March 28, 2026 - Go to Roseburg

 

Lawrence and Andrea

Title: March  28, 2026 - Go to Roseburg
Hike Info : Description :  Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type:Touring

 

Description:

By the time I got up on Saturday morning, both Andrea and Lawrence were already gone to Silver Falls State Park for their March Madness walk. That is 20 miles with an elevation gain of 2700’. Ah, to be young again and do that kind of challenge.

I got up at 7:00 and had my normal breakfast of granola. I putz around a bit until Sherri gets up at 8:30. I finished packing. There was a discussion of how long to pack for. For an explanation of what really seems like a silly statement: we have found that when we are going for a shorter stay, it is easier to carry in only the essentials and minimize that baggage. I put my medicines together and some underwear, socks and shirts. We had decided to only pack enough for the next two nights. If we stayed a night on the road back to Fresno, I would deal with that later. 

The original plan was to spend 1-3 nights getting back to Fresno. But rain is forecasted starting Monday and with Sherri being banged up, we will probably take one night to get back. First we will spend a couple of nights at Dennis and Bonnie's house. Dennis was my best man and roommate many years ago. If we got there early enough, they had talked about taking us on a hike to Toketee Falls, just east of Roseburg.

 

When we leave Salem at 11:00, that dims the possibility of going to the Falls. We had talked about doing the “No Kings March” in Eugene, but we also started late for that. Also we wanted to avoid the crowd there and not eat in Eugene. About the time we were thinking of stopping at a rest stop and having a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich, we saw an inviting sign for Creswell Bakery.

We get to the bakery about 12:30. Even for a small town, there is a nice line-not terribly long, just that there was one is an indicator that we will be in for a treat. There is a turkey provolone sandwich special today. We decided to take that and split it. Pretty tasty. By the time we finish, it is a little after 1:00.

 

 

We stopped at a rest stop for a few minutes and then we are off again. We get to Bonnie and Dennis’ at 2:20. They are waiting for us. It is good to see them and talk with them. We talked for over an hour. Bonnie had mentioned to Sherri earlier that they could take us to Wildlife Safari which is about ten miles away. They have season tickets to it with enough for guests. Sherri wants to go and I mention this to Dennis. They made it possible.

What is Wildlife Safari? It is a Jurassic Park type place, only thing instead of dinosaurs, it has all kinds of exotic animals: giraffes, antelope, elephants, rhinos and hippos, bears, lions, tigers and many other animals. You stay in your car and drive the premises on their roads. It is one way traffic. Today there is not much of a line in most places. The one place where the grizzlies are playing, people are trying to get good views of them and not moving. They are fun to watch. Another place is the tiger area.

When we get back, Bonnie gets dinner on the table and we have pot roast, carrots, potatoes and a salad. She has it all together within an half an hour of us returning. Wonder Woman she is. After dinner, Dennis serves us some soft-serve ice cream. Then there is more talking.

Dennis and Bonnie have a tradition to play a game each night. At 8:00, we started to play Wingspan. Sherri and I have played it before, but it has been awhile we have to get refreshed on the rules and strategy. This causes the game to be a bit slower than usual. We finish up about 10:45 and are back in the Barn to go to sleep by 11:00-a long day it is.

Extra Photo's

March 27, 2026 - Salem

 

Title: March  27, 2026 - Salem
Description : Extra Photo'

Description:

The Helical Planter

I seem to be making a habit of getting up at 7:20. I guess I am looking at what kind of light there is. My CGM says that I have low blood sugars, but the meter says I am OK. Everybody says to rely on the meter. I still have my granola breakfast. Lawrence goes off to work. Then Andrea gets up about 8:30 followed by Sherri at 9:00.

We had brought lemons from Fresno. Some of them are getting a bit soft, so Sherri is making lemon bars for the Salem group-which temporarily includes Sherri and I.

 

As Sherri is working on the bars, Andrea and I continue working on her planter. I look at what pieces we need to make the under the sidewalk piece work, Andrea continues to fill up the planter with dirt-actually augmenting the soil, trying to add nutrients and breaking up the clay.

