has been used for hundreds of years as a natural cure for many things. It even helped saved the amber transporters from the bubonic plague; The Prussian Priest Matthaus Praetorius recorded that in 1680, "During the plague not a single amberman from Gdansk, Klaipeda, Konigsberg or Liepaja died of the disease"

I actually made it because I wanted Luka to wear one for his teething--those 2 year molars are killing him. The poor guy acts totally out of character and I know it is because of the molars coming in. Natural Baltic Amber has been used for centuries by the people in the old countries of Europe for many medical purposes. And one of the uses has been to make baby teething necklaces from small chips of amber taken from the sea. According to folklore and tradition, placing a simple amber necklace around a baby's neck helps the baby through the teething process by reducing the pain.

Supposedly it is the succinic acid that is released as your body heats up the amber. The ancients thought amber had have magical curative powers. They surely had no idea that they were high in succinic acid, but they knew they worked magic on their ills. Even before mankind knew that there were things called acids antibiotics, the people of Europe recognized that amber had magical curative powers. They used it when we today would use an antibiotic.

So, here we are--Three boys and their Baltic amber necklaces.

Texas Flora and Fauna

We spent the today day camping in Ft. Richardson State park in Jacksboro because I heard that there are still plenty of wildflowers around in the gorgeous Texas countryside. As we were pulling up to the State park Grandma (Granny to the kids) said that when she lived in Jacksboro she would take a walk in this park every day and she would run into a road runner. As soon as we pulled in to the park we met Mr. Roadrunner--and in fact, I took a walk with him down the trail a little later. They are really fast and even better-they like to fight rattlesnakes. Did you know that the roadrunner is the American version of the Cuckoo bird? They are in the same family.

Luka is in mid air in this picture--the kids are cooling off in our spot in the shade under the old oak tree. We didn't see any snakes or scorpions but tons of beautiful red birds and ants.

These next pictures are our attempt at getting a portrait of the boys with the Texas wildflowers. Luka wanted to hold Niki every time and pouted when he didn't get to, but Niki was in danger of falling on a cactus so we had to take a quick shot.

Yet another display of brotherly love and Niki is caught in the crossfire.

The cactus were blooming with yellow flowers. The sun went behind clouds when this was taken so they all hid and closed their bloom--but it is still nice.

A day at the Lake!

Oh my! I haven't been to the water in Texas since the summer of 2003 and I have been dreaming about it for years! AND the water is just as good as I remember it! The water is warm and nice and we all just jumped right in. Well, Niki only stuck his toes in but he liked it too. Next week after Roma arrives we are camping on the lake for 4 days-right beside a nice little beach and hiking trails.

The boys are building a sand castle with the most important feature, a moat. We just happened to run into Sara McCall and her boys just as we pulled up to Sandy Beach.

Mama and Luka taking a swim. He is a little hesitant but if you take it nice and slow he likes it.

Auntie Trish is looking on while Luka fills my hair with sand--this is also a warning of the week to come. I just have to get used to being like a piece of sandpaper while we are camping.

That is our boat behind Luka--Joe Hall was great to let us just use it as much as we want while we are visiting. We will use it a lot!!! Niki rides well on it--he doesn't like his life jacket too much, but the motor of the boat puts him to sleep so he forgets about the thing around his body and head. (sorry no pictures, but it is kinda cute--next time maybe). The best thing about this boat is that next week when we have me and the 3 boys and Grandma and Grandpa and Trish like we had today, we will also be adding Jeremy, Roma Granny and maybe even Jeb and we will all fit comfortably!
Niki dipping his toes in to the lake

Swinging in the Sun

We are swinging in the sun, what a glorious feeling....!


Niki thinks he is too cool on the swing.