Hot Springs: Nature's Indulgence

I have decided that hot springs and wineries (or distilleries, I suppose) make great focal points for travel. Inexpensive sensory indulgence.

I had a bit of a cross section of hot springs on this Oregon trip. The first one I went to was part of a hippie-ish campsite outside of Ashland. It had a thermal swimming pool as well as a hotter soaking pool; however, I spent most of the afternoon wandering around town, and didn't get back until the evening and the end of family hours. Which meant that everyone was soaking nude. I didn't feel like hanging out and chit-chatting naked with young dreaded strangers, so I forked up a little extra and got a private room. It was basically a bathroom with hot water through the tap, except the tapwater smelled vaguely sulfurous. But soaked and read and enjoyed myself. These 20-something dreaded hippies irritate me. I am not a good person. ;-)

The second hot springs was located near the North Umpqua River, a little north of Crater Lake, and a 40 minute hike in through the woods. It was absolutely gorgeous. I got there late in the day, and there was one other person there. Another nude. But more than one pool, so we both had our privacy. There is a main pool hollowed out to be a little deeper, and sheltered by a lean-to, and then a series of three pools out in the open on the far side of the clearing. All the pools look out into a little ravine over the river. The guy that was there was in the lean-to, so I picked out the middle of the three other pools. He left not too long after I got here, and donated a remaining Coors Light to my soaking experience. I couldn't pass it up... A nice enough guy, somewhere in his late 50s, who had been here with a girlfriend or two back in the 70s. He left me a note on my windshield, back at the trailhead, inviting me and my "friends" to his campsite for a camp-cooked meal and some coffee, tea, beer, or liquor. Wigs a single female traveler out a bit, but was a... sweet?... offer, and didn't see him again.

But an awesome hot springs. I understand it gets a bit crowded, but not when I was there.



The last hot springs I went to was on the Washington side of the Columbia River, not too far from Cascade Locks. It was a turn-of-the-century pioneering style bathhouse. Reminded me of the place in Hot Springs, Arkansas, although with much rougher edges. It, too, was relatively quiet, being in the middle of a weekday, and quite pleasant. Had an almost painfully hot soak for about 30-45 minutes, and then was taken out and wrapped in sheets and towels and steamed on a hospital bed for another 45 minutes. Shower, and then good to go.

Hippies, Shakespeare, and Crater Lake

My official destination for this roadtrip was Crater Lake National Park. However, it was drawn to my attention that I could swing by the town of Ashland, Oregon, which I had read about in outdoorsy magazines in the same articles as Asheville, NC. Ashland has a thriving dreaded nouveau-hippie scene, a 70+-year-old internationally-renowned 10-month-long Shakespeare festival that attracts middle-aged Brits, an active acoustic music scene, and enough cool old architecture being renovated to keep a moderate population of craftsman and builders employed (which I learned when I jumped into a conversation between a carpenter and and plumber talking about Pex, one morning sitting on the deck of a coffee shop, while a 20-something guy was talking with some regulars about his gig last night while playing around on his guitar), and is close to good hiking and some hot springs. An interesting place, needless to say.

Arrived at Crater Lake around 4p. I was intending to camp in the park only to find that the place starts to close up for the season around the end of September. On an employee's suggestion, I drive, past patches of early snow, along the northwest rim of the lake, to a camping area just outside the park. The first place I come to has a sign posted out front saying it is closing the next day, October 14. It is cold and dark, with patches of snow under the trees, and there are no hot showers, and I am cranky and not looking forward to another freezing night, and there are no towns big enough to have motels anywhere nearby. So I drive back down the road, take another fork, and wind up at a campsite that is not closing until the 15th. There is a site still lit up by the sun, and somehow this seems warmer, so I make a fire, make dinner, set up my tent, read a bit before bed, drink a wee dram of Macallans, and go to bed relatively contented, and sleep relatively warm.

Crater Lake is pretty much exactly as its name describes. There are not really any big long hiking trails, just a few ascents to lookouts, and paved trails. I suppose if one dedicated more time, there are some through-trails along other areas of the park, but I am here as a tourist. So I do two short hikes, and then drive the rim road. It is beautiful, in a stark sort of way.






But I met a cute and curious little guy. A pine marten.

On the Road. Again.

