Monthly Archives: May 2019

Sorry, Serenity (& Crystal Crane Hot Springs Campground)

10 Friday May 2019

Posted by in Adventures, Campground, Serenity, Travel

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a dirt road in a valley between rugged hills
Succor Creek

Succor Creek was a beautiful place to wake up. I took a walk with Zelda on Saturday morning, down this road, and the scenery on all sides was incredibly beautiful. Even the herds of small children roaming the hills couldn’t make the campground feel crowded. But we had miles to go and prepaid reservations at our next campground, so we packed up and headed out.

Ironically — or, as my son might remind me, in just a not-very-funny coincidence — after all my worries about driving on the dirt roads, I managed to crunch poor Serenity after we got back on the road. At a gas station, alas. And I managed to break the kind of streak that everyone should wish for: thirty-five years of never having to call an insurance company because of something I’d done. Dang.

a badly scraped side of the van with a broken heater vent
Poor Serenity. I promised her I would get her fixed, though!

But it was what it was. The van was still drivable and no one was hurt so after spending some time chatting with my truly delightful Progressive customer service person (sympathetic! helpful! organized!), we got back on the road.

Fortunately, our destination was exactly the kind of place you want to end up at when you’re feeling stressed and frustrated with yourself: Crystal Crane Hot Springs Campground. The campground itself was not beautiful: dry grass, rocky gravel sites, no trees or separation between sites, port-a-potty type toilets right across from our own site…

Our campsite at Crystal Crane Hot Springs
three dogs on three dog beds
Even the dogs said, “This ground is too hard.” All of them wanted outside beds. It was cute to see them all piled up together, though. The bed that Z is on is her bed, but there was much mild doggie competition to be the one who got that bed over the course of the week.

But do you see that hint of water behind Serenity in the above picture? The hot springs was basically a pond, and the water was amazing. S and I swam once in the afternoon, then as soon as it started to get dark we went back again.

Drifting in the hot water in the cool night air while the stars came out was… spectacular. It was a moment where I was intensely glad to be where I was, to be alive, to be experiencing life. Bats swooped overhead, which doesn’t sound like it should be cool, but really was, and planes left contrails in the sky until it got so dark that you couldn’t see them. It was surreally beautiful.

A GIF of steam rising off the hot springs at sunrise
Steam rising off the spring.

Unlike Succor Creek, though, which felt like a place where it would have been nice to stay forever, I was definitely ready to move on Sunday morning. The springs were great, but the campground was hot and dry and sort of bleak and there’s only so much soaking in hot water one can do. Plus, we were headed back to Bend and both S and I were looking forward to all the fun we were going to have there. Well, the fun and the good things to eat!

Succor Creek State Natural Area

08 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by in Adventures, Campground, Travel

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As we drove away from Celebration Park on Friday morning, S said to me, “I don’t know about you, but that was the best parking lot I ever camped in.” I laughed, as expected, because it was also the first parking lot S had ever camped in.

But then I considered the idea, thinking about all the parking lots I’ve stayed in, from the very first terrifying night in a West Virginia arts center, to Walmarts and Flying Js, a rest stop in Oregon, Cabela in Montana, a Cracker Barrel in Alabama, even the miserable night sitting outside the emergency vet longing for good news about Bartleby. And I had to agree, Celebration Park was the nicest parking lot I’ve camped in.

Parking lot with camper van parked in front of beautiful green hill and cliff. Also a cute Jack Russell terrier in front of the van.
That ridge of rock in the background, the cliff, is where the golden eagles were nesting.
A picnic table on sandy ground with a view of the river and a beautiful desert tree.
The picnic tables next to the parking lot.
Lots of rusty angles on a historic bridge over the Snake River.
Walking over the historic bridge.

But one night in a parking lot was plenty and then it was time to head back into Oregon. S had purchased a book on Oregon’s geology at the fossil beds and was excited to go thunder egg hunting. Thunder eggs, (basically rounded rocks with crystals inside), are the state rock of Oregon. She picked Succor Creek State Natural Area Campground as the place to go to find some. Sounded fine to me.

But I should have made her drive there.

Well, or maybe not. It might have made me incredibly nervous to have my home in someone else’s hands as we made our way down bumpy dirt roads for what felt like hours. Even more incredibly nervous than I was with my home in my own hands! The three hours that I drove on Friday morning were exhausting. At one point, we hit a deep spot in the road, filled with water, ridged on either side, with deep tracks from other vehicles, and if it hadn’t meant I’d have to drive ten miles back over the same roads, I might have just said no. Instead, we kept going.

It was totally worth it.

Campground view -- a long dirt road with a tiny van at the end of it, green trees, canyon walls on either side.
The view of the campground.

