From Joy to Germany - Not Every Detour Is Scenic

Aloha all,

The great philosopher Forrest Gump once said, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." The same could be said about road trips.

This detour to Hurricane Ridge was still scenic

After a few days in the Columbia River Gorge, a week on the Olympic Peninsula with four different ex-Hawaii friends, Canada Day in Canada, and America's 250th birthday in Port Angeles, what would be next? A detour to Idaho? The world's biggest ball of twine in Eastern Washington? Randomly running into another friend from Maui?

Nope.

Our road-trip box of chocolates contained the equivalent of the mystery chocolate filled with rotten eggs. Instead of another scenic byway, we took a sharp left turn toward a hospital in Germany.

Two days ago, we got a call that Sandra's mom was in severe pain. She needed emergency surgery for a blocked colon. That's concerning for anyone, but especially at 91 years old. The next day, I drove Sandra to the Seattle airport, so she can support her mom and her sister.

Thankfully, the surgery appears to have gone well. Sandra's mom is recovering slowly, and I'm sure having both of her daughters by her side is excellent medicine.

I'm now heading back to Oregon to winterize and store Joy a little earlier than planned. In a few days, I'll follow Sandra to Germany. I still have a few miles and a fair amount of work ahead of me, but I have to admit—it feels strange being in Joy without my travel buddy and the love of my life.

Joy will go into
hibernation early this year

I'm usually perfectly fine being by myself, but there's something undeniably sad about a BBQ for one. I miss my copilot, and all of a sudden the bed in Joy has become way too big.

Even with our thoughts elsewhere, I still want to write about the wonderful time we had on the road. Of course, we'd have loved to explore more of the Pacific Northwest, but we're grateful for the time we did have.

We spent three days in the spectacular Columbia River Gorge.

In The Dalles, we took a short—and somewhat confusing—audio walking tour of downtown before visiting the excellent Fort Dalles Museum. To be honest, the museum itself took us less than an hour to see, but we spent three times that long chatting with the curator, which turned out to be the best exhibit of all. We love meeting people who know far more about history than we do and genuinely enjoy sharing it. If we were this curious sitting at home reading books or researching online, we might become really smart someday. Somehow, it's much easier to be curious when we're traveling.

Not the most historical house in The Dalles,
but the most colorful!

Biking along the Columbia in The Dalles, we passed several enormous Google data centers. Unfortunately, they don't seem to offer tours—I guess "Come see our racks of blinking computers!" isn't much of a tourist draw. I was intrigued enough to read up on them while standing outside. I'm still not sure whether they're humanity's greatest technological achievement, a big waste of water and electricity to make fake videos, or simply the beginning of The Terminator. It's probably a little bit of all of that. 

We spent one night in the parking lot of the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, then half the next day exploring it. Afterward, we biked and scooted along part of the Historic Columbia River Highway, now blissfully free of cars. Well...to be completely honest, we probably spent more time talking to an interesting guy riding an electric unicycle than actually exploring the road. One of the best parts of slow travel is having enough time to stop and have conversations with complete strangers - or, as I like to call them, 'fellow humans'.

Our newest friend for an hour

Scooting and biking on the old
Scenic Columbia River Gorge Road

Multnomah Falls may be the most famous—and perhaps objectively the prettiest—waterfall in the Gorge, but it's also the busiest. You actually need reservations to visit. I enjoyed Gorton Creek Falls just as much. It sits at the end of a canyon, reached by a short scramble from our campground. I've developed a simple theory: the harder a waterfall is to reach, the prettier it gets. I'm sure there's a peer-reviewed scientific paper backing me up somewhere.

Multnomah Falls

Since you had to scroll a little further,
do you also like Gorton Creek Falls
just as much?

The Columbia River is still mighty today, but the 14 dams built between 1933 and 1979 have made it far tamer than the river Lewis and Clark—or the Oregon Trail pioneers—experienced.

We visited Bonneville Dam, which has a visitor center, powerhouse viewing platform, lock, and fish hatchery. The turbines generate over 1,200 megawatts of electricity. If that number means as little to you as it did to me, here's the translation: enough power for well over half a million homes.

Powerful Powerhouse at Bonneville Dam

Like many things, the dam is both a blessing and a curse. It produces enormous amounts of clean electricity but also flooded the river's greatest fishing site, once the center of a thriving Native trading network. It also devastated salmon populations, although considerable effort continues to reduce that impact.

