Sunday, April 27, 2014

2014.4.26. Final Fantasy with Oregon Symphony

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy

Arnie Roth,          conductor 
Pacific Youth Choir, Mia Hall Miller, artistic director 
Dru Rutledge,        soprano 
Ian José Ramirez,    tenor 
Matthew Hayward,     baritone

Fresh off the 25th anniversary FINAL FANTASY celebration, music from Final Fantasy video game. A screen is lowered to project video. Some imagery is quite fanciful, some dull like old DOS screen. The three soloist have beautiful voices. However, English is hard to make out when you do airas. I could use some super title, instead of silly image. Music is more fanfare like. Not bad. All in major chord. Pleasant. Most characters don't look like Japanese: blond hair, blue eyes. I have never even heard of Final Fantasy. Received two tickets from work. Lots of fans in the audience. 1/3 - 1/2 was first time in Arlene Schnitzer hall.

2014.4.26. Siouxon Creek

Saturday 4/26. Cloudy - drizzle. Siouxon Creek in Gifford Pinchot forest, offers view to three big waterfalls (Horseshoe, Siouxon, Chinook), countless small cascades, on a nice and mostly leveled trail. Pleasant, very green, the water is so clear that it reflects the color of the stones in it. Quite some camping spots by the creek. A nice log bench to view Horseshoe Falls, and another nice log bench for Siouxon Falls. We did an out and back without fording water, instead of the standard lollipop, which would be easier in the summer. Right now the water is high enough that only me went as far as Chinook Falls. The rest all turned back at Siouxon-Chinook Trail Junction, where you need to cross a small cascading creek which drops to Siouxon Creek (requiring balancing on 2 small logs over the water: see the above photo) and cross a "closed" bridge. A nice camping area is right across the bridge, a least 2 tents and a bunch of kids already there. Half of my group is too slow, plus that our hike leader (who wrote about this hike in her latest book), however nice she is, missed the turn (we didn't start the hike until 11:40!), we came back into the town at 7pm, too late for me to grab something to eat before my concert. Total ~7.5 miles, ~1000'. Saw 3 bikers, a group of teenage campers with huge load (for just one night), ~20 other hikers.

Direction: from Seattle I-5 exit 21 for Hwy 503, turn south on 503 after Mt St Helen's Aero Ranch airport. Or from Portland I-205 exit 30B for Hwy 500 east which becomes 503. Just north of the Mt St. Helens National Monument Headquarters, turn east on NE Healy Road / FR54, for 9.2 miles. Left on FR 57 for 1.2 miles, at a large gravel turnaround, left on FR 5701 (no sign) for 3.8 miles just before the road ends. Mostly paved. Some broken pavement and a little gravel.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

2014.4.20. Catherine Creek on Easter Sunday

Almost sunny. ~13 women showed up for this stroll through the meadows. The most common are the white popcorn flower. Some nice fields of camas, vetch, fiddleneck, or Rosy Plectritis as in the photo. I like the large slope of grass, waving in the wind. We went along Atwood Road, visited the natural bridge, then we went the bridge (no longer allowed to walk close), and big the big sloping meadow.

Had lunch at the hanging trees. Afterwards, Julie brought cut cleaned strawberries (a bit too cold), pond cake, whip cream and paper plates! Michelle shared her "pesto" made of nettle. What an Easter Sunday! I dozed off on the way back in the back seat of Star. When I awoke, Star and Abby were discussing their dating strategy and whether to switching dating women to men. Gee, I am glad I missed most of the conversation.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

2014.4.19. Beacon Rock state park

Rain is forecasted. 7 of us headed to Beacon Rock state park. We hiked Hamilton Mountain loop first, and then the rock itself.

Hamilton Mountain peak is about 2000' gain. On the way, visited Hardy Falls (obstructed view) and Rodney Falls (very nice, clear view from a well constructed wood bridge. A 2 minute hike up to a small refreshing plunge pool called Pool of Winds). The loop starts shortly after. The rain started while we had lunch on the summit. Came down via Don's Cutoff, a short but very night ridge walk. Then a logging road, back to the waterfalls.

Beacon Rock is a ~1 mile walk with lots of steps and zigzags, ~500-600' gain. Concrete and wood board nailed to the rock. Possible to rock climb here. Quite a lot of people considering the rain, which stopped when we were on the top. The sun came out.

