Day 137

1. Up in Portland with Tyler
2. Back home and off to Newell House with Mums, Daniel, Jacob and Emily & kids
3. We had a private tour thanks to Judy being our friend. :)
4. Afternoon picnic at Champoeg
5. Daisies
6. The vote monument
7. Walking along the Willamette
8. Daniel & Molly
9. John & Jacob
10. Mathew and I waiting for the pie to finish baking
11. Rhubarb custard pie. A new family favorite!

Insta gram

So I'm trying out the internet phenomena of 2011; it's kind of fun and quirky. And it's definitely helpful for hiding the imperfections of my photos. The name always reminds me of porridge though. And my grandmother who we called Gram or Grammy. Thus the name conjures up images of an instant cereal box advertising something along the lines of Malt O Meal, but instead it's InstantGram! .

Proof that our little town has the coolest Hi School Pharmacy.

Took a walk and spied violets.

 

Today is Daniel's birthday. He's fifteen of all things and taller than me now. Sigh.

Saturday: Of scones and sugar (powdered that is)

First off, about the powdered sugar... if you haven't seen my facebook status, then you don't know that on Saturday I bought 50 pounds of powdered sugar. On accident. Yes, 50 pounds. Who knew that Costco even sold 50 pounds of powdered sugar? Anyone?

I was tired. And I never ever go to Costcos on Saturday. I had been to a baby shower that afternoon, gotten up earlier than normal and left the shower a little early because I knew I had to still run errands and I really wanted to get in a nap... I know, I'm a wussy. So I head into Costco, tired and determined to get out of there as quickly as possible... so then sugar is the last thing on my list. I grab it. It's right next to the brown sugar. I don't see the words Powdered anywhere (now I'm dying to go back and see what that sign really said) and I grabbed it. I even glanced around to see if there were any smaller packs of white sugar, but I didn't see any. So I'm blaming my tired eyes here (Or really the concussion)....

Anyways, I get home and the boys graciously unload the groceries for me. One of them then opens up the bag and gets confused because it looks like flour. And that's when I hear that I bought powdered sugar. FIFTY pounds of it. And we probably buy two small packs of powdered sugar a year. Usually around Christmas time because I use it to make eggnog. Yums... So, anyone want some powdered sugar? I did get one suggestion on facebook that maybe it was time to open up a cake shop... and I got one helpful suggestion to NOT divide it up in small plastic bags and sell it on street corners (no worries there)...

So yes, now on to scones. I was asked to bring some scones to a baby shower for this little guy, and I thought I would share the recipe, since I altered it a smidge and they turned out way better than I could have imagined. I made all of the variations on Saturday in the cookbook (The New Best Recipe Cookbook) but the ginger one turned out amazing, so the recipe follows...


Here's one lone scone left. It was more important to eat them than to take pictures! Also, I will note that my name could be interpreted as S. Cone... which spells scone. Not that anyone really cares... ;) but I do have an affinity for scones!

Ginger Scones

1 cup pastry flour (or all purpose)

1/2 cup spelt flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons of cold butter, cut up

1/2 cup of candied ginger (in small pieces) *

1 cup heavy cream

Oven temp: 425

Combine the flours, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in butter. Then add the ginger. (I did it all in a food processor.)

If using a food processor, dump into another bowl and add the cream. Stir until the dough forms a ball, then transfer dough to a floured counter top and knead until it forms a smooth ball.

You can then either free form each scone, or you can pat it into the bottom of a cake pan, invert it and you'll have a round pizza shape. You can then cut the wedges with a scraper or knife and place on a cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Then eat up!

* I used some that I had made earlier this month, 

but I'm sure it's fine with store bought ginger...

Columbia & gold mining

Thursday, August 18, 2010

Today most of us went traipsing off to Columbia State Park... which contains Columbia, a gold rush mining town, quite well preserved. We didn't take a whole ton of pictures of the town as it hasn't been that long since the last time and um, it doesn't change much, since they are tying to, you know, preserve it! 

The one picture I wish we had gotten was of the old house that was used in the movie High Noon, the white farm house that has John Wayne coming out of it.. That part was filmed here. In fact, I believe the tour guide said that the film was supposed to be filmed in Columbia but they started filming to late and it was to "fall-ish" by the time they made it up here...

