Portland

Yesterday we visited Bridge Meadows, an intergenerational living project where seniors and families of adopted kids share an apt. complex, and all are involved in helping the kids. This is extremely appealing, but the waiting list is years long. Something to think about.

Portland is a fine town, funky and creative as the Bay Area was once upon a time (before the Dot Com invasion, for example.) Smaller and more relaxed, too, and full of parks where wildlife abounds. yesterday we hiked through a park where douglas fir, ponderosa pines, Oregon ash, and many other stands of native trees thrive. A wetland was home to many ducks, including the somewhat elusive hooded mergansers. We heard a pilleated woodpecker pounding on a tree, but couldn't spot it. These are the big woodpeckers, their pounding sounds more like single strokes than other woodpeckers' rapid rat-a tat.

There are funky cafes and threatres and cafes here, teriffic book stores, many interesting projects, and a generally friendly feel to the town. We will pass through here again in some form.

What is an ecovillage?

We're staying at coho Ecovillage, outside of Corvalis, Oregon, to investigate the question of whether we might want to live this way at any point. It's fascinating and complex, many issues we have to ponder. An ecovillage is something like a co-housing project, with more of an ecological focus. This one is on a nice plot of land near town, and near the Williamette River. The area is very bikable, and there are busses.

This is a multi-generational community, with many kids (who like my stories.) Yesterday there was a potluck, where everyone provided home made soup or bread (we brought bread.) Very nice dinner aith good folks, the chocolate truffles were also yummy. The people come from a wide range of backgrounds... teachers, scientists, dancers, retired folks, and many more. We are about to go to a community meeting to see how they deal with sticky issues... far too much to explain here. It will give us more to ponder.

Corvalis is a sweet town, we have passed through here before and like it quite a bit. A very literate, eco oriented place in between the Cascade Mts. and the coast. In winter, huge flocks of Brandt's geese circle the town. Again, though, there are many issues we need to ponder and investigate about life here.
Tomorrow we will head from Portland, where we will look at another community and hopefully meet an old friend. More to come.

Is coastal Oregon the third world?

It's interesting, there were things about traveling up the lovely, rocky coast of Oregon today that reminded us a bit of travel in Central America last summer. A bit. The cultural and political differences are vast, of course, But there we were in a funky shuttle full of people who knew each other well and who talked in detail about the region. The most boisterous was a guy named Mike, who seemed like he was in his early 30s. He, his fiancee, and their two kids had come to Oregon because a friend could get them Section 8 housing. "It's the most beautiful place I've ever lived in, but the most depressed", he said. He loved the beaches and whales, but they wereleaving next week on a Greyhound for Arkansas. He expected to get a job working in a chicken packaging place (I think). He hoped to livecheaply there, and get an inexpensive house with an acre of land.

He talked about how people in one town we passed through were all crazy and/or drunk (the driver agreed), and how meth labs were common in some areas. He was a funny, gregarious guy, really, but someone who had lead a life of not so quiet desperation, and who had moved about from necessity, not choice, Ok, this isn's Central America... but there are paralells.

We're in Eugene, Oregon for the evening, trying to figure out what to do for New Years... maybe a movie on TV, the events we saw on the Internet seem to not be happening. Tomorrow we will be in Corvalis, Oregon visiting an ecovillage. More to come.

OREGON COAST!

We headed north of town today to hike along the coast in search of whales. No whales, although Kate may have seen a distant spout. California gray whales are migrating from Alaska to the coast of Baja, California (Mexico) now. They spend the autumn and winter there; they mate en route, and the babies are born near Mexico. They will return to Alaska in the spring.

We saw no whales, but the rock formations off the coast ( the IMMENSE formations!) resemple whales. One tall, narrow formation looked like a whale breaching - rising from the water with its eyes facing the sky. Another looked like a seal, with its nose in the air. A third (the largest) reminded me of a whale emerging from the water to take a breath, Real whales are covered with barnacles that hitch a ride on them. This rock was covered with shrubs and one tall tree (a Douglas fir, I think, it was pretty distant.) Other rocks like fallen black hailstones rested off shore; the wind whistled through one sea arch. Astounding.

This park is home to many intertidal zone areas, but the tide was too high for us to explore them. We had fun watching chickarees (small squirrels) scurrying up and down tree trunks. One red shouldered hawk called to us, "Pyew! Pyew! Pyew!" A very cool day.

Toomorrow we head for Eugene, where we will spend New Year's Eve. From there we will go to Corvalis, where we will spend two days visiting an ecovillage. We may be busy over the next few days, but will check in when we can, and will tell you what an ecovillage is.

Congestion and beauty

Brookings is a very car oriented town. I-101 is the main street going through town. As I mentioned yesterday... cars, cars, and more cars!  It is fairly easy to get away from all this by going to the back neighborhoods, only problem being that there are very aggresive guard dogs in front of houses, including some that will nearly leap over the fences that surround and protect their houses. Scary,

People here are quite friendly. We had a discussion in a supermarket with a woman who told us wh Brookings is great for vegetarians. We also had a discussion with our desk clerk, who told us all about how much she thinks people who get tattooes and dye their hair purple or pink won;t feel at home in rural Oregon. She laughed her way through this conversation.

Beaches here are lovely. The sand is bkacl, it originated as basalt that was thrown from volcanoes. Huge basalt bounders and other rock formations stand right off shore. The formations are twisted and torn in a thousand angles, the way volcanic rocks often are. Cormorants, large black ocean birds, sit on rock formations, and black oystercatchers
forage on the beach, grapping food in their crimson beaks. Meantime, the ocean crashes, and will not stop. The sun is blinding gold when it sets.

A preliminary description. More to come.

Some photos from Kate --

Two city parks in Aracta - Arcata Marsh and the Community Forest:

 

Elk herd along 101

Coast of Oregon

One thing.  about the rural pacific Northwest is that it seems to be a big community. Everyone appears to know everyone else; bus rides come across as community gathrings.  tToday we rode a small bus from Smith River to Brookings. Passengers were on a real friendly basis. Interesting discussions, One friendly woman, with a great smile (in spite of missing front teeth) told everyone, "I hate that Walmart! They've messed it up!" There was consensus here,

We are in Brookings, a town on the southern coast. At first glance, this town should be avoided. Main street is a long strip with McDonald's, Ace Hardware, and other chains tossed in with car dealerships and some local businesses, all stretching away ad infinatum in the rain. There is much more than meets the eye. We found a lovely coastal park, with rock formations and cliffs greeting the Pacific. It was too rainy for much exploration, but we should have better weather for the next few days.

Southern Oregon does appear to be very stratified,. We found posters on the main drag, stating "Pray for economic recovery in Curry County." Kate found an article saying that the county is close to insolvency. There is no sales tax in most of Oregon, but there is talk of putting it on the ballot here. We've read that meth labs are common on the southern coast - I don't know if that is more than a rumor. But there are gated communities right off the main drag too. We'll see what we learn in the next two days.

For the record, marijuana plots in wilderness areas are a big problem around Arcata. One local man told us they are owned by Mexican drug cartels, who care nothing about the environment and move on after they have wrecked places. We've read that ownership is
more complex than that, but it takes some investigation. Not good, at any rate.  I am for decriminilazation of marijuana, but it shouldn't be grown in wild places.

The ride from Arcata to Brookings was beautiful. Some of the coastal mountains had snow in their higher areas. There were many rivers, redwoods, and a lovely coastline. At one point we saw a herd of elk resting in a field next to the road. People had gotten out of cars to phototgraph them. One dingledorf was jumping up and down to get a reaction from them.
Fortunetly, they only stared at him.

Enough for now, but more to come.