At the end of 15 miles of dirt road (predicted by Siri to take an hour of driving time), we reached an almost empty campground. We found a great spot, backing on a beautiful creek, and spent the afternoon there, enjoying the sunshine, warmth, and feeling of spring in the air, as the campground slowly filled up with people.

The slowly filling up with people part was a little surprising — this campground was remote! — but it was a beautiful Friday in spring, so it probably shouldn’t have been. I was glad we’d gotten there early, though, because we’d gotten a nice spot with enough room for S to comfortably set up her tent and we also had the fun of having the area to ourselves for a while.

We walked the dogs and then S climbed the hills and hunted for rocks. I started up the hill, but as I clambered over the rocks, I couldn’t help thinking that the rocks were a perfect place for rattlesnakes. And that if I was a rattlesnake on a sunny warm day in spring, with temperatures reaching the 80s, I would probably be out sunning myself on the rocks. And that as a human being, I could keep a careful eye out for snakes, but that the darling dog trailing along with me would probably not understand that a snake was dangerous. And that if I was bitten by a snake, approximately ninety minutes away from any medical care, I’d have a chance of surviving, but that a 16-pound dog would probably not last long enough to get to the emergency vet.

As a result, instead of searching the hills for interesting rocks, Z and I retreated to the comfort of the grassy creekside and I read a book. Honestly, it was really lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, so maybe I let anxiety win, but on the other hand, maybe I kept my dog safe and happy and didn’t miss anything much. It wasn’t like I’d be willing to load up Serenity with rocks, even if I found the coolest rocks ever.

Dog in grass
Happy Zelda, sitting in the grass under the tree.

That night, we finally did something I’d been yearning to do ever since I got the idea: we built a fire and barbecued Easter peeps. They were as delicious as I’d imagined they would be — crispy carmelized sugar on the outside, melty marshmallow on the inside. If you ever try it, be aware that the sugar gets really, really hot — much hotter than the marshmallow. S got to discover the effectiveness of lavender essential oil for burns but her burn was still bad enough to blister. But I think she’d agree that it was worth it!

Barbecued peep with S in the background eating another
A barbecued Easter peep.

Birds of Celebration Park

07 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by in Birds, Photography

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Golden eagle's nest

I know that this is very much not the best quality picture I have ever taken, but if you can decipher the details, that brushy bit in the middle is an eagle’s nest. The fluff of white in the center top is an eaglet and the dark shade on top of it is a golden eagle. Yes, it may not be the best picture in the world, but it was amazing to be focusing the camera on it and thinking, “Is that really the nest? Is that white fluff the baby? Is that the eagle? OMG, look at that!”

And there’s my magpie picture, actually taken by S. I love their tails, they’re such beautiful birds.

More details and probably photos later, but this was a brief moment with wi-fi access that I wanted to take advantage of! Back on the road now…

The Mid-Point

06 Monday May 2019

Posted by in Adventures, Travel

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In a world where we had unlimited time, I think S and I both would have liked to push on to Craters of the Moon National Monument, which is one of Idaho’s highlights. For that matter, I would also have liked to go opal mining in Spencer, Idaho, and visit the incredibly cute Little Library in Coeur d’Alene. So much to do, so many, many miles to go.

But by Thursday morning, I was starting to get both really tired of driving and a little worried about the long, long drive back to Arcata. And unlimited time was a luxury we didn’t have. Instead of pushing on and adding more miles to the trip, we decided to take it easy and enjoy where we were by exploring the Snake River Birds of Prey conservation area.

The area is huge and we touched only the tip of the iceberg by driving a couple hours to Celebration Park, a county park that felt like a good starting place to figure out where to go and what to look at in the conservation area. In fact, it was both a good starting place and a good ending place, because the park allowed camping in their parking lot, with a river view and even better, a view of a nest of golden eagles. The eagles weren’t visible when we got there (around noon), but were likely to appear in late afternoon. There were also petroglyphs, a historic bridge, and a boat ramp where the dogs could splash into the water.

And did I mention that I was tired of driving? After visiting the visitor center at the park, we drove gingerly down an incredibly bumpy dirt road to start our exploring, then said, “You know, that was a really nice parking lot.” Instead of continuing on, we went back to the parking lot and enjoyed a quiet afternoon.

There was a little wandering around the vicinity — S checked out the petroglyphs; and some sitting at the picnic tables watching birds and reading; and also some very pleasant quiet time hanging out inside Serenity. The day was windy and dry, but sunny, with temperatures that sort of hovered in the “no matter what you wear, you’re not going to be quite comfortable” range. I tried out all my different layers, searching for the one that would be not too hot, not too cold, and feeling much like Goldilocks unable to find the Little Bear’s jacket. But we did get to see the golden eagle swooping in around 4PM, which was very satisfying, and lots of other birds, too. My favorite was a magpie — they have such great tails. I’m definitely hoping for a chance to get a picture of one before we move on.

