Union is a charming and tiny town with several historic buildings. This building was the Railroad offices and was built in the 1890s.
Our six day loop included riding through lots of pastureland.
Oregon has wonderfully scenic barns. Pete enjoyed taking photos of them.
We rode on the Grand Tour scenic bikeway. Oregon has a number of routes designed for cycle touring and riding throughout the state.
Then we turned onto the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, which we'd continue riding on it for most of the next five days.
It was late in the season for wild flowers but we did see lots of these pink flowers.
Baker City was a delightful surprise for us. The city has done a great job of encouraging restoration of its historic buildings, such as the Geiser Grand Hotel.
And we ate two delicious meals at the Lone Pine Cafe. Pete had their pulled pork sandwich salad.
And Kristina had their Bahn Mi salad, which was both authentically Vietnamese and creatively served as a salad. We liked that they identified the source of their pork as nearby Fluit Family Farm.
The next morning we were back at the Lone Pine when then opened. They are a cycling friendly business, as you can see by the framed jersey behind Kristina.
This is a view of the valley called Lone Pine, named after a single pine tree that proudly stood nearby. Sometime during the period of US western expansion, the tree was felled by an overzealous migrant.
Outside of Baker City the scenery changed to high desert with a riparian zone that bordered the Powder River. This is Hole in the Wall Gulch where years ago a landslide wiped out the highway. The highway has since been rerouted to a higher spot where we took this photo.
This day's ride was along part of the TransAmerica Trail. We stopped to talk to these guys who started on the East Coast and been riding for more than 50 days!
We stopped for water in the town of Richland and noticed these western-themed sculptures. Pete is by Flips.
Kristina is in front of Hitching Post.
We rode by several farms that had Pine Valley Ranch signs, and we learned later that they are the largest cattle ranching operation in this area.
This is one of the Pine Valley Ranch barns.
We rode to the town of Halfway. The town was named halfway because it was between the towns of Cornucopia (which no longer exists) and Pine (which is now smaller than Halfway). Coincidentally it's about halfway between the equator and the North Pole.
We spent two nights at the Pine Valley Lodge in Halfway. We learned that the lodge has the same owner as the cattle ranches.
We liked the decorations at the lodge, like this blue guard dog statue.
We stayed an extra night in Halfway so we could ride out to Hells Canyon. On our way out of town, Pete stopped to photograph another barn.
We crossed this bridge over the Snake River and into Idaho. The Snake River has three hydropower dams on it.
We rode along the Hells Canyon reservoir. While there are rugged hills in Hells Canyon area, we were surprised that it didn’t seem to live up to its name. We thought the scenery in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison was more interesting.
We noticed that the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway signs here have different colors.
We liked how the sign matched our view of the reservoir and mountains. Oregon has the most scenic byways of any state, 13 in total, and we enjoyed riding on them.
We saw a lot of plum trees in Hells Canyon, and we wondered who had planted them.
Then we came across these two graves. John Eckles and Archibald Richie were friends and fruit merchants here during the gold rush. They planted 500 trees on twenty five acres, and supplied the miners with fresh fruits and vegetables. We saw mostly plum and walnut trees, but learned that they had grown apples, peaches, pears, cherries, plums, grapes, nut trees and more.
There are boat tours on the reservoir, and we couldn’t resist photographing this waving bear statue of one of the boating companies.
The longest day on the tour was the ride from Halfway to Joseph. We rode 125 kilometers mostly through the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, and the scenery was great.
Our day became longer when we ran over a tack, which required Pete to change the front inner tube.
And then we got a flat in the back tire about an hour later. By the time we rolled into Joseph, we were really hungry and tired!
The town of Joseph is named for Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe. Here's a link to his brief autobiography.
We stayed near Wallowa Lake, and took these photos the next morning.
Wallowa Lake was formed by glacial activity. It's a ribbon lake with the banks of the lake made of glacial moraines.
The next day we rode through pastureland near Joseph.
There were more cool barns to photograph, such as the Triple Creek Ranch barn.
We were happy to capture this historic Dodge truck as it drove past the barn.
On the sixth day our ride took us by the Blue Banana, a roadside cafe. We were happy to stop to take photos of this fun place. Notice the plane flying into and the car driving into the cafe.
Inside the Blue Banana there was a sitting area that included the back seat of the Volkswagen beetle.
Here's a pretty view of the Wallowa River, which we enjoyed riding along.
In the town of Wallowa we stopped to visit the Wallowa Band Nez Perce Trail Interpretive Center. We learned about their Wallowa Homeland Project that started in 1989. Their goals include promoting the Nez Perce culture, developing a celebration grounds, and telling the story of the Nez Perce Trail.
Just outside of Wallowa is their 320 acre celebration grounds. We visited on the day before their annual Nez Perce Tamkaliks Celebration and Friendship Feast. Here's the entrance gate.
