East Side Weekend Roadtrip

The east side of the Pacific Northwest doesn't get much love, probably because it doesn't reflect the wild and wet reputation that seems to stick with the PNW label. But the wide open deserts and the scrubby plateaus of the eastern edge of the PNW are just as much Northwesty as the rest of it. I'd never actually seen any of NE Oregon until this trip (spoiler: it's pretty much like SE Washington), and it was time to finally explore another area of this great country.

We started on a Friday in Spokane, looped down through Oregon, managed to fit in the teeniest slice of Idaho, and arrived back in Spokane in the evening on Sunday. I'm not going to provide detailed driving directions, as I think you'll drive better with your own map, almanac, or some quality time with Google Maps, but here's a link that's pre-loaded.

The Nitty Gritties
Length: 650 miles
Time: 2.5 days
Gas stops: roughly 2, but that depends on your car
Weird things to pack: snacks, supplies for a picnic lunch & dinner, dramamine
People to take: at least one other driver

Day 1
Our trip commenced at 3pm on a balmy Friday afternoon, as we packed the car and drove off from Spokane, heading down Highway 395 to the Tri Cities. This is an easy, lazy drive that sets the tone for most of the rest of the weekend—farmland, wheat fields, small towns, with scrubby sagebrush in between. A three hour and change drive time got us to Pendleton just in time for dinner, with no need to get lost in the Cities of Tri in between. We checked out The Prodigal Son brewery (delicious!) for some nosh and great beers, and were lucky enough to encounter a country band playing on the front of the Hamley Steakhouse. They provided a fun soundtrack as we explored a bit of downtown Pendleton.

Day 2

In the morning, we grabbed some coffee from the hotel's breakfast bar and hit the road first thing, 'cause breakfast was our next stop at Joe & Sugar's Cafe in La Grande. Their breakfasts are filling (check out the specials, especially if you like strawberries on your waffles) and I quickly discovered that their dark coffee was more delicious than the "regular." If you're looking for a good read, check out Looking Glass books across the street, and if you're there on a Saturday in season, check out the farmers market. It's small but mighty, full of gorgeous produce, quirky knitted hats, and handmade goat-milk soap. We grabbed some peaches, packed them away, and prayed they wouldn't bruise too badly.

From La Grande, we continued south on OR-84 to Baker City. We had to stop here for a cable that got left behind, but our main goal was the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center perched on a hill just a ways out of town. It costs per head (not per car, sadface) to gain entry, but the center was beautiful. I prefer museums to interpretive centers as a general rule, so I wasn't super enamored, but it would be a great place for families with kids or for people who don't know much about the Oregon Trail. We broke out our picnic lunch on the tables that sat next to a recreation of a wagon camp. Loves me some covered wagons.

Then, on went the hiking boots and down we went to the bottom of the hill to a section of the original Oregon Trail. So many men, women, children, wagons, horses, oxen, dogs, probably not cats, etc etc etc went over the trail that it's still packed down and visible from a distance, and available for a short hike. It's always nice to a) get out of the car and walk a little, and b) intentionally walk in places where history took place. I kept imagining how good you'd have to get at just putting one foot in front of the other, keeping your head down, and refusing to think about the vast desert around you.

After our brief hike, we got back in the car and headed up OR-86 to Halfway in roughly the same length of time as the Eagle's album Desperado. Our goal was to check in to our lodgings (at Pine Valley Lodge, super fun if a little pricey) before heading about 30 minutes out of town to Cornucopia, the ghost of an old gold mining town. I had spent the first leg of time researching this trip looking at ghost towns, and was 100% excited about this.

 

Well, Cornucopia's a ghost town all right.  Ghosted of pretty much everything. I was hoping for a hard-core town, all falling apart, with a saloon and everything. Don't expect that. Cornucopia is more like a dirt road sprinkled with ramshackle buildings, some of which are still being used and some of which are falling down like what you'd think of a ghost town. There's not really much to explore, but it's a pretty area and an engaging drive. Apparently the mine is still viable, and newly bought by someone, so there's a small chance that it'll get mined again if Oregon regulations will allow for more cost-effective extraction techniques. The more you know!

