an unexpected journey

in which our plucky heroine travels up the river to New Stonehenge.

On Tuesday night, there was a chance that G might be stopping here for a bit on his rambling round, so with that in mind, it seemed like a good idea to mix up some gingerbread. With impeccable timing, he came walking up to the front door of Acorn Cottage about five minutes after the cake came out of the oven... On hearing that I'd never been to the Henge, he suggested a road trip up the Columbia River (seemed like a delightful idea, especially since there was no work on my calendar for Wednesday) After a leisurely start the next morning, we headed east on I-84. At a rest stop somewhere before The Dalles, we found the most alarmingly pushy squirrels ever...

As we drove up to the parking area, a woman exited the building only to be chased to her truck by a group of huge grey squirrels. She called out, asking if they would attack; feeling very naughty, I replied "well of course they will, and one will run in front of you so you trip and fall, then they will take everything from your pockets..." She looked even more frightened, so I reassured her that I was spinning a tale, and that they were not dangerous!

The little rodents were strangely marked, being spotted from the shoulders on back with little white spots like a guinea, and really huge. It seems that visitors feed them, since they come right up to folks, and will grab things from your hands. It was a very odd feeling to have a squirrel touch my fingers with tiny clawed paws, though all I was offering was one of the maple samaras that were covering the ground. Leaving there, we continued east, and the further we traveled the brighter and sunnier the day became...

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In the years since my last visit to the eastern lands up the Columbia Gorge, the landscape has acquired some new denizens - there are myriads of windmills, with vanes dancing with the wind, generating electricity and looking far more delicately beautiful than I'd imagined. Of the various manmade additions to the landscape, these seem to be lovely rather than loathsome, perhaps a function of their clean and elegant design. It made me very happy to see them. A vision of a bright and wholesome future...
The light was extraordinary. The variety of mosses and lichens coloring the stones were just beautiful.
Inside the Henge, springtime green and shadow shapes dance, while light and shadow pattern the world; overhead the sky and clouds dance as well...

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Doorways and doorways and doorways, and on the far hillside, some of the windmills are barely visible.
The light and dark play hide and seek among the standing stones.

Look south through a doorway, far below is the river, and the distant Oregon plateau beyond.

Only in springtime is the grass ever so green. Not visible in this picture is the wind, which was an almost constant companion on the trip... but of course, the wind is the reason for the windmills moving into the neighborhood...

the Moon showed her lovely face in the late afternoon daytime sky, before we left the Henge to travel west again...

We also visited the Maryhill Museum, and Multnomah Falls, and had a tasty pub dinner at the Edgefield before finally returning to Acorn Cottage late that night. It was a wonderful day from beginning to end!