Gene Harris Bandshell

This bandshell has always been a wonderful part of Julia Davis Park. And now it’s called the Gene Harris Bandshell. Look how great the shadow is!

Apparently, it caught on fire in 2018, and I’m looking at a post-fire restoration. And also, it’s been named for Gene Harris since 2000. I’m a little slow on noticing Boise things now.

Other things I learned from this site:

The original contract for the bandshell was awarded in April of 1928. The bandshell was designed by the Wayland & Fennel architectural firm and was constructed in a mission revival style with a stucco exterior. Its style was likely inspired by the construction of the Boise Depot in 1925. When the depot was completed, it inspired a flurry of commercial and residential structures in a similar style.

The bandshell was dedicated on Sunday, July 8, 1928 with remarks from former mayor Eugene B. Sherman and Mayor Walter Hansen. The audience enjoyed several solo songs from Mrs. Rosene, several pieces of music played the Boise Male Quartet, and a band program that played about twelve songs with an intermission. A crowd of 2,000 people watched, sitting on the grass, or parked in their automobiles.

And about Gene Harris:

Built in 1928, the band shell was named for famed jazz pianist Gene Harris in 2001. Harris lived and performed in Boise from the 1970s until his death from complications from diabetes in 2000. He also gave his name to the Boise State Jazz Festival, now known as the Gene Harris Jazz Festival

The Leighwood House Highlights

Does your house have a stumpary? The Leighwood House does.

I love this open plan with the exposed beams and built-ins that help to define where the kitchen is. When it rains, you can hear the rain on the roof.

An old-fashioned plug

The never-remodeled kitchen. (Sara and Shawn are only the second owners.) It’s a good kitchen layout. Not too big, not too small.

A built-in spot for a clock, or maybe originally for a phone?

And the two friends that hang out there, Callie and Leo.

I Take the Bus to Trinidad

I wandered through the Cal Poly Humboldt campus to catch the bus to Trinidad and on the way I found a hobbit hole.

This may have been the most rural bus route I had ever experienced. It dropped me off in the town of Trinidad. I took a short walk through town and took a hike around Trinidad Head

It was sunny and windy.

Part of the hike went through this thicket.

Here’s the town of Trinidad

And some atmospheric pictures.

The lighthouse is still in operation (as, presumably, are these crab pots).

After my hike, I ate at the Seascape Restaurant where I had a really good smoked salmon cheese sandwich and some chowder. While there, I listened to the slightly awkward conversation of four people, one of whom was interviewing for a position in the Art Department at Cal Poly Humboldt. I wonder if he got the job?

Also, I’m pretty sure this was the beach Matt and I visited in 2019, though I never called that beach by name.

Wine Tasting at Fieldbrook Winery

Sara, Shawn and I drove through the snow (yes snow, you can see it on the roof of the winery) for a tasting and a nosh.

We had a red wine flight and a delicious meat and cheese platter.

Then Sara and I did some senior photo posing. We used this photo to lure friend Cindy to our upcoming 30-year high school reunion.

Arcata, California, Where it’s Just as Cold and Rainy as in Portland, Oregon

I escaped to “sunny” California (to be fair, I don’t think the sunny moniker applies to Northern California) to see Sara and Shawn and shake off some of the endless Portland rain. Or at least experience some warmer temperatures. Unfortunately, I found the same weather I left behind. And my first morning it snowed!

Sisters: Riddle Routes

I enjoy perusing the racks of promo cards in tourist areas. In Sisters, most of them were for things in and outside of Bend, but this brochure caught my eye.

To take part in Riddle Routes, you pay for the route. From there, you get a document that tells you where the starting point is and then a link to the game that you play on your smart phone. My document told me to go to the wrong starting point, but I texted and confirmed that I was in the incorrect location. This was great as it was 27 degrees and I didn’t want to wander around unnecessarily.

The game was quite fun. I enjoyed all aspects of it: scavenger hunts, riddles, trivia questions, turn by turn directions.

On the way, I walked by Paulina Springs Books. It was fun to see the bookstore that has been read aloud for many years as an NPR sponsor.

Here’s my self portrait in front of their very fun mural.

There was a tricky question I needed to research, so I took a break and had some hot chocolate and a delicious piece of focaccia at the Sisters Bakery. Then it was back on the route.

In the end, I flubbed two questions, which got me a Detective in Training badge. Not too bad given how very cold it was.

Riddle Routes was a great experience, and I will search out their other Oregon routes.

After I finished the route, I had covered the main drag of Sisters in multiple ways and knew exactly what stores I wanted to go back and visit.

Sisters. Cold.

I woke up to find that it was 25 degrees outside. I did not hurry out of my warm room. Instead, I lingered near the fire nursing my tea. But because I came to the town to explore it, I headed out. It was slick. Not really freezing rain-type ice, but just enough coating to make me step carefully. The only other people I saw walking where gingerly making their way from their cars to shop doors.

And that gray sky never got any lighter. And the temperature only increased by two degrees.

Here is the aforementioned path to town via the campground. You can see that it had snowed at some point, but not much was left.

And here are some turkeys taking advantage of the empty campground.

There was a pretty covered bridge over the creek.

And a nice entry to the creek that probably gets some good use on hot summer days.

I had some business at the post office, so I walked there. After mailing my package, I stopped to read the lineup of postmasters. It looks like the Smith family had a lock at the beginning. And I can’t tell if Yvonne is the current postmaster or if they have wandered away from this way of tracking. If so, Yvonne has been at it a very long time, especially compared to her peers.

FivePine Lodge: My Room

FivePine has cabins and a lodge with rooms. I choose a lodge room and it was fan-tas-tic. It was bigger than my first studio apartment.

Just inside the door was this wet bar area with a microwave and a refrigerator. I especially appreciated the electric tea kettle and complementary tea.

There was a big comfy bed and two comfortable chairs by the fire. Outside, there was a little patio with chairs, that was very close to the pool. The pool is closed for the season, and it was a little too cold of patio sitting, but I bet it’s nice out there in other seasons.

There was also a desk area, should you want to do some work other than resting your bags.

The bathroom was about the size of the main area of my first studio apartment. There was a big shower, a toilet room, two sinks and a very large tub.

The room also came with a guest book and I read through it while drinking my complementary tea. A couple of people exclaimed in their entries “The water came from the ceiling!” I had no idea what they were talking about until I ran a bath.

Even being primed with news of water coming from the ceiling, I still shrieked with delight when the water came from the ceiling to fill up my bathtub.

I give FivePine five stars. Very fun experience. And there’s a complementary wine hour.

Trip to Sisters

I wanted to get out of town and found that I could take the bus to Sisters via Shuttle Oregon. So I did. The bus trip was great. It was a half-size bus (I guess one would call it a shuttle bus?), and I had a reservation for two nights at FivePine Lodge, a hotel that just happens to be a stone’s throw away from the Sisters Movie House, a four-screen theater.

I was worried about my walk from the bus drop-off location to FivePine Lodge. It was a straight shot and about a mile away, but that straight shot was on a major highway that I guessed wasn’t going to be great for walking next to. So I carefully plotted out a walking route via Google Maps and took pictures of the route, just in case I didn’t have cell phone service.

I need not have worried. Just past where the Military Trucks place is flagged, was a pedestrian trail that took me through a campground next to a creek and popped me out right next to downtown. There was adequate signage so I easily found the trail. The trip was just getting started and it was already off to a good start.

I missed lunch and knew I would need to get food in my stomach before the complementary wine and beer offerings at FivePine, so I took myself over to Three Creeks Brewing and ate a sandwich and fries while reading by the fire.

After that, I enjoyed my wine and then watched The Banshees of Inisherin at the Sisters Movie House. The movie theater was great. The movie, I did not like.

Then it was back to my spacious room for a good night’s sleep.