ROAD TRIP! Morning Glory, a Big Duck, and a Most Beloved Carousel

For breakie, we took a tip from my nephew and his wife and went to the Morning Glory Café (left). Score! Great vegetarian place, excellent food - it is SO good.

We decided to cruise the University, as no visit to Eugene is complete without a visit to the Big Duck on the University of Oregon campus. 

U of O also has a reputation as an arboretum, and many of the beautiful trees on campus were greeting fall in their best colors.

In the workshop

We headed north to a place my daughter had seen on TV, and a perfect example of what people who love where they live can do: the Albany Carousel Museum. In 2002, members of the community came up with the idea of a carousel museum and subsequently volunteered over 160,000 hours to create something magical.

The Albany Carousel Museum was fortunate to have a 1909 Dentzel Carousel Corporation mechanism donated to the project. The Dentzel family became a major supporter; the Dentzels were the first manufacturer of carousels in America, opening their business in Philadelphia, PA back in 1870 (more about the Dentzels and their wonderful business in my Pennsylvania Handbook). The Dentzel family, through the American Carousel Corporation, supplied the antique 1909 mechanism consisting of 52 animals on three rows. 

Bill Dentzel, great grandson of Gustav Dentzel, the founder of Dentzel Carousel Corporation, heard of our project and supplied valuable knowledge that markedly assisted in the restoration of the mechanism; he also carved with volunteers to help make the animals of this community project a reality. Modern carousel animals are usually cast in metal or plastic. The Albany carousel animals are made the old-fashioned way - hand carved and painted. They are gorgeous!

This Big Boy's name is Sampson

It's Quigga!

Volunteer support has ranged from animal and mechanism and building component sponsorships to outright financial contributions. Initial donors were given an opportunity to “buy” an animal of their choice – hence the clever and imaginative animals. 

A local veterinarian commissioned Quigga, the Quagga (and extinct half-stripped zebra). Volunteers come in to assist with carving, painting, tours and the gift shop.

 

 This carousel consists of 52 animals with a variety of animals ranging from a seven foot plus tall giraffe, dogs, cats, zebras, unicorns, dragons, lions, tigers, and bears, (just to name a few. See a more complete list here). The animals are in three rows; the outside row (large animals) are “standers” while the middle and inside row animals (medium and small sized respectively) are “jumpers.” Each row also has two replacement animals (the animals are rotated out for a period of time) and there are also five seasonal animals, bringing the total to sixty-three animals. Admission to the carousel studio tour and gift shop is free, and the carousel itself is only $2 a ride. Don’t miss it!

When we returned to Eugene, we stopped at an extraordinary bakery famed for its mix of gluten and gluten-free baked goods. I wanted to order one of everything, but settled for just a few. Sweet Life is justifiably delicious! We would have pictures of the goodies, but they mysteriously disappeared.

image: A.N. Smith-Lee

A spin around the river walk was on the agenda after snacks, and it was literally right outside our hotel room. The upper part of the walk sometimes butts up against the busy freeway, and there are a disconcerting number of folks popping out of their temporary homes in the bushes alongside the river (yes, there are homeless of all ages in Eugene, including a few young druggies who end up sleeping extra rough on the damp sidewalks. However, since this is Oregon, everyone we met - no exceptions -was friendly and courteous, homeless included). It's life in America these days. By contrast, the far side of the walk skirts a pleasant park and the exceptional Owen Rose Garden which was in full bloom when we visited.

The next morning, we planned to set out early for home, so, after an unexceptional meal at a local fast-food joint, we decided to get a closer look at something that fascinated me since we rolled into Eugene: a pedestrian bridge over one of the freeways. It's lit with bright red neon, and led from one housing tract to another. The picture doesn't do it justice.

All images, unless stated, are by Joanne Orion Miller 

ROAD TRIP! Up the Creek with a Million Geese

We left from Citrus Heights, a suburb of Sacramento, between the city and Roseville. A dry, typical end-of-summer day for California’s interior – meaning it was pushing 80 degrees by 10AM. Cruising up Rte. 5 through the heartland of California really brings home the fact that CA produces more that 13% of the nation’s total of fruit and vegetables (as of 2015), and why many growers are hollering for more water. Our first stop was for lunch at a place off the highway called, unfortunately, the Olive Pit (who doesn’t want to eat in the pit?). Pretty good burgers, and a wonderful condiment bar, plus a truly awesome array of every style of olive you could imagine (chocolate stuffed, anyone?)

We tooled on to a place I’ve wanted to see for some time: The Sacramento National WildlifeRefuge, 70 miles north of Sacramento. The six-mile drive on the Refuge roads is worth a detour, even if sitting among a gazillion honking geese isn’t on your bucket list. Recent midwinter counts have shown that 5-6 million ducks and geese winter in the Central Valley. This accounts for 60% of wintering waterfowl in the Pacific Flyway: more geese, songbirds, ducks and other birds than you’d see in a lifetime. This is a popular stop for migrations in fall and spring, and we hit it at an ideal time. The refuge supports over 250 species of birds; most notable are the huge wintering concentrations (November - January) of 500,000 to 750,000 ducks and 200,000 geese. Raptor numbers swell as the waterfowl numbers increase, including bald eagles and peregrine falcons (we saw both – first ever sighting of a bald eagle, up close and personal). Waterfowl viewing is good between October and March. Shorebird numbers peak in the spring and fall, while some waterfowl and numerous migratory songbird species nest here during the summer.

A Refuge is NOT a sanctuary. We were alarmed to hear gunshots from across one of the viewing ponds: Hunting is considered an important wildlife management tool (the refuge calls it “a healthy, traditional outdoor pastime, deeply rooted in America’s heritage…. and in some instances…necessary for sound wildlife management”). Hunting on this and other refuges is heavily regulated and there are specific permits, fees, and restrictions in place. Still, an urge to duck among ducks was not out of place.

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1937 with funds from the Emergency Conservation Fund Act of 1933 to provide refuge and breeding habitat for migratory birds, endangered, threatened, or sensitive species and other wildlife (and alleviate crop depredation by those pesky critters). The area of the refuge used to be a vacant, windswept plain; from 1937-1942, men from the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed levees, water control structures, and delivery ditches to create and sustain wetlands across the majority of the refuge.

It’s a great place to visit…but we had miles to go.