it’s tuesday and i’m back. just in time, too.
took a little road trip this weekend and part of last week. four days in total. a little loop down the oregon coast, into california, down to Eureka, and then back up, wiggling my way through the hills and mountains in the very tippy top of that state and back over to Ashland, and then back up i-5. in california they call it “the 5.” the road signs change as soon as you cross the border. seems like a waste of money to me but what are you gonna do.
this doesn’t always happen but this time, in addition to having a fun and relaxing and exciting solo trip, i also got the pleasure of experiencing that classic vacation thing of coming back to the office and discovering that multiple fires had started burning pretty much the instant i left and nobody had really gotten around to doing anything about them just yet. lots of emails with urgent tones and way too many people in the “CC” field. lots of emails forwarded to me as a sort of reminder or emphasis, despite the fact that i was also an original recipient of the forwarded email in question. “please see below and get back to them” “making sure you saw this” “take a look at this and reply ASAP please.”
it’s just a house. calm down everyone. it’s just three or four different houses, i guess, in this particular instance. but still. your cabinets will be fine. your driveway will be fine. the other stuff will be fine, too, i assume. i mean i was only gone for two days, how bad could it realistically be. sheesh! sheesh.
let’s get rolling.
1. painting study
pretty simple this week! i took a lot of pictures on the drive of things i knew i would want to try and paint later. so i threw some of them in my painting app and set my phone timer for 5 minutes and spent those 5 minutes sketching quickly, not thinking too hard about it, not being too precious about process, just getting my brain to connect the shapes, forms, shadows, and colors i was seeing in the photos to a physical process of moving my hand to re-create those shapes, forms, shadows, and colors. focusing only on the stuff i found interesting, and more or less ignoring the rest.
look at that scenery. wow!
some of the stretches along CA-96 are pretty incredible. my mental perception of california, and the whole west coast in general, is that the wild, remote places are increasingly full of people. but there were hour, two hour stretches on this trip where i wouldn’t see another car. and some stretches along 96 where i wouldn’t even see a building. that part of california is pretty great, in my book. it’s definitely on my short list to return to.
2. a dilemma
It was a bright, clear morning. Sunlight was just starting to filter down through the treetops. The forest was already thrumming with life. Birds chirping. Squirrels racing around. And Bigfoot was getting evicted.
“I get it, man. I’m not super hot on this whole thing either. It’s not my call. I know me saying that doesn’t help. And I get that, too.”
Ranger Dave was sitting beside him on a big log, snapping a little stick into smaller and smaller pieces and determinedly avoiding eye contact.
“Look, I know it’s been a rough couple years out there. But come on! I just settled in here, I just got set up. They’re already selling the place off? What happened to the National in ‘National Park,’ Dave? What the fuck?”
Dave sighed and dropped the stick pieces, brushing his hands off on his brown ranger pants and reaching down for his tumbler of coffee he’d propped up in some moss.
“Yeah. I barely understand it either but this shit’s way above my pay grade, man. I know you just got here from Rogue River. But from what I hear you were lucky to make it out of that place, man. Once the whole Jefferson thing really popped off, I mean, shit.” Slurp. “Shit went downhill fast.”
Bigfoot hadn’t really ever given Dave the whole story on his desperate scramble out of the Rogue River (Formerly) National Forest (now another proud Weyerhauser holding). They’d gotten to be pretty good friends over the past few months but Bigfoot wasn’t really there yet, emotionally, in terms of unpacking that whole saga. But Dave was right. Shit had gone downhill fast.
Slurp. “I guess the deal is they’re selling off a big chunk. Something about the national debt, something something China. You know how it is. Or, maybe you don’t, I guess, or – yeah, you do. Not all of it but a big chunk. Most of the part up to the road, pretty much everything except the campground on the other side and a few of the trails. The real scenic stuff. So.”
Bigfoot sighed and picked up his own mug. “Klamath National Forest - Do Not Feed Park Rangers!” Funny. A welcome gift from Dave. Very small in his big furry fingers.
“Sure. I get it. I do. But hey, they’re not getting rid of all of it. So maybe I can, you know. Maybe there’s still some space I can…?”
He trailed off hopefully but Dave was getting fidgety again. Not a good sign. Dave brushed some more nonexistent dirt off his pants and squinted up into the canopy, following the darting flight of a bluejay. Must be nice, to live up there in the treetops. And to be so small you weren’t worried about constantly running into people. And to generally be considered a beautiful animal, worth protecting and cherishing, one of God’s creations, blah blah blah.
