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Natural Bridges National Monument

By Alan K. Lee

Introduction

Among the many national parks and monuments of southern Utah, Natural Bridges National Monument often gets overlooked. The Big Five national parks – Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches (and Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument) are all deserving of the accolades they receive. They all are full of spectacularly beautiful and awe inspiring places. But if a trip to southern Utah is on your bucket list, don’t leave out a visit to Natural Bridges.

First Impressions

My first visit to Natural Bridges made a lasting impression on me almost immediately. We were there on a very hot day, but once we descended into the canyon, we entered a cool, shaded riparian environment very different from the hot desert landscape above. Natural bridges, unlike arches, are formed by the erosive action of flowing water. And it is that water that makes this place such a welcoming oasis.

My wife and I have been back once since that first visit. The photos here were taken on that second trip in 2008. I think we’re long overdue for a third visit.

Geology

Some 260 million years ago eastern Utah was on the shores of an ancient sea. Over many millions of years the sand deposited on the sea floor was compressed into sandstone, then uplifted by tectonic forces that created the Colorado Plateau. Rivers and streams have since cut their way into the relatively soft sandstone, leaving arches where harder rock overlaid softer, more easily eroded rock.

The white Cedar Mesa Sandstone of the canyons in Natural Bridges was formed from white quartz sand with relatively little iron. The red and orange sandstone of the mesa tops gets its color from more iron rich rocks. Oxygen and hydrogen react with the iron, forming compounds that vary in color depending on the relative proportions of oxygen and hydrogen in the rock.

Human Presence

The Natural Bridges area has been inhabited periodically for about 9000 years. For most of that period, nomadic hunter-gatherers passed through the area. Many of the petroglyphs you’ll find on the canyon walls were done by these Archaic peoples.

The Ancestral Puebloan people began farming the mesa tops around 1500 years ago, but later abandoned the area, presumably because of a prolonged drought. After 300 years, the ancestors of modern day Hopi and Navajo returned to the Natural Bridges area, only to abandon the area again around the year 1280 CE. Modern Hopi, Navaho, and Paiute peoples reoccupied the area once again at later dates.

Europeans didn’t discover the area until 1883 when prospector Cass Hite ventured into the canyons looking for gold. He didn’t find any gold, but he did find the three magnificent natural bridges. Twenty years later, National Geographic Magazine published an article about the bridges, gaining the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt, who established Natural Bridges National Monument in 1908, Utah’s first national monument.

The bridges were named President, Senator and Congressman by Cass Hite. Later explorers gave them the names Augusta, Caroline and Edwin. But neither set of names stuck. In 1909 the bridges were given the Hopi names they carry today: Sipapu, Kachina, and Owachomo.

Getting There

Natural Bridges is located in southeastern Utah, south of Canyonlands National Park. From the town of Blanding drive south on US 191 then turn west on Utah Highway 95. In about 30 miles turn right on Utah 275. The Natural Bridges Visitor Center is 4.5 miles from the junction with Hwy 95.

Visitor Center

The Natural Bridges Visitor Center is a logical first stop when visiting the monument. Pick up a map of the park, fill your water bottles, and ask the staff for information on current conditions, hiking trails, park history, geology, plants and wildlife, etc. There is also a small store and public restrooms. The restrooms and water are available even when the visitor center is closed.

Bridge View Drive

Bridge View Drive is a nine mile one way loop road through the monument, with about a dozen viewpoints, all worth stopping at. There are maintained trails descending into the canyon to all three bridges from Bridge View Drive. All are short, easy hikes down into the canyons, without a huge amount of elevation gain on the return to the canyon rim. There is also an unmaintained trail in the canyon bottoms linking the three bridges, and there is a trail on top of the mesa between the Sipapu Bridge and Kachina Bridge viewpoints.

Night Skies

As beautiful and spectacular as Natural Bridges is during the day, it may be even more so at night. I say it may be only because I’ve not been there after dark. But by all accounts, star gazing is one of the park’s top attractions. Of the 104 International Dark Sky Parks in the world, Natural Bridges was the first so designated.

Where To Stay

There is a small first come first served campground adjacent to the visitor center in the monument, but there are no water, electric, or sewer hookups. The nearest town of any size is Blanding. There are several RV parks and a variety of motels and other accommodations in Blanding, as well as a number of cafes and restaurants.

Roadtripping

Natural Bridges can be included in a gigantic loop that includes Zion, Cedar Breaks, Bryce Canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, Lake Powell, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon – a truly epic road trip that might take a month or longer to fully experience. And, of course, there are a variety of shorter loops that can be done if you can’t fit all of those destinations into your plans.

Conclusion

Any road trip to southeastern Utah should include a visit to Natural Bridges. It’s a beautiful, interesting, and unique place very worthy of its place among the other parks and monuments of the region. And the surrounding region, part of the 1.3 million acre Bears Ears National Monument, is also well worth exploring.