The half-Hawaiian Fort Vancouver 

Fort Vancouver, across the river from present-day Portland, was the hub of the early Pacific Northwest. Even though we'd visited before, we were surprised to learn—or perhaps relearn—that so many Hawaiians lived and worked there.

Beginning in the 1820s, years before Hawaii imported workers for the sugar plantations, Native Hawaiians were recruited to work for the Hudson's Bay Company. At times, they made up nearly half the workforce and lived in Kanaka Village. If you've ever wondered why lomi lomi salmon is considered a classic Hawaiian dish despite the complete absence of salmon in Hawaii, you can find your answer at Fort Vancouver.

It was Fashion Week
at Fort Vancouver

Rain "forced" us to have a leisurely lunch at the historic Grant House at Fort Vancouver. We ate some excellent shrimp and grits there, I am surprised that did not make it to Hawaii like the Lomi Lomi Salmon.

One of our more random stops was Mima Mounds, a prairie covered with hundreds of perfectly spaced little hills. Nobody knows exactly how they formed. Theories range from glaciers to gophers...and yes, according to some theories, aliens have made an appearance too. It's fascinating that science can explain so much—and occasionally has to shrug and say, "Your guess is as good as ours." Sometimes not knowing is more interesting than knowing.

The Mysterious Mima Mounds

We timed our visit to our friend Greg, who moved from Maui to Sequim, to coincide with our Oahu friend Barb's visit. That gave us a perfect foursome for pickleball. We also hiked a little, ate a lot, went to Port Townsend, played some games, and even squeezed in a round of disc golf with John, another former Hawaii friend.

Hawaii Reunion on the pickleball court

Disc Golf with John & Greg

Just a small sample of John's
fabulous art at his home and studio

Somehow, we still found time to watch several World Cup matches, even though I really disliked FIFA — even before they were giving in to our president's rather pathetic meddling. I'm ok with losing, as long as it's honorably.

Canada Day festivities in Victoria, BC

By pure luck, our day trip to Victoria on Vancouver Island landed on Canada Day. The timing was even better because Jack, another Maui Ultimate friend, happened to be in town, giving us the chance to visit his floating home in Victoria.

Another Hawaii Reunion with Jack, Barb & Greg

Where Jack lives when he's not a ski bum
in Nelson or a surf bum on Maui 

Our ferry left before the fireworks, but we only had to wait three more days before watching the fireworks in Port Angeles for America's 250th birthday. There was also a charming parade and a fun local band.

4th of July Fireworks over Port Angeles

We're still grateful to call this country home. America is so much more and so much better than that one guy.

Happy 250th Birthday, America!

And that's the news from Lake Solitude, where all thoughts for Emma are strong, all the photos of Sandra on my phone are good-looking, and the turns in the road are considerably more surprising than average.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra

A Joyless Festival and a Joyful Return to Oregon

Aloha all,

in just the first two weeks back on the road, we reunited with our Oregon ohana, returned to our favorite mainland town, attended a piano concert in a 40-million-year-old venue, finally went RailRiding, and visited a brothel.

Those are just a few examples of how wonderfully diverse life on the road can be. But you'll have to read the whole story—or at least scroll through the pictures—to find out what else happened during our first two weeks on the road this year.

Avid readers of this blog may remember that the small town of Ashland in southern Oregon is currently our leading contender among places we might move to if we were ever forced to leave Hawaii (which we have absolutely no intention of doing). We love Ashland because it combines small-town charm with world-class entertainment, thanks largely to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

We enjoyed both the town and the festival so much last year that we decided to start this year's trip by returning for more plays. This time, however, we skipped Shakespeare entirely and saw three modern productions instead.

Surprisingly, it was a Joyless affair.

Before anyone starts worrying, by "Joyless" I simply mean that we left Joy in winter storage for a few extra days and took a road trip with our friend Mindy instead. We stayed in a hotel (the stationary kind) and drove in a car instead of in our beloved RV.

With Mindy at Crater Lake National Park

Rest assured, despite the absence of Joy, the trip itself was extremely joyous. We love Joy, but Mindy proved to be a very capable substitute travel companion.

On our way from Redmond to Ashland, we stopped at Crater Lake National Park for a fabulous picnic. As far as lunch stops go, it's hard to beat eating next to maybe the bluest lake on the continent.