“Yeah, man. I don’t know. You’re, uh. Big.” They both smirked a little at this despite the situation. “And you need a lot of territory, dude, you’d be miserable. Hiding all the time, I doubt there’d be enough forage, definitely not enough fish. You going to steal picnic baskets?” Smirk, chuckle. “I mean at least you wouldn’t be getting shot at by loggers, but I dunno, man, are all these old bastards in those giant RV’s much better?”
“Yeah. Bad idea. I get it. I’m just… running out of places to go, you know?”
“Totally, man. I mean there’s still quite a few national parks and forests on this side of the country. But it’d be a big move, for sure, to wherever. And I know there’s that whole thing with your ex up in Washington so that’s probably not a, you know, not a great direction, but…”
“Yeah. I’ll think of something.”
A couple of squirrels dashed across the little clearing, completely oblivious to the heavy mood. The sun was well up by now. In the distance they could hear the sounds of the campground coming to life. Dogs, kids. Big RV engines idling. A door slammed.
That gave Bigfoot an idea. He perked up.
“Hey, what about those cabins? What if I stayed in one of those? Just, mark it as booked, or something, I’ll just hang out during the day and keep the curtains shut, I’m more of a nocturnal guy anyway. There’s usually an empty one, right?”
Dave did look over at him this time. Bigfoot caught his eye and thought he detected a little optimism there. Cautious optimism, maybe, but there was something there. He thought so, anyway. Not that good with human faces yet. But just as he thought he’d seen it, it was replaced with a frown, Dave’s bushy eyebrows furrowing and his mouth folding up under his, what. Mustache. Frowns, Bigfoot was familiar with.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s not a bad idea but… well it’s not great, but it’s better than nothing, is what I mean, but those cabins get really popular in the summer, ‘Footer. We’re so short on dough anyway, those things are our real moneymakers, we rent ‘em out for way too much to all the tech shitheads that come up here in the summer in Teslas. Probably pays half my salary, to be honest, man. I mean, I can kick in some bucks, probably, might be able to, but it wouldn’t cover it at all, really.”
But Bigfoot was excited now.
“Well what if I could cover the fees? Or most of them or something, if I could just pay the winter rate maybe, year-round, that’s not a bad deal, Dave, occupied cabin the whole year and you don’t have to worry about it? I’m easy, too, you know that, man, I’m no trouble.”
Dave’s frown deepened.
“Yeah, man, I guess so, but, no offense, like, where would you get the cash? I didn’t even think of you as being, as having money, in that way, you know? Like, mythical forest creature, ATM’s, doesn’t really square, right? Do you have like, a card? Or even a wallet?”
“No, definitely, I mean, I do have some money. I’m not an animal. I still got some left over from the D.B. Cooper thing. I could figure out the rest, I bet. If I could figure out the rest, what do you think? Cmon, Dave, there’s that one on the end that’s so busted down that you guys get yelled at every time someone halfway fancy stays there. Full of splinters and bugs! Me, like I give a shit about splinters. I’ll fix it up for ya, too! Not only am I footy - I’m handy, too!”
Dave winced at that one. Jesus. Yeah. Not great. Heat of the moment.
“I guess, man, maybe? Yeah, maybe. Listen, I gotta get back to the campground. Nothing’s gonna happen for a few weeks anyway, I mean the deal’s not even public yet. Don’t tell anyone, by the way.” They both laughed. He could feel his shoulders start to loosen. It felt good. “I’ll come talk to you tomorrow, same place, we can talk about it some more. Probably, man, I can say that, I mean I do have a lot of pull around here these days, not a sure thing but. Probably, I guess. Hell, I know Anna would love to see you around more.”
Dave levered himself to his feet and Bigfoot hastily did the same. The park ranger squinted up at him and smiled, then gave him a friendly slug on the arm, turned, and trudged out of the clearing, slurping his coffee. Bigfoot watched him go, then bent down to pick up his mug.
“Shit,” said Bigfoot. “I better get a fuckin job.”