Originally posted July 10, 2021. Updated July 21, 2024.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Bayocean Peninsula, Oregon Coast

By Alan K. Lee

Bayocean Peninsula, on the northern Oregon coast, is a sandspit that separates Tillamook Bay and the Pacific Ocean. It is, by any measure, a nature lover’s paradise, whether you’re a beachcomber, hiker, mountain biker, boater, birder, wildlife lover, or photographer.

Now an undeveloped county park, a century ago it was home to a thriving resort community of 2000 people. The town of Bay Ocean Park boasted a large hotel, dance hall, 1000 seat movie theater, bowling alley, shooting range, tennis courts, and a heated natatorium housing what was billed as the largest salt water swimming pool on the west coast, complete with a wave generator. The town featured paved and lighted streets, a public water system, telephone system, and a diesel powered generating station that provided the town with electricity, all at a time when most small towns in Oregon had few, if any, of those things.

Despite having paved streets and its own gas station, there was no road connection between Bayocean and the other coastal communities, much less to Portland and the Willamette Valley. Many residents and visitors traveled to and from Bayocean by steamship, a three day journey from Portland that involved crossing the notorious Columbia River bar and navigating the unprotected mouth of Tillamook Bay, a sometimes rough, frightening, and potentially dangerous experience.

To make crossing the Tillamook bar safer, the Army Corps of Engineers recommended jetties be built on both the north and south sides of the bay’s mouth. But half of the cost (a then considerable $2.2 million) would have to be paid by local residents. To cut the cost to a more affordable amount, the local port district proposed building only one jetty. The resulting north jetty, completed in 1917, did make crossing the bar much smoother and safer, but it also contributed to the town’s demise by changing the near shore currents, which began eroding away the beach in the 1920s.

In 1932 the north jetty was extended, further accelerating the erosion. The natatorium was destroyed by waves during a massive storm that winter. By 1938 almost 60 homes had fallen into the sea. Other storms over the years took many of the remaining buildings, and in 1952 another major storm breached the southern end of the peninsula, turning Bayocean Peninsula into an island. The Bay Ocean Park post office closed in 1953 and most of what was left of the town was bulldozed by the Corps of Engineers in 1956 during a project to build a dike across the breach created in 1952. The last house on the peninsula washed away in 1960, and the last structure, a long abandoned garage, fell into the sea in 1971.

The south jetty was eventually built in the 1970s and that stopped the erosion of the peninsula, but by then the town of Bay Ocean Park was long gone. Today, nothing remains of the town. What’s left, though, is a treasure trove of delights for the outdoor enthusiast: miles of untrammeled beach, unspoiled dunes, a bay shore sheltered from the prevailing winds, an upland spruce and pine forest, and an abundance of waterfowl and other wildlife. The haul road used in building the south jetty is now an ideal mountain bike and hiking trail on the bay side of the peninsula.

To reach Bayocean from the town of Tillamook, follow the signs for the Three Capes Scenic Route (Oregon Highway 131). After crossing the Tillamook River bridge, turn right onto Bayocean Road toward Cape Meares. At milepost five, turn right onto the old south jetty haul road (aka the dike road) and proceed to the trailhead parking area. There are pit toilets at the trailhead, but no water.

From the trailhead, the road continues north beyond a locked gate. You can also hike through the dunes to the beach from the trailhead parking area. The road along the bay shore is mostly gravel, with a few sandy stretches, and mostly flat. It’s an easy four mile bike ride to the south jetty.

Hikers can do a 7½ mile loop by hiking through the dunes to the beach, walking the beach to the south jetty, and returning along the bay side on the gravel road. There are several trails connecting the dike road to the beach, making shorter loops possible. And a longer hike or bike ride (10 mile loop or 9 mile out and back along the beach) can be done by starting at the beach access in the town of Cape Meares, instead of the Bayocean trailhead. See my Bayocean Peninsula Hike post for more details.

Back country camping is no longer permitted on the peninsula and there are no campgrounds. In the past, boaters frequently camped along the bay shore at a cove called Crab Harbor near the north end of the peninsula and backpackers sometimes camped in the woods or dunes near the middle of the peninsula.

The north Oregon coast has much to offer beyond Bayocean Peninsula, of course. Oswald West State Park and Hug Point to the north, and Cape Meares and Cape Lookout to the south are some of my favorite places on the north coast. But Bayocean Peninsula is unique. Nowhere else on the northern Oregon coast can you find such an extended stretch of roadless, yet accessible, beach. And it’s close enough to Portland and the rest of the population centers of the Willamette Valley to be an easy day trip. I’ve hiked and biked the peninsula a number of times and I’m sure I will return many more times. I never get tired of its sights and sounds.

Originally posted April 23, 2019 by Alan K. Lee, updated July 8, 2021 and March 4, 2024

All photos © Alan K. Lee, except as noted

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

By Alan K. Lee

Not your typical museum, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum will surprise you. Equal parts zoo, botanical garden, natural history museum, and educational institution, this museum packs a lot into a single site.

Throw in an art gallery for good measure. And maybe most surprisingly, since it’s located in the middle of the Sonora Desert where water is scarce, an aquarium.

There’s also a (man made) underground cavern to explore, where you can learn about the geology of the area.

