gorge
A Community of Artists
It seems we far too often see only the finished product. It’s something we don’t tend to consider frequently enough—the work that went into creating a finished painting, sculpture, photograph or story. How many hours does it take to complete a true work of art? How many times did a photographer return to the same place, battling the seemingly unending disappointments of poor weather, bad lighting or any other number of factors, and then one day it’s just there, right before them, waiting to be captured and shared? How many readers sit down to enjoy a magazine or a book and forget the number of drafts, revisions and rewrites that went into creating that story? The more I see of the process the more I appreciate the final product.
This month we released the Fall Issue of the magazine and it got me thinking along these lines. Our cover photograph was taken by Michael Peterson. He had to spend hours out at Stonehenge waiting for the right light, the preferred amount of cloud cover and the perfect angle. I am lucky enough to see the labor of so many talented Columbia Gorge photographers as they submit their best stuff for publication. I am even luckier to get to tell some of them that their effort has paid off, and that they’ll be featured in the magazine. Even after hundreds of photographs, I’m always anxious to click to the next shot and see what’s waiting for me.
Any visitor to the area gets to take in an impressive number of brilliant and inspiring artists. Many residents overlook the galleries, jewelers, museums and studios until one day they are walking around after lunch and something grabs their eyes and sends their minds spinning. When we’re surrounded by so much natural splendor and so many opportunities to interact with this virtual wonderland we call home, it gets harder and harder to slow down and see the awe inspiring works our local artists are putting forth every day.
It’s easy to look past those that toil in studios, in front of a blinking cursor on a white screen or behind the crowds of people clicking shot after shot and hoping to get one good one. They don’t do it for the recognition, though as Rip Caswell recently pointed out to me while I interviewed him for the Fall Issue, the recognition doesn’t hurt. They do it because they love it. They do it because they’re blessed with an ability that not many have. They do it because they know they’re meant to, and they wouldn’t know what to do without it. You would struggle to find a painter or an illustrator that does their art for the money. Even those blessed with the greatest talent seem hard pressed to find financial reward for their work. They’re not complaining—they get something much greater from it.
We at Columbia Gorge Magazine were recently shaken by the fire that claimed photographer Blue Ackerman’s studio in White Salmon. It took not only her work and her place of work, but also the art of several other talented people. I have been lucky enough to work with Blue on a few issues, those staff members who have been here longer than me have been blessed enough to collaborate with her even more. It’s at these difficult times that my heart grows warm to see the sympathy and desire the community exhibits as they reach out to help a local artist.
I am so impressed by the ability of artists to endure. Just a week after the fire, Blue picked up the camera and did a shoot for the magazine that captured everything we needed to properly highlight a well-written story. I know our readers will enjoy the piece and the photographs for what they are on the surface, but we who know the events that preceded that photo shoot get something even more enriching out of it. We get inspired to endure.
Perhaps it’s my bias for the written word, but I think we seem to most often forget the great skill and patience it takes to capture the essence of the Columbia Gorge in writing. It’s just a bunch of black words on a white page, but somehow the best writers make it resonate with a reader. They make the simplest words or ideas sing. I try to read the region’s newspapers on a daily basis, as well as a few of the blogs produced by local writers, and I almost always find myself captivated by something I didn’t know I found interesting before. In our Fall Issue, Lori Russell made canning food a fascinating experience. It’s a gift of persuasion, a talent for pointing out the right things at the right time and an ability to capture someone’s attention with nothing more than 26 letters, ten fingers and the imagination that makes a great writer. I count myself incredibly fortunate to get to read the rough drafts of our magazine’s featured writers, and then to see the profound transformation that takes place as they perfect each segment, each line, to create a great final product. I don’t know that I’d appreciate the finished work so much if I hadn’t seen the toil that goes into producing it. I have made it my personal challenge to find that in other works of art.
We are often lucky enough to meet and interact with those who do this great work, because they call the Columbia Gorge home. So many of the pieces that adorn the walls of galleries and museums in the area were inspired by the community or the natural beauty that surrounds us. I’m not sure which is a greater talent: the ability to capture the indefinable beauty that surrounds us, or the skill to make the seemingly mundane become interesting. I don’t really care to know the answer either. I’m content to relish in the fact that so much great art comes out of this community, and the fact that I get to see some small part of that often takes my breath away.
