December Movie Madness

To celebrate the release of The Dark Night on Blu-Ray, and since December is a short month, we'll view Christopher Nolan's interpretation of the iconic Batman.

December 11: Batman Begins
See! Liam Neeson swing a sword...again! Watch! Katie Holmes full of righteous indignation! Hear! Christian Bale shred his vocal chords!

December 18: The Dark Knight
Why so serious? Is this a movie about the Joker or about the Batman? Join the argument after the movie.

As always, the movie starts at 7:30 PM after the cartoon.

November Movie Madness

November is Cohen Brothers month. So far only two Cohen movies have made it to HD, but they are two of the best, and since there are only two Thursdays for movies this month, there is a pleasing symmetry.

November 13: No Country for Old Men
What do you do with a socio-path wielding a silenced scatter-gun? Come and find out in this taught and thoughtful thriller. You'll need a stiff drink.

November 20: The Big Lebowski
Like the Dude, what I really want out of life is for things to go smoothly. Unfortunately things go everything but. There will be White Russians, Wii Bowling, and munchies (of course) just in time for Thanksgiving.

For details on Movie Madness see below

October is Men of Metal

The theme for October is in honor of the release of Iron Man:

October 9: Iron Man
October 16: Excalibur
October 23: Transformers
October 30: Double Bill: RoboCop/Army of Darkness (Happy Halloween)

Movies begin at 7:30 PM

Guillory Movie Madness

What is it? Every Thursday except for the first one is Movie Madness Night. All movies are HD (quite a step above DVD quality). In general we have monthly themes to which all the movies are loosely correlated. For instance last month was The Gritty West - we watched There will be Blood and 3:10 to Yuma. October is Men of Metal month, celebrating the release of Iron Man.

What are the details?

• Movies start at 7:30 PM. Please be a little early if you want to see the whole movie. You can arrive as early as 6:30; if earlier, please phone ahead.
• We may have some food and drink and may not. If you are hungry bring something. If you want to stop at the grocery store and cook something in our kitchen, be our guest. If you want to raid our pantry, be our guest. Some nights we may have certain consumables (RotGut for 3:10 to Yuma, White Russians for Big Lebowski etc.)
• We will have a TV set up for kids upstairs playing Kid's movies (depending on the ages that might show up).
• We will occassionally have a double feature. You can stay for both or come for either.

We don't expect everyone to show up every time or even regularly, so don't worry about that. We are watching movies that we want to watch. That being said, if you have suggestions, please feel free to let us know. Just remember that movies should be available in HD, which basically means Blu-Ray now. Feel free to leave comments here if you have questions. We are on Facebook and have a group going for further information.

Future movie themes?!:
Monsters
Alt-Sci-Fi
Cohen Brothers Month
Tarantino Treat
Alternate Realities
Spiderman Month
Only the Tough Survive
B is for Bad
Swords and Sandles Resurgentes
Shakespeare Variations

Day Seven - Joseph

We arose early, had breakfast, said farewell to John Day and headed north and east. We hadn't quite decided what to do for the next couple of days, but we ended up driving to Joseph.


The drive to Joseph from John Day is one of those drives that captures the variety of topography we have in Oregon. For instance, the area around John Day is populated mostly with pine trees, but once you get to the Wallowas, you find yourself among the more familiar fir and spruce. The land goes from having a mixture of brown and red hills and buttes with green valleys to a land that is green from valley to mountain top.

The drive to Baker is not long. Baker is one of those cities that is kind of a blank to me. I didn't know quite what to make of it, but it is quite the hopping little metropolis. Since leaving Ashland, it is by far the largest city. It also boasts the tallest building in Oregon east of the cascades - a somewhat Lilliputian boast - but there it is.

We attempted to visit the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center but were rebuffed by Federal Employees. Apparently we could stay with the dogs and come in one at a time or leave the dogs in the car. There was an admission price as well. I peeked through the windows, saw some cheesy dioramas and decided that it wasn't worth the time or the money. So much for Baker City and its environs.

We turned, left Baker City heading east on 86 and then cut north on 37. There is a road that is open seasonally that we took through Hells Canyon. There was a great lookout at the top where we ate lunch.



