Cycling in the Columbia River Gorge

Last weekend, we cycled a section of the Historic Columbia River Highway bike path (14 miles total, out and back). The partially-completed path follows the historic highway through the gorge. We rode along a finished seven-mile stretch from the John B Yeon State Park Elowah Falls trailhead (the hiking trail is closed but the parking lot is still open for cyclists) to Cascade Locks.

Hendrik posing victoriously on the bike path by the Bridge of the Gods.

The trail runs through gorgeous, forested hills with plentiful views of the Gorge and the Washington shore including Beacon Rock before popping you out in the parking lot of Hendrik’s favorite diner in the gorge, Bridgeside. Located right next to the Bridge of the Gods, I imagine they get pretty good business from drivers, cyclists, and Pacific Crest Trail hikers (the PCT crosses the Columbia over that bridge). We replenished our strength with a milkshake and burger before cycling back to the car. The only downside to that section of the bike path is a long staircase where you have to carry your bike. Other than that, it is Gorgeous!

Fireplace doors

Our two fireplaces (one in the living room, one in our bedroom) lacked doors when we moved in, which lost us lots of warmth in the winter. We took a long time deciding, but finally ordered a set of doors for each.

We have an old house, so naturally everything had to be a custom size. However, we’re delighted by how they turned out. We’re still in a phase where we’re pleasantly surprised every time we walk into either room.

Hendrik

Portland in Bloom

It seems everything bloomed all at once in Portland, and we skipped from a short Spring into midsummer. We’re particularly fond of our rhododendrons, one of which is pictured here with Nancy.

Good thing the weather is holding because we’re still dealing with bamboo.

-Hendrik

Duolingo

When we moved to the Netherlands, I started using an app called Duolingo to help me study Dutch. Now that we’re back in the US, I’ve been using it to help me brush up on German (and hopefully forget Dutch). Even after a year and a half away, my sentences still come out half Dutch when I try to speak German. Hendrik finds this endlessly amusing.

Duolingo has bite-size lessons on vocabulary and sentence translation. In my opinion it is not a good way to learn grammar and rules, but once you know that stuff it is a good way to practice daily. And that is just what I’ve been doing; I have a 372 day streak going, meaning I’ve practiced every day for over a year! It is convenient for doing lessons on the Max during my commute.

Meanwhile Hendrik is using it to learn Spanish. I’m not sure how he’s figuring out the grammar but it seems to be going well.

Battling Bamboo

PSA: Do not plant running bamboo. Ever! If you read no further, remember that.

The previous owners of our house planted timber bamboo along one side of the house as a privacy screen. It looks lovely but keeping it from spreading is like a horror movie in slow-mo. They put in a plastic barrier on three side but for some reason, not along the front. In our new-home-owner-optimism we thought, why don’t we just add a barrier along the front and problem solved. So we went galavanting of to Southeast Portland to buy 30 feet of bamboo barrier from Portland Nursery. The first indication that we were in over our heads was the three foot wide roll of quarter inch thick plastic to which they directed us. “Do we really have to bury it that deep,” I asked meekly. “Absolutely, it is the only way,” she answered. So we bought an extra drain spade and set forth to conquer the beast.

Rocking our drain spades by the bamboo grove.

Hendrik invited his parents over for a BBQ, and we all started digging. In the process, we realized that:

1. Digging a 30 foot long, three foot deep trench is hard work
2. The previous owners had only put in a one foot deep plastic barrier, not three
3. The bamboo was spreading over the old barrier
4. The bamboo was spreading under the old barrier
5. Hacking through one old bamboo rhizome or root takes a lot of effort
6. Hacking through multiple old bamboo rhizomes by hand is damn near impossible
7. The entire bamboo stand is one enormous mass of roots and rhizomes.

Clearly we have a problem. The trench is nearly 2 feet deep now but we were too worn out to finish it last weekend. Hopefully we can finish installing the barrier next weekend. After that we can start the arduous process of killing and removing the bamboo. We’ll be trying the “cutting method” described here. Given the propensity of running bamboo to spread, I see no other alternative.