Tags: art, artist, blue ackerman, captivate, capture, columbia gorge, column, craft, design, draft, editor, final, fine art, gallery, gorge, inspiration, library, lori russell, matt, media, michael peterson, mundain, museum, natural beauty, pain, Painting, patience, photo shoot, photograph, photography, product, rip caswell, sculpture, shoot, skill, studio, werbach, work, writer, writers, writing
A Season for the Senses
by matt werbach
After a summer that seemed to sputter at the start and finish with a fury of sun and heat, the fall has arrived all at once. Pear and heirloom apple seasons are in full swing. Grapes are being plucked from the vine and bottled up for winter, and pumpkins are approaching their full size. The jet stream held cooler temperatures and wetter weather north of the Pacific Northwest for a few extra days, which kept the Columbia Gorge warm and sunny for almost all of September. Then in just a day it all seems to have turned.
I drive hundreds of miles on I-84 each week between Portland and Hood River—often even further east—but just when the driving begins to wear on me the seasons flip over, and I once again have to force myself to keep my eyes on the road. There was no gradual transition to autumn this year. It was as if a curtain was raised at the start of a show and the entire set had been changed. I could almost hear the gasps from the crowd. There were a few signs—the winds died, then switched direction as they roared back to life; the fog began to pick up as mornings cooled down—but for the most part this fall took full advantage of the element of surprise. Now that its beautiful oranges and reds have been revealed I am left with that familiar feeling of a sort of tranquil excitement, of a fresh new way to look at things, and of course, a gentle sadness at the passing of another summer.
Apple Cider and pumpkin pie. Dry leaves crackling under-foot. The first few inches of soft white snow falling thousands of feet up the mountainsides. I find myself presented with a choice when the fall bursts through. I can sit and reflect on the days of summer gone by, or I can embrace what lies ahead—a season for the senses. Warm sun on my face is replaced with a cool breeze carrying the scent of fallen leaves. Tourists and weekend warriors head back to their homes and batten down the hatches while locals venture out into the land they love. Is there anything more perfect than an empty hiking trail now that its scenery is painted with a fall brush? White wines sound less appealing than warm and robust reds, and hops season is fully upon us with local brewers pushing their newest blends. I choose to embrace the way this season makes me feel with its tastes and sounds. I will miss the steady warmth of summer, but that balance of sadness to see a season go and excitement for the next is just one more thing I love about the Columbia Gorge.
For weeks now I will carry my camera with me in an attempt to capture some small part of the wonder surrounding me. It never quite works. What stops me in my tracks as I walk, drive or hike around the area doesn’t seem to translate in a still image. I’ve grown comfortable with this sort of inevitable failure or short-fall. These moments captured in digital format now serve as a reminder of the emotions a bright yellow tree inspires as it jumps forward from the dark green background of pines. The pictures are like mementos left behind from people no longer with us. They carry an often eerie reminder or a subtle scent of what once was but will never be again. Not having them would give birth to a whirlwind of emotions—a deep seeded feeling of loss—but having them doesn’t begin to do justice to the real thing, to being there.
The soft scratch of pencil on paper is another constant companion of mine. It has its shortcomings too. I can record the way autumn sounds with comparisons and descriptions, or I can endlessly expound on the feelings it stirs up, but the fall season with its accompanying splendor is elusive. Still, it’s worth every effort to encapsulate just one fleeting moment of this splendid time of the year, and to be able to share that, or at the very least carry it with me for a while.
The only way I have found to truly embrace autumn is to absorb it in every way feasible. The taste of a crisp cold apple just off the tree is only available for a short time, as is the smell of toasting pumpkin seeds. The chance to hear brittle leaves crunching under your feet or rustling as they dance in the wind will soon pass. And the look—what more can be said about the visual feast that fall offers. Soon trees will be bare, snow will blanket much of the area and Mount Hood and Mount Adams will be glowing in their fresh white coats. This fall I will exhaust myself as my senses devour all they take in. Autumn serves as a reminder that winter isn’t far behind, and we all understand that next spring and summer will be upon us before we know it. I choose not to reflect on the season lost or the one bearing down on me, but instead to imbibe the current season, the season of the senses.
