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From our lodge room looking north, the Crater Lake sunrise. 5:53 A.M. Sunday, July 19th. (Click photo to enlarge.)
Author Archive
Oregon: Day #3 — Crater Lake
September 11, 2009Oregon: Day #2 — Crater Lake Lodge
September 10, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
The Moon Oregon handbook * says about Crater Lake Lodge, “The lodge is situated on the rim south of the Sinnott Overlook and is hewn of indigenous wood and stone. The massive lobby boasts a picture window on the lake and has decor echoing back to its 1915 origins. The stone fireplace is large enough to walk into….” (The lodge is not labeled, but is on the south side of the lake on this map.)
Below are my photos of the interior of Crater Lake Lodge. The lodge’s web site has many more photos (interior and exterior) which do the lodge more justice than my photos do.
Great Hall (Click photo to enlarge.)
At the left is Crater Lake Lodge’s Great Hall. The doors toward the upper right lead to the dining room. Outside the doorway at the upper left is a terrace overlooking Crater Lake. The terrace runs the full length of the lodge, including along the Great Hall and dining room. more…
S’more from West Lake Okoboji
September 7, 2009
The Perfect Football Evening (depending on how you look at it)
September 4, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
Iowa State, 34 --- North Dakota State, 17, September 3, 2009. (Click photo to enlarge.)
I’m mostly clueless about football, so shouldn’t express an opinion about the Iowa State team’s performance last night. However, I do have a strong opinion that it is almost sacrilegious when AC/DC blaring painfully loudly (to the point of speaker distortion) drowns out the sound of the Iowa State fight song.
Early in the game when the band played the fight song (with no AC/DC competing this time), there were only a few people in our section that stood up and clapped. When doing a quick scan, it appeared to be the same throughout most of the stadium. It seems the football environment Iowa State is trying to create is not at all the counterpart of ISU’s basketball Hilton Magic (although, maybe that has changed considerably, too?). more…
Oregon: Day #2 — Bend, Oregon, to Crater Lake Lodge
September 2, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
Bill standing along Highway 138 in Oregon's Pumice Desert. On July 3rd, this Desert Ridge wildland fire was ignited by lightning. (Click photo to enlarge.)
After our July 18th post-rafting lunch in Bend, Oregon, Bill and I headed south to our final destination of the day — Crater Lake. Or, more specifically, Crater Lake Lodge.
Going south on Highway 138 we saw what we soon learned was the Desert Ridge wildland fire. more…
The Story of Ferdinand the Bull (and Cattails)
August 30, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
(Click photo to enlarge.)
I’m on a mission to get through the posts about Oregon, but I couldn’t resist sidetracking again.
Jackson (our 3 1/3 year-old grandson) spent Friday night with us. He went to “man breakfast” with Bill yesterday, where Jackson had his usual Hy-Vee fare: blueberry pancakes and chocolate milk. more…
Oregon: Day #2 — Beer in Bend, Oregon (and Perry, Iowa)
August 27, 2009
Scott Finneseth capping beer. (Click to enlarge.)
To read other posts about Bill’s, Jim Eaton’s and Scott Finneseth’s beer making adventures, click on the “beer making” category at this blog’s home page. For background information about Bill’s and my Oregon travels in July, click on the “travel” category. more…
Birthday (Aug. 18) Lunch with Mr. Spaulding
August 26, 2009To quickly access the previous posts about Mr. Spaulding, click on his name in the list of categories on this blog’s home page. Several former students, as well as Mr. Spaulding, commented at the bottom of “Where (and How) in the World is…..Mr. Spaulding?”
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Tuesday of last week, August 18th, 2009, was Mr. Spaulding’s 82nd birthday. He and I met for a birthday lunch at Ropa’s, the cafe in Rolfe, Iowa. We both knew Bill Winkleblack (from the class of ’73, as am I) would be joining us. We were pleasantly surprised when five more of Mr. Spaulding’s former high school science/math students, and a parent, came to Ropa’s specifically to spend time with Mr. Spaulding.
On his birthday, Mr. Spaulding and me outside of the Bud Barn in Rolfe, Iowa. (Click photo to enlarge.)
It seemed surreal having lunch with Mr. Spaulding as a friend after being what I remember as pretty terrified of him in class. (I was also very thankful for him when I took chemistry and physics at Iowa State!)
Later on the 18th, I mentioned to Mr. Spaulding that in my excitement I had forgotten a lot of what we all talked about at lunch. He asked me if I had been sort of tongue-tied. Yes, exactly.
In general, I know the group reminisced about science experiments, the chemistry room, explosives, the teachers lounge, slide rules, families, and other former students and teachers. Everything we said was good. (Well, except when all of us students could remember which teacher “taught” us by reading aloud, straight from the text book!)
Mr. Spaulding was so pleased that the eight of us spent time with him. He wished he had emphatically expressed his thanks while we were all at Ropa’s. I told him I would pass along his heartfelt appreciation.
(In approximately two weeks, I’ll post more about Mr. Spaulding…most likely about explosives.)
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Webcam view of Smith’s Bay at West Lake Okoboji
August 24, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
In case you are interested…there is a webcam above the patio at the Dry Dock Lounge on West Lake Okoboji.
The photo at the left is taken from almost the same vantage point of the webcam…my camera being at the far left of the patio that is also visible in the lower part of the webcam’s view.
Click here to access the webcam image refreshing every ten seconds. (Anyway, that’s what the web site says, but when I last looked, the latest image was from Friday, August 21st.)
Over the next few weeks I’ll include more information about Oregon, including more posts about Mr. Spaulding along the way.
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Big Bugs, Sculpture, and West Lake Okoboji
August 21, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
This is the ant Katie and I saw. (It is indicated as "Ant #3" in the middle photo's caption.) Notice its size in comparison to the car in the nearby background. (Click photo to enlarge.)
Earlier this month, Katie (our younger daughter) and I were in search of garage sales along the west side of West Lake Okoboji. We didn’t have luck of the garage sale kind, but were lucky to accidentally see, from Highway 86, part of the “Big Bugs” exhibit. Not knowing there was such an exhibit, I marveled at the hugeness and design of the ant sculpture, especially because it was out in the middle of nowhere. more…
Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter) 