Then it is off to Lowes for supplies and parts. When we get back, the pipe goes under the sidewalk and the various pieces and parts go on it to bring it to the surface. Then the irrigation line goes through the pipe. Lawrence and Andrea will put the soaker house and connect to the water supply later on. My part gets done by covering the whole with the dirt I took out of there. It almost seems like I knew what I was doing on this little project.

We have lunch at 12:30. I finish off the remains of yesterday’s lunch at Word of Mouth. Very filling. Then I take a rest for about 40 minutes.

Next up is a walk over to Oregon State Hospital. This is where One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest was filmed. There is a small museum which has a combination of information about this place, its history, the history of confinement for mental health, as well as sections about the movie. The museum is proud of serving as the backdrop for it. At first there was a strong dislike for the book, but as the director saw changes in care for those under his care, he realized that the book’s portrayal could be very beneficial. It was an interesting time there.

We got back to the house about 4:20. Andrea has a 5:00 book decorating appointment=not sure that book need to be decorated to be attractive, but she is thrilled to go to it. Lawrence comes home shortly afterwards.Sherri gets my muddy clothes soaked and washed.

Then the question is where do we eat? Lawrence said that he had not been to Wolfhound’s Bar and Grill. So that is where we go. Andrea meets us there. I am not terribly hungry after my lunch-just like yesterday. Sherri and I split a Shepherd’s Burger which comes with tater tots. Andrea has the same thing, only the whole burger. Lawrence has a Wagy Burger which is a slider. Sherri ordered a side of brussel sprouts-which the three devoured. Also Lawrence and Sherri have a ginger shake-there is oohs and aahs over that.

What is Andrea doing to her father?

After eating, we took a trip down to the Capitol Mall. The cherry trees are in full bloom and even though it is after 8:00, the mall is crowded with people strolling, enjoying this scene of nature. Salem has strung Japanese lanterns, which cast a subdued light on the blossoms. Oregon’s Gold Man stands tall above the Capitol building.

It is time to go back to the house as Lawrence and Andrea need to get ready for their 20 mile walk tomorrow at Silver Falls. Sherri and I try to leave them alone so they can get ready-we can get ready tomorrow morning. Then it is time to say good night and good bye as they will leave well before we get up. I get to bed about 10:20.

 

 

 

 

 

Extra Photo's

Exhibit at the Oregon State Hospital

Cherry flowers

Lawrence, Gary, Andrea, and Sherri on the Capitol Park

Gold Man

March 26, 2026 - Salem

Title: March  26, 2026 - Salem

Description:

Today may be more of a Sherri recovery day after yesterday’s fall. I got up at 7:30. Andrea got up close to the same time. Lawrence leaves for work shortly afterwards. Then Sherri gets up. She is definitely feeling yesterday’s fall. Her appearance is not as bad as I feared, but there is scrapped skin which did not show up yesterday. Also some bumps which have developed.

After breakfast Andrea convinces Sherri to seek advice from Kaiser. A video appointment is set up for 11:50. This gives Andrea and I enough time to unload the dirt which is still in back of the Highlander into her helical planter. This just about fills it up. We also talked about running the irrigation system over to the planter. This means going under a 2’ sidewalk. We start on that before Sherri gets on the phone with Kaiser.

Sherri’s doctor thinks that there is nothing broken, but she may have some bruising and pain for a couple of days. They leave it at that when we get back to Fresno next week, she can seek an appointment.

By this time, it is approaching 1 and we decide to go out to lunch at a place called Word of Mouth. We have been here before when in Salem. It is a converted house with food pretty much made in a more homey way. I have the Chicken Fried Steak which comes with potatoes, biscuits and gravey-a whole two plates. I finished about a third of it. Lawrence later this evening continues working on the chicken. Sherri has a burrito and Andrea a Rubeun sandwich. I am stuffed and do not need dinner that evening.

When we come home, I gain a truer knowledge of working with clay soil. Andrea had finished driving the ½” pipe under the sidewalk. We realized that we needed a longer piece. Also decided that it might not be bad to put a bigger pipe under the sidewalk. It took us a lot of muscle and about half an hour to remove it. The clay had adhered itself to the pipe and refused to let it go. Finally by twisting it we were able to .