Tags: adams, apple, autumn, burst, calm, cider, color, columbia, crackling, drive, embrace, fall, gorge, grape, heirloom, hike, hood, imbibe, leaves, locals, orange, paper, peace, pear, pencil, photo, pie, pumpkin, red, season, senses, smell, snow, sounds, spring, still, summer, taste, trail, tranquil, trees, Visitor's Center, wine, write, yellow
AJ Kitt, RE/MAX River City
RE/MAX River City
209 3rd Street, Hood River, OR.
541.400.0008 / 877.799.5488
Situated in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge, RE/MAX River City has a singular focus: to provide exceptional service and professionalism to our clients. Whether it be the purchase or sale of your home or an investment, or assistance with a development project of any size, RE/MAX River City is the first choice of those looking for dedicated personal service in Real Estate.
As a region well known for its fruit growing, wine making, and recreational lifestyle the Hood River area offers a diverse set of Real Estate options. From condos and townhouses to some of the finest single family properties in the Northwest; from rental homes to large commercial investments; and from land for spec home builders to large scale development tracts, the Gorge offers opportunity for everyone.
Hood River, and the Columbia River Gorge is on the cusp of a transformation into a full scale destination region and RE/MAX River City is positioned to take our clients successfully through the transition.
Tags: commercial, gorge, homes for sale, Hood River, land, property, Real Estate
BEST WESTERN PLUS Hood River Inn
1108 Marina Way, Hood River, OR.
541.386.2200
The BEST WESTERN PLUS Hood River Inn’s unique Columbia River shoreline location is convenient to many nearby attractions and recreational opportunities in the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood area. Complete with waterfront access and a private beach, the Hood River Inn is an easy one-hour drive from Portland along scenic Interstate-84. Rich with culture, natural splendor and recreation, the area presents something for everyone. Discover what’s special about the Hood River Inn and its surroundings.
Tags: columbia gorge, Dining, gorge, Hood River, hood river bridge, hood river nightlife, Lodging, lounge, ski tickets, Skiing
Clock Tower Ales
311 Union Street, The Dalles, OR.
541.705.3590
Clock Tower Ales specializes in the sale of craft beers, wine and non alcoholic craft soda. We are located in the second historic Wasco County Court House in The Dalles Oregon. With a relaxed and community focused atmosphere we provide beverages and light food to our patrons.
Tags: Bars & Breweries, Dining, gorge, The Dalles
Columbia Gorge Community College
The Dalles Campus (541) 506-6047
Hood River Center (541) 386-3510
400 East Scenic Drive The Dalles, OR.
Columbia Gorge is your community college. Our goal is to help you be successful in whatever educational program or activity you choose.
At Columbia Gorge Community College (CGCC) you can complete your first two years of college and then transfer to a four-year institution. Or you can take a professional/technical program to qualify for a job. You can finish your high school education, explore career ideas, retrain or add to your job skills, or get professional help on how to run a business. CGCC also provides you with opportunities to pursue special interests or to broaden your education. You may fit as much of this as you want into your life. You can go to school full-time to finish a program in one or two years, or you can attend part-time and just take a class or two.
Classes are held at a variety of locations convenient to you, including our campus in The Dalles, Hood River, and other locations in communities throughout the district. You may even stay home and take a class by modem or television. We schedule classes during the day, evenings, and on weekends for your convenience.
Whatever your educational goals and interests, we will do all we can to help you, whether it’s enrolling you in our courses or referring you to other resources.
Tags: college, gorge, Hood River, school, The Dalles
Columbia Gorge Hotel & Spa
4000 Westcliff Drive, Hood River, OR
541.386.5566
All of our guests are invited to start the day with a leisurely breakfast in our dining room, Simon’s Cliff House, voted Oregon’s Best Restaurant. Relish the breathtaking view of the Columbia River while enjoying such sumptuous dishes as Stuffed Broiche French Toast, Smoked Duck Gouda Omelet or a Grand Granola Parfait.