Our bluest picnic spot so far

It's actually remarkable that our experience at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival can best be described as joyful, considering that the three plays we saw were about 9/11, racism, and death.

"Come From Away" is a heartwarming musical about the small town of Gander, Newfoundland, where 38 jumbo jets were forced to land on 9/11. We'd seen this musical before, loved it just as much the second time, and will happily see it again.

"A Raisin in the Sun" is a 1959 play about a Black family in Chicago. We enjoyed it immensely, although it's unsettling how relevant it still feels more than sixty years later.

"You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World!" is a 2025 play about cancer, death, and climate change that somehow manages to be laugh-out-loud funny without diminishing the seriousness of any of those subjects.

One of three fabulous plays at the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland

So yes, three days on the road without Joy turned out to be a very joyful way to begin this year's travels. Back in Redmond, we also got some kiddie and some doggie time in, both of which we enjoy very much, as long as it involves games and long walks...and they are somebody else's responsibility at the end of the day;-)

Game Time with our Oregon ohana

Cruising with Cruz at sunset

After catching up with the rest of the Miller/Foster/Sanchez ohana in Redmond and getting Joy out of storage and ready for the road, we started heading east. Further east than we had ever been in Oregon.

Eagle watching at Smith Rock SP
outside of Redmond, OR

We spent two days exploring different parts of the John Day National Monument, then we visited the town of John Day, and today we swam in the John Day River. Makes you think this John Day fellow must have been a pretty important guy around here, doesn’t it? We were told multiple times that John Day is mostly known for having been robbed. Yep, that’s it. Not for discovering anything. Not for founding anything. Just for getting robbed and returning home naked.

Yep, these hills look painted

The Painted Hills section of the John Day National Monument is very appropriately named. Due to the heat—and due to the little tumble I took on my first scooter ride—we only did a short hike, but the views were well worth it.

In the next section of the monument, we did a slightly longer hike around Blue Basin, which everybody seems to agree is rather green. The John Day National Monument is known as one of the most abundant fossil sites in the world. Its full name is actually the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. I have to admit that, overall, I enjoyed the colorful hills more than the science behind the fossils. But I found it remarkable to learn that scientists identified a new species of tree from fossils found here before discovering its living descendant in China, making it a true "living fossil."

The green "Blue Basin" at John Day NM

A fellow traveler told us about the talented pianist Hunter Noah, who combines his love of music with his love of the great outdoors. Rather than touring concert halls, his "In a Landscape" events take place in spectacular outdoor locations, such as the historic Cant Ranch at the John Day National Monument, with a backdrop 40 million years in the making.

Pretty amazing background and
pretty amazing sound under the grand piano

These outdoor concerts are very different from your typical classical music experience. You are encouraged to bring a picnic, wander around, doze off, and at one point even listen from directly underneath the Steinway grand piano. What a sound! When not lying beneath the piano, wireless headsets provide excellent audio quality. They also help drown out the sound of your neighbors enthusiastically attacking their picnic baskets.

The most interesting thing we did in the town of John Day was visiting the historic Kam Wah Chung store. It tells the surprisingly diverse story of Chinese immigrants in Eastern Oregon. It’s also a real-life time capsule. Purchased by two Chinese business partners in 1888, it served as a store, apothecary, doctor’s office, and community center for 60 years. When it was abandoned because of health issues, the doors were locked and it remained untouched until 1968, when it was "rediscovered" and opened as a historic site.

Kam Wah Chung - store, apothecary,
doctors office and time capsule all in one

 
With the racist laws of the Chinese Exclusion Act in place, it must have been incredibly difficult to run a successful business as a Chinese immigrant at that time. The owners even had to lie about where they were born. Apparently, the locals were more than happy to believe the stories, since the two partners were beloved members of the community and both Chinese and non-Chinese residents relied on the medical services provided.

At the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, we were once again reminded how lucky—and spoiled—we are to travel this country in 2026 instead of 1846, and in Joy instead of a covered wagon pulled by oxen. Those were some hardy souls.

Joy at Original Oregon Trail ruts

What would possess you to give up your life in the "civilized" East and embark on a 2,000-mile, six-month journey across treacherous terrain toward an uncertain future? I guess the influencers and TikTokers of the 1840s must have been posting up a storm about how spectacular the Oregon Territory was. I suspect some of it was AI-generated fantasy. About 10% of the pioneers on the Oregon Trail died along the way, but enough of them succeeded and convinced others to follow. Hindsight is 20/20, but I think I would have waited just a little over 20 years and taken the transcontinental railroad.

