Tag: walks

Shipping Container

I happened to be walking through Northwest Portland today and came upon a very fun find in this tiny building. “Is that a shipping container?” I thought to myself, and I strolled closer to investigate.

Indeed, it is a shipping container, modified to be a business! This pop up second story probably lets in a lot of light.

The shop was not open, so I couldn’t see what the interior looked like.

It’s very fabulous front window provides a little peek inside. A google of the name brings up a website (www.ayleeandco.com) that is still under construction, but provides a link to a Facebook page that says this:
Aylee & Co. is an exclusive collection of jewels featuring semi-precious gems and metals with an emphasis on asymmetrical design, lots of layers and old Hollywood GLAMOUR! Each piece is made locally by designer/metalsmith, Aylee Cody.

Now I want to be a designer/metalsmith with a cute shop in a converted shipping container!

Or maybe I just want to live in a shipping container home. See here.

Sunflowers shading the walk

The house where I pick up my milk planted rows of sunflowers along their walkway and I’ve been watching them grow all summer long. They are very tall now, with huge heads and they have totally overwhelmed the walk.


My sunflowers are about three feet high, with heads one-eighth the size of these. I think mine don’t get enough sun or water.

This family will be eating sunflowers all winter long!

Heading home: Oregon Trail Interpretive Park.

On our way home, we stopped at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Park. This was a great park with two short loops that walked you through the pioneer experience.

A succinct summation of your supplies.

It was interested to see the different “roads.” In my mind a road is a paved surface that climbs and descends slowly and steadily. This park drove home (hah!) the idea that a road was where the wagons went. At one point in the park you can see where five “roads” converge.

This was a point in the journey when the pioneers were very tired and they still had to get over the mountains before the snow came.

A view of the trail.

This tree bears the scars of the wagons rolling over its roots. How cool is that? This actual tree witnessed pioneers rolling right over its roots.

More of the actual trail.

A wagon, for your picture taking pleasure.

The first time I saw a covered wagon, I was pretty disappointed. They seemed so small. They were also much taller than I expected.

Commemorative picture.

I can’t look at the back of a wagon without thinking of Jack, Laura Ingall’s dog.

Enterprise: More sights.

I’m guessing Enterprise is cold in the winter as many houses (and businesses) had firewood stacked outside.

If you come to the VFW, you can also pick up your Avon order.

On Sunday morning I discovered the other part of the Fairgrounds. Here is the grandstand.

And here is the sign that is near the 4-H building where I bet we could have seen some good crafts.

This tiny building houses an important function.

It’s the DMV!

Imagine my delight when I peeked in the window and saw three chairs to wait in. Next to those three chairs? A “take a number” machine. I guess lines can be long even in the tiny Enterprise DMV.

Downtown Enterprise.

The library.

Our motel which was clean and nice and had a huge bathroom because we had the handicapped room.

A B&B around the corner from our motel.

Enterprise Cemetery

For the Sunday early morning walk, I visited the cemetery. You knew I couldn’t resist. This was a great cemetery, with tremendous views.

One thing I didn’t like was this columbarium’s practice of putting the wives’ maiden names in quotes, as if they were Mafia nicknames. Here we have Steve “The Rifleman” Flemmi, and over here we have Myrna “Stubblefield” Witherrite. To me, the quotes around the maiden name imply fakery, as if they women weren’t really people until they took their husband’s last name.
This cemetery provides picnic tables.

What a view!

I liked the fact that this gravestone mentioned that they were the parents of JD, Debbie, Tammy & Eddie.

It’s not often that I see statuary plopped down on a gravestone. Also, the husband’s name is Lenthal, which is an awesome name. I figured it was unique enough that I might get a hit when I Googled it and I did:

“Bollman Funeral Home”

The Bollman Funeral Home is located in the beautiful Wallowa Valley of NE Oregon with roots going back 80 years. As in the past Lee A. Bollman and Lenthal A. Bollman III strive to offer personalized service as did their parents


I was interested in the Latin phrase “Dum Tacet Clamat” on this gravestone. It turns out to be the motto of the Woodman of the World which was a fraternal insurance-benefit society which still exists today.

An excerpt from a Tennyson poem adorns this grave.

His wife has a quote that is reminiscent of Herman Melville’s “Life’s a voyage that’s homeward bound.”

There were some very old graves (for a western state) in the cemetery including this one from 1917.

This is an even older grave, from 1904. Mr. Zurcher was also a veteran of the Civil War.

1891 was the oldest grave I found.

Next to the Reverend William Owneby lies the wife of Rev. William Owneby. This is totally reflective of the times, but still makes me cringe. To be fair, her first name is carved on the top, it just is hard to read. No birth date though. Just when she died.
I enjoy coming across these survey markers.

Sights from Enterprise

During my vacation, I’ve been resetting my sleep schedule. This involves getting up at 5:00 in the morning. When one resets their sleep schedule, one still has to get up at 5:00 in the morning, even when visiting far away Eastern Oregon. My mom and I were sharing a room, so I would get up at 5:00 and go for a long walk around Enterprise. Here are some sights I saw.