Hell's Canyon of course conjures all kinds of horrific and terrible visions. I imagined intimidating cliffs, arid climate, rushing waters, deadly plunges. In fact Hell's Canyon (at least what we saw) is rather placid - almost rolling. There is no doubt that a canyon is there, and it is impressively deep, but on the whole it is a rather gentle canyon and not infernal at all.



We continued to Joseph. The hwy through the Wallowas to Joseph is the most mountain road like of all the mountain roads we have taken in our trip. It is full of hard oblique curves with steep inclines and declines - hard on the brakes and the engine. Peaux seems to get car sick in these situations and Michelle doesn't do to well either. I was tired by the time we pulled into Joseph.



The Wallowas have been called the Swizterland of Oregon, and you can see why. Joseph is almost like one of those alpine villages, lying at the foot of soaring, snow capped mountains. And unlike the Cascades, with its singular, imposing peaks, the Wallowas have a series of peaks, all of similar height and majesty.

Joseph is a charming village with plenty of shops and touristy-type places. It has become well known for its bronze foundries and contains some of the best civic art in the country.

Joseph is also placed within an Eden. With the Wallowa peaks so close you could almost touch them and Wallowa lake stretching out to the north, it would be hard to find a more perfect resort town.

We had a very good dinner at the Granite Grill and General Store. Once again I had locally made huckleberry dressing on my salad and a decent steak. Michelle has informed me I am no longer allowed to order steak on vacation because I am too critical and it puts her off. We had a good laugh. I also had the local IPA, which was sharp and hoppy - just like they should be. Michelle had a veggie quesidilla, which was great - I tried it. The dogs were allowed to come along to this particular spot because we ate outside. That was nice.



Health note: Status quo.

Nota Bene: No animals were harmed in the making of this blog.

Once again, Michelle here...the place we're staying in tonight reminds me of Nana & Grampa's beach house before they moved out...low ceiling and varnished wood walls and that small, cozy feeling...I like it. The only thing it's missing is the bay window and the porch and patio and Puget Sound...and pansies, there are no pansies! The dogs like it anyway...I think even Brennen likes it, although I won't put words in his mouth.

Day Six - John Day II

"It not infrequently happens that something about the earth, about the sky, about other elements of this world, about the motion and rotation or even the magnitude and distances of the stars, about definite eclipses of the sun and moon, about the passage of years and seasons, about the nature of animals, of fruits, of stones, and of other such things, may be known with the greatest certainty by reasoning or by experience, even by one who is not a Christian. It is too disgraceful and ruinous, though, and greatly to be avoided, that he [the non-Christian] should hear a Christian speaking so idiotically on these matters, and as if in accord with Christian writings, that he might say that he could scarcely keep from laughing when he saw how totally in error they are." St. Augustine, The Literal Interpretation of Genesis

Slept in a bit today. We actually didn't leave until about 10 AM, but we had a definite agenda. Today we drove to the John Day Fossil Beds and their Interpretation Center. The first part of the drive was typical Eastern Oregon fair. Beautiful green valleys tucked between high hills and buttes.


Eventually, however, the road turns north and we entered the Picture Gorge (above). It would be hard to capture in words or photos the stark contrasts of color and shape in the gorge. Not only are there the standard reds, yellows, and greens, but even blues appear in this gorge. It is not a large gorge, quickly opening up into a more standard valley.

The John Day Fossil Beds are apparently the richest in North America. There are millions of years of detailed strata, allowing paleontologists to track the history of the area in great details. Not only fauna, but detailed flora as well: nuts, leaves, seeds as well as the standard petrified trunks and limbs. The fauna changed gradually as the area transformed from a tropical jungle to a savanna. Not dinosaurs though. The John Day Fossil Bed is about the mammals and their history in North America. The fossil beds themselves, of course, are beautiful cathedral structures. Hot rock and mud frozen in media res.