A return to Halfway netted some dinner (pre-packed shredded chicken for sandwiches, with our peaches for dessert) and some games of Dominion in the lodge's common room. Much more satisfying.

Day 3
This morning, we took advantage of the lodge's breakfast bar, and I ended up talking to the proprietor about lacto-fermented sauerkraut, ghee, and DIY salami. We wanted to hit the road early because this day contained the most driving—about 7 hours of it—and we didn't want to be on the road all day. Just most of it. Our immediate destination was the Hell's Canyon Overlook, but we tried to take a detour into Idaho first (don't do that!). Hell's Canyon houses the Snake River, which unfortunately can't be seen from the overlook, and is actually so inaccessible that most of the canyon can only be seen from the river via boat. [Insert ad for speedboat tours here.] Regardless, the view is beautiful.

Warning: this road is winding, twisty, and may induce carsickness.

Fortunately, the next available town is Joseph, so we stopped to take advantage of its tourist traps and also to grab lunch. The Chief Joseph memorial is a quick drive through town near the edge of Wallowa Lake, and turned out to be an interesting—if somewhat sobering—way to stretch the ol' legs for a bit. On our way back through town, we hit up the Wallowa County Museum ($) which is chockablock full of interesting artifacts from an old teepee to a 1920s permanent curling machine, but unfortunately doesn't allow photography. Joseph is also home to Arrowhead Chocolates, a tiny slice of hipsterdom transplanted into rural Oregon, makers of one of the best chocolate mochas you'll ever put in your face. Or so I've been told.

Protip: Get gas in Joseph, because pickin's are slim for the next couple hours.

From Joseph, we sped via OR-3/WA-129 up, around and down more roller-coaster roads through Lewiston (hello, Idaho!) to Pullman (hello, Mongolian Grill!) and finally back to Spokane. That  sentence sums up hours of driving without any of the details that make this road trip stand out in my mind: the rock in the middle of the road that we wanted to adopt, a field packed with sheep all facing the exact same direction and another dotted with black and white goats, a gorgeous streak of hot pink sunset, the scattering of lightning flashes over the Palouse, cannibal bees clustering around the bug splatters on the front grill of the car. Set against a backdrop of desert and pine, this is one road trip that I'd take again.

More PNW Pride

I am super bummed that I didn't find the kickstarter for The Great PNW before pledges closed, because I would have donated hella money to the cause. Hopefully they get their website up and running soon!

xo, anne

Arts not Farts

Last night, on my quest for the new issue of Hellboy in Hell, I stopped by one of my favorite galleries in Portland, Compound. Would I could drop $500 on a piece of original art... but alas, I must console myself with a $3 piece of Mignola goodness.

Vivien Chen, pen & ink & watercolor. The best combination.

Oat Montien, whose art reflects his weird dreams.

Sometimes Portland-type art (disclaimer: only one of these artists lives in Pdx) makes me tempted to give up on the human spirit and creativity in general. But sometimes, art is both interesting to look at and somewhat thought-provoking,  a reminder of why human beings do art in the first place. Living things growing out of a dead skunk? Okay. A surrealist forest scene? Bring it. Not to make money or follow a trend, but to express the unexpressable. These pieces remind me that there is more to life than my anti-creative job, and I NEED to keep creative like I need to breathe.

This weekend, I am purchasing some gouache to try. Because I can.

And then I will read more Hellboy.

xo, anne.

On Perfume

 We've taken quite a break, this is true, but exciting things have happened in the meantime. Em launched her new webcomic, Living History, and Anne managed to survive a rough transition at work. We're back now for the new year with a joint post!

Are you the type of person who uses one perfume, or do your scents change with your mood?

E: I use one type of perfume. My scents change, but I unfortunately use esoteric perfumes that occasionally stops being made, which means I have to change periodically which is super-frustrating. But I always wear the same type of scent.

A: I'm a one perfume kind of girl. But since scent is associated to clearly with my memories and experiences, I can definitely see myself changing perfumes when I change my life, like if I move or get married or something. That way, when I sniff my past perfumes, I will remember details of my life then.

What is your current perfume?

E: Yemanja by Lily Lambert, from her Goddess collection.