The zoological exhibits feature big cats (bobcats, an ocelot, and a mountain lion), desert bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, a gray fox, and other desert mammals and lizards. There is also a riparian area with beavers, a river otter, and fish and other aquatic creatures. And on the desert trail loop you might encounter coyotes or javalinas.

Don’t miss the aviary where you can get up close looks at free flying hummingbirds and other desert birds.

Take a walk through the botanical garden where you can learn about the flora and fauna of the Sonora Desert environment.

The museum also features a cafe, a casual food court, a coffee bar, and an ice cream parlor. You can even get a beer to go at the food court or coffee bar, and take it with you as you explore the exhibits and walk the paved trail through the botanical garden and the gravel desert trail loop.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is one of the Tucson area’s must see attractions, especially for families. There are a lot of opportunities for kids (and adults) to both learn about the desert and its denizens and have fun in the process. There’s something for everyone there.

There is so much here that you probably can’t see it all in one visit. My wife and I have visited the museum on a couple of our Arizona excursions, and on our last visit I was surprised at how much I had missed on our earlier visit. Plan to spend at least two hours at the museum. Allow half a day to more fully explore what the museum has to offer, if you can.

The museum is located west of Tucson, adjacent to the west unit of Saguaro National Park . See the museum’s website for more detailed directions. Tucson Mountain Park and Old Tucson are also nearby.

General admission is $29.95 per person. Seniors (65+) and active military personnel get a $2.00 discount. Children (3-12) get in for $19.95, and children under three are free. The museum is open from 8:30 to 5:00 from October through May and 7:30 to 4:00 from June through September. Strollers ($7.00), wheelchairs ($8.00), and electric scooters ($25.00) are available for rent.

And while you’re in the Tucson area, you may want to visit nearby Mount Lemmon. It’s a bit of a drive to the top of the mountain, but well worth it.

Originally posted June 29, 2021. Updated December 16, 2024.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Vancouver Island Revisited

by Alan K. Lee

Surrounded by the salt waters of the Pacific Ocean and Inside Passage, dotted with freshwater lakes and streams, recipient of abundant precipitation (more than 120″ per year along its west coast), Vancouver Island is a land defined by water.

The island’s relatively mild, wet climate makes it one of the most productive and diverse terrestrial ecosystems on the planet. And the cold, nutrient rich ocean waters make the marine environment equally productive.

Forest trail on the west coast of the island

Anyone planning a visit to Vancouver Island should note that it’s a big place.It’s 280 miles long by 60 miles wide. Look at a map of British Columbia and it looks small in comparison to the province as a whole. But British Columbia is huge – far bigger than the state of Texas – and Vancouver Island by itself is larger than nine U.S. states. It’s just too big to fully explore in a single trip.

Any trip to Vancouver Island should include a stay in Victoria, but beyond that it’s best to pick one or two areas and plan your visit around those. It’s also far too large and has far too many outstanding areas to cover in a single blog post. We’ll focus here on the area near the town Campbell River (including Quadra Island), Strathcona Provincial Park, and the west coast of the island near Tofino and Ucluelet.

Roughly midway up the east coast of the island, the town of Campbell River, the self-proclaimed “salmon capital of the world,” is a good base from which to explore the area. Fishermen have flocked to Campbell River since at least the 1880s. In the 1920s the Campbell River Tyee Club popularized the area with fishermen world-wide. Painter’s Lodge, opened in 1929, attracted Hollywood stars such as Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, which further popularized the area.

Painter’s Lodge recently reopened, and offers lodging, event space, helicopter tours, whale watching, grizzly bear tours, and wildlife tours, in addition to guided fishing trips. Campbell River has a variety of other accommodations, including a nice campground at Elk Falls Provincial Park on the outskirts of town. In 2015 a suspension bridge was built just downstream of Elk Falls. Check out the video on the park website.

Campbell River has a variety of dining options for any budget. Anglers Dining Room at Dolphins Resort gets consistently good reviews. Ideal Cafe, Locals, and Quay West also get good reviews. Check out Beach Fire Brewing and Cornerstone Taphouse for good craft beers.

Only a short 15 minute ferry ride across Discovery Passage from Campbell River, Quadra Island has a full range of tourist facilities, including a number of cafes and lodging options if you desire a quieter, more rural environment than you’ll find in Campbell River. Quadra, largest of the Discovery Islands, provides the outdoor enthusiast with a network of hiking and mountain biking trails, kayak and boat launching facilities, and beach access points. The northern end of the island has several lakes and parks, the largest being Main Lakes Provincial Park. Hike, bike, paddle, or just take in the scenery and enjoy the quiet, natural area.

Strathcona Provincial Park, established in 1911, is the oldest provincial park in British Columbia. With the highest peaks on Vancouver Island and the highest waterfall in Canada, Strathcona’s scenery is hard to beat. Located 15 miles west of Campbell River, the majority of the park is wilderness.

Fabulous hiking trails can be found throughout the park. Paddling and fishing can be had at Buttle Lake. There are two fairly large campgrounds – Buttle Lake Campground (85 sites) and Ralph River Campground (75 sites). There are also three group camp areas available by reservation only, and a variety of back country campsites not accessible by road.