Participants were starting to set up tee pees on the grounds.
The beautiful arbor includes bleachers in the round. The parachute-like covering hadn't been put up in the arbor when we visited.
Here's a photo that shows the arbor roof and bleacher benches.
These sculptures represent the Nez Perce people being forced to leave their homeland and travel almost 1,900 Kms from Wallowa through Wyoming and up to the northern border of Montana on the Nez Perce Trail. We learned that in 1965 Congress sanctioned the Nez Perce National Historic Park, which includes 38 points of historical interest about the Nez Perce and is managed by the National Park Service.
After leaving the celebration grounds, we rode again on the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway.
As we rode towards Union, we saw lots of golden wheat fields that looked ready to be harvested.
This is the Opera House in Elgin, which originally was the City Hall.
We had to stop for one last photo of this lovely barn before we finished our tour and rode into Union. On our six day ride we rode 626 kilometers and climbed almost 7,000 meters.
Our convenient roads have a hidden tragedy of causing the deaths of countless animals every year. These are deer bones on a barbed wire fence, where probably a wounded deer tried to jump but was too injured to free itself from the wire.
We saw other dead wildlife besides deer, such as porcupines, coyotes, and, surprisingly, a number of birds. This little fawn didn't have much of a life before being killed by a car. When you're driving in a rural area, please remember to be aware and give wildlife a brake!
From eastern Oregon we drove to Portland. The heavy winter rains have resulted in a bumper crop of blackberries, so we picked and ate a lot.
We enjoyed lunch of gyro sandwich and fried pig's ears at Lardo’s, our favorite place for sandwiches in Portland.
One day we rode along the Sandy River and out towards Lolo Pass. In the woods it was common to see moose and bear sculptures.
We loved the pho at the new Rose VL Vietnamese restaurant.
Inspired by the great Vietnamese food in Portland, we made our own Bahn Mi sandwiches.
Pete is enjoying his sandwich after riding.
We rode with the Portland Wheelmen ride leaders Dean (left) and Roger (right). We were impressed to hear that Dean is 82 and still rides every day in the summer!
We had ridden with the Wheelmen last year, so it was fun to catch up with them. For more photos of our time in Portland last summer, check out this blog post.
The Wheelmen rides that we participated in started in Gresham, which has a charming downtown. This is the 1913 Tudor-style Carnegie Library building.
Of course we had to take a photo of the salmon on the manhole cover in downtown Gresham. It's a cool reminder that the salmon return to spawn in the nearby Columbia River.
Last summer we had eaten at a northern Thai restaurant named Langbaan and loved it, so we were excited to go back. We sat at the bar so we could watch the cooks in action.
This appetizer miang som-o has lots of Thai flavors: shrimp, shallot, chili, lime, ginger and pomelo in roasted coconut sauce and served in a betel leaf.
One of our favorite dishes was the soup named dtom saab near that included beef brisket and tripe with a roasted bird’s eye chili to make it spicy.
It’s so much fun to watch the cooks plating the dishes. The closest one is Rasamee and she’s a chef at Langbaan. The dish they are creating is salmon with summer fruit.
One of the main courses was lon play rah, halibut simmered in coconut cream that we scooped into lettuce leaves and ate like tacos.
For dessert this cook first broke up the jasmine granita in the frozen mortar and pestle (left), then spooned coconut milk over jackfruit and the jasmine ice.
Our friends Lance and Laura were the ones to tell us about Langbaan. They have recently moved from the Bay Area to Portland, and we stayed with them. Here we are having brunch at Han Oak.
Han Oak had recently been named one of the top 20 new restaurants in the US by Eater. We were glad we'd made reservations early so we could try their tasty food.
In front is seared tuna with vegetables. The buckwheat waffle (left) was especially good. It was savory and topped with braised pork belly and kimchi. And on the right was a blood cake topped with a soft boiled egg.
Han Oak describes itself as a non-traditional Korean-American family restaurant. We liked the open atmosphere of the dining room.
The four of us had a great time together!
Near the entrance to the restaurant we saw this graffiti artwork Hey Girl.
We had a delicious dinner at Bamboo Sushi, which is the first certified sustainable sushi restaurant in the world.
Their certification comes from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). This dish was called MSC albacore. We also loved the Scottish ocean trout called hachimitsu, which was a new fish for us.
After dinner we strolled around charming Portland, enjoying the summer temperatures and street art.
Another day we walked by this huge Paul Bunyan. We got Lance and Pete to pose with Paul.
Here Pete is holding a mini Paul Bunyan.
There was a fundraiser going on to repaint the big fella.
Lance and Laura bought this charming Tudor-style house in the Beaumont/Wilshire neighborhood of northeast Portland. It was built in 1929.
We were so happy to stay with them in their new home. The fireplace tiles are original and were created by Ernest Batchelder.
This close up shows the beautiful details. Batchelder was from Pasadena, and he was a leader in the American Arts and Crafts movement.