We saw a film about the history of the fossil beds that was very good. There were several pointed remarks about evidence and Charles Darwin. "Me thinks the lady doth protest too much." The current problems between science and religion (if indeed there really are any) are a relatively new debate (as Augustine makes clear). Few Christians in our past actually believed that Genesis was some kind of literal description of the beginning of the universe. However, as the Enlightenment arose, the only truth that mattered was one that good be tested and measured. A truth wasn't true unless it could be shone to be a fact. The creationists buy into this idea and are forced to prove something that of course they can't - that Genesis is true and the fossil record is wrong. It is science, however, and not religion who must face the paternity suit for these unfortunates. When we believe truth can be measured with a yard stick, we all become fundamentalists.




After the fossil beds we continued through a world that turned greener as we moved north. We stopped in Ritter, at the end of a lonely dead end road. Ritter has hot springs, but they are neither the modern kind with the resort etc., nor the natural one that you run across off a path. They were apparently very popular around the turn of the century (they even had their own stage coach stop - still standing below).




The family who owns it now keeps it very much in that style. The old lodge, dressing rooms, and even the pools themselves have been little updated over the years. The place has a bit of a quaint broken down feel to it. But it is peaceful and beautiful. Michelle was not impressed. None of the waters are particularly hot - but there is definitely a volcanic fragrance to them. I soaked and then swam in the pool for about 45 minutes. Swimming is absolutely invigorating to me.

We returned home - after a lengthy stop for construction (no one ever seems to plan these very well). Once again I ended the life of some hapless wild animal. Some sort of prairie grouse-chicken thing ran across the road as we went along. I tried to dodge, but of course it turned into me.

We ate at the Outpost again. Good burger - and we tried the house special: fried pickles. I know - not what I would want either - but they were actually very good. The batter is the key - it really enhances the flavor. If you're ever here, don't be afraid to give them a try.

Tonight Michelle is swimming with me at the hotel pool. It is hard to get her in the water - so it should be fun.

Health note: Cyst was a little weird this morning, but better tonight. I think the soak did it some good. Rash still there. I don't get rashes, so this is strange.

Michelle here...it's been a great vacation...the dogs have been enjoying sticking their heads out the window, sometimes it is so exciting they can't make up their minds which window to sniff from.

Day Five - John Day

"You shall bruise his heel, but he shall crush your head."

Ran over a snake today. Didn't see it until it was too late; it was just something shimmering in the road. I actually like snakes and would never kill one for no reason; they keep the vermin population down. If I were to re-write Genesis, I would make the devil appear in the form of a New York City rat.

We awoke to the blinding sun that only shines at high altitude in dry desert air. We packed, had a very serviceable breakfast at Frenchglen Hotel and headed for the Steens. It was an 18 mile drive to Fish Lake on a gravel road.

The Steens are not like the other mountains in Oregon. Most of the big mountains in Oregon are volcanic. The Steens are what are called fault-block mountains, which are formed when huge blocks of the continental crust break and slip down. Unlike the other tall mountains of Oregon, the Steens do not have a particular peak that stands out, in fact it is one big mountain.

Anyway, the view from Fish Lake was great...and of course the dogs loved it. Peaux went for a swim - kind of. We drove back to Frenchglen and I tried to post yesterday's blog. After 20 infuriating minutes I gave up.

We drove to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. Did you know there was a huge marsh in the middle of the Oregon High Desert? I didn't. I was kind of surprised when I saw it. But there it was: arid, brown, sage covered butte's at whose bottom was lush, wet, grassy marshes. A stunning contrast.
















We took the scenic route and saw several antelope as well as migratory and marsh birds, then stopped at the French Round Barn built by the local cattle baron in the late 1800's. Apparently most of the region, 200,000 acres of it, was owned by a guy named Pete French. He gained all this land by being....shrewd. If he lived in New York, he would have lived to a ripe old age, with an estranged family and a life filled with prescription drugs, booze and expensive hookers. However, he lived in the West and was shot in the head by a homesteader.

I asked the owner of the gift shop what he thought of French: "My Grandpa said he was an okay guy, but he never did business with him." My guess is most people would echo the ancients: "Sic semper tyranis." The man who killed French was acquitted.