Afterwards, take a stroll through our manicured gardens where the flowers and foliage reflect the seasons. You’ll find lots of inglenooks and secluded seating areas perfect for relaxing in the fresh air or reading a good book. Make sure to visit the Wah Gwin Gwin Falls behind the Hotel and watch it cascade 208′ down to the river below.
Later you may decide to spend the day, touring area wineries, catching some wind on the Columbia, golfing at one of the award-winning clubs, perusing the Gorge’s quaint galleries and boutiques or a host of other activities from the extreme to the serene.
We also invite you to indulge in beauty, aromatherapy and relaxing treatments that will leave you with a sense of wellbeing…Facials, Waxing, Massages, Manicures & Pedicures Cosmetic Artistry. Hair Design: Cut’s & Color Bridal Designs & More…enjoy!
Tags: best restaurant, breakfast, gorge, Hood River, Lodging, restaurants
Everybody’s Brewing
151 E. Jewett Blvd., White Salmon, WA.
509.637.2774
A small to medium sized brewpub, located in White Salmon, Washington. Our pub has a warm, cozy inviting feel to it. We are a family friendly environment. Our food is affordable large portions, made with the highest quality local ingredients.
We focus on session beers with all the flavor. Our location is right in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge. We feel that this is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Our outside deck seats 50 people and has a stunning view of Mt. Hood. You gotta check it out for your self!
Tags: Bars & Breweries, brewery, brewpub, columbia gorge, family friendly, gorge, lunch, Pubs & Breweries, restaurant, white salmon
Gorge-ous Weddings
192 Erickson Road, Stevenson, WA.
503.360.4707
Tucked away in beautiful Home Valley Washington, Wind Mountain Ranch is a private estate specializing in unforgettable weddings and special events. Built in 1948, this ranch style home sits upon 68 acres of scenic land in beautiful Home Valley Washington.
The Ranch House is a fully furnished home that offers accommodations for up to 10 people which includes three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, full kitchen with appliances, washer and dryer, air conditioning, pellet stove, and a spacious living room with a beautiful view of the surrounding area.
The property was once home to a 30 acre orchard that included dozens of apple and pear trees and strawberry fields. From 1945 to 1972 this family owned and operated farm supplied fresh fruits and vegetables to the local area. Today few trees still stand, but the beauty of the land remains untouched.
With breathtaking views of rolling hills, Wind Mountain, and the Columbia River, the ranch is the perfect setting for your Special Event. Hosting only one Celebration at a time, you are truly the center of attention, with our only goal making sure your wedding or event is everything you envisioned.
Wind Mountain Ranch is located 45 minutes East of Portland, Oregon. Come celebrate your day in complete privacy.
Tags: bride, columbia gorge, event, gorge, ranch, stevenson washington, Wedding, weddings
Organic 2 Go
215 Court Street, The Dalles, OR.
541.296.6246
customerservice@organic2go.net
Organic 2 Go is a family owned and operated business. The idea of the company was inspired by the life experience of raising a child with severe allergies to pesticides and chemicals. These items are commonly found in everyday foods and in our environment. These allergies caused major health issues, including asthma. The idea was further propelled by the care of our elderly father who was diagnosed with heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. These health problems were extremely aggravated by his unhealthy diet. We wanted better health for everyone in our family. We found that organic food was the answer.
We put our child on an all organic diet. The incredible effects on his body were amazing. His health started to change immediately for the better. We then placed our father on the organic diet. His diet included organic, low sugar, vegan foods. The results for him included becoming insulin-free and a life with less suffering from his dreadful diseases!
We have discovered that organic food has better flavor. We enjoy better health, more energy and have lost weight. With the absence of pesticides and fertilizers, organically grown food is packed with vitamins and minerals resulting in food that tastes great and is more filling. Our Company is dedicated to providing healthy organic food to our customers at a reasonable price with convenient home delivery.
Tags: fresh, gorge, health, organic, taste, The Dalles, vegan
Sustainability From Vines to Wines
by david sword
Agriculture has been a leading industry in the Columbia Gorge for generations. The weather, soil and plentiful water of the Cascade Mountains provide key ingredients for successful farming. In an area long known for growing some of the best apples, pears and cherries in the world, vineyard managers and winemakers have recently been receiving greater exposure and acclaim.
At 40 miles in length, the Columbia Gorge American Viticultural Area (CGAVA) hosts nearly 100 active vineyards and wineries. As the tastes of consumers continue to evolve, so have the methods and philosophies of the growers and producers. Forward thinking philosophies and hard science are now leading more farmers to introduce increasingly sustainable practices.
Several definitions of sustainable viticulture exist in the grape industry, but many agree that the current movement toward more sustainable practices began with sustainable agriculture, which grew out of organic farming practices and the “green” revolution, as well as the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s…
Tags: 40 miles, columbia gorge wine, david sword, gorge, grapes, Green
The Blessed Life, The Written Word
I grew up in a small town in Northeast Ohio. I’ve come to love the Columbia Gorge and to call it my home, but I can’t consider myself a native. I’m not exactly old yet, but my memories of my youth are limited to a few shining moments, some showing more brightly than others. After the announcement in late May that Hood River County would be closing three libraries, thoughts of the early days of my life began to come back to me.
I was raised by two loving and ever-attentive parents who knew that in order to maintain sanity and foster their relationship for decades, they’d need a date night. Friday nights were a time for them to leave the day-to-day parenting troubles for awhile and to just be together, alone, away from everything. Luckily, my grandmother lived just around the corner. She was always so excited to see us late on Friday afternoons. I remember the way she’d be waiting at the screen door as if she could intuit the exact seconds we’d arrive. My sister and I would bounce out of the car and run to her embrace.
We would each have one of two things with us, either a large Pizza Hut button decorated with a star for each book we’d read that week, or a sheet of paper cataloging our summer reading list for the Morley Library summer program. Each title and author listed was another work devoured—another seed of knowledge or insight gained.
Grandma didn’t like pizza, but she would grin from ear to ear as we piled into her Pontiac and headed off for the small, free pizza we earned each and every week through a reading program that far too few of our schoolmates took advantage of. I remember clearly, sitting in a mostly empty restaurant just off the main drag outside of downtown. We’d wait anxiously for our prize to arrive while Grandma asked us about what we’d read, what we’d learned and what we would be checking-out from the library after dinner.
When the Pizza Hut program ended, not much would change. We’d sit over a dinner of spaghetti and fresh-picked vegetables at her kitchen table and recount our reading adventures as we made our way through the library’s summer reading program. We often found ourselves well into the lead by early June. We’d count the number of green construction-paper leaves with our names on them, each one placed onto the bare brown branches that took-up what must have been 30 feet on the interior wall of the library. By the end of each summer, with the help of hundreds of Lake County kids, the summer reading tree would be bursting with life—thousands of books read.
In my grandmother’s living room sat a brown leather chair where the three of us would squeeze-in to read away our Friday evenings. My sister and I would each take an armrest and Grandma would ease into the middle. We took turns reading aloud. I remember the way my younger sister would laugh at the jokes she didn’t get just because Grandma and I were laughing, and then we’d laugh with her, enjoying that frivolous, warm chuckle she still has to this day. It only took a few years to wear two small holes into those armrests. Grandma would tape-over them in hopes of stretching the life of the chair—maybe in some way it was a thank you for the way that chair brought the three of us together.
As we grew older there were quieter nights, but we’d still only occupy the space in and around that chair as we each dove into our young adult novels—Grandma reading the newspaper or a gardening magazine at our side. Whether we were 3-years old or well into our teens, we’d finish a stack of books that would make any parent proud and we’d head off to the library again the next week to exchange them for more knowledge, more enjoyment, more access into that world that only reading can open.
I’ve grown-up to make a living by reading and writing. It’s a gift I silently thank Grandma for each and every day of my lucky little life. I understand the bias I have toward the written word, and given my life experience, it’s easy to see why I get so nostalgic over the loss of a building filled with books. There are a host of reasons that these libraries are closing, but none is simpler than the fact that the money isn’t there. As many of us see the signs that this recession is lessening its grip on the nation, these closings serve as a reminder that we’re far from profitable, far from wealthy. I can’t blame a hard-working family for not wanting a raise in their property taxes, but it doesn’t make it any less of a sad story.
My office here in is just a block from the State Street branch that will soon shut its doors. Each time I walk by—every time I see someone tug at the locked front doors and look down at their watch—I’ll think of the worn spots on that old leather chair. I’ll think of the feeling of taping up another paper leaf on the library wall, and the weight of those stacks of books as we left that Hood River cavernous brick-building in Northeast Ohio. I may be far from the place I was born, but I’m home, and every time I look at the State Street Library I’ll feel a tinge of sadness at the fact that each hour that building remains closed, another child is missing out on the blessed life of the written word.
Tags: books, gorge, Hood River, library, matt werbach, Pizza, read
The Context of Our Lives
One of the great perks of my job is finding my way into situations that I would normally never experience. In an effort to keep things original, interesting and fresh for the readers of Columbia Gorge Magazine, I’m constantly reading everything I can get my eyes on and taking notes. You never know when a story will emerge or when you’ll stumble upon the perfect interview subject. Just a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to conduct an interview that has had me thinking—a lot—ever since. It’s rare, when you read all day everyday, write in your spare time and take great pride in knowing what’s going on in your community and beyond, that you stumble upon something you’ve overlooked or forgotten about.
A few Wednesday’s ago I had a chance to enter into a world that—because of my age and my life experience—I had never entered. I volunteered with the Gorge Heroes Club in their efforts to assemble, pack and ship care packages to soldiers from the Columbia Gorge that are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I read about the wars on a daily basis; I even like to think that I talk about them and think about them more than the “others” of my generation who’ve forgotten or turned away. How much of this is because of the amount of news I read for my job, and how much of it is my general curiosity about the field of battle, are two questions I don’t have the time and space to explore here, but something from that meeting has kept my mind reeling.
In the darkened, hanger-style warehouse of the Western Antique Aerospace and Automobile Museum I was met with the faces of several soldiers’ parents, spouses and family members. Those faces evoked stress. Their way of looking at you was a bit scattered at first, as if their minds were somewhere else, and who could blame them for that. What I saw that evening as we packed boxes, signed cards and socialized was a level of commitment and dedication from the home-front that I am yet to experience in any other place as these nearly decade-long wars have raged on. I know much of this is political, and I don’t even want to near that line of discussion. What I do want to say is that the level of dedication from these volunteers was simply heartwarming. What bothered me was the thought that these very people who are so giving of their time, money and efforts are the same people who have already given themselves over to the anxiety-ridden, all-encompassing fear that comes with having a loved-one at war.
It all got me thinking back to my college days and my work studying the war literature of Tim O’Brien for my undergraduate thesis. Many may know his novel The Things They Carried, which chronicled his involvement in the Vietnam War. In it, O’Brien uses fictional characters and fabricated situations to try to convey the emotions, fear, dread, boredom, mind-games, pain and more that come with being a soldier. As I was pondering the inevitable parallels—fair or not—that have been drawn between Vietnam and Iraq or Afghanistan, an old quote I couldn’t completely recall kept playing in the back of my mind. With some luck and some thanks to my younger self, who took down page numbers and marked quotes for everything I read, I found the lines in O’Brien’s most recent novel, July, July from 2002. As I thought, the lines don’t just resonate with the echoes of the Vietnam era; they carry an even more striking tenor today. In July, July, O’Brien has created a fictional college class, the Darton Hall College class of 1969, and from it he contrasts those who fought in Vietnam with those who stayed and went to college. The story centers on the modern-day class reunion and explores the effects the war has had on the characters. In the following lines, O’Brien taps into much of what I’ve been feeling since leaving the Gorge Heroes Club packing event.
“And while people perished on the far side of the planet, other people had their teeth filled, and filed for divorce, and made love in parked cars.
Freshmen were oriented.
The Mets were on a roll.