This building was not well preserved as you can see. I don't remember what it started out as, but eventually it was a part of the china town area.

And ditch. (duh) Columbia has an interesting history of getting water down from the mountains. Mostly it involves a lot of out of work miners digging ditches.

The Columbia fire hall. Notice the faux brick siding.

The old fire engine... Columbia had several devastating fires (everything is brick now) and the bought this fire engine from San Francisco. San Francisco had obtained it after some company or another couldn't deliver it to some Indonesian island. It wasn't built with good brakes, and therefore was not well suited to San Francisco, thus Columbia got it. Also, note that the white bar is in a very propitious place.

Family photo shoot!

The Paynes

Walking down main street. At this blacksmith shop you can get a horseshoe with your name stamped on it. I have one from when I was 5. It was so special.... :D

So around Columbia they did hydraulic mining... ie, HUGE fire hoses of water that blasted the earth away and then left tons of rock outcroppings. These are very fun to climb on. :)

Awesome...

Here you can get an idea of how big these rocks are... and it's like that all over the place, where there was a hint of water coming down from the Sierras... usually not so tall though, but very noticable none the less!

The traditional Jail photo shoot...

A beautiful bridge that you cross to get to Columbia... Here the oaks are mixing with the Pines...

Back to the cabin a swim and dinner!

Ebbetts Pass & Grover's Meadow

So in my last post, I left off with us finishing lunch at Lake Alpine and had decided to go to Grover Hot Springs for the afternoon. To get there we get to drive the lovely route of Hwy 4... It's such a beautiful stretch of highway in the Sierras that it has it's own website.Which if you want to see more or better pictures has a beautiful little slideshow!

This is the high point of the trip! Also, as a kid I remember getting such a kick out of the nearest town's propane supply store. It's called Ebbetts Pass Gas. Get it? Hahaha.

I wish I had more pictures to share of the next hour, but mostly we were too busy enjoying the scenery and watching out for other cars on the narrow road! 

But this view of charming Mosquito Lake give you and idea of the beautiful rocks and trees...

And then we come to this. The most harrowing part of the trip. Most of the road consist of narrow (squeek by other cars) windy road that meanders up and down rocky forest terrain... but we've now crossed into the eastern Sierras so the terrain is noticeably drier. 

Also, see that valley floor? That's where we're going... I think it's about three thousand feet lower. And about a thousand feet of that drop is on a narrow road, no rail guard and a nice drop to the valley floor. Eeks!

This is what the ridge looked like. Just imagine a road snaking its way down. Now. Also imagine being in a big van and meeting, not one, not two, not three but FOUR rent-a-RVs coming up. That have ignored the "do not drive on this road if you are a vehicle longer than 25 ft" sign. Plus the ~20% grade.. On a narrow road. With no guard rail. That was a little scary. We had to back up both times. And the engines on these poor RVs were just smoking. And there was a line of cars stuck behind them. We were guessing they were New Yorkers who had no clue what they were doing. And one of the poor women driving the RV looked absolutely petrified.

So this is Grover meadow where the hot springs are located. To be honest, I found the hot springs to be a little disappointing... mostly like swimming in a regular pool. I thought it'd be more nature-y.

But the meadow was more to my liking! In fact there's few things I love more than a Sierra meadow. 

 

This meadow was simply beautiful. Along one edge there were boulders that made it looked landscaped by God. Also the colors of the grass and wildflowers were gorgeous.There's a hiking trail that goes up the meadow, which Dad and I explored it for a few minutes and found a beautiful little creek. 

The Sierras & Lake Alpine

August 17th, 2011 Wednesday

Today we set off on a jaunt to cross the Sierras! Since the cabin is at about 5000 feet and Ebbetts Pass is at 8000 feet, we had some elevation to gain... and then we lost it on the way to our final destination, But I'll leave that to the next post.

First we headed to Lake Alpine. Actually, not. First, the ones in the big van headed to the gas station, 'cause the last thing you want to do is to run out of gas up there! The gas pumps were from the 70s and considering I barely know how to pump gas with a credit card (oh us spoiled Oregonians), I had to have someone show me how to work this one. It was such a novelty to my little mind that I made Dad take a picture of me and the gas pump.