Not only is there a marsh, but if you take the loop through Happy Valley (yes that really is the name), you will have the chance to check out the Diamond craters. Yes, craters. Apparently there were dozens of miniature volcanoes at the northern tip of the marsh that were active primarily 17K years ago. A couple even covered the marsh with hot ash about 3K years ago, chasing the inhabitants out of the area. We did not, however, find any diamonds.

Afterwards we went to Burns and topped off, stopped at Dairy Queen. If you are ever at the Dairy Queen in Burns, stay alert. In a less enlightened time someone would have complained about "the help," and how you "have to watch them all the time." When at the Dairy Queen in Burns, keep an eye out. They don't seem to be very well organized. My ice-cream came way too early, and was thus melted as we drove. We actually had an emergency overflow problem because they filled the cup too high, and as it melted it began to overflow. There was a bit of a mess.

We turned north and into the Devine Forest area. Truly wonderful land with brooks and canyons and valleys. It is a small, quaint, and approachable area, unlike the hugeness of the rest of West.

We made our way to John Day and headed east to Strawberry Mountain. Drove up a hill and found a camping spot we'll probably hit in another day or so. We drove back to John Day and checked into the Best Western. They had free wi-fi. Well, they didn't. They thought they did. They did not. I ended up borrowing a cable.
We went to the Outpost, a pizza/pub/grill place. Apparently the special there is a fried pickle, which we did not try. Michelle had fish & chips, which she enjoyed. I had a cut of beef, which I did not. I should have been suspicious when they talked about a tri-tip being tender. It was neither tender nor the medium-rare I requested. It was well and pretty tough. I should have known better, but I was lured by the wine and pepper sauce - curse you steak au poivre! I am always lured by your charms! The baked potato and veg were acceptable, but then that isn't really what I was paying for. The service was good, and I we'll probably drop by tomorrow, but I'll stick to the bar menu and have a hamburger (which is supposed to be from local beef).

We returned. Michelle did laundry, bless her.

Health note: Cyst infection seems to be on the retreat. I am glad the antibiotics are working. However, I seem to have broken out into a red rash on my left fore-arm. The antibiotics apparently make one more susceptible to sunlight, but my guess is that I brushed up against something in the forest today. Michelle wants to bathe in Bite-Stick (TM). She has taken to covering each skeeter bite with a band aid. I fear she will soon look like a mummy and frighten any small children we encounter.

Day Four - Frenchglen

So...day four. We didn't do much of anything. I drove to Burns (60 mi. N) to get my prescription. The trip I took is close to the one for day five, so I'll write about it then.

Michelle spent the day fighting skeeters and running the dogs. We both had a quiet day, me mostly reading and she crocheting and knitting. She got a few books in Klamath Falls that kept her occupied. We enjoyed the sunset on the Steens. All in all a good day.



In case you didn't notice there is no Internet in Frenchglen. Supposedly there was a wifi hook-up via the local school, but apparently they don't trust their three students and have some kind of filtering software they disallowed me accessing even Google. I am posting from another spot.




Frenchglen Hotel is nice (if you can avoid or don't mind skeeters), particularly the back cabins. The dinner is exceptionally good (though a bit on the pricey side). They also serve an excellent breakfast and lunch.







Michelle here, JB just doesn't mention all the good bits...if we had come two weeks later, there would most likely NOT be any mosquitoes...we were early and I've been paying the price...37, I think...it's so hard to count when they're all bunched together and swell into a gigantic mass of itchy redness...ARGH!

I thoroughly enjoyed our quiet day...playing with the dogs (Peaux loves the sprinkler!), knitting, crocheting, Lego Indiana Jones on my Nintendo DS, a walk to the "General Store", and enjoying a thunder storm from the comforts of our room. It was wonderful.

Day Three Part Deux

Lunch was from where I posted last - a nice sandwich/coffee shop in downtown Klamath across from the courthouse - Hilltop Cafe, or something like that. Good sandwiches and free wi-fi! Michelle also found a great yarn shop, Circle of Yarns in the same downtown area...on Main Street, no less. Michelle wants me to tell you that Peaux had diarrhea all over the sidewalk - like 8 feet of diarrhea - which she cleaned up.