Small, simple things, yes, but in some great nationwide darkroom, the most ordinary human snapshots would be fixed in memory by the acidic wash of war—the music, the lingo, the evening news.”
We all know the legacy of the Vietnam War. We know the protests, the lack of support showed to some returning soldiers, the divisive politics. One parallel I don’t see, not at all, from this current set of wars to the one O’Brien is writing about is the backdrop. When we look back historically we see the scenes of the late 1960s set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. We understand much of what happened in the years after the war to be a result of the war. Will we feel this way about the two wars we’re fighting now? We’re a larger country, we’re a very politically divided country and we are in a news-cycle and internet age that we haven’t harvested an understanding of yet.
I guess a lot of what stuck with me after interviewing RaeLynn Ricarte, one of the founders of the Gorge Heroes Club, and after volunteering at their event, is that much of our country today is missing the context—the backdrop—that these wars are providing us. Regardless of our opinions, politics and arguments, these wars are taking place. I’m glad I had the opportunity to be reminded, very gently, of the sacrifices and spent-lives these wars have already demanded. For the most part, we can choose how we feel about a major event like a war; we can even choose whether or not we go, or, thanks in large part to modern news coverage, we can choose whether or not we even pay attention to these wars. What we can’t choose is the fact that they’ve happened. They’re going on now, and they’ve become the backdrop to our era. Our new millennium, our new century, the last nine years and the next few years will all be set against a backdrop of war. I don’t ever want to forget that, and I’m not sure it’s healthy for any of us if we do.
Tags: article, columbia gorge, columbia gorge living, column, gorge, matt werbach, raelynn ricarte, soldier, war
The Thirsty Woman
by jamie hartford
It used to be that the only place to get a drink in the tiny town of Mosier, Oregon, was at its namesake tavern, where females were forbidden. It stood within eyeshot of the local YWCA, where the townswomen supervised wholesome activities like tap dancing and bingo as the men were free to raise hell in the bar. The Mosier Tavern burned to the ground in 1930s. According to legend, the women of Mosier started the blaze.
The old YWCA building still stands just off exit 69 on Interstate 84. In a fitting tribute, it’s now itself a pub—the Thirsty Woman—named in honor of those fabled women. Set behind a lawn strewn with picnic tables and colorful Adirondack chairs, the 400-square-foot structure that houses the Thirsty Woman, with its weathered wood shingles and corrugated metal siding, could easily be mistaken for the storage shed it was less than two years ago.
Co-owners Debra Mazzoleni and her husband, Barry Rumsey, ran a successful restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland, before relocating to the Columbia Gorge in 2006. They came to the area seeking a place to ride their bikes and raise their two children. When the former Wildflower Café in Mosier went up for sale, they jumped at the chance to make it their own. Along with the main building, which they reopened as the Good River Restaurant, the property included the dilapidated former YWCA…
Tags: barry rumsey, cafe, debra mazzoleni, exit 69, fire, gorge, mosier
The World Underfoot
by don campbell
Krista Thie’s eyes light up when she talks about wild oats. Thie, an ethnobotanist who lives just outside of White Salmon, explains that if you take its seed and add a drop of water, it will open up and begin a slow and magical spiral of its own accord. Were it on a patch of dirt it would begin to work itself in, destined to find purchase in the vital earth.
It is but one of Thie’s many overwhelming botany lessons during a tour of her solar-powered home and the surrounding grounds. Every floor of the house she shares with husband, Daryl Hoyt, is filled with textbooks, notebooks, pamphlets and guides to the incredibly abundant flora of the Columbia Gorge. Soft-spoken by nature, she comes to conversation slowly, but once a topic takes root, she will discourse until spent.
Thie talks eloquently about the wonders of the area’s plant life. She explains that Skamania and Klickitat counties alone contain well over 100 kinds of rare and unique plants. This singular ground is brought to life as a result of the ancient Missoula Flood, the continuously enormous east-west flow of the Columbia River, overlapping micro-climes, varying elevations and rainfall, and good dirt…
Tags: botany, daryl hoyt, gorge, krista thie, plants, Tours