The exhibits and films at the Oregon Trail museum were excellent, but my favorite part was talking with a woman who had actually grown up at Cant Ranch, long before it became either a national monument or a concert venue.

Tales from the Oregon Trail

Maybe our favorite activity of the trip so far was the RailRiding tour along the Minam River. Just as Hunter Noah combines his love of music and nature, the RailRiders combine a love of trains and bicycles. We took an 18-mile ride on an abandoned railroad track. It was surprisingly easy, incredibly scenic, and uniquely fun. I bet those Oregon Trail pioneers would have loved that transportation option.

RailRiding along the Minam River

Even though it wasn’t as much of a workout as I expected, it was still nice that we were staying at Grande Hot Springs RV Resort, where we could enjoy a late-night soak in the hot-spring-fed pools after our rail-riding adventure.

Late night soak at the Grande Hot Springs RV Park

For my birthday, Sandra and I went to an ice cream parlor, a bar, a butcher shop, a brothel, and an opium den. And that was just the underground part of the cute town of Pendleton. The Underground Tour was the most intriguing attraction in town. But the town of Pendleton gave me a nice birthday present and let us stay overnight at the parking lot by the downtown visitor center so we were able to also enjoy the above-ground sights: a riverwalk, a factory tour of the Pendleton Woolen Mill, and a fabulous birthday dinner.

Birthday Party in the Pendelton Underground

Now we are heading back west along the Columbia River. Our campsite is located at the mouth of the John Day River, very close to where John Day was robbed about two centuries ago. The campground seems quite safe these days, so I am hopeful there will never be a Chrisandra River, Chrisandra National Monument, or town named Chrisandra around here.

And that’s the news from Lake John Day, where all the RailRiders are strong, all the piano players are good sounding, and all the days are more joyful than average.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra

Maui, Sweet Maui!

Aloha all,

the summary of our last seven months on Maui may sound somewhat familiar. Life on Maui is always wonderful, but admittedly a bit more predictable than life on the road. I was tempted to simply recycle last year's blog post, change a few names, update the weather report, and let AI rephrase a few sentences so it wouldn't be obvious that I was plagiarizing myself.

What another 7 months over already?
I just laid down...

Sandra went back to work at Maui Brewing Company at their beautiful oceanfront location on Kaanapali Beach. It is undoubtedly the prettiest office either of us has ever worked in. Then again, my office as an Uber driver on Maui isn't exactly shabby either. I still get a kick out of the incredible variety of people I get to drive around our beautiful island. My favorite moments are when I pick up visitors from some tiny town in rural Iowa and can honestly tell them, "I've been there and I loved it!". They are usually confused or proud that their Uber driver with a German accent on Maui had even heard of their neck of the woods.

"Bring your Friends to Work Day"
at the Maui Brewing Company

My little vacation rental business continues its slow transition from "business" to "interesting hobby". Luckily, I enjoy Uber driving as a fun and flexible alternative. The only downside this year was getting sideswiped at the airport and then discovering that dealing with insurance companies and repair shops is not as fun as talking to Iowans about our road trip shenanigans.

Just one week after returning to Maui, we went scuba diving again. It was wonderful to blow bubbles underwater after a long break. As tradition dictates, when we surfaced, we looked at each other and said, "This was amazing—we should do this more often!" Having fulfilled our annual obligation to say those words, we can now safely avoid scuba diving again until next year.

We really SHOULD do this more often!

After taking a year off, I also made it back to Colorado for a ski trip. It was a somewhat abbreviated visit, but I got to reconnect with some of our Colorado friends. Besides skiing, seeing our hanai family there is a main reason for the trip. In somewhat ironic timing, Kelly, Paul & Bunt left just days after I got there on a trip of their own... to Maui out of all places! Well, at least I could rest assured that Sandra was well entertained while I was gone. I loved skiing with Cody and Trevor at Loveland. I also explored Keystone for the first time, which was a fun mountain to explore, even by myself.