The Snake River, seen through trees
The view from the picnic table with the best view. We didn’t actually spend much time there, though, because it was so close to the water that it was very muddy. In my camping equation, a great view is not worth letting a white dog play in the mud.

Bruneau Dunes State Park

05 Sunday May 2019

Posted by in Adventures, Campground, Food

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After our relaxed departure from Bully Creek, we headed into Idaho. Woo-hoo, Idaho! Not quite a new state for me — I’d driven through it once before on my way from Montana to Washington — but the first time I was planning to do more than wave as I went by.

Idaho — at least southern Idaho — is very dry. Even in spring, it was immediately clear that we were in a different climate. Part of that was nice — I appreciated the warmth of the sun — but my lips were chapped within what felt like seconds.

We were headed to Boise for our first stop, so we were also no longer on cute, winding mountain roads but on a major highway: flat, lots of trucks, traffic speeding along. And the billboards — for Panera, Taco Bell, etc. — made it pretty clear that we were entering Generic American City. No insult intended to Boise, of course, because every mid-size American city seems to have the same stores, but we spent a couple hours there and then decided to keep going.

It wasn’t just that the city felt generic. We knew we would have fun if we explored, looked for a good restaurant, found its unique spots… but being a tourist in a city when accompanied by three dogs is a challenge. It’s fun to have the dogs on a camping vacation, but less fun to leave them in the van when the sun is beating down on them. At any rate, we’d planned to spend some time in Boise, but by mutual agreement, we cut that time short and headed back to nature.

Our next stop was Bruneau Dunes State Park. As you may recall, I found an article about the 50 best state parks (Bruneau was Idaho’s) and decided to go to all of them. I have now changed my mind. I’m sure they’re all great parks, but “great park to visit” does not necessarily equal “great park to camp.” There are two campgrounds at Bruneau and one of them (Eagle Cove) is a parking lot: pull-through sites in parallel lines, no real space between sites. The other one (Broken Wheel) is better, more spacious and with a good view of the hills but compared to our Bully Creek county park… well, it’s always hard when you leave a really nice campground/site to go to an average campground.

There were some nice trails, though. I have to admit that I didn’t try them out — Z and I limited our walk to half way around the campground, because I was tired out from all the driving. But S and Riley took the walk to the observatory and approved. And we did visit the lake, which — well, was really buggy. But pretty!

The dunes by the lake.

It was also nice to be able to plug in to electricity, because it meant that I could use the InstantPot to make risotto. For dinner, we had chicken-apple sausage with carmelized onions; salad with mixed greens, blackberries, goat cheese and fig vinaigrette; and asparagus risotto. Just your average camping meal, right?

Risotto, sausage, salad meal.
For Alice, who likes food pictures. 🙂

And the night sky was lovely, I’m currently listening to many birds chattering away, and the dunes themselves really are rather spectacular.

Scenery picture with brown hills, desert grasses.
Very scenic dunes. Also very dry, very sandy. That shouldn’t have been a surprise!

The Birds of Bully Creek

04 Saturday May 2019

Posted by in Birds, Photography

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yellow bird
This bird appeared to have a nest in the tree right next to the van.
Woodpecker
A woodpecker! It was very, very small.
Grey bird, red head
I had so many good pictures of this guy that it pained me to pick just one.

The hour spent playing with my camera at Bully Creek Park might have been one of the best hours of the trip for me. I say “might” because we’re only halfway through, so who knows what good hours might supersede it? But it was awfully fun. These are my three favorite photos from a lovely morning of bird watching. I wish I could have posted them in their best quality, instead of shrinking them so they would upload, but the full resolution images just wouldn’t post.

John Day Fossil Beds to Bully Creek Campground

03 Friday May 2019

Posted by in Adventures, Campground, Food, Travel

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Our Painted Hills campsite was lovely, but we were definitely still in road trip mode: by 9AM, we were packed up and on the move. We went straight to the Visitor Center at the John Day Fossil Beds, where we watched their movie and learned about the fossils and geology and wandered through their very nice museum of fossils. Then we drove to one of the trail heads and took a short hike through some really incredible terrain.

A lot of the time, when I’m visiting somewhere new, I connect it to someplace I’ve seen before — oh, this is like Washington State only with shorter trees, or this reminds me of Louisiana or whatever. Even the Badlands, which is pretty unique terrain, made me think about B movies from the 1950s. This terrain, though, reminded me of absolutely nothing: I had never seen anything like it.

Hills at the John Day Fossil Beds
The light was again so bright that the photos just don’t do justice to the experience. But these hills are packed with fossils, one of the richest fossil beds in the world because of a series of volcanoes thousands of years ago.

another view from the trail, with blue sky, light fluffy clouds, hills, and green scrubby brush.
Another view from the trail.

By the time we finished our walk, it was close enough to lunchtime to justify eating, so I made us salads with mixed greens, cold salmon, and a fig vinaigrette. We ate at a parking lot picnic table — using cloth napkins, real silverware and my grandmother’s china, and drinking San Pellegrino sparkling water. It was delicious and also amusing to me: as I said to S, my idea of a picnic is on the pretentious side, I guess.

Mixed greens and salmon with a fig vinaigrette served on a picnic table with cloth napkins and china bowls.
Lunch!

After lunch, we started driving. We’d had no internet for extended periods, which meant our ideas of on-the-fly planning were turning into winging-it and hoping-for-the-best. When we reached the town of John Day, we paused, looked for a place to camp, and decided on Unity Lake State Park. That lasted until we got to Unity Lake, where it was cold and bleak and windy. Onward!

Our revised plan took us to Bully Creek Park Campground, a county park near Vale, Oregon. The reviews of the park weren’t terrific, but that mostly appeared to be because there’s so much arsenic in the water that the campground hosts have to warn you about it. Or — my personal speculation — locals are writing mean reviews in order to keep campers from visiting, because it was lovely. The host gave us a site on the water with a perfect view of the sunset, and an even better morning view of the many, many birds. It was our slowest morning to date, because we sat and bird-watched, then ate a second breakfast/brunch, and didn’t get on the road until after 11.

Serenity parked by the water
Our campsite at Bully Creek Park Campground

Best of April 2019

02 Thursday May 2019

Posted by in Adventures, Best of

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April included one national forest campground (Panther Flat), one state park in Oregon (LaPine State Park), one night off-grid at the Painted Hills Unit of the John Day National Fossil Beds (about which more later), and many nights in S’s driveway in Arcata. 

It also included my birthday, which was a lovely day that included a beach walk and a chocolate cupcake and brunch with new friends. But that day was not the best day of the month. 

April 18th might have been the best day of the month. To be honest, I have no idea what happened on April 18th. I think maybe nothing notable? I think maybe I wrote good words on Fen and enjoyed some sunshine in Arcata and maybe went to yoga? Because the only reason I’m calling out April 18th as a good day was that on April 19th, I wrote in my journal, “true moments of happiness, yesterday was such a beautiful day, even writing happiness”. But I gave myself not a single specific detail about why I’d liked it so much, just wrote about the feeling of waking up delighted. I don’t wake up delighted every day. In fact, I’d say I don’t wake up delighted most days. So it’s nice to know that I did on April 19th and that I thought at the time that April 18th had been beautiful, but here it is two weeks later, and honestly, I’ve got nothing. 

So since April 18th is lost to the mists of time, I’m going to say April 29th wins for the best day of the month. And it was quite impressive! 

On the 29th, S and I left Panther Flat on our way to Bend. We had a lovely time in Bend. We started with brunch at a fantastic restaurant, the McKay Cottage Restaurant. On the way there, I was telling Suzanne that the only hesitations I’d had when picking it were the reviews that mentioned that parking was gnarly and that there was always a wait. S scoffed, saying “On a Monday morning at 10? We’ll be fine.” Ha. Apparently, at McKay Cottage, there is a line even on a random chilly Monday morning in April. But deservedly so, because the food was delicious. My omelette was the best omelette I’d ever had. I didn’t even know it was possible to make omelettes that good. I’m gonna have to step up my omelette game, because mine are nowhere close.

Afterwards we had a fun hour at REI and then another fun hour at the Goodwill Store. But by the time we gassed up and got back on the road, it was later than we’d anticipated. We considered our options — a super quick visit to the fossil beds and then hurrying on, or a night at a spot in the fossil beds vicinity? Since we still have plenty of time, we decided to try a Bureau of Land Management site on the outskirts of the fossil beds. 

Under other circumstances, it might have been a terrible decision: a long, long way down a bumpy isolated road, we reached a spot with room for a single camper. Maybe two if you’d been willing to be cozy. But we were the only ones there. And the weather was sunny, if cold. 

And it was absolutely incredibly gorgeous. The light was so bright that none of my pictures do it justice: photographs always seem so flat when the sun is so clear and sharp. But here’s one that shows the van from the adjacent hill, and another one that shows the view from the campsite. 

Serenity, parked in the Painted Hills
Serenity, parked in the Painted Hills. The light was already so bright that the photo doesn’t accurately represent the greens around us.
The view from the edge of the campsite.

It was glorious. 

S set up her camp cot and we walked the dogs, then ate dinner, and as it got colder we each retreated to the comfort of our own beds. In the night, I opened the window a few times to admire the stars — it was a clear night and there were millions of them in view. 

So the 29th — an incredible meal, fun with a friend, a beautiful camp site, happy dogs, and a clear starry sky. The best of a honestly delightful month. 

The 30th was also a darn nice day, and might have won if it hadn’t included a little too much driving and a very sore throat, but more on that one in my next post!