We headed to Reno from Portland on Friday morning, reputedly a 10 hour drive. That is, if you don't stop to take pictures, eat in the restaurants, or take a scenic by-way to see a covered bridge. And we did all of those, plus got into a huge traffic jam due to a fatal accident, sadly, which closed the highway and caused us to turn around and go out of our way delightfully around Crater Lake, which my husband had never seen. So our trip on Friday took 15.5 hours, but we enjoyed the beauty of it so much we found it refreshing.
A few years ago on a train trip across the Cascade Mountains in Oregon, I saw from high on the hillside a pretty red covered bridge below over a creekbed. I didn't have my camera accessible so I sketched it later in my trip journal, eager to have some record of it.
It has stayed in our minds since that train trip as a place of elusive charm, calling us to return someday. Can you imagine my delight when my husband said he planned our route to Reno to pass by that very covered bridge in what I know now is Oakridge, Oregon! Here is the sketch I made from the train:
It has stayed in our minds since that train trip as a place of elusive charm, calling us to return someday. Can you imagine my delight when my husband said he planned our route to Reno to pass by that very covered bridge in what I know now is Oakridge, Oregon! Here is the sketch I made from the train:
And here is the real thing:
It is beautifully maintained. Note the lattice ceiling. I love the resonant sound of a car thumping over the wood beam floor. And to our utter amazement, the passenger train which only runs once a day went by right while we were there! That's the good news. The bad news is I was in the restroom when it went by, so I only got to hear the train whistle! Oh, rats!
But Ron was able to capture it on camera so now we have come full circle: the bridge from the train and the train from the bridge.
But Ron was able to capture it on camera so now we have come full circle: the bridge from the train and the train from the bridge.
I thought about the expression “full circle” as we drove and I don't think it expresses what I mean. Full circle seems to indicate an end. Full stop. That is not what I want, to end this amazing journey. So I wondered if a spiral was a better image-- a series of circles not closing but going on and on. That doesn't give enough sense of closure to an event or stage, and tends to have either a downward directionality or upward, as if progressing. Then I thought of a link, which suits me well. A link is closed but can be added to a chain of other closed links, as in a necklace chain. That is what this bridge trip was for me, a link in my golden chain of links.
I will tell you about another one soon!
2 comments:
Yay! Another check off on the bucket list! Good work for finding it, Ron. Nice drawing, Holl-babes. You could have been an artist...oh...
That's my "Bouquet List", remember. I don't want to have to die when I get through my list--but my list IS pretty long!
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