Bike Ride to The Grotto

Matt and I rode to the grotto, killing two birds with one stone. We visited a Portland landmark I had not yet seen and we also got a good bike ride in. It was a sunny day (still cold, though) and that made both "birds" more enjoyable.

The fact that this statue is illuminated is pretty cool, given that there is a huge rock face directly behind it and a lot of massive trees on the top of the rock face. There is some careful pruning at work here.

I feel that this sign fails in it's job to inform and suggest because it assumes that people will know which stone is the alter stone. There were a few good candidates, but it wasn't obvious to me. I'm guessing that people who could correctly identify the alter stone probably know not to climb on it.


We bought the tokens for the elevator to the top level.

I find this sign to be more effective. Perhaps the "alter stone" sign could be amended with something like (the big one in the middle) to make it more clear.
It turns out that we could have just jumped the gate. We wouldn't, of course, but we could have.

Matt looking up the rock face, while waiting for the elevator.

This was probably the fanciest elevator I've been on in a long time. It talked to us, too.

Looking down from the top.

There were a few trilliums in bloom.

Matt was excited by the Polish shrine as he has Polish ancestors.

There is a fabulous labyrinth which we both walked and enjoyed. On a hot day, walking the labyrinth would be a good activity, as the trees and shade probably make for a cool, quiet retreat.

View over Portland

Best use of the word "perturbed" ever!

There are Douglas Fir trees everywhere in the Grotto. However, this is the only one to get the sign.

Back from the top, a picture of the place where they hold services.

On the way home, we stopped for lemonade, which was a very good deal, 50 cents for that huge cup of lemonade.

Our attempts to look holy. Matt is very good, I can't hold a holy expression for long.

Walnut Tree

There is a massive walnut tree in the neighbor's yard. On the one hand, I love it because it is a beautiful tree and the squirrel activity in the autumn keeps the cats entertained. On the other hand, it is a very large tree and it is one of the many contributors to the "structures that block the sunlight, thus reducing garden yields" problem.

So imagine my surprise today when I came home from work and discovered that the tree had been expertly and massively trimmed. (Pruned? I'm not sure of the word here.)
There used to be a massive limb encroaching on the lilac in Emilia's yard. Now the lilac is free to grow and bloom again.
I can't tell you how exciting this is!

All good things must come to an end.

Even when it's cold and pouring, it's still time to get up, pack, clean the cabin and load the car. That's Matt's elbow peeking out of the sleeping bag.

Triwizard Tournament

On our first camping trip, I brought along the card games Uno, O'No 99 and Boomo. That weekend, we had several of what we termed "TriWizard Tournaments" after the event described in the book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Since that point, whenever we have gone camping (or camping in a cabin) we usually bring along games and hold a TriWizard Tournament. This despite the fact that we are not Wizards, there are only two of us and we play card games rather than run through mazes and swim through lakes or pave the way for the return of He Who Must Not Be Named etc. In our TriWizard Tournament we play one game of each card game and the person who wins takes that game. On Friday night, in our first TriWizard tournament I was soundly defeated and we didn't finish the series. I accepted Matt's challenge on Saturday and the results were:

Matt won: We Didn't Playtest This at All, Monty Python Flux, Flux and Pirate Flux.
I won: Guillotine and Gloom.
This makes Matt the winner of two straight days of the Stub State Park March 2011 TriWizard Tournament.

Bike Ride

Our purpose for staying at Stub was to get a few training rides in for our planned bike tour that will happen this June. Due to weather and our general vacation mindset, we got one good ride in.

First we biked up the hill from the Mountain Cabin Village.

We rode on the Banks/Vernonia rail trail. Stub is in the middle of the trail and we took off for Vernonia. However, we eventually discovered we were actually headed toward Banks. I was surprised we made this mistake, because Stub has a lot of signs. I checked on the way back and there is no sign indicating which way is Banks and which way is Vernonia.

Being that it was a trail and that there weren't many people about, I took the opportunity to take a lot of photos by bike.

After we made it out of the "woods" we rode through farm land. Matt stopped to "kill a layer" and I documented the weather.

Matt killing his layer.

We made it to Banks. It was a slight downhill grade the entire way, so it went by very quickly.

We had lunch at a cafe and while eating, it began to pour, so we braced ourselves for a cold and rainy ride back. While waiting for our lunch, I noticed that one of the fliers advertised well water testing by the Washington County Extension Service. In my previous job, I helped coordinate that effort, revising and printing the fliers.

On the ride back, happily, the sun came out after the first 10 minutes of rain and it was time for Matt to kill a layer once again.

We're back in the park.

More photo by bike collage.

We found an amphibian and Matt helpfully moved him off the trail.

The ride from Stub to Banks took one hour, the ride back took two. The last 10 minutes of the ride were particularly grueling as Stub's elevation changes rapidly from the entrance to the Mountain Village cabins. I wasn't sure I was going to make it back up the hill without walking the bike, but my 21 gears came in handy.

The long journey to our spring break destination.

After careful consideration we have decided to "spring break" at LL Stub Stewart State Park. We will be spending two nights and hope to do some biking. It doesn't take very long to get to Stub from our house, (46 minutes according to the Google map) so to make it more of a vacation, we took the country roads after dropping off the kitties at my Aunt's house.

Due to the hectic nature of packing three cats for transport (Sentinel and Antares, plus we were cat sitting Squeak, my Aunt's cat) I forgot to take a picture when we left. So when we missed a turn, I took the opportunity to take a picture in front of this grange where we turned around.

It turned out to be the Kinton Grange, which is a very close spelling to the Kenton neighborhood where we live.

We stopped in Forest Grove for lunch at a Thai Restaurant.

And then we went to the McMenamins Grand Lodge Soaking Pool, which was lovely.

It had a different feel than the Kennedy School Soaking Pool, being less crowded. They also offer a "frequent soaker" discount at Grand Lodge, something that is not available at Kennedy School.

Matt outside of Grand Lodge.

I drove the last bit while Matt navigated and took pictures of the countryside.

We had a rain/sun thing going on all day.

And Matt needed to take a picture of the driver.

We arrived at Stub to find our cabin was the exact same one we had last time.

We took a walk and found the new disk golf course. We played imaginary disc golf.

I had a really good over-and-over throw.

The park is still being constructed and so there are stumps everywhere.

The hilltop parking area makes for nice views when it isn't raining.