A: Lola Marc Jacobs.

Describe your journey to finding that perfume, including missteps.

E: I really can't wear a lot of commercial perfumes because artificial scents smell really soapy on me, especially florals. Which is frustrating because a lot of perfumes out there are citrusy or floral, or kind of old lady musky with lots of gardenia. I'm also allergic to most of the artificial scents. I had one body splash growing up that smelled good, but when I put it on it made me smell like play doh, which is not an attractive scent. I wore for a long time a perfume--I think it was called Arabian Nights--and that smelled really spicy and attractive. Now I mostly wear scents with vanilla and spices and other natural scents. I loved that perfume, and it was a sort of organic market perfume by one of those companies that specializes in patchouli, and it was really nice, really warm, which is what I have to have in a perfume. And then in Portland, we went to that place that has those samples [Blush Beauty Bar]. I tried a bunch and really liked the Yemanja. I asked for it for my birthday, and got it.

A: I'm not sure what sparked this, probably just a passing fancy, but I started a recurring feature on one of my other blogs called "In Pursuit of Perfume," which gave me a platform to try different perfumes and write about how they worked or didn't work. I wanted to see more about which perfumes I liked, and how they worked with me, and how people reacted to them. So I just started trying a bunch of different perfumes every time I was near a perfume counter. Eventually I discovered Lola Marc Jacobs, and surprised myself but correctly identifying the pear note in it. It's the only floral-heavy perfume I've encountered that doesn't smell terrible on me, especially since it doesn't have a musky or spicy base note. Then I asked for it and got it as a Christmas present a couple years ago. I just got a second bottle now too, so I'm pretty happy I won't run out.

How have you found that scent interacts with your natural musk, as it were?

E: I think I sort of have a sweet/spicy natural scent, or this is what I've been told by people who have been smelling me, and so I think wearing sweet/spicy scents really compliments what I smell like already without getting the antiseptic scent I get. Also, it's really important that I only have natural ingredients in my perfumes or it won't smell good on me, or it will make me sneeze.

A: A long time ago, and old roommate of mine brought home some pheromone perfume that was supposed to interact with your natural pheromones and produce some incredibly intoxicating and seductive scent, or whatever. We each tried it, and everybody came out a little different--mine smelled like citrus, my super-girly roommate like flowers, and then other roomies sugar cookies and dirt, that nice earthy smell of newly tilled soil in the sunshine. So I guess I think I should smell best with extra citrus, but I never really looked that hard. Florals are everywhere, and tend to smell really cloying and sour on me, so to work they need something deeper, like patchouli or musk or apparently pear.

What parts of your personality do you think your signature scent represents?

E: I don't know. Now that I asked that question, I think "hnng." I think I'm a warm, sweet person. And I think spicy earthy scents work well with my personality. I think it would be a little strange if I were wearing really floral perfumes. Just between the way I look and the way I smell naturally, I don't think floral is really--I need something smokier, almost.

A: To me, Lola smells like sunshine and honey, which is part of what really drew me to it. I smelled and started wearing it when I moved away from home, and was in grad school, and got really lonely and kind of depressed. Something happy and warm was really what I craved and what I needed, and I think it helped keep me in a better frame of mind. I'm normally a pretty optimistic person--I like to see the potential for good in everything--but I can forget that sometimes. I guess it's kind of a reminder to myself to not forget who I really am.

How do you apply your perfume? Do you feel that your application method makes a difference?

E: It depends on what I'm doing that day. Usually I just put it on my wrists and my neck. But if it's a special occasion and my hair is down I will spray it on my hair, too.

A: I usually just spray it on my wrists, but if any dribbles onto my fingers I'll smudge it behind my ears. I got the accompanying lotion too, but it's super sweet and kind of overwhelming, so I don't use it much.

What perfume do you wish you could wear but can't?

E: I wish I could wear some of those really classic, sexy scents, but they just smell dusty on me. I don't smell sophisticated, I just smell like an old woman. I also wish I could wear those fun, playful perfumes, but most of those have artificial ingredients.