Accommodations a bit more upscale than camping can be found at Strathcona Park Lodge and Outdoor Education Centre on Buttle Lake a few miles outside of the park. You can rent small motor boats, canoes and kayaks, and stand up paddle boards there. For the more adventurous, there is a zip line and a high ropes course. And you can get information there about local hiking and mountain bike trails, and whitewater and sea kayaking opportunities.

On the west side of the island, the stretch of coastline from Ucluelet to Tofino is part of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve (https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/bc/pacificrim). The tamer sibling of the more remote and wild section of the park that includes the 47 mile West Coast Trail, the Long Beach unit of the park is easily accessible and has numerous small inlets, rocky coves, and beautiful sandy beaches.

Tofino has long been a popular tourist destination and can be crowded in the summer, but the other seasons also bring people to Tofino. Storm watchers flock to the area in the winter. Surfers come for Rip Curl Pro Tofino, the official Canadian surfing championship, in May, and the all-female Queen of the Peak competition in October. There are a variety of festivals throughout the year that bring people to Tofino, including ArtSplash in March, the Tofino Shorebird Festival in May, the Clayoquot Salmon Festival in August and September, and the Tofino Winterlights Festival in December.

Ucluelet, about 25 miles south of Tofino, is less touristy and more down to earth than its glitzier neighbor. The town is situated on a peninsula between Ucluth Inlet and the Pacific Ocean. It’s a popular fishing port and the rugged coastline has a number of secluded coves and beaches that, for my money, are about as pretty as it gets. Hike the easy 1.6 mile Wild Pacific Trail loop at the tip of the peninsula for some of the most spectacular scenery you’ll find anywhere on the island.

Shoreline near Ucluelet viewed from the Wild Pacific Trail

Ucluelet has fewer dining and lodging options than Tofino, but you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a place to stay, and you’ll find some of the freshest and best seafood anywhere.

There is, of course, way more to Vancouver Island than this post covers, and it’s hard to go wrong regardless what part of the island you choose to explore. My wife and I will be making another trip to the island soon, perhaps this fall if the covid-19 pandemic eases and the border reopens.

Originally posted February 1, 2019

Updated and re-posted June 21, 2021

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Mount Lemmon, Arizona

By Alan K. Lee

If you’re ever in the Tucson area, consider making the drive to the top of Mount Lemmon. A paved road takes you to the summit, more than 6500 feet above the valley floor. Numerous viewpoints along the way provide spectacular vistas of the mountain, the surrounding desert below, and the mountains beyond. And numerous trailheads provide access to the ridges and canyons beyond the road for those who want to lace up their hiking boots and immerse themselves in the desert or mountain environment.

The drive takes you through numerous climatic and ecological zones, from the iconic saguaro cactus of the Sonoran Desert at the base of the mountain to an aspen and ponderosa pine forest at the summit.

My wife and I made the drive to the summit in October 2019 while in Arizona to visit my brother and attend a wedding. I had never heard of Mount Lemmon and I wasn’t keen on making that long of a side trip, but my wife convinced me that it would be worthwhile, and she nailed this one. Mount Lemmon is more than just worthwhile, and worth more than just a side trip. It’s a worthy destination in its own right.

The summit of Mount Lemmon is only 17 miles as the crow flies from downtown Tucson, but you have to navigate your way across the city and then up the 30 mile long Catalina Highway. The highway is winding and slow, and there was a lot of tourist traffic when we were there. It takes about 90 minutes to make the drive from downtown Tucson to the top of the mountain, but you’ll want to stop and admire the views in numerous places, and you’ll want to spend some time exploring the top of the mountain, so allow at least half a day for the trip. But I guarantee that you will not be sorry you did.

Windy Point, about seventeen miles from the beginning of the highway in Tanque Verde, has got to be one of the most spectacular viewpoints in southern Arizona. You’ll want to stop here and just wander around for a while. Take in the views of Tucson and the desert far below, the mountains beyond, and the rock formations around you. About four miles farther up the highway you’ll come to the San Pedro Vista, which gives you a panoramic view east across the San Pedro Valley to the Galiuro Mountains.

Another couple miles brings you to the Palisades Visitor Center, with still more panoramic views. You can get information about the area there, and the non-profit Public Lands Interpretive Association operates a bookstore at the center. Another few miles up the mountain is the Aspen Vista Point, another place you’ll want to stop and explore, especially if you’re there in the fall when the aspens are pure gold.

I was surprised to find a small community, Summerhaven, near the summit of the mountain, and even more surprised to find a small ski area. Snow skiing is not something I would have ever associated with Tucson or any place in southern Arizona. But at an elevation of 9157 feet, the top of the mountain gets enough snow in the winter to support an active ski area. There’s also a small astronomical observatory on the summit. The Mount Lemmon Sky Center Observatory is operated by the University of Arizona, and provides public viewing programs using their 24″ and 32″ telescopes.

