Oregon Trails

The day’s activities would involve a pitchfork and a wheel barrel. But first, a bit of breakfast: great coffee from Archive Coffee Bar, which has vegan donut holes from Bigwig delivered Tuesdays & Fridays (bummed I missed them!) and a strawberry and chocolate-stuffed vegan crêpe from Oregon Crêpe Cafe & Bakery.

I was joining the Wednesday volunteer party at Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary, a safe haven for a variety of animals–horses, cows, goats, pigs, donkeys, sheep, llamas, and other assorted critters in need of love and safety. If you volunteer, you get to meet the lovely beings (and human beings) who spend their days at Lighthouse while helping with sanctuary’s needed chores. It’s a win-win. Here are the pics I snuck in between pitchforking and wheel barreling.

I have to admit that it was the possibility of meeting Helen, the sanctuary’s blind bison, that had me reshuffling plans and hauling it over to Scio from Portland on what was to be a day of laid back vegan eats. I was so glad I had made the trip. Meeting her made my day.

After a long morning of work, I decided to take the Mt. Hood Express shuttle to the historic Timberline Lodge. The Timberline Lodge was the site of the exterior shots of the fictional Overlook Hotel where Jack Torrance was always the caretaker. The lodge has long been on my list of must-sees, but unknown road conditions and the possible need of snow chains made me dismiss it. But this new-ish shuttle (and the road condition cams on Timberline’s website) made it totally doable. The $2 shuttle allowed some scenic window gazing downtime while saving the engine of my economy rental.

Sitting smack dab in front Mt. Hood, it was far colder than I was dressed for. Winds swept the tall mounds of snow, remnants of winter.  It was mostly overcast during my trip, which made it difficult to see the glorious Mt. Hood. But I know I would be back close by soon enough.

I hung around the tremendous fire in the lodge and waited for the Cascade Dining Room to open for dinner. They accommodated my veganism well. Here is the breakdown:

Amuse bouche of beet and wild rice with balsamic reduction.

Fresh baked bread was heavenly. 

A Pinot Noir & beet sorbet! A nice surprise.

My veganized dish: pasta with with Maitake mushrooms, leeks, radishes, Fava beans, pine nuts and chives. Earthy, fresh and bountiful. It was a welcome dinner after a day of no eats.

Another glorious day on the West Coast with plenty more to follow. Goodnight, Pacific Northwest.