Lovely Day Skiing Loveland

Snow conditions weren't exactly legendary this year, but apparently I managed to pick one of the best weeks of the season. Fortunately, there was enough snow covering the beginner and intermediate runs. The lack of snow on the terrifying double-black-diamond slopes didn't affect my skiing experience in the slightest. It's nice when your limitations align so perfectly with snow conditions.

I like my winters in two week doses

In March, Linnea and Torben came to visit us on Maui. During the first week, they experienced the Maui that appears in travel brochures: zip lining, disc golfing, whale watching, snorkeling, and even a goaltimate tournament. Pretty easy to enjoy yourself. 

Zip dee dee doo dah!

Snorkel trip on the Gemini

Then Maui decided to show them something different.

During the second half of their visit, we were hit by back-to-back Kona storms that dumped more rain than we had seen during any two-week period since moving here nearly 30 years ago. Streets flooded, rivers and waterfalls appeared out of nowhere. On the plus side, an island that had looked alarmingly brown in February suddenly transformed into a lush, green paradise.

No rain, no rain forest

To their credit, Torben and Linnea remained remarkably cheerful throughout the rain. It turns out there really is no bad weather if you have the right attitude—or if you're visiting Maui and can tell yourself it's all part of the authentic tropical island experience.

The Kaanapali Beachwalk after the storm

In fact, Linnea insisted on going on yet another whale watch before they left, despite the wet forecast. It rained during most of the trip, but it turned out to be the most spectacular whale watch I've ever experienced. The whales apparently enjoy stormy weather even more than Torben and Linnea. On a typical whale watch, you're lucky to see a couple of breaches. We counted only the breaches that Torben managed to capture on video and came up with an astonishing 117!

Just 1 of 117 breaches
on Linnea & Torben's last whale watch

We also had several friends who have moved away from Maui come back for visits. It's always reassuring to see that we don’t lose friends just because they move away

To celebrate Uncle Tommy's 80th birthday, Missy and Rich managed to get much of the old gang back together. Tommy even played Ultimate Frisbee at age 80, which I find completely mind-boggling. Most Ultimate players retire at half that age. Frankly, many of them retire after one particularly ambitious layout catch.

80's themed party for Tommy's 80th birthday

We also escaped to Oahu twice this year. On the first trip, we enjoyed two very different joy rides:

The first was a ride on Honolulu's new "Skyline" train—a public transit system apparently designed to avoid any areas where it is actually needed. The second was a bar-hopping tour through Kaka'ako with our Oahu friends. Interestingly, both routes seemed to have been planned by people operating with remarkably similar blood-alcohol levels.

Bar Hopping on Oahu

The second Oahu trip got cut short by another storm, but the one party with the old Oahu gang at Laura & Matt to celebrate Tommy's 80th (yes, again!) was well worth it!

The more-than-two-decade-old Tuesday Night tradition also continues.

Every Tuesday we still gather at the same oceanfront location on Front Street in Lahaina to watch the sunset. Jill and Bern have been every bit as welcoming as Bunt and Ann always were. Everyone is welcome, or as Bern calls it: "An open house without a house."

Tuesday Night: Open House sans house

Tuesday Nights have become a gathering of former, current, and hopefully future Lahaina residents: a community rebuilding itself while waiting to rebuild its homes. The residential rebuilding away from the ocean after the 2023 Lahaina fire is progressing faster than many people expected. Occasionally I help Bern with his rebuild, and their first building should be completed this year.

The Lahaina rebuilding continues...

But the owners of homes and businesses along the shoreline are discovering that rebuilding can be a test of patience, particularly when local government agencies decide to contribute their own unique interpretation of "helping" with their sometimes absurd requirements. But just like on the national level, there is hope on the horizon. November 3rd are not just congressional elections in America, but also local elections here on Maui. 

But before this gets political, here are some more random impressions from our seven months on Maui, sweet Maui:

Ute's Rocky Horror Birthday
party with Eric Gilliom

One of many fun golf scrambles this winter

Mele Kalikimaka!

Captain Jack's - our local hangout

The part of the Lahaina Banyan Tree
that is still there is thriving!

Weekend in Hana with Bern & Jill

Bunt's first return visit to Maui

Great music at our old beloved Royal Lahaina

Even though we'll see them soon in Oregon,
great to see Mindy & family here on Maui

And that's the news from Lake Maui, where all of the island is beautiful, all our friends are good-looking, and most days are considerably more pleasant than average.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra