24 States in 27 Days - Day 2:

Oct. 11th 2012 we awoke to sun streaming in our foggy canopy windows - we hadn’t left a window open, so condensation had collected inside, not unlike sleeping in a tent. Neither one of us wanted to get up, thinking it was pretty cold outside, but Brad finally got brave and opened our back tailgate window. The sunshine was warm, and though it was chilly it wasn’t nearly as cold as we’d imagined. 

In the background you can see the steam rising from the hot spring pond.

Here's the hot pond, showing the office across the way and the bath house behind the pond shed.  

We had breakfast in the small kitchen - I heated pizza and Brad had granola, while a friendly orange tabby cat hung out and visited with us. 

This photo shows the cabins available to rent at Crystal Crane Hot Springs, the bath house, and behind the cabins, the hot spring pond.

Back on the road, we soon discovered we were already off course, not on hwy. 20, but somehow the night before, while in Burns, we’d missed a turn and were on hwy. 78 instead! After laughing that we were already lost we headed north & were soon back on 20, eventually sliding into Vale Oregon. This place was “Mural Town”, so of course we had to stop and go for a photo walk. 

A drive-by photo of Snake River reflections in Idaho.

From there we buzzed through Idaho, taking I-84, I-86 & I-15, returning to backroads on hwy. 30 east. Looking at the map earlier, we’d seen Lava Hot Springs off hwy. 30 which intrigued us. Again it was dark when we drove into the town of Lava Hot Springs, completely unaware of what to expect. We had to stop and explore so we parked across from what looked like a bustling giant hot spring swimming pool. We walked down to take a look at the pool and the Portneuf river running through town, took a quick stroll around the small downtown area, then not seeing anywhere we wanted to stop we soon were back on the road, thinking the next town might be a bit less resort-like. Soda Springs Idaho was another small town to explore - in the dark. Finding a quiet, dark street near the pioneer museum across from a couple of churches we pulled in for our first night of “stealth” camping. Quietly slipping our 2 duffles and cooler into the cab of the truck, we quickly climbed into the back, put up our curtains, and soon were sleeping - as best as we could with trains and the occasional vehicle slipping past. 

24 States in 27 Days - Day 1:

On Oct. 10th 2012, after we were packed and ready to roll we drove down to American Dream Pizza in Corvallis where we ordered our favorite pizza to go, thinking it’d be an easy meal now and later as we traveled. Cold pizza is terrific on the road we discovered. It was just after 12:30pm when we were officially over the bridge & on our way! We drove east on hwy. 20, through Lebanon, Sweet Home, Sisters & Bend, with a short stop in Riley to wash windows. We’d taken turns driving, and both of us, when trying to get the cruise control to work, accidentally flipped on the wipers which smeared the bugs across the windshield… That cruise control was not my friend. It did work occasionally for Brad, but never, not once the whole road trip, did it work for me! 

In Burns after stopping for gas we continued east, Brad driving, and thinking he was up for putting a lot more miles on, even though it was getting dark. Not too far out of town we passed a sign, indicating a camping opportunity up ahead. As we drove by, we both read the sign “Crystal Crane Hot Springs”, then both exclaimed “Hot Spring?!” At my nudging we turned around & drove in to see what it was like. It was dark by then, but we could see an RV parking area, then a structure that looked like a bath house with an office across from it and a lake beyond. We parked & went inside the office where we discovered this wonderful affordable oasis in the desert! For just $15 we could dry camp just beyond the main lake which was actually a hot spring pond that was available for use at all hours of the day & night! We jumped at the opportunity to stay there and enjoy a soak in the warm pond. Connected to the office was a living room space we were allowed to use that had wifi and was open until 9:00 pm, and nearby was a small kitchen & dining room building, also open 24 hours. There were showers & bathroom facilities in the same building as the bath house & for an extra fee people could rent a private bath house room, each unique with deep hot spring fed tubs. This being such a beautiful evening, we were content to just use the open pond where we could float and gaze up at the multitude of stars overhead. We felt pretty lucky to have found such a wonderful spot our first night out! 

The living room space we enjoyed after taking a wonderful soak in the pond hot springs.  

Road trip 2012: 24 states in 27 days: Introduction

On October 10th, 2012, Brad and I packed up our Toyota Tacoma pick-up with gear for an extended road trip east. Starting in Corvallis Oregon, just an hour from the Pacific Ocean, our goal was to venture as far east as we could go within a three or four week time frame. With a borrowed Yakima Rocketbox (thank you Nathan!) for storage, a duffle bag each, a cooler and daypacks, food bags, and a few other essential belongings stored in the cab and under the back canopy, we were on our way that afternoon. Under the canopy was our cozy nest in back with a twin sized air bed, three Coleman flannel sleeping bags on top for insulation and two down duvet blankets to use for covers . There were open bin areas between the wheel wells both in front and back of the tires where we could stash shoes, or items we wanted near us during the night which were also covered up by our bedding, allowing for a little more sleeping space. About the only other goal we had on this adventure was to try and drive mostly backroads, but we were also realistic, and knew we'd be needing to zip ahead on freeways at times too. Below, this photo shows our "rolling home", compact and easy to maneuver at one of our stops on the way. 

Follow along with us as we post more about our trip in the upcoming days with more photos and stories from our traveling adventure.

Mural Painting In Carlton Oregon

This past weekend we were invited to join a group of sign artist friends and help paint a mural in Carlton, which is about 5 miles north of McMinnville. We arrived on Saturday and were promptly pulled into the task of trying to complete this artistic vision within the three days allotted. Here's the weekend in photos: 

One of my first jobs was to help fill in some of the abundant greenery.

Brad, dancing on the scaffolding... this shows the size of the mural - it was big! 

Under this awning was the paint mixing area. 

It was a beautiful evening on Saturday.

This is what your feet will look like if you've been standing in bark dust all day! Ick... 

Here's our group photo the next day. The police department kindly left their car parked nearby all night adding a bit of security to keep the riffraff away. There were several more artists that contributed to the mural but they had to leave before this photo was taken. 

Rick Scott, Justin Riede, and Jose Solis - the designer of this mural making some decisions. 

Gerry Blankenship - our local Carlton contact & generous host. 

I'm standing on a box while Pete paints the border below, both of us having to maneuver around the scaffolding.

Here I'm up on the scaffolding, with my feet braced on the wall to keep from toppling forward. I'm wearing an old shirt of Brad's after dumping a jar of phthalo blue onto my paint shirt... Brad decided dunking the whole shirt into a bucket of water was the best way to clean it, not realizing it was the only long sleeve paint shirt I had with me! Made for a chilly morning in my tank top until Brad remembered he had a 2nd shirt to loan me. He spent his time painting the letters - his favorite subject. 

You can see a crew of painters below Brad, under the scaffolding. 

Pete McKearnan - one of our fearless leaders. 

This photo above shows the height of the scaffolding and the space available below (and the nasty bark dust...)

Our youngest member of the crew taking a break and watching her Papa, Justin work.

The letters getting their final embellishment. 

Pete up on the scaffolding, helping nudge Brad along.

The mural, not quite finished yet, but close to completion, and below, you can see where our youngest painter left her mark! 

Dahlia Field

Last Wednesday our local Plein Air painting group headed to Frey's Dahlia farm NE of Jefferson OR. I enjoyed an opportunity to paint with watercolor, which isn't usually my first choice when painting plein air. Normally I work in pastel but leaving my stack of canvases on a chair put a stop to that. Luckily I brought watercolors, and a nifty new watercolor journal I'd just made the previous weekend. I also enjoyed the company of two good friends that were playing in watercolor too, so after touring the dahlia field we settled down to see what we could accomplish. Here's a glimpse of some of the beauties vying for our attention.

Snow Fun

While out on a photo shoot this third day of Spring, admiring all the snow that had fallen the night before, I came upon this area where I set up to capture some of the lovely weathered rust and snow covered roof reflected in the melting snow on the ground. After this first shot I moved to try another view and at that moment the snow on the roof decided to dump part of its load! Lucky me, I captured the fall, and then the last shot shows the "after". True serendipity!

Technical info - these were shot TTV (through the viewfinder) of a Kodak Duaflex camera with my Canon DSLR camera.