Oregon - Mt Tom

My dad, Wallace, lives on Mt. Tom outside of Harrisburg, Oregon. The house was constructed over time and rambles along with plenty of space for everyone. The current inhabitants are Wallace and his wife Nelli, her 11 year old son Girey, and her daughter Ulyana and her family, husband Sergei and 4 going on 5 years Masha. This was the first time I had met Ulyana, Sergei and Masha and I hadn't seen Nelli and Girey for about 2 years. We all had dinner together the evening we arrived, but Nelli had recently bought a home near Portland that is being rented and they went up to do some work on it over the weekend before the renters moved in the next week.

On Saturday morning Wallace took Jake and I up onto the mountain in his Ranger, an ATV. Whipped by blackberries, stinging nettles and fir branches, Jake seemed to enjoy the wild ride anyway! I was a little more sheltered sitting in the middle. In one photo you can see the view of the valley below Mt. Tom. They grow grass seed in the valley and there are sheep and dairy cows. We walked up to see a small stand of old growth timber owned by BLM (see photo of Wallace by tree). There were large fir and cedar trees and moss covered the ground. Most of Wallace's land had been cut over but we also stopped by a stand of unusual knobcone pines whose cones adhere tightly to the trunks of the trees until the heat of a fire opens them.

The previous owner of the land had been somewhat eccentric and had started a commune with her house and several others in the 1960s. There were relics of eccentricity like the cement "fuzzy igloo" (see photo of Jake and I in this structure) perched above a creek and complete with a little fireplace inside.

On the way back down we stopped to check on the wildlife camera, but its batteries seemed to have malfunctioned and there were no animal photos. In the past he has gotten photos of racoons and maybe a bobcat and of hikers.

For our afternoon entertainment we opted to go to a local winery that was having a garlic and wine festival. The winery was on the other side of the valley back in the coastal range of mountains. Before we could go, Wallace got a call from some people interested in the house (he has put it on the market as well as an 80 acre housesite below the house), so Jake and I hung out by one of the pools/waterfalls in the front yard while he gave them the grand tour. The day before, Masha, a budding naturalist, showed me with great glee the rare red-legged frogs in the pond. Wallace helped her catch them in a net but she was happy to hold onto them for close observation.

The winery "festival" turned out to be a band playing outside where it was 90+ degrees and some garlic flavored food for sale inside. But there were several wineries there with samples. Jake designated himself the driver for the afternoon so Wallace got he and I each 5 tickets for the wine tastings. The host winery, King's Estate, had the best wines with Wallace favoring a Reisling and me favoring a pinot blanc. But there were a whole range of wines to taste from sparking white to rose to reds, whites and dessert wines. We took a different route home passing through more scenic countryside. By the time we got back to Wallace's house the evening had cooled off to a much more reasonable temperature.