Following a Rome viewing, accompanied by a much anticipated pasta dinner with Elizabeth and Morgan tonight, I will be heading home to the family ranch this week. I will be able to spend some needed quality time with my daughter in the mountains. I must inform her this week that I will be able to move back all summer before embarking on my next move to LA. Fortunately, I believe I have figured out the financial means by which I can see her on roughly the same schedule that I do from Eugene. I'll simply be flying fewer hours shuttling from LA instead of driving 13 hours every trip in Oregon. My body has finally purged the allergy or contagion I encountered last week, so I will look forward to the being back in the mountains with my daughter over break. Here are a number of internet (click to get a bigger view) images of the valley where my family ranch is. This is the foothill area of the river valley and the hills where I would hike up and down as a child. I had many joyous years nestled in the shelter of these hills, before venturing out into the cruel world beyond. Views from the bottom of valley.
From this point (image below), on clear day, you can see the Columbia River at a distance 50 miles, and Mt. Hood, St. Helens, and Adams at up to 250 miles. Familial land lies at the bottom of this valley a couple of miles down.
The elevation of the valley drops down thousands of feet rapidly at this point. Very steep and difficult hiking, a trek not for the faint of heart, especially in the dead of winter thru drifts of snow. When the present social order eventually crumbles, I will head to these hills until new strategies can be devised and implemented.