If you go, note that the summit of Mount Lemmon can be thirty degrees cooler than Tucson, so dress accordingly. And if you plan to do any hiking, avoid mid-summer if possible and always bring plenty of water. There are no sources of safe drinking water on any of the hiking trails in the area, to my knowledge.

Not only am I glad we took the drive, I wish we could have spent more time exploring the mountain. For those that do have the time, there are several picnic areas along the highway and a few places to eat in Summerhaven, and there are several campgrounds a short ways off of the highway if you want to spend more than a day on the mountain. If you don’t want to camp, Summerhaven also has a few rental cabins, and a newly built small hotel. Check the Mount Lemmon General Store website for more information (click on the attractions tab).

Note: In the summer of 2020 the entire area was closed to the public because of the Bighorn Fire that burned 120,000 acres in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Photos taken after the fire showed some badly burned areas, but others that were largely untouched. All of the area is open again, including the Palisades Visitor Center.

If you’re in the Tucson area, or even just passing through, the drive to the top of Mount Lemmon is definitely worth your while. It’s too spectacular to pass up. Another place in the area well worth visiting is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, a few miles west of Tucson.

Originally posted April 25, 2021. Updated September 27, 2024.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Gallery Without Walls 2021

The following is an edited and updated version of a post originally published May 20, 2019. Most of the photos shown here are from the spring of 2019. The rest are from another visit that I made in October 2020. Some of the Gallery Without Walls sculptures shown here were part of the 2019 and 2020 rotating collection and are no longer on display, and “Clackamas” has been moved to George Rogers Park. But there are plenty of new additions for 2021. The featured image shown above is a detail of “Fortress” by Vicki Lynn Wilson.

‘Frog On Fruit” by Heather Soderberg-Greene, bronze

The Gallery Without Walls outdoor sculpture exhibit is a program of the Arts Council of Lake Oswego, Oregon. I’m a fan of all forms of art, but I particularly like sculpture. I like the 3D aspect of it, being able to walk around it, see it from different angles. Sculptures often invoke different emotions or convey different ideas when viewed from different angles. And I really like that these sculptures are displayed outdoors. The changing light as the day progresses can lead to the sculptures looking very different from hour to hour. I’ve revisited some of these sculptures and seen things on a second visit that I completely missed on the first, just because the light was different.

“First Footsteps” by Jim Demetro, cast bronze, 2005 People’s Choice Award winner

Currently, there are eighty sculptures on display in public spaces throughout the city. More than 40 of the sculptures are part of the Arts Council’s permanent collection. The remainder, the rotating collection, are on loan from the artists and are on display for a two year period. Each year, one sculpture from the rotating collection is added to the permanent collection by a vote of the public.

“Wormy Apple #2” by Ed Humphreys, cast aluminum

“Angle of Response” by Lee Hunt, modified alpha gypsum

Forty-six of the sculptures are in the downtown area, making for an easy walking tour. Others are scattered across the city in parks and other public spaces. Click here to view the 2021 tour brochure.

“Sunflower” by Patricia Vader, stainless steel and aluminum

A couple of years ago, my wife and I spent a nice spring day checking out the sculptures on display. We didn’t come to downtown Lake Oswego that day with the intention of doing the walking tour, but we while we were there we stopped at Lower Millennium Park where some of the sculptures are displayed. Then we took a short walk on the trail along the lake shore where there are a couple of more sculptures on display. We ended up spending most of the afternoon wandering around the downtown area, admiring and taking photos of the sculptures and the many flowers that were in full bloom at the time.

“Pouffe” by Hilary Pfeifer, stained cedar

A week later I came back one morning to take photos of some of the sculptures we had seen the previous week that I hadn’t been able to get good pics of because the sun had been at the wrong angle or they had been in deep shade (or I just wasn’t satisfied with the photos I had taken). I wound up spending a couple of hours wandering around downtown, taking photos and admiring a lot of the sculptures that we had missed the previous week. And I still didn’t see all of them.

“Anillos” by Maria Wickwire, high fired ceramic clay, 2007 People’s Choice Award winner

Downtown Lake Oswego is a great place to spend a lazy summer afternoon. Even if you’re not interested in the sculptures, the downtown area has many coffee shops, cafes, pubs, galleries and interesting shops. And Millenium Plaza and George Rogers Park are nice spots to relax and just soak up the sunshine.

“Sprout” by Mike Suri, People’s Choice winner 2010

I’ve got to give a plug here to one of my favorite pubs, Stickmen Brewing. It’s a great place to spend an hour or two on a sunny day – good beer and a nice outdoor deck right on the shore of Oswego Lake with a great view of Lakewood Bay. It’s also a great place to begin or end a walking tour of the Gallery Without Walls.

“Amyas and Soleil” by Amyas Maestas, bronze

“Clackamas” by Mike Suri, Cor-Ten steel, People’s Choice winner 2016

If you’re an art lover and find yourself in the Portland area, make your way to Lake Oswego and check out the sculptures in the Gallery Without Walls. I think you’ll find it worth your while.