Got off the Spirit October 9 in Portland, Oregon. My timing for October was based around being back in Seattle by the end of the month in order to get the Explorer ready to head to San Francisco and then Hawaii in mid-November. I had a flight from Seattle on the 20th to fly east and see family in New York and Philadelphia. Thus, despite the Hawaii season being canceled, I still had a week or so to drift before responsibilities of family and being unemployed caught up with me.

I decided to drive a loop in Oregon. Started in Astoria, a town I have always liked and which has a bakery named Blue Scorcher with this delicious-looking artisan bread with a tough chewy crust. It was a worthy place to begin. Drove down the coast, stopping to camp at any place that didn't seem to be too dominated by RVs. Oregon does indeed seem to be RV central. The first campsite at which I stayed was a relatively popular placed called Beverly Beach, and had little heated yurts you could rent if you so chose. As the weather stayed gorgeous and sunny and blue, it also got colder and colder, and I, with my 15F down sleeping bag and three-season tent, was nonetheless freezing. Each night I added layers, until I was sleeping in a thermal shirt, sweater, thermal pants, fleece pants, rain pants, gloves and a fleece hat, inside my sleeping bag, and with a towel and various jackets piled outside by bag to keep in the heat . Sadly, I never again encountered a campground with yurts.

But it was a gorgeous trip, and it had been a long time since I'd traveled on my own. Many of my assumptions about my life had rather recently been pulled out from under me, and while an intense period of introspection was just what I needed at the time, 3:30am freezing in a tent in some unknown place in Oregon can be a depressing place to be. But it was a good trip.

Cape Blanco State Park

Left the coast and drove over a pass on a small road that I had seen on the map, and which was labeled "road closed in winter," but my GPS seemed to think it was a valid route, and it was only mid-October. But I saw my first snow of the year! I am not used to this climate...

Patting my own belly; scratching my own back. Or some such

Anyway, just a quick note to follow up on the previous. When I heard this news about the cancellation of the Hawaii season, I was working on one of the company's two small boats, the Safari Spirit as the Mate/Engineer. Can I say, that is pretty much the first job I have had of which I am thoroughly proud. I did not necessarily have any experience as an Engineer, but I did fine and learned heaps - oil changes on the mains and all three generators, changing fuel filters and raw water pumps, tearing a TV apart, fixing a few small things. No one died or got hurt and we always got things running again. Although sometimes we weren't sure quite how... And additionally started learning the navigation of the River and driving in the locks. Oh, yeah, and it was Fun! Fun crew, great guests, interesting itinerary, beautiful area, rope-swinging off the top deck...

This is why I came to this company. Sigh. All things come to an end...

Paradise Postponed

The economic panic is in full swing.

Our company's owner all of a sudden has taken an interest in how well our little organization is turning a profit, and has sent in one of his trusted to whip ASC into shape. Panic ensues, everything is up in the air, and, not surprisingly, we hear that the Safari Explorer's inaugural Hawaii season, to take place this winter 2008-09, has been canceled. Or postponed, more officially. Not especially shocking, as sales had been low for the new itinerary, and it is a long trip over and a long inaugural season, especially for this dismal economic environment.

So, as people panic, stocks crash, food and gas prices soar, and the companies that aren't laying off huge percentages of workers have instituted hiring freezes, my lovely little place of employment is falling back on its defense of seasonal employment, and sending a new little flock out into the unemployment lines and onto the dole.

;-)

For me, this is not necessarily a bad thing, as I have been talking about wanting to put roots ashore. However, after nine months working shipyard in a dreary and drizzly Seattle, followed by a long, cold and wet Alaska summer, I was looking forward to a few months in the sun. Seattle in November isn't the most inspiring place from which to start a new life path. And the word on the street is the world is imploding and there aren't any jobs to be had anyway. But I'm trying to keep a positive attitude.

So, my two general directions of thought are: Seattle - take any job I can get and build from there; or Korea - teaching English. A friend of mine from Argentina (actually, she's from Iowa, but...) has been over there for the past year and will be returning and it is one of those paths that I have explored yet on which I have never followed through. And it would be so nice to do something new and adventurous and challenging, yet not have to start from scratch, completely on my own... A last travel hurrah?

Although, currently, I am leaning towards Seattle. It's a great town: good food, music, bars. Close to the water and skiing and hiking and wineries. Hot springs. And I have friends there. A few even that aren't sailing on boats. And that has been an aspect of life I have increasingly missed over these past five years of being a nomad. So we'll see. I go back and forth, but seem to be falling more and more often on the Seattle side of things.