Then it was time to rest time for 40 minutes. After that, Andrea and I went to Lowes to pick up pipe and other stuff. When we get back, it is almost 5:00. Andrea and Lawrence get ready to go and meet their new foster dog, RipTide. I work on driving the new pipe through. That takes longer than expected-clay again. About the time I finish up, Lawrence and Andrea come back.

Lawrence goes off to his climbing gym. Andrea, Sherri and I go to Costco and pick up an umbrella. When we come back, they eat. I am still full from lunch. As 10:00 approaches, it is my bed time.

March 25, 2026 - Salem

 

Andrea at Florfe

Title: March  25, 2026 - Salem
Hike Info : Description 

Description:

Today is a low key day. I go up at 7:50 with the light shining around the curtains in our room. Lawrence is working today and will be each day through Friday, so we will have only contact with him at night. Granola and toast for me for breakfast. This is about normal. Andrea and I talked for a while, mostly about gardening. Then Andrea takes off to drop off clothes at a shelter.

A project which Andrea is doing is creating a helical planter. She needs to fill it with dirt, so that is a task for today. Before going there, Sherri and Andrea stop at a coffee-florist shop called Florfe. Seems like it specializes in floral patterns in customer’s coffees. It looks decorative. Sherri notes that this place is like a fairy tale.

Florfe Coffee

Then off to a place to get clean planter soil for Andrea’s planter. We got what amounted to 8 buckets worth, about 40 gallons worth of soil. When we got back to the house, Andrea and I dumped it into the planter. Looks like more than another load to fill it up.

By this time, it is noon. I have a sandwich from yesterday. Then it is another trip for more dirt. This time it is about 45 gallons is what we get. Sherri notes that the Salem Costco has the umbrella she wants. So we will go there soon to secure it. After getting the dirt, Andrea stops by Lowes. But that is cut short as a person is coming out to measure their front door for a new one.

We don't see these in Fresno

We miss him, but Lawrence took care of it. When we got home. Lawrence and Andrea went out for a walk. I decided this would be a good time to lay down for a while. When I got up, all was peaceful. We will unload the dirt tomorrow. Maybe make another trip then to get more dirt,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gary walking the Oregon State Hospital grounds

After work, Lawrence went out for a run. When Andrea got up from her rest time, we all went out for a walk. That was a bit short lived as Lawrence called up and would like a ride. Sherri and I went on with our walk around the Oregon State Hospital. We were out for an hour or so. Sherri wanted to look at a house a street away; I came straight home. About ten minutes later, Sherri came in looking pretty bad. She had tripped over a crack and knocked her knee, hand and head. For the most part she was OK, sore and needing an ice pack.

Steven and us got on Zoom for a while. It is good to see him. Then time to make dinner. Sherri has me do it. Just a chicken quesadilla. Hers came out OK. Mine came out burnt. Oh well. After I cleaned up, I took a shower. It felt a lot better than the one in Bandon. Around 10:00, I went to bed.

March 19, 2026 - Go to Eureka

Title: March  19, 2026 - Go to Eureka

Hike Info : Description 

Hike Info:

Type: Car

From  Google Maps:

• Mileage: 450 miles
• Drive Time: 7:55

Description:

I got up at 6:30 and got a few things ready. Sherri surprises me and gets up while I am finishing up breakfast. I then spend a few minutes moving stuff out to the garage for future loading. I have been slack in getting trust tax information to the CPA to do the taxes for the trust. So I went off to do that at 8:00. When I returned, I helped Steven level sand in our patio area so he could put in pavers while we are gone. Then I load up the car. While the car does not look packed, the back end is full. But then again, I am not really prepared and we are going out for two weeks.

I start off driving. There are no issues on this segment of our drive. What we know for these next two weeks is that we are going up to David’s today in Eureka and staying through Saturday. Then joining Lawrence and Andrea in Bandon until Tuesday. We will follow them back to Salem through the following Saturday, then go down to Roseburg to stay for a couple of days. After that, we do not know. We will return by April 4th.