“Zephyr” by Devin Laurence Field, stainless steel

“Bread Upon the Water” by Jerry Joslin (1942-2005), bronze

Posted January 22, 2021 by Alan K. Lee

All photos by and the property of the author

Building Murals

My wife, Joan, and I are both art lovers as well as enthusiastic travelers. Finding local artworks is always on our agenda. We tour local museums, of course, but we also seek out street art wherever we go. Street art is alive, connected to the community, always interesting, and often surprising. The photos below are a sampling of the building murals that we’ve found on some of our more recent trips around the Pacific Northwest (and beyond), starting with Freak Alley in Boise, Idaho.

Another large collection of building murals can be found in the small town of Nelson, British Columbia, home of the Nelson International Mural Festival.

The town of Leavenworth, Washington offers a more traditional, sponsored set of building murals that highlight the Bavarian village theme of the town.

Other Northwest towns with significant collections of building murals include Chemainus, British Columbia (aka Muraltown), and Estacada, Oregon.

Farther afield, we recently traveled to Arizona where we spent an afternoon exploring the back streets and alleys of the former copper mining town of Bisbee.

Downtown Phoenix also offered up a large collection of building murals and other street art, as well as abundant sunshine and 85 degree October afternoons.

Art enriches everyone’s life. And public art does so in a much more direct and immediate way than art that is hidden away in a museum. And yes, art saves lives.

Posted by Alan K. Lee, November 11, 2019

All photos by the author

Rhine River Cruise: Freiburg, Colmar, and Basel

The final leg of our Rhine River cruise took us to Freiburg, Germany, Colmar, France, and Basel, Switzerland.

On the next to last day of our cruise, we docked at Breisach, Germany, after an overnight sail from Kehl. After breakfast a number of us boarded a bus that took us to Freiburg im Breisau. Others opted for a day long bus tour of the Black Forest.

Freiburg

Freiburg is a city of about a quarter of a million people, located on the western edge of the Black Forest, about 15 miles east of the Rhine River. It is another ancient city, founded in 1120 at the intersection of trading routes from the Mediterranean to northern Europe and from the Rhine River to the Danube.

“Freiburg” translates to “free town” and the city has a long history of independent minded and educated citizens. Freiburg has long been an academic and research center, and today is home to the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and several other universities. The city has an interesting mix of old and new, provided by the city’s long and valued history and the youthful energy generated by the large university student population.

Freiburg residents have a strong environmental commitment, and Freiburg is known as an “eco city.” In 1995 the city council passed an ordinance allowing only “low energy” buildings to be constructed, and Freiburg has become home to a growing solar power industry and is a leading center of green energy research and development.

Much of Freiburg was destroyed in WWII by Allied bombing raids (and one, mistakenly, by the German Luftwaffe in 1940). The city’s cathedral, though, was spared, and the city was rebuilt along its medieval plan, so its city center retains the look and feel of a medieval town. Most of the historical center is a car-free pedestrian zone, which also adds to its medieval feel.

The city has an unusual network of street gutters with flowing water diverted from the Dreisam River. These “bachle” were originally built to provide water for livestock and for fighting fires. They are at least partly responsible for Freiburg never having had a major fire, unlike almost every other medieval town.

To the east of the historic center, Schlossberg hill rises almost 900 feet above the city. A funicular railway takes visitors part way up the hill to a restaurant with a good view of the city below. Hiking trails lead higher, to a park near the summit with an observation tower. While we didn’t have time to take the funicular and hike to the summit, we did have enough time after our guided tour to hike part way up the hill to get a good view of the city.

Freiburg is a beautiful and very interesting place, and I wish we had been able to spend more time there. But we had to return to the boat with the rest of the tour group. After lunch, we once again boarded a bus for a second excursion, this time across the Rhine to Colmar, France.

Colmar

Like Strasbourg, Colmar has changed hands between France and Germany several times over the centuries and its local culture is a mix of French and German. It’s also similar to Strasbourg in look and feel, with its half-timbered buildings and cobble stone streets. And Colmar is even older than Strasbourg, dating back to at least the early ninth century.

One of the first things we saw upon arriving in Colmar was a scaled down replica of the Statue of Liberty. It’s there because the creator of the statue, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, hailed from Colmar. In addition to the Statue of Liberty, Bertholdi created many other large-scale sculptures and fountains, including the Lion of Belfort. The Bartholdi Museum, located in what was once the Bartholdi family home, contains scale models of the Statue of Liberty and the Lion of Belfort used in creation of those works, as well as many of Bartholdi’s other works. Other Colmar museums include the Unterlinden Museum, the Musee du Jouet (Toy Museum), and the Hansi Museum, dedicated to the works of Jean-Jacques Waltz, a native of Colmar known for his satirical works and his opposition to German control of the region.

Colmar is known for its white wines, and one of the optional tours that many of our fellow passengers took advantage of was a tour of the areas wineries and vineyards. A variety of grapes are grown in the region, including reisling, gewurtztraminer, pinot gris, and pinot blanc. Colmar and the Alsace region have been producing these wines since the early middle ages.