What exactly is a “Homestyle” Laundromat and Car Wash? Do you bring in large piles of stinky laundry and eat a meal and watch TV while your mother cleans your clothes? Is there a hose and bucket of soapy water to wash your car with? Sometimes I wonder about people’s choices for signs.

This picture is actually from later in the day. Wallowa Lake.

A peak in my bag. My ipod, a book on apple trees, water and a honey bear I purchased in Joseph at the Farmer’s Market are all visible.

I liked the teacups on the door. It turned out that we ate here the next morning.

Back to the early morning walk. On this morning, my goal was to find as many churches as I could.

If I were Shawn and Sara, I’d know what this statue configuration outside the church was called.

The church itself.

A sign in front of the church that struck me as funny.

I walked out near the airport, where I also found the LDS church, and found this view of the mountains.

The moon was just beginning to set.

If memory serves, this was the playground for the Assembly of God Church.

Look at the amazing view they have from their swings.

Also on this day, I found the elementary school and attempted unsuccessfully to find the high school. I did find a baseball field and basketball court, as well as a skateboarding park.

President’s Day Walk

Kelly and I took a President’s Day walk. This was also from Portland City Walk. It is walk 3, the Fernhill Park to Alberta Street Loop. It was a nice stretch of the legs and there was a lot of nice architectural details and yard art.

Like this. Isn’t the stonework on this chimney fantabulous?
And if you can’t afford custom stonework, perhaps you can customize with records in the window.
Or buy or make a whirlygig for your yard.
Or paint a masterpiece on your door.
This was a fun side trip. On the side yard of a house, you can see the variety of rain barrels the Rainbarrel Man has for sale.
In that small space he had several different styles along with a price list. You could even get a do-it-yourself kit.
Even the trees were artful.
This house used a lot of river rock in its construction. A lot. I would love to hear how it was hauled there.
This cactus didn’t fare well in the snow. I’m not sure if it will recover.
The little yard art raccoon had red reflectors for eyes and looked quite evil.
We stopped to teeter totter. Earlier, at a different park we went on the most excellent merry-go-round and I found out that merry-go-rounds make me a little sick now. Plus, it is difficult to jump off of them and stay upright. The teeter totter is more my current style.
And these were awesome teeter-totters. They were adjustable! So excellent for the parent and the child who weighs a small fraction of the adult’s weight.

MLK Day Walk.

What better way to celebrate MLK Day than to take a walk? Actually, I can think of a few better ways, like doing service, or going to an MLK celebration, but I did neither of those, so a walk was my better way. Kelly and I cracked open the new City Walks book I got for Christmas and began a walk that took us from the Kenton Neighborhood to the bluffs above Swan Island, to Swan Island itself. It was a pretty long walk (6.2 miles) and so we got a lot of talking done, too. New Mayor Sam Adams came up in conversation as he does from time to time. (This will be important a few blog posts from now.)

This is Kenton School. Or it was. Now it is a branch of the De La Salle North campus. Very near the school is the Lombard Transit Center and it is always fun to contrast the neat appearance of the De La Salle students with many of the other riders waiting for transit. I don’t think the early 21st century will be remembered fondly for its grooming.

Anyway, Eagle Eye Kelly asked, “What’s that, way up there?”
And then, Eagle Eye Kelly, who was been doing a lot of walks and learning about architecture identified it as most likely where the flag pole used to be. I was pretty impressed. Both with the old flag pole and with Eagle Eye Kelly.
Outside the Historic Kenton Hotel, now apartments, is this hitching post-themed bike rack.
It was a beautiful day, with a wind, but the wind brings clear blue skies, giving us this view of the Portland Skyline with Swan Island in the foreground.
A beautiful view of Mt. Hood.
“What the heck is this square thing?” we both wanted to know. The book refers to it as a “maw” and apparently, it is Freightliner’s Wind Tunnel. Although I’m not sure what will become of it once Freightliners closes their plant on Swan Island.
After that there were some lovely walks along the Willamette. It was interesting to contrast the river setting with the heavy industrial that is Swan Island. But then, Swan Island was built when the river was used almost exclusively for industry. Now that the industry is leaving, more and more the percentage of recreation increases. I just hope that we can afford to recreate, that is, that something is replacing those industry jobs.

The last leg of the walk is up Greeley Avenue. That’s a pretty busy road with a lot of truck traffic and it was an uphill walk. Still, Kelly and I planned our inauguration festivities if we were elected president, namely who the poets, ministers and performers would be. Mine were poet: Marge Piercy, minister: Tom Disrud. (although since I get two, I would also have Robert Fulghum). For performers I picked women, The Indigo Girls were mentioned. Then we were brainstorming other women. I wanted a figure of longevity. Kelly was explaining one of her picks I hadn’t heard of and she said, “she’s on that Dolly Parton cover album…” and both at the same time we exclaimed, “Dolly Parton!” So Ms. Parton would definately be at our inauguration.