Saturday, June 20, 2009

Trip To The Desert




I'm back from the desert, and enjoyed my stay very much. Before I post some photos....I learned:

  • Never to wade through sage brush and grass in flip flops. I emerged with my ankles spotted with red dots. Not to mention a strange lump by my foot....
  • Never joke in front of your sister about large piles of gravel being fire-ant hills. 
  • When a small-town (I mean a four building town) cook/waitress tells you that you might want to split orders due to the fantastic amounts of food served- you listen, and obey. No arguing. I've seen enough ogre-sized milkshakes and dinner-plate sized pancakes to last me a long time. A mightly long time.
  • That it is never a good idea to look to closely at your remaining water suply while in the middle of a sagebrush expanse. Floating crumbs in a jug of lukewarm water are quite disgusting.
Now that I've dispensed what wisdom I have about Oregon deserts (it isn't much!) I'll move on to the interesting part- the photos.


People from western Oregon (such as myself) like to refer to this place as a "desert." I guess it could be considered such, although my brother countered that it couldn't be since it "had no cactuses, no rattle snakes, and no sand." (And yes, I do happen to know the right way of expressing the idea of more than one cactus.) We do have a real desert, though. It's no Gobi, but we were happy. Pictures to follow.



The Silver Spur Motel, where we stayed the first night. (So....well, western!) Yes, it did have a TV. And no, Jessica, there we no antlers hanging over the bed. But don't feel bad for asking. You never know what you might find in the boonies.


Me.

This guy constantly reminded me that we were indeed on a safari.


At the Alvord Hot Spring. This was basically a small swimming pool out in the middle of nowhere with a tin shack sheltering half of it and a wooden dressing room.


After visiting the spring we drove another mile to the real desert. A little storm blew in, but we got out of the car and took pictures anyway.








I got my first driving lesson out there.
It ended rather abruptly. Which was kind of my choice. Though it was fun.





A phone both in the four-building town we stayed in that was situated close to the desert.

Friday evening we went back to the desert after dumping our stuff at the cabin house and eating dinner.





It was amazingly beautiful. The storm had passed.









Next morning we drove east....





Looking towards Nevada. We were about 20-30 miles from the border.




After a very long ride through a vast sagebrush expanse we entered Mountain Time. Eventually we reached Rome, Oregon- supposedly named for the rock formations resembling old columns situated nearby.











And then we drove seven hours to get home!


Hope you all have a good week!

natalie~

9 comments:

Wendy said...

What a great trip! I wish this had been posted on Sunday. It would have made a great addition to Small Town Snapshot Sunday. Maybe you can join us next week! :)

Elisabeth said...

Wow, those pictures are fabulous! Looks like you guys saw a bunch of awesome scenery.

On another note... why have I not noticed your new template before? This is what comes of using feedreaders.

Elizabeth J. said...

Those are all just fabulous! One of my favorites is the black and white picture of the car in the desert.

Anonymous said...

Cool pictures!!! Looks like you had fun. Too bad you can't walk through sagaebrush in flipflops!! I wear my flipflops everywhere! As you can tell from the title of my blog... Farmgirl in Flipflops... I guess it's pretty obvious!!

Anonymous said...

Hello Natalie...
Thanks so much for your encouraging comment on my blog! I'd be honored to be added to your blog roll. I loved those photos... and sweet car :).
Hmm... I'll keep an eye out on the Schola forums next year for your friend... I liked her blog alot.
~Meg

Cait said...

Living in the middle east, desert of course brings to mind images of endless rolling sand dunes, but that cracked ground is simply beautiful in a completely different way. I love it! My first driving lesson was in the desert as well (but the sandy kind; kind of crazy, but it's fun to off road when you don't know what you're doing!).
It looks like a fun trip!

love,
Cait

Jessica said...

Fantastic pictures! However I'm quite disappointed about the antlers. ;)

Cait said...

Seattle is the most beautiful city in America! At least in my opinion, but I'm biased ;) However, right now it's the only place stateside I could see myself living. Have fun when you visit! Go to Pikes Place Market!

Auntie said...

Hi -

I love these pictures!
Your comments on them too.

This is traveling book
material!

xoxox