After our organized tour of the city, we had time to wander around the town for awhile on our own. The old town of Colmar is interesting, historic, and one of the prettier towns we visited on our cruise. Part of the old city along the Lauch River is known as Petite Venise (Little Venice). That comparison might be a little off the mark, but it is certainly picturesque. I took many photos of Little Venice and we would have lingered there longer, but, alas, once again we had to return to the ship with our fellow passengers or get left behind. One of the downsides to river cruising, I guess.

Basel

Our cruise ended the following morning in Basel, Switzerland. We rather reluctantly said goodbye to our Viking Longship and the friends we had made on the trip.

After disembarking the ship and taking a taxi to our hotel, we had the rest of the day to explore the city. Since Rick Steves’ Switzerland guide book had not a single mention of Basel, I didn’t have high expectations. But we discovered, on our way to Museum of Contemporary Art, an old section of the city (the St. Alban District) that is as picturesque and has all of the charm of the other old city centers we’ve visited, but with few tourists and no crowds.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the city center, including Basel Cathedral (Basel Munster), and the Basel Town Hall, and sampling Swiss cuisine. All in all, Basel was a delightful surprise, and a fitting end to our Rhine River cruise.

The end of our cruise wasn’t the end of our vacation, though, as we continued on to the Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Berner Oberland section of Switzerland. Look for a future post on that delightful extension of our trip.

Posted by Alan K. Lee, May 2, 2019

All photos by the author

Rhine River Cruise: Heidelberg to Strasbourg

The fourth full day of our Rhine River cruise took us to Heidelberg, Germany. Day five found us in Strasbourg, France.

After docking for the evening in Rudesheim (see my previous posts on Amsterdam and Kinderdijk, and Cologne and the Middle Rhine), our cruise ship sailed overnight to Manheim, Germany. After breakfast on board we ventured to Heidelberg by bus. First stop was Heidelberg Castle.

The road to the castle is steep and narrow and there are several hairpin turns that were definitely not built with tour busses in mind. It took a good bit of maneuvering and a bit of time, but the driver had obviously done this before and we made it up the hill without incident.

Heidelberg Castle overlooks the old city, and is largely in ruins. The first structure was built on the present site around 1300. Shortly after the first castle was built, a second was built higher up the mountainside. The second castle was destroyed by a lightning strike in 1537 and nothing remains of it today. The remaining lower castle was heavily damaged in the early 1600s during the Thirty Years War, and almost completely destroyed by the French in the late 1600s. A portion of it was restored in the late nineteenth century and the ruins of the rest of the castle were stabilized and remain in the condition they were in at the time.

Our tour guide was a graduate student working on his doctorate in history at Heidelberg University, so we got a wealth of local history during our tour, told in an entertaining and often humorous manner. The castle ruins are a treasure trove of photo opportunities, as well. I could easily have spent a full day, or more, at the castle, but had to move on with the group.

After touring the castle, we made the short trip back down to the old city. We opted for an abbreviated tour by our guide, giving us ample time to wander the city on our own. Like many of the old medieval centers in European cities, the historical center of Heidelberg is quaint, picturesque, and thoroughly charming.

We spent an hour or so exploring the old city, then stopped at a sidewalk cafe at one of the hotels for lunch. While there, another of the couples on the cruise joined us. Fran and Victor, from Santiago, Chile, were one of the few non-American couples on the cruise. Coincidentally, Victor, who is a surgeon, had been sent to Heidelberg some time previously by the university hospital where he practiced (they had some sort of reciprocal relationship with Heidelberg University), and had stayed in the same hotel at which we were dining.

While we were touring Hedielberg, our cruise ship had sailed upstream to Speyer, where we rejoined the ship. The historical center of Speyer was only a short walk from where our ship was docked, so we had plenty of time to explore it that evening.

Speyer has a long history, dating back to its founding by the Romans in 10 BC. The Speyer Cathedral, begun in 1030, was the site of the 1526 Diet of Speyer that temporarily suspended the Edict of Worms that had banned Martin Luther in 1521. In 1529 a second Diet of Speyer essentially reinstated the Edict of Worms. Supporters of Luther then issued a Letter of Protest, and henceforth became known as Protestants.

The Altpoertel (Old Gate), one of the other major sights in Speyer, was built in the 13th century. One of the 68 original towers of the old city’s wall, the Altpoertel is one of the largest medieval city gates and towers in Germany.

That night the ship took us to Kehl, Germany while we slept. There the Rhine forms the boundary between Germany and France, and the next morning we bused across the river to the city of Strasbourg, France . Neither my wife nor I had been to France before, so this was an interesting excursion for us.

Strasbourg today is home to the European Parliament and a number of other European Union institutions. In the past, it has been part of German territory, so its culture is a mix of French and German. In fact, it has changed hands between France and Germany four times in the last 150 years. Our tour guide’s grandparents lived under both French and German rule, and had to make the transition from one to the other three separate times. France and Germany have very different legal and political structures, as well as languages, so it must have been very difficult to adapt each time the city changed from one to the other.