Trail map.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

2014.4.12. Elk + King Mountains

4/12. A beautiful Saturday. Not too hot. Went up on Elk, continued to King's and down. Took Wilson Creek back to the car (at Elk Creek Campground)- No elks of course. Our loop is desccribed at here. According to both Marc and Dave's GPS gadget, their readings are:
Distance: 11 miles loop. 
Time elapsed: 8 hours: 5 hours moving, 3 hours stationary.
Elevation gain: 4400' (accumulative), min 860', max 3243'.
Both summits offer good view of the surrounding half-logged hills, and enough flat space to sit for lunch (I took a nap on King's). Both have some log box (made by the same guy). On a clear day (not today), we should see the ocean. I like this trail, more rugged than others around Portland. In the dry months, you should avoid coming here: little stone make some steep sections very slippery. There's even a stupid rope to aid you descending Elk (I didn't use it). Even though the total elevation gain is quite significant, this hike offers enough flat parts to let you recover. Yes, some sections are quite steep, produced a lot of sweat!

Trailhead to Elk summit is 1.4 miles, and steep. Took 1.5 hours with breaks. Another 1.5 hours later, we reached the junction of King's Mountain tail (only 1.3 miles to go). 30 minutes later is the rope, which took awhile. 30 minutes later, lunch near King's summit. Rested for an hour. A steep descent. Almost at the trail head, walked 3.5 miles on Wilson Creek trail (mountain bikers).

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

2014.4.8. The Quality of Life at Artists Repertory theatre

4/8 Tuesday. Jane Anderson's The Quality of Life opened today. Directed by Allen Nause, the recently retired artistic director of Artists Repertory. Theme: how to deal with grief. No answer though, but showed two different ideas. Two families. One lost their daughter to a murder (approach: God). One just lost their house to a forest fire, and is about to lose the husband to cancer (approach: suicide). Very poignant and touching. Great acting. However, the God believing husband was too aloof at the beginning of the play (didn't want to hear his wife's rambling). His return at the end of the play showing his caring for his wife seems too dramatic.

Sunday, April 06, 2014

2014.4.6. Sing-along at Pioneer Square

30 years ago, 1984/4/6, Portland's Pioneer Square was inaugurated. Today, 1984 free cupcakes were distributed, some umbrellas and 2 hours of sing-along led by Pink Martini's Thomas Lauderdale and China Forbes. 2 of the Von Trapps kids were also present. At the later half, Carlos Kalmar joined his colleagues. They ended with a performance of "Be Happy", a title song of their latest album. It was very good. See a video on this newspage site.

Pioneer square is lucky. It was pouring yesterday. Quite a bit of sunshine today. Feels like a spring day.

Saturday, April 05, 2014

2014.4.5. Catherine Creek to Coyote Wall

2014/4/5, Saturday. Catherine Creek to Coyote Wall and back. We took the lower trail west, and came back via the higher trail. This is a place for wander. Lots of trail for hikers and bikers (Coyote Wall). Large grassy meadow, a couple of creeks, a patch of oak trees and basalt cliffs. Excellent view of Columbia River. On the good day, even Mt. Hood. Grass Widows are almost all gone, camas and balsamroots are coming.

6 of us today. Encountered ~20 bikers and ~10 other hikers. Quite quiet. We drove out from Portland in pouring rain. Only a little bit of rain, some sunshine on the slope. A good location for a wet day.

Wednesday, April 02, 2014

2014.4.2. Les Ballets Trockadero

4/2. Wednesday. White Bird presents les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at the beautiful Arlene Schnitzer Hall. It's a group of men in tutu from New York, now in their 40th year. All performers use Russian stage names, including two black guys. These men, slim or not, balance on their toes in pink dresses, but still with hairy chest and underarm. Some dance very well. Mistakes are hard to tell, because they are made into the choreography. Very funny, exaggerated faults, modern street gestures into classical routines.
Act 1, Swan Lake, act 2. (Very nicely done)
Act 2, Pas de Deux (shows their Ballet competence, excellent), Pas de Quatre (boring), Dying Swan (short and funny, a bit tacky. Should be more traditional).
Act 3, Raymonda's Wedding. (so so)