America 2015 - part 7

Becky Bean gave us her upstairs room, and a half a dozen fans to keep us cool up there. We got to sleep on the most comfortable bed of our trip at that point, and it was round. She has a lovely horse print on the wall, and another that I also photographed but my husband is sleeping in the picture, and he probably doesn't want my posting a photo of him asleep. As I lay there after dark, I wondered, was that other print really couples dancing on a beach in formal attire? I had to wait til morning to find out.


This is the one I liked - to me it looks like a Mustang, or a Morgan.




I have to show one more pic of the fun with the kids: )


I wanted to say that I appreciated that the whole time we were there, she kept her dogs locked in another room, until I asked to see them. I found this respectful; she didn't know if we were dog people or not. When I finally met her Shepherd mix, I really liked her, and we went to the park and watched them play, the two dogs with their opposite styles of play.

There was also a cat in the house, and even Becky admitted she had a thing for me. She would sit at my feet totally at ease, and the kids could carry her around and she didn't mind. Becky assured me I do not want this kitty, because she resists the litter box, and refuses to go outside. OK then.



Meeting Caspian. He's a big impressive horse that never takes a bad photo.





I had to gimp this photo cuz it was too dark, but you can see what an incredible topline and neck he has, and how he's using his hind end more than his front.





He's not small, and as Becky agreed, "He's not delicate."



He seemed to have a lot on his mind, I have no idea what. He's polite, but also somehow pondering things, you can see it in his expression.



After Becky demonstrated how to ride him, I climbed on and found that I truly do not know how to ride with a Western bridle. I kept taking too much contact, and I didn't know how to operate him without contact... for example, to get a turn on the haunches.  Becky left me alone and I worked on it, and also tried to get him to gait, which he only reluctantly did for me because he knew I wasn't asking properly. After a while I just sat on him and enjoyed being on a horse who does not have to be mobile every moment of its life.

When I finally got off, I had Caspian hairs infused in my socks (I was riding in shorts) and my husband laughed, "Well, you sure did kick that horse a lot!" Although Caspian responded to me, we definitely had a language barrier between us.

The farrier arrived and I got caught up watching her do "just one hoof, that's all I can make my husband wait for me for, after all this!" It was great fun talking to her farrier. Finally I had to say goodbye and went to my rental car to find my husband, but he was not there. I absolutely panicked - I hadn't seen him in so long, and where could he be? I ran back into the barn and this enormous Newfoundland dog poked its poking face against me and I backed away until I found one of Becky's kids and said, "Where is J?" and he proudly took me to him, behind a group of bushes overlooking the mountains. I was so relieved!  Thank God the kids paid attention to where my husband was the entire time I was in horseyland. Then Becky asked for a quick photoshoot with all 5 of us, and then we truly departed, for so much of Oregon needed exploring.

We went to this awesome park in Portland called Council Crest, where, at the top of a giant hill, you can see most of the Cascade peaks all around you. And there is this incredible echo effect, if you stand in the right spot (the middle) and speak softly, you'll hear your voice reverberating all around the park. It freaked me out. I really hope Becky takes her kids there, cuz kids would not be freaked out, they would love having their own personal amplifier.



We travelled east to the foot hills of Mt Hood, and got ready for a hike up Wildcat mountain. Here you can see my husband surrounded by shotgun shells, oh, there's no place like home.




No place like home where people obscure important information with their guns. What, horses are also allowed here?!!




It was certainly a technical horse trail, but traces of horses proved people have ridden there. It was extremely rugged. Just up my alley.



The Cascades in Oregon look just like in Washington. I started to get very sad about my situation with my horse, because if I had trails like these in Germany, (straight up and down single track) I'm sure she'd get over her silliness because she'd be working too hard simply walking to fret about things. I started sharing this with J, how I feel that I failed with her, and he said very logically, "You did not fail the horse, your circumstances failed you." That made me feel better slightly.









We were seeking one of the original geocaches, one of the first, from 2001. Oregon is where caching began. At this point I asked how much further, and we figured out we'd be on Wildcat until after dark, and we had no flashlights. So relieved, I turned for home. I cannot enjoy hiking up and down mountains in this heat. Little did I know what would happen the next day.



Glacial erratic.






We came back down to Sandy, Oregon. When we arrived at the Best Western, they said, "Sorry, no vacancy....unless...." And we were able to get the manager's room which was vacant. It had a full kitchen too, but we soon realized it was no good if there were no dishes and utensils. Oh well, we got free DVDs and I finally got to see Ender's Game: ): )

Next: Mt Hood