A: I wish I could get away with wearing those really ostentatious, ridiculous perfumes like Poison or Opium, that are all in-your-face and aggressive. I don't think I have an extroverted enough personality for that. And I'd really like to be able to afford all those layering fragrances, that smell like grass, or books, or violets, that you can just spritz as you please.

How do you respond to perfume on other people, both men and women?

E: I tend to like perfume on women more. I tend to notice it a lot when it's overpowering or one that everyone is wearing. A lot of the Chanel scents are so overpowering and worn by so many people that they've lost their power for me. Overexposure to Chanel No. 5, when people bathe in it, is enough to make me have unpleasant associations with it. I think it smells really good, it's such a classic scent, but I get these visions of a well-dressed, older, Southern woman who's bathed in it, which has been most of my exposure to it. And that's gross.

I have really good associations, actually, with L'Aire du Temps, because that's what my mother wears. It smells super-good on her, but smells like dust on me.

A: I love a good cologne on a man, especially when you can't smell it until you get really close. That makes me sound like I make a habit of it, though. Hah. On women, I'm not fond at all of those women who bathe in it. After a while I can't even tell which fragrance is which, and it all just smells like perfume and is completely obnoxious. I love the idea of perfume though, it's so romantic and elegant.

Smørrebrød Party!

Do you know how to confuse the heck out of your friends? Ask them to bring toppings for Smørrebrød. Even when you explain that they're Danish-style open face sandwiches, you still get stares of incomprehension. But when everyone has assembled and your friends are starting at slab of dark rye bread holding a delectable pile of shrimp and cucmber...they'll come around.

Bon Appétit magazine recently published an article on Smørrebrød, and since I am a sucker for appetizer-like mix and match things, I had to try it. So I tacked it onto a picnic that I had already planned with a group of friend. Because the toppings are so easy to carry around, nobody had a huge burden, cost-wise or transportation-wise. As the host, I provided bread, drinks (water and iced tea), Shrimp and Cucumber Salad, and extra Horseradish Mayo. [note: I cheated, though, and used frozen shrimp.] As for other toppings, my suggestions (ripped from the page of BA) were

• Roast beef
• Gravlax/smoked salmon
• Greens (lettuce and/or watercress)
• Jarlsberg cheese
• Pickled herring (feeling adventurous?)
• Hard-boiled eggs (sliced)
• Honey mustard
• Cucumber (sliced)

We had to do without greens and pickled herring...but everything turned out well. We even had a flask of Aquavit! Passing toppings around the picnic table definitely helped spark lively conversation.

I must say: roast beef, horseradish mayo, and cucumber makes a very tasty sandwich.

xo, anne.

Rainbow Unicorn Cookies

Things were afoot in my kitchen last night. My coworker is quitting to move to India, so I made some of my famous (not really) unicorn cookies for her party. We constantly joke about The Unicorn Express, so I decided to make them RAINBOW UNICORN COOKIES.

2 c. flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb butter, softened
1 c. sugar, plus 1/4 c. for rolling
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven 375. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt. Cream butter and 1 c. sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 mins). Add vanilla and egg. Beat about 30 secs until just combined. Add dry ingredients, beat until just mixed. Roll 1 1/2 tbsp of dough in ball and roll in remaining sugar. Space 2"-2 1/2" apart. Butter bottom of cup and slightly flatten tops of dough ball about 3/8"- 1/2" thick. Bake 11-12 minutes, switching cookie sheets halfway through. Cook's Illustrated Recipe via chowhound.

This dough was incredibly soft, and my initial attempts looked like unicorn poo instead of the unicorns themselves. For my second attempt, I added a bunch more flour (maybe half a cup to half a mixed-up recipe) and let the dough chill in the freezer for about 15 minutes after I added the food coloring.

Speaking of color! I divided the dough into ROYGBV sections, then worked in food coloring with my hands like playdough. I was a little worried that working the dough that much would make the cookies tougher...but let's be honest, no one cares. If you're eating a RAINBOW UNICORN COOKIE, the magic will make up for any lack of technique. In the future, I recommend meticulously splitting the egg into five parts and working in each color separately (...no).

I also baked these at 350 because the edges were burning too quickly at 375.

Bam. Unicorns on parade.

xo, anne.