Their cat Katya seems to like her new home too. She was cooling off in the open window.
One morning we walked up to get incredible pastries at the Bakeshop near their house.
We went next door to Case Study Coffee for some java where they make beautiful designs on the cappuccinos.
Another night we had dinner at Biwa. We liked the look of the bar with all the jars of pickles.
Biwa’s salmon sashimi with tarragon, mustard seeds and fennel was outstanding.
We also liked their beef tartar with quail egg, which we spooned into lettuce wraps. All too soon we had to leave our friends and Portland.
We drove south to Bend and spent a few days riding there. This is Mt Bachelor.
The big lake in the Deschutes National Forest is Elk Lake, and we saw lots of stand up paddle boarders.
This is Devil’s Lake, so named because of all the volcanic activity that created this area.
We stopped to look at the Deschutes River.
Another day we rode through the horse ranch and farmland just east of Bend. You can see some of the Cascade mountains in the background.
We enjoyed this squirrel crossing sign, but didn’t see any squirrels (except this rare white bellied squirrel).
It was a treat to connect with Kristina’s colleague Pete and his wife Erin. They recently moved from the Bay Area to Bend and they enjoy running marathons.
From Bend we went to Lassen Volcanic National Park. This photo was taken near the top of Lassen Peak, which is 3,187 meters tall.
Mt Lassen is probably the world's largest plug dome volcano, and it erupted most recently in 1915. Perhaps this boulder was moved here by the subsequent avalanches after the eruption.
To the left is Brokeoff Mountain, the second highest peak in the park.
We hiked out to Bumpass Hell to check out the geothermal features. We are in front of hot pools, steam vents and boiling mud pots.
Bumpass Hell reminded us of Yellowstone's Mammoth Springs area.
Even with all the geothermal features and resulting sulfur, we saw wildflowers growing nearby.
We liked this green meadow so we stopped to take some photos. Behind us are Kings Creek, which flows into the Feather River and then into the Truckee River in Tahoe. Lassen Peak in the distance.
We had fun driving through the park, but if we'd had more time we would have enjoyed riding our bike here.
We went to visit Pete’s family for a few days and pack for our upcoming trip to Japan. Then we met Kristina’s folks Patty and Bill in Los Angeles. Our Airbnb was a comfortable house to hang out in.
And we cooked and ate a few meals here.
The kitchen floor still had its original tile accents.
And there was some nice stained glass too.
We planned our trip so we could visit the Getty’s Cave Temples of Dunhuang Exhibit. In 2013 we had visited Dunhuang, China and seen some of the original caves, but we were really impressed with the quality of this exhibit. The Getty Research Institute has been working for 25 years to help conserve the Mogao Grottoes.
Kristina is in front the sign for Cave 45 that has seven impressive statues and brightly painted walls. The Getty created a 3D exhibit of this cave that really brings it to life.
This is the exterior of the building that contains three cave replicas. When the exhibition ends on September 4th, this building will be sent to Dunhuang so that visitors can view these caves rather than the delicate originals.
The first cave we viewed was from the 5th century. The impressive Maitrya sculpture is the Buddha of the future. It's incredible to know that there are almost 500 decorated caves in the Mogao Grottoes near Dunhuang, China.
In Cave 360 we saw a peony ceiling design with Buddhas from the 8th century. Dunhuang was located on the Silk Road, so many merchants and monks traveled this path over a thousand years, and they created these incredible cave artworks that are now known as the Mogao Grottoes.
This detail shows the repeating Buddhas theme, which is fairly common in the caves.
The Getty Research institute partnered with UNESCO and China twenty five years ago to conserve and protect the Mogao Grottoes. This is a view of the upper part of the Getty campus.
We love visiting the Getty garden.
Designed by Robert Irwin, the garden has matured beautifully.
We celebrated Bill’s 80th birthday (belatedly) with a dinner at Wolf restaurant.
Everything we ate was excellent. This dish called Burnt Carrots included coconut cream with charcoal (the unappetizing grey blobs that tasted surprisingly delicious).
Beets and plums looked like a painting with the splattered beet juice.
Bill ordered the white miso black cod that was served in a dashi broth.
And we shared the Vadouvan lamb rack with ratatouille. The lamb was cooked sous vide and then charred, making it tender and delicious.
We went to the Disney Concert Hall.
We took a tour. This is the lobby of the Frank Gehry designed building.
This photo was taken in the garden on the second floor. The trees are maturing and we appreciated their shade.
The rose fountain was designed by Gehry for Lillian Disney, who was the founding donor for the project. She collected Delftware china, and the fountain used 250,000 pieces of china to create the rose. It was a fun couple of days in LA!
Next we'll visit Kristina’s sister Debby and her family and then we fly to Japan. During our Japan tour we will be posting a picture a day on our Instagram. You can follow us there at @pandkroam.