We talk a few minutes about possibilities, then talk about a variety of things. We do not stop in Turlock at our normal rest stop. Our first stop is in Elk Grove at our regular lunch stop-Leatherby’s. I have a turkey-cheese sandwich while Sherri’s was Jessie’s chicken sandwich. We topped it off by having a mint hot fudge sundae. What a great way to raise my blood sugar levels.

We popped over to Elk Grove’s Costco and filled up. The gas price has definitely gone up: $5.25 per gallon. Sherri then drives at 1:25 while I rest. She goes through Sacramento and Woodland. When we get to Wiliams, Sherri sees a cloud and thinks it is smoke. When we turned onto Highway 20, we saw the source of the smoke: a field was being burned. By the time we hit CLear Lake, Sherri is ready to give up driving for today. We get to a park with a bathroom about 3:45. Sherri drove for over two hours, a lot more than she is used to.

I drove for a bit more than an hour to our next rest stop. There were a couple of interesting things about this segment. First, more interesting to me than probably anybody else. A few miles after I started driving, I noticed a motorcycle with a yellow headlight following me. When I came to a passing lane, I expected the motorcycle to pass me. He did not, but other cars did. This was on Highway 20 and then when we turned onto 101, he followed us, never passing and mostly keeping a set pace behind us. Not sure why he is not passing us. I think there might be one of three things: first, was he feeling comfortable going at our pace and felt safe. Two, I had done something which really ticked him off-I would not have been aware of it. Last, I had done some damage-also not sure what I did. He left before we got to a rest stop.

Once we got onto 101, I was traveling along quite nicely. Sherri had just awoke when I glanced over at the southbound lane. At first I thought it was a man walking, but then I realized he was rolling along, like being on roller blades. I pointed at him for Sherri to see. He thought I was waving at him, which is also nice. I wonder how far he has gone and where he is going?

Our next stop was around 5pm at the Empire Camp Rest Stop. I take this opportunity to stand for awhile. I also get out my personal pharmacy and take my evening pills. After about 15 minutes we are on our way. There is not much more activity as we travel up to David’s. We munch almonds and Catalina Crunch as our snack-meal. We get to David’s a lot earlier than what I thought we would, at 6:45.

Once we unpacked, we sat around and just talked for over an hour. I think we kept David up-I know I was ready to go to bed and sleep. I got to bed about 9:30 and was asleep by 10:00, not even bothering to read more than just a few pages.

Places: OR-Salam

 

 

 

Salem-151' (Salem West) (44.9428975, -123.0350963 )
Legal: T__S, R__E, Sec__

Salem Ditch-431' (Stayton) (44.8062330, -122.8206450 )
Legal: T__S, R__E, Sec__

Salem Hills-842' (Sidney) (44.8540988, -123.1231892)
Legal: T__S, R__E, Sec__

Salem Ridge-3,967' (Mud Spring) (44.1464012, -119.8646861)
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Description : Trips : References : Pictures 


Description:

 Many things to do in Salem: visit the State Capitol, walk the Capital Mall,-particularly when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, Minto-Brown Park, the World Beat Festival in late June to name a few things. Also there is the Willamette museum

From Wikipedia:   the capital city of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood of West Salem is in Polk County.   

From GNIS:

• Salem:
• Capital of State of Oregon.
• County Seat
• On the Willamette River 
• Also known as Chemeketa 
• Salem Hills also known as:
• South Salem Hills
• Red Hills
• Red Clay Hills
• Illahee Hills
• Chemeketa Hills
• Ankeny Hills 

Trips:

• June 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, 2022 - Visit Andrea and Lawrence
• August  5, 2022 - Visit Andrea and Lawrence. Rachel is with us.
• January 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17, 2023 - Visit Andrea and Lawrence over MLK with Steven 
• September 27, 28, 29, and 30, 2024 - Visit Andrea and Lawrence
• March 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28, 2026 - Time with Andrea and Lawrence
•  July 21, 22 and 23, and 30 and 31, 2026-Spent a day in Salem on both sides of our trip to Canada.

References:

• Wikipedia
•  City of Salem
• Visit Oregon
•  Oregon Blue Book
•  Willamette Valley - 10 Historic Things to Do

Pictures:

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