 We bonded.

And we also found out that the little general store/resturant had wifi. Oh yes. A touch with the outside world was sweet for one minute.

Then we headed off to meet everyone else at the view point.



It's pretty breathtaking! And it's even better in person. I need to scrounge around in my photos from last time and see if I have a video. And remember that river in my last post? That's down there, way down there. I think we are at about 7000 feet here.

Next we went to Lake Alpine to have a picnic lunch. We were all to busy stuffing our faces (altitude makes me hungry!) to get any interesting photos with people, but I do have a few scenic shots.







I love Lake Alpine. One reason being that Lake Alpine is a resoivoir and so there are these fantasic granite islands dotting the edges. I think when I was about 12 we went swimming here and it was so fun to swim around the islands and clamber around them. For a little while you were king of the Island. And what child doesn't want there own private island? It was pretty magical.

When my parents were dating, my mom once won 20 dollars from my dad at this lake. So my dad hates cold water, while my mom is a proud member of the Polar Bear Club (motto: if there's water; it must be swum) and was standing on the edge of the lake contemplating jumping in. Dad dared her 20 dollars to jump in and she said "OK" and jumped. I think Dad's jaw hit the ground.

After a scrumptious lunch, we had a group meeting to determine whether to do a hike first or go to the hot springs first. Since not everyone could go on the hike we decided to do the hot springs first, that way others could go back early if they didn't want to go on the hike. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to do the hike, but my goodness, it was my grandparents suggestion to do the hike and it's not often you hear of couples in their mid 80's recommending a hike at 7000 feet!

Next time.... how to not drive fall down 3000 foot tall cliffs. The secret? Let your father drive.

The Sequoias & the Stanislaus

August 16, 2011 Tuesday

After we enjoyed a fairly leisurely morning at the cabin (in which I was introduced to the game Dominion, which is awesome) we all headed off down the big hill to Calaveras Big Trees State Park. We usually go there about every other trip, but I think it been a while since I'd last been there. We just took the shorter and easier hike/walk. I think we saw about 20 giant Sequoias, along with numerous baby Sequoias...

A mighty Sequoia! It's hard to tell but this tree probably has a diameter of at least 12 feet. Also, since I have to re-remember this every time, I'll just say it, the Redwoods and the Sequoias are related. Redwoods are the tallest trees, whereas Sequoias are the biggest (ie mass and diameter-wise). This grove is about as far north as Sequoias grow. Also, Redwoods grow in the mountains near the coast as they need the moisture and Sequoias grow in the Sierras.


My beautiful grandmother and I. She and Grandpa joined us at the cabin for three days.


The Family (Grandparents, Daniel, Sam P, Andrew, Jacob, Mum, Me, Julie P, Scott, Tyler, Dad & Bev P. )

We are standing in front of a Sequoia stump that measured 25 feet in diameter. It was huge! You can see a family posing on it behind us. ;)


Part of the tree that made the huge stump pictured in the background in the previous photo.

This was one of the first Sequoias discovered around here during the 1850's. They didn't have any equipment big enough to fell it so they used augers which created the lines above. The stump is about 25 feet in diameter! The part that fell down, of which only part of it is pictured above had at one point a bar and bowling alley built on top of it!


Here you can see a Sequoia that has had it's top die off. Also, check out the size of the limbs. The lower ones are probably around 6 feet in diameter! Later on the walk there were some branches that had fallen down and you could've sworn that they were trees in and of themselves!


This one had been hollowed out so that you could walk through it.


Here's Jacob posing in between two Sequoias. They have burn marks in between them as debris had collected and then was burned off. Sequoias rarely burn themselves thanks to their bark being naturally fire resistant and their sloping sides which encourage falling trees to roll away from them.


Grandma, Me, Andrew, Jacob, Sam P and Daniel

This bench allows you to easily gaze at the tops of the trees. Very clever, I say.


The "let's take a big tree and hollow it out so a car can drive under it" tree.

This is the Stanislaus River. It was quite chilly, but it's so beautiful! The rocks are mostly granite.

And this is what happens when you get a lot of boys (and a few gals ;) , all of whom like to skip rocks...

Also, thanks to Bev and Tyler for letting me use their photos!