“… blogging about life, travel, books, food and the outdoors”
Sprawling outdoor museum pays homage to logging industry
Remnants of the logging industry are scattered about Oregon like sawdust. One place this is evident is at the Collier Logging Museum, which is less than two hours south of Bend, Ore., on Highway 97. People have been cutting down trees for millennia—for fire, shelter,...
GOP presidential candidates begin to distinguish themselves
One of the major components of a debate is listening. If two or more people are talking at once, it's no longer a debate. That’s why it's hard to call what the GOP presidential candidates participated in last week as a true debate. Nonetheless, I was glad I watched...
Highways in California much older than the agency that oversees them
Just because there wasn’t a department of transportation doesn’t mean there weren’t roads or even highways and freeways. I was surprised to learn Caltrans (aka California Department of Transportation) only turned 50 this summer. I would have guessed it started a lot...
Cherishing 50 years of friendship
Fifty years ago this month I met Darla. I had moved with my family to Concord, Calif., from Springfield, Va., a month before I turned 8. She and her family lived next door. I soon found out she was a year and grade older than me. She would be a fourth-grader that...
Iconic Mark Twain impersonator bids farewell
Countless authors have set their books in Lake Tahoe or written about this mountain locale. One of the most famous is Mark Twain. Considering he died in 1910, I clearly never met him. But I feel like I have. This is thanks to MacAvoy Layne. For 35 years Layne...
‘Barbie’ is a must-see even if you never played with the doll
When the buzz about the Barbie movie started earlier this year I was like “whatever”—and whatever in a very judgmental tone. I don’t recall playing with Barbie, though one of my best friends insists we did. My image of Barbie (pre-seeing the movie) was essentially a...
Tina Turner musical a high-energy tribute to a legend
What a force. That energy. The resiliency. And that voice. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Tina Turner. While I never saw her in person, on Sunday I saw The Tina Turner Musical in San Francisco. Outstanding. As most people will know, Turner’s story is...
Book Review: Book brings clarity, depth to Cuban missile crisis
So many people find history uninteresting. Even worse, there are those who don’t see the importance of learning it. Those people scare me. It’s so important to keep being educated. Books are one of the ways I continue to expand my understanding of things in the past....
Deschutes more than a local Oregon brewery
“Good beer brings people together.” That was the sentiment of Gary Fish when he founded Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Ore., 35 years ago. And it remains the foundation of the family- and employee-owned beer manufacturer. The odd thing is that I would have sworn Deschutes...
Oregon about to let people pump their own gas
Next time I’m in Oregon I will be pumping my own gas. This is because in June the Legislature passed a law allowing for self-serve gas stations and the governor agrees it’s a good idea. This is a big change. Lawmakers in 1951 thought the concept of pumping one’s own...
Locks of love add to scenic overlook
In a state that seems overdeveloped, pausing at the Paradise Lookout is a reminder how vast California really is. It’s easy to miss this lookout along the Skyway between Chico and Paradise. The view, well, it’s spectacular—better than what photos convey. From here...