So - on to Lakeview. About a two-hour drive. Biggest thing I remember is passing Mt. Gearhart. Gearhart was the first place I ever went backpacking in Oregon. It was with the aforementioned Jack, the one who nearly died so far from home in Ecuador. We nearly froze to death on that excursion. It was November, before the snows, but -very- cold. It is a lonely place. One of those camping areas of Oregon where you don't see anyone on the trail. There is a great view of Mt. Shasta from there, though.

In Lakeview we had pie at a quaint round diner. Found out where the cheapest gas was, which was just out of town at a place called Hunters. It was a mere $4.37. We topped off and headed for Frenchglen.

The drive to Frenchglen, along 140 via Denio, NV, is one of those great empty places that in the US only exist in the West, specifically West of East Texas. There is nothing for miles but sage brush, wild lavender, the scrub that becomes tumbleweeds in August, and the occasional tiny hamlet (the term is an exaggeration, but what do you call such places?). You pass very few cars along the way. It is one of those places you never want to break down. It is one of those places that, nearly bereft of human community, though not the evidence of one, gives rise to movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. Though I'm sure such a comment would irritate or amuse the residents of such an area.

It is not without it's beauty. The great buttes and valleys. The broken down houses and barns along the road that make you wonder, who lived here? What was their life like? Why did they leave? The ribbon like roads that scar the landscape.

Here is the road up Antelope Butte, it's the scar in the side of the butte - and looking back from where we came. It is strange to be able to see the road for so many miles.















Once at the top of Antelope Butte, you don't really descend. At least not noticeably. It is a long, slow descent into Nevada. You just touch the true desert. The gray-green sage brush high desert turns to more barren brown in places.


Eventually you hit Denio, and turn north. It is another 70 miles or so to Frenchglen. The hills gradually get more trees on them, until you leave the Nevada desert behind, and the west side of the Steens are in the distance.

After driving along a 50 mile ridge, with the west side of the Steens in the distance, you descend into Frenchglen. And I mean descend.

We checked in, ran the dogs a little, and were immediately set upon by skeeters. And they are bad here. Louisiana-when-they-haven't-sprayed bad. Michelle will suffer, but they are really bugging me too. We had a very nice "family style" meal and are in a comfy multi-room guest cottage in the back of the property.

Health note: Michelle is suffering from skeeters. My cyst has been acting up all day. I finally got a message from my doctor. I am picking up a prescription tomorrow, finally. Valve is quiet. I think it is safe to say I have avoided salmonella.

Day Three - Klamath Falls

So yesterday we went to the best dog park in the world again and then grabbed brunch at the Greenleaf, eating along side the bubbling Ashland Creek. Having broken our fast, we headed for Crater Lake.

Neither of us has been. Michelle has lived in the NW for nigh on 40 years, I for 18. We were going to visit it a couple years ago and do some hiking. However - it is a national park and not a forest - and dogs are verboten. Of course we found out about this the day before we were planning to leave. Having been there, I start to understand this prohibition. There are a lot of people there; if half of them brought dogs, the lake would become a sewer.

And it is a beautiful lake. A big, blue, round mirror with a small volcano island emerging in one quarter. It is a mysterious and haunting place. Glorious in the old Hebrew sense of "heavy." Of course the island is called Wizard Island, and who knows what ancient and eldritch powers were invoked at its peak in American prehistory.

Crater Lake is also analogous to the Grand Canyon. You drive there. You get out. You are amazed at the beauty. Then, unless you are spending a day or two hiking and exploring, in about 10 minutes, after the pictures are taken, and "oo's" ooed and the "ah's" ahhed, you say to one another, "Well, ready to go?" There is no middle ground. It is either a taste or a feast. There is no brunch at Crater Lake.

We thought we would camp at Four Mile Lake. However, at the end of the six mile gravel road, we got to the campground and found it snowed in. The sign at the entrance of the road saying "Closed," should have given us a hint, but we are stubborn, and thought on the off chance we might find a spot. There was one possibility along the road, but the skeeters this time of year make any lake camping problematic...for Michelle a mosquito bite is like poison ivy - welts and itching.

