our last gasp of the summer months. before nathan starts a new job, before julie starts her eastern european journey, before michael starts his last quarter at school, before i move back to seattle–we celebrated our oregon.

the trip started early and cloudy. hitting the road at creeps and stops, we passed by river terraces in celilo of lava and sand. we entered at this time, the journey through time…acknowledgement of an epic journey. nathan told us a 3,800 year old sandal of woven sage was found in a cave near us, as well as 12 white trucks in a row (he counted).

we stopped off the side of the road and explored the sage brush. julie found a dead porcupine, which was promptly kissed and excavated. michael found a wee truck in a bush, nathan found a metal picture frame, and many bones.

in wasco (a ghost town) we found heterosexual love tags, and fantasized about god, the 6th warrior. i bought new shades for $3 (did i pay julie back?). we passed monkland, and hills we obsessed about, carved lines: animal tracks? erosion? water movement? we couldn’t figure it out. much was discussed as to the semantic difference between trash, rubbish and waste as julie’s desmond dekker tape rolled on (girls like sand-intensify).

as we rolled over the painted hills, past the mountain identifier, an opening came of rolling gold, as we listened to pyha vuori–slivers of blades could be seen swiping behind the big gold bumps. the wind farm! michael recorded the hum like a thousand planes as we gaped and shivered at the gate.

on closer to fossil, to condon, while michael read aloud the history of wasco and marie barnette cooper, the first female banker in the area. did we know? the scots used lichen for dying fabric? julie talked of the secret tattoo (i got clouds and the word gaia on my ankle later in the evening).

nathan: i hope i find a fossil
me: i hope i find myself
nathan: wo, that’d be weird, like on a ridge…and there you are

“favorite michael” taken by sir nathan hodges. all rights reserved.

when we travelled past the pine forest, to brian’s homestead, we climbed the little hills in a cold mist. michael and nathan explored the wondrous lichen while julie and i made rock friends. the boys found a deer bed under a juniper tree, and we all smelled it’s essence and laid around it. later nathan set up a fire in the wood stove as we listened to records (mix coming soon!). michael read a poem that struck us all:

fate
the lightning spoke one stormy night:
“o wretched sheep, i bring you light!”

the poor sheep cowering blindly back
had rump and and left side burned jet black

since then it’s spent its days in gloom;
why did that happen, and from whom?

by christian morgenstern

we sauna’d in brian’s little shack with wood stove along with a giant rock until i felt like fainting. time naked in the desert is precious. the next days consisted of long journeys into the hills finding volcanic remains, packs of deer, cows, bunnies and a great owl. the soundtrack of screetching hawks and fall songbirds were haunting.

the fossil bed trip came and we dug away behind the high school with tools given by resident identifyer karyn. metasequoia (the oregon fossil) were found, as we chipped away 30 million year old layers of a lake bed (see julie’s geologically sound blog on the experience). the road back was tough, i didn’t want to go. i read his dark materials furiously and peeked up at my friends, desperately trying to soak all the magic i could. the city was not wanted, even the truck stop at biggs was so frightening, though nestled in dramatic canyons. i began to get overwhelmed with the real life ahead, getting a phone call from my mom that my childhood dog, nova scotia retriever zephyr, might be dead before i got back home. it was extremely aching, the knowledge that these were among my last moments in oregon…

thanks to brian sharpe for letting us stay in his beautiful home! thanks to nathan hodges for his beautiful photography, immense lichen knowledge, fire building skills and explorative energy. thanks to julie noble for dropping bombs of knowledge and hilarity, sensitivity and adventure, and GAMES! thanks last to michael james bunsen for being so freaking cool in the desert.