Travelin' - 3/25-26/15

Or - Gambolin' in Oregon...

   March 25, 2015   

Hahahaha, I am so wicked clever!! Did you catch it?

 Gambol!! "Verb, to run or jump about playfully". 

The funny thing about it is we did just that, sorta, minus the run and the jump about thingie, and then the first place we're gonna visit on this blog is a place where they gamble, "verb, play games of chance for money; bet".

Get it? Oh, I gotta tell ya, having' a HUGE vocabulary is soooooo much fun!! Hahahaha, and the English language always makes complete sense, too!!

Hahaha, OK, I'm over myself.

But it was fun...for a while.

Yesterday there was a definite lull in the wet weather (it really does rain more here than in Seattle!!) and so we took a short walk, 0.6 miles, to the Chinook Winds Casino Resort for lunch. Seems that on Wednesday, they have a 10 sandwiches for $10, plus a drink, special. 

We've been looking for an excuse to take a look inside the Casino for a while and this seemed like as good of one as any.

We were off!!

Hey!! It looks like a casino!

So when you come in the first thing you're confronted with are a bunch of slot machines.

The new-fangled kind of slot machines where you slip in a dollar and it's all computerized.

I am not a big fan of these new slot machines.

We had to go up the escalator as they've got the restaurants on the second floor; up past the swooping eagle.

Where you find some more of those new-fangled slot machines.

And it's crazy!! They give them all some kind of theme. There were Batman and Robin slots. A Wonder Woman slot. Slots with a Chinese theme and Wild West slots. 

Wha...!?!

From the second floor, we got a good view of the entry and the lobby.

And the slots.

My big gripe is that I miss the old ones. If I'm gonna play, I want to have a cup of nickels clutched firmly in my left hand while I feed the one-armed bandit with my right. I want the experience of having to reach up and pull down on, in that just right manner guaranteed to set me up as a winner, the arm that activates the slot machine. You know, that starts things rolling so I can watch it come up with Three Cherries!!

Now you feed paper money into them and push a button. 

Boring!!

Ah, I miss the good ol' days.

Hahaha, and I was one of the High Rollers, too.

Before we left, we walked through the main room of the Casino. There's plenty of Blackjack Tables and even Roulette and Craps. All the regulars in addition to several hundred slot machines which are, when you think about it, no longer really slot machines.

Oh, and they allow smoking inside the Casino and the restaurant. 

Hahaha, I can't believe I am saying this with some incredulity , but they smoke anywhere they want inside!!

It's an Indian Reservation, see, and they can do whatever they want there. It was an odd feeling because I haven't seen ashtrays on the tables in a looooong time!!

Deja vu, y'all. It was weird.

But we were there on a mission to try out the menu items in the Rogue River Restaurant. You remember, the 10 for $10 thingie.

Once we finally found where the Rouge River Restaurant actually was, we were able to get a nice table with a good view of the beach.

To the right in this picture, they have an open area surrounded by a white fence. Carol asked what they used it for and the waitress said that is where they have their concerts.

Wha...!?!

OK, I'm a thinkin' we'll meander down for the next concert, that would be some guy named Travis Tripp, and see if we can hear anything from the beach.

It's spelled f-r-u-g-a-l.

Frugal, not cheap.

This is the sandwich that sealed the deal for me. In their 10 for $10 menu, one of the sandwiches they offered was a Reuben!!

Hahaha, done and done!!

Carol got the Bacon and Cheddar Hamburger. 

She got the cheddar and the burger and I got the Bacon. 

And the food was OK. Nothing to write home about but, y'know, it works well enough in the Casino.

Low expectations and all.

   March 26, 2015   

Today we went for a drive to check out some things in McMinnville, OR. And rather than drive back the way we came, we crossed over through Amity, OR, to Oregon 22 and as we drove down that road, we came to the Baskett Slough (if you're like me you're trying to figure out how to pronounce that word, slough. It's pronounced slew. I know, weird, eh?) National Wildlife Refuge.

Fun Facts: The 2,492 acre Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge was created to provide vital wintering habitat for dusky Canada geese. The refuge's farmed fields, rolling oak-covered hills, grass fields and shallow wetlands are home to many wildlife species. A small number of Bald Eagles winter  on the refuge. In addition to the abundant bird life, 30 species of mammals, 8 species of amphibians and 10 species of reptiles occur here. The largest remaining population of Fender's blue butterfly is found on the refuge.

I haven't seen an Egret for a while now.

Coots, mallards and egrets, oh, my!!

Moving down here, we swapped out Mt Rainier for Mt Hood. We don't get to see it all that often but when we head to Salem or to Portland we can see it.

The little things in life, right?

Some of the farmland around the refuge.

Egret coming in for a landing.

And more farmland...

Whup!!

There's Mt Hood, again.

Fun Fact: Mt. Hood is over 100 miles away as the crow flies from where we're at in the Baskett Slough. It's about 135 miles if you drive there.

Wha...!?!

They have a covered viewing area for the Slough. Hahaha, I still can't believe that it's pronounced slew! I keep wanting to say something that sounds like slow.

Hey, there's Oregon 22. Take me home, Country Road.

And it did. Oh, I forgot to mention today was a great day. The sun was out and new record highs were set in Portland and Salem. It was a good day for the beach and plenty of folks took advantage of that.

When we left around 1230 and there was a long, long, long line of slow (as in 5-10 mph) moving cars that went on and on and on and on and...on.

The line of bumper-to-bumper cars stretched for about 10-12 miles heading into Lincoln City.

Again, Wha...!?!

So today was a great day for the beach. We got back about 1730 and, after dinner, we headed out for a sunset walk on the beach.

And the beach was busy!!

What are all these people doing on my beach!?!?!

And, surprisingly, that's how I felt. Just what the heck were all these people doing on my beach!?!?!

Hahahaha, I gotta get over that.

But there were still a lot of people out and about even though it was kinda late on a Thursday.

You'll be seeing a lot of artsy-fartsy shots like this. A lot.

I can't explain why, exactly, I keep taking these but I know I will keep at it until I get one decent picture. There's a doggone pony in there somewhere, right!?!

The beach was busy!! 

Get off MY beach!!

And down there, in the distance, they have some cars on the beach.

Young Knuckleheads. 

The wind was blowing pretty good and the water was chilly but these Knotheads were still out in the water. And they weren't the only ones, either!!

This family was a bit more reasonable. They just played a game of tag with the waves.

Hahahaha, you missed, Jerk-O!!

Hahaha, I warned you!! 

But this is an entirely different picture. It has the shadow cast by my legs in it. 

Vastly different.

And they had some sand castles today. Looks kinda like a set for a Beau Geste movie. Y'Know, the French Foreign Legion out in the Sahara.

Sand castles and kites were in evidence today. I guess the Summer Session is beginning to take shape.

And Carol got these guys working frantically to get their castle walls built before the rising tide brought the waves up high enough to wash it out. She even got a wandering Jackie in the picture.

               CB

I've found one thing I don't care for in this city. 

The traffic. 

The traffic on 101 is soooooo bad!! Soooooo bad!! And evidently it's only going to get worse. 

Much, much worse.

And I think it's gonna be crazy all summer long. 

Oh, I am not happy about that.

Still, when you really think about it, it's a small price to pay for living here.

Life is good.




     Hooah!!