We took the scenic route into Klamath Falls. It runs through this marshy ranch land, Mount Mazama in the background. Mount Mazama is what used to be on top of crater lake. The dogs, of course, woke up at the smell of cattle.

I have a cyst that has been acting up. Yes, I hope you aren't eating and reading. Anyway, I thought I should maybe get some antibiotics. I called an acquaintance in Klammath Falls, who recommended a doctor and a clinic. The doctor wasn't there and the clinic wouldn't treat me. Apparently they don't do out-of-towners. They suggested another clinic, which wanted $100 up front. I decided I would wait until morning and call my own doctor to see if he would give me a prescription long distance. I had to leave a message (of course) and haven't heard back. Guess I will have to suffer and see. We are headed to Frenchglen this morning, which is far from a restaurant, much less a doctor's office.

Last night was interesting. We stayed at the Maverick Motel in downtown Klamath Falls. It is right next to a place called the Creamery. The Creamery is not an ice cream shop. It is, in fact, some kind of bar-restaurant that likes to have live music. Outdoor live music. If you stay at the Maverick Motel, request a front room and not one in the back. Our room was thumping until around 10 (at least it didn't go all night).

We also went to KF's "Third Thursday", which is kind of a street fair. Some nice acoustic music, plenty of old timers with fiddles, double bass and guitar. It was too crowded for the dogs though. They should consider closing down the street for future events.

We are headed east again. The old Frenchglen Hotel is one of those "inn-in-the-middle-of-nowhere" kind of places, so it should be fun. Two nights there, and then who knows where?

Day One - Ashland

For some reason, with gas at a mere $4.25 we decided to drive around the great state of Oregon for a couple of weeks. Not the smartest idea in the world, but then we are not the smartest people in the world.

We actually almost left at our desired time. Michelle's superpower is packing, so she did a lot of the heavy lifting, but then I do most of the driving.

We stopped in Rice Hill for lunch at K-R drive-in, a hole in wall just off the interstate. They are apparently famous for their ice cream. We didn't have ice-cream. Michelle had a massive chili dog (good dog, mediocre chili). I had a burger - one of those drive in burgers that comes in a pouch with finely shredded lettuce. Nothing great, but worth the money. Half way through I realized I was eating a raw tomato. I invoked the deity that I would not succumb to salmonella or some more hideous ailment. I realize that salmonella is not usually life threatening, but I had a friend, Jack, who acquired it in Ecuador. Apparently it was a pretty bad strain, because he nearly died and was severely weakened for upwards of six weeks. So far so good.

I would recommend K-R on your way south, but I suggest you bring your own ketchup. Apparently the substance is a precious commodity. A tablespoon will be doled out to to you for $.25, if you ask the dull looking matron with appropriate supplication.


We made it to Medford and gassed up at Pilot, a kind of Wal-Mart/Gas-Stop/Rest Stop. I was honked at by a man with a 40 foot camper-trailer. I saw him earlier, and apparently he had been driving in circles in the lot for a good 20 minutes. I did not get a chance to check his plates. It was a hideous place. One of those places that makes you think about western culture circling the drain of history.

On to Ashland. We arrived and checked into Timber Lodge. Not a bad place - kind of a 50's motel (no timbers though). Took the dogs to the dog run north of downtown. A fine time was had by all. One of the best dog parks we've seen.

Dinner downtown at Greenleaf. Michelle had a memorable smoked salmon alfredo linguini here about 10 years ago. She had it again. Just as she remembered (she is a little bloated from the dairy).

Now in the Black Sheep, which had free Wi-Fi. Seeing Othello tonight. I haven't seen the play in quite a while. Saw the Verdi opera a few years ago (not a great production) - Verdi's best in my opinion. We were going to see Mid-Summer Night's Dream earlier today, but couldn't get cheap tickets. Ah well - we've seen that quite a few times. Perhaps I'll post a review later.

Oh - and today is our anniversary. Fourteen years ago we both jumped off the cliff together.