Sunday, May 17, 2009

Another fun adventure with Lucy.

Lucy and I set off last Saturday morning at 7:30am for a day of road tripping. I was feeling antsy and needed to get out of the city and Lucy wanted to test out her new camera. Out goal for the day was to head to Oregon to see Multnomah Falls then head over to see a replica of Stone Henge in Maryhill Washington. This was the plan for the day but as we drove we decided to add to it a bit by heading to Tillamok for ice cream then end the day with dinner in Astoria. I will get back to that little adventure later.

Highlights:



Multnomah Falls is a beautiful place surrounded by trees with a lot of trails surrounding the falls. There were plenty of tourists roaming about which made walking the trails slightly congested. I was really looking forward to taking pictures but was disappointed to find that my camera had been left on all night and so the battery was dead. Thankfully I have learned to be prepared so I brought a second camera with me...which I left in my car in the parking lot across the street. I was being too lazy to walk back and figured I would get pictures from Lucy. The picture you see above is what I took from the parking lot.


Our next stop on our adventure was Stone Henge in Maryhill, Washington. Stone Henge is a world war I memorial created by Sam Hill in the early 1900s. The project began when Hill was mistakenly informed that the original Stonehenge had been used as a sacrificial site. He thus constructed his replica as a reminder that “humanity is still being sacrificed to the god of war.


The dedication plaque on this American Stonehenge reads:

"In memory of the soldiers of Klickitat County who gave their lives in defense of their country. This monument is erected in the hope that others inspired by the example of their valor and their heroism may share in that love of liberty and burn with that fire of patriotism which death can alone quench."


Not only was this an interesting place to visit on a sunny Saturday afternoon, but it was also a fun way to learn about Maryhill's history. Lucy and I
spent a little time at the Maryhill museum where they house some of Rodin's sculptures and artwork. I am not a huge fan of Rodin but it was worth seeing.

In the parking lot of the museum Lucy and I pulled out our map and figured out which route we needed to take to get over to the coast of Oregon. It was 4:30 in the afternoon and I started to question whether we would make it to Tillamok before it closed for the day. Lucy and I decided to bypass Tillamok and head straight to Asotria. We were feeling really proud of ourselves for being able to navigate so well and actually reach our destinations without getting lost...we probably should have waited until we made it back to I-5 before we got too excited.

We made it to Astoria by 7pm and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the local stores were hosting an art walk. Hunger out weighed our need to be culturally filled so we found a little Italian restaurant and hunkered in. It was prom night in Astoria so we found many scantily clad girls roaming the streets. There was a couple sitting close to up where the girl, in her pretty, barely there yellow dress spent most of the evening trying to keep her naughty bits from making an entrance of their own. Apparently Astoria has not heard of double stick tape. Lucy and I wondered whose parents let them leave the house like that.


With our tummies full and a very long drive ahead of us, Lucy and I headed on the 101 toward home. It was about 9:30pm at that point and we were both getting tired. We were doing really well until we came to a point where we could either go straight or turn right. Neither sign said 101 on it so we guessed as to which way we needed to go. Well...we guessed wrong. About 30 minutes later we were driving down what seemed to be a residential street and I jokingly said to Lucy, "wouldn't it be funny if this ends up being a dead end"? A block or two later Lucy says, "are we on Joe John road? Did that just say Joe John road"? (by the way, who names a street Joe John road?) Sure enough we were on the road of Joe John which confirmed our suspicions; we were going the wrong way!

I turned around and made my way back to highway 103, which we could not find on the map at first. We made sure to back track to the fork in the road we had come across earlier and found our way to 101. Feeling a little relieved to be on a somewhat familiar highway Lucy and I started chatting. It was right about then that a cop pulled up behind me and pulled me over...nice. Well, if you are anything like me you don't take out your old insurance or registration forms when you get the new ones. I proceeded to hand the police officer one expired registration/insurance form after another. When I finally found the correct forms it was all I could do to keep from laughing at the situation. The man took pity on me and let me go with a warning, which I was incredibly thankful for.

Adventures aside, I finally dropped Lucy off at her house at about 2:30am and crawled into my own bed after 3am. We had a great time visiting new spots and creating new memories. Hopefully this will inspire you to go visit some of these places, it is worth the drive.

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