The historic city center of Strasbourg, the Grand Ile, is an island in the Ill River, which flows through Strasbourg before joining the Rhine. The Grand Ile has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988. The Ile is full of magnificently preserved and very beautiful examples of medieval architecture, particularly the Strasbourg Cathedral, which was constructed between 1176 and 1439. Its 466 foot high north spire made the cathedral the tallest building in the world from 1647 until 1874. The cathedral is also noted for its massive (18 meter tall) and intricate astronomical clock, completed in 1843. The current clock replaced an earlier one built in the 16th century, the remains of which are preserved in the Museum of Decorative Arts.

We had a wonderful time wandering around Grand Ile on our own after the end of the organized tour, taking lots of photos, and having a leisurely lunch, dining outside at one of the many local cafes. After returning to the ship, we walked into the town of Kehl and did some further exploring.

From Kehl, the ship sailed that evening to Breisach, Germany. Our excursions on the following day took us to Freiburg, Germany and Colmar, France. Look for an upcoming post on those outings.

Posted by Alan K. Lee, April 12, 2019

All photos by and property of the author

Rhine River Cruise: Cologne and the Middle Rhine

The second and third days of our Rhine River cruise took us to Cologne, then the villages and castles of the Middle Rhine region. After leaving Kinderdijk (see my previous post) on the afternoon of our first full day of cruising, our “longship” navigated its way to the Rhine, and then upstream to Cologne overnight.

“Love locks”, Hohenzollern Bridge, Cologne

My wife and I took two guided tours on the second day of our cruise. In the morning our guide led a tour of the old historic city center. Normally that includes a tour of the cathedral, but it was Sunday, so tour groups were not allowed in. We had the afternoon to ourselves, though, so we were able to tour it independently later that day – a very impressive structure, one of the largest cathedrals in Europe.

We also spent a good bit of time that afternoon exploring the Museum Ludwig (modern art, including a large collection of Picasso’s), and the nearby Roman-Germanic Museum, which preserves a Roman villa from the third century B.C. that was unearthed during the construction of a bomb shelter in 1941. Both are adjacent to the cathedral. If you’re an art and history buff, those are two places you do not want to miss.

Cologne ( Koln) was founded by the Romans in the fist century A.D. (The Roman name for the city, Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, was shortened and became Cologne to the French and Koln to the Germans.) The city was heavily bombed during World War II, and 95% of the central city was destroyed. Only the cathedral, city hall, and a few other buildings survived. A lot of the rebuilding was done in a style to match the surviving buildings, so much of what you see when you visit looks old and historic, but is in fact less than 70 years old.

Cologne’s city hall is built on the site of the ancient Roman Praetorium, which was the seat of government of the Roman province of Germania Inferior until 475 A.D. The Praetorium was destroyed in an earthquake in the late eighth century. Cologne municipal government was formed around 1100, and the original city hall building was constructed in the mid-12th century. The current structures date from as early as 1330.

Construction of the Cologne Cathedral began in 1248. In 1478 construction was halted and the cathedral remained unfinished for another 400 years. It wasn’t until 1880 that it was completed to the original medieval plan. The cathedral was damaged by a number of bombing raids in WWII, but remained standing, and repairs were completed in 1956.

Detail of the Cologne Cathedral exterior

Our second tour in Cologne was an optional pub crawl that evening, led by a local guide. In Cologne each pub has a working agreement with one of the local breweries that produce the local brew, called kolsch. Each pub serves only one brand of kolsch, so to sample a variety of different kolsches, we visited four pubs. Kolsch is served in small seven ounce straight-sided glasses. You never have to order a refill. An empty glass is considered the order and will be refilled without your asking. A coaster placed over the top of the glass is the signal that you do not want a refill. Needless to say, we had a great time, drank our fill of good beer, and the guide managed to get all of us back to the ship before it left that night.

Spay, Germany, viewed from Marksburg Castle

The next morning found us in Koblenz. After breakfast on board, most of us boarded a bus that took us to Marksburg Castle. It’s not the prettiest castle along the Rhine (in my opinion), but it is the most intact. It is the only castle that was never attacked, so you get a better peak at what castle life was like back in the middle ages. Many of its rooms display historically accurate recreations of how they looked and functioned in medieval times. It was all very interesting, but also very crowded.

Back on the ship, we spent the afternoon cruising the Middle Rhine Valley (sometimes called the Rhine Gorge), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here the Rhine flows through a narrow valley with picturesque villages along the shore and many castles high above the river on the ridges either side.

The cruise ships travel this section of the river during the day both because it is the most scenic part of the river and because it is difficult to navigate in places. The famous Lorelei Rock is on this section of the river.

Late that afternoon we docked in Rudesheim and spent the evening exploring on our own. Rudesheim is a small, picturesque town, like many that we passed earlier in the day. It was a pleasant end to a very nice day. By this point I was fully onboard with the idea of doing more river cruising in the future. Maybe the Danube next time, perhaps.

Our cruise continued with stops in Heidelberg, then Strasbourg and Colmar, France, and a tour of Freiberg, Germany before disembarking in Basel, Switzerland. Look for future posts on the remainder of our trip.

Posted by Alan K. Lee, 3/21/19

All photos by the author