Morning at Horseshoe Bend, and ready to set out for Day Two.
Small rafts on a long river
The trail along the Rogue is pretty, but it’s also nicely broken up with old growth forests and some meadows, like this white oak savanna near Winkle Bar. One downside to meadows: ticks.
Just past this meadow, Jan and Jared stop to eat lunch near a tiny wooden cabin built by Western author Zane Grey.
Camp at the end of Day Two is at Mule Creek. Jan and Jared are happy to find a site with a shady spot on a sandy beach. This calls for an afternoon cup of tea.
A short distance into Day Three finds the trail passing high along a rocky canyon, with the Rogue River far below.
More trailside blossoms
Even though the Rogue passes through official wilderness which is closed to development, a few small lodges are grandfathered in. Jan and Jared stop to eat lunch on the nice deck at Paradise Lodge. After several days of backpacking, an ice cold soda is a treat.
There are tons of lizards on the trail. Some are so well camouflaged that you can’t see them before they spring off the trail to avoid being stepped on.
A rich forest with old-growth Douglas Firs in an area named Brushy Bar
Camp for Day Three is at Flora Dell, a riverside shelf of large rocks and sand.
Dawn on Day Four. Jared elected to sleep under the stars. Jan prefers to sleep with a thin barrier of tent fabric and mosquito netting between him and the outdoors.
Morning tea, then Jan and Jared hit the trail early.
They only have about 5 miles left to travel, but as they pass over a forested ridge on a bend in the river, they enjoy a final nature show. They hear the alarm cry of a bird, and Jared looks up in time to see a small bird dart into the cover of the tree canopy and zoom through the tree trunks. A second later, the hikers are both startled by a huge eagle rocketing through the trees in hot pursuit of the small bird. The eagle banks around the trees, but its wingspan is so large that the sound of its wingtips smacking against tree trunks can be heard. The birds quickly fly out of sight, so it’s unclear whether the small bird escaped its pursuer.
A short while later, Jan and Jared reach Foster Bar and the end of the Rogue River trail. They’ve traveled 40.6 miles, a good distance, over four days of perfect weather.
Anya really likes the taste of ginger. Really, really likes it. Every time she goes to her favorite restaurant, Samurai Noodle, she snacks on the beni shoga (red pickled ginger) they have on the table. It’s supposed to be a condiment, but she eats it straight. While waiting for her order to arrive, she can easily eat a small containerful.
When the restaurant staff saw Anya come into the restaurant this evening, they spontaneously brought her a large pile of beni shoga.
Our girls like to go to a pottery painting studio in Seattle. Today Anya picks up a nice blue mug she painted for her grandma.
For Mother’s Day this year, the girls said they wanted to do high tea — at our house. On Saturday, Anya helps Jan travel to various places to pick up things like clotted cream, while Liya and Bree help do the shopping at the local market. Sunday morning, Liya and Bree help make currant scones. It’s the first time we’ve tried making scones, so we’re relieved when they come out looking (and tasting) right. Each girl also prepares a different type of finger sandwich: cucumber, carrot salad, peanut butter and jelly. (Jan adds a salmon and cucumber sandwich as well.) Bree and Liya work out a way to stack regular plates and glasses to fake the tiered serving trays often use for high tea. Anya clears off the dining table and creates a flower centerpiece, while Bree helps lay out the tablecloth and place settings. Angela and Lyn are both impressed with their Mother’s Day tea!
Anya’s 7th grade class performs Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. She plays Demetrius, one of the four characters whose relationships are confused during their night in the woods. Anya steals some scenes in which she’s supposed to be sound asleep while other characters (like Oberon here) speak. As the other characters speak their dialogue, sawing snores can be heard rising from Anya’s Demetrius.
On Saturday mornings, Bree and Jan usually have breakfast together at the Starbucks down the street. Bree sometimes brings a stuffed animal. Today she went a little overboard.
Anya watches an episode of a reality TV show, “Cupcake Wars”, in which contestants compete to build extravagant cupcakes. She’s inspired to begin baking cupcakes. Liya and Bree join in as well.
Their first batch is just okay; the butter cream frosting doesn’t come out quite right. But their second batch, chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and berries, come out great.
Liya bikes with Jan to school, a trip of about 6 miles. (The previous week, Anya biked with Angela to school.)
Bree’s friend Hazel comes over for a playdate. Since this seems to be a month for cupcakes, Bree and Hazel bake cupcakes. For some reason, they’re enormously entertained by sifting flour and powdered sugar.
A long while back, we experienced a population explosion in our fish tank. We had a number of orange and black “Sunset Wag” platys which were nearly all female. We either acquired a male platy, or else one of the fish we picked up at a store was already pregnant. The population in the tank slowly climbed from about 5 fish to somewhere around 30.
Jan does some extensive cleaning of the tank today, which seems like as good a time as any to take a picture of the tank. Not shown: the other 20 fish hiding somewhere behind the rocks and plants.
Bree’s turn to bike with Jan to school.