3. TVP slop
a couple weeks ago, i decided to start going to the gym again. seems like the omicron surge is waning and we probably have some time before the next wave we’re going to mostly ignore. and i have all three shots and wear masks and take at-home tests regularly and live by myself and etc. and so on and mostly just wanted to get back in there and start lifting weights again.
as part of this effort i decided to start keeping better track of what i was eating. especially since i’m eating (mostly) vegan at this point in my life it started to seem like one of those things where i could be dramatically short on, i don’t know, vitamin E or whatever and not even know it. plus i was curious. with the exception of the food i try out for this newsletter every week, i do have a pretty steady rotation of go-to meals for weekdays and weeknights, so i figured it would be easy enough to make a habit of logging that stuff.
turns out you actually have to put some effort into getting enough protein. turns out i was not really putting in that effort. so i am making more of an effort to get more of my calories from protein in an effort to bring that slightly more into balance. not that i’m a nutrition expert or anything all of a sudden but even based on the most cursory research, i was not really doing myself any favors with the stuff i had been eating.
anyway. there’s this stuff called TVP - textured vegetable protein - that i have used before (for the best thing i’ve ever made, actually) and it’s kind of fun and i still had a bag of it in the cupboard and i didn’t really have time to do anything more elaborate so that’s what i did this week.
tada. look you can read about it on the bag. it comes dehydrated and you have to soak it in stuff, and it’s naturally extremely flavorless so it’s a good idea to make the most of the liquid you’re soaking it in. hence the not-beef.
incidentally another big reason i started tracking my food was because i was curious about my sodium intake. and that not-beef is uh, definitely a step in the wrong direction there. so heads up on that.
the rehydrated TVP, and some onions. i should have spent more time cutting the onions up but i was in a hurry and i was listening to a basketball podcast and i wasn’t really paying attention. so they’re in enormous chunks. not advised.
and here is all the stuff we are putting in the TVP to make it palatable. starting from 12 o clock we have chili powder, cumin, onion powder, oregano, paprika, salt, red pepper flakes, and nutritional yeast in the middle. and some olive oil, garlic, and tomato paste.
you can pretty much throw whatever you want at this stuff. and in fact you have to, because like i said, it is incredibly bland on its own. but that’s kind of fun in a way! it’s like a sci-fi food or something.
another gif, how about that. hope it works. this part is very straightforward.
maybe the hardest part about TVP is you have to figure out what you want to eat it in, over, or with. it’s pretty versatile but at the same time a little strange to incorporate with other stuff. it’s right at home in a burrito or crunchwrap, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in soup, is a little strange to imagine eating like, on salad… but of course it’s very easy just to go Bowl of Slop Mode and dump it on some other stuff in the Bowl Food category and swirl it all up and eat it like stew. in this case it’s some beans i made the other day and some spinach.
yum! slop.
4. some quality soaks
it’s no secret that i like taking little three, four-day road trips around this part of the country. often by myself but not always. and increasingly, as i become a wrinkled old man, hunched over, stooped, gray, crinkly, crumbling into dust, i have been prioritizing including some form of hot water soaking in these trips.
usually this just means a hot tub. but not always! there are plenty of hot springs in this part of the world too!
and so, in no real order, here are some of the more memorable soaks i have experienced in the past, like. five years. ish. i dunno.
crane hot springs. top of the list. number one with a bullet. if you know me, you probably guessed this. this place is usually my first stop when i head out to the steens mountains and the alvord desert which is at least a yearly tradition now and probably more like a biannual tradition. if “biannual” means “twice yearly.” the first time i went, maybe four or five years ago now, the main soaking pool was just basically dug out of the ground, and pretty rustic feeling, but in 2020 they put some serious work into the soaking pool, and now there are nice submerged concrete benches at the perimeter, better lighting, better access into the water, etc. and so on. if you’re in eastern oregon ever, out there past burns, you need to prioritize spending a night here.
mystery airbnb on the oregon coast, somewhere near netarts possibly, 2018-ish. when i moved back to portland from seattle in 2017, a friend and i started a tradition of rustling up our big group of architecture-and-grad-school friends for a weekend on the oregon coast in the winter. houses are cheap at that point, because the weather is usually cold and stormy, but being in a big cool house with 18 of your friends when it’s cold and stormy is actually pretty fun. this particular time, the hot tub was in a great spot for looking at the ocean, and the weather was particularly crappy. something about being in a nice warm tub with a beer while frozen rain splatters all over the top of your head is very enjoyable. to me at least.
kennedy school, various times, not often enough. i used to live right by here with some friends, and pre-covid this was a great place to sit in a warm pool with a mediocre beer and socialize in a setting other than a bar. nothing wrong with bars but this was a fun change of pace. i even went on a second date here once. how about that.
knot springs. for my birthday one year i felt like treating myself to something very bougie, and this certainly fit the bill. it’s a whole spa complex at the base of portland’s most controversial apartment building and if you book a massage there they let you in a little early and you get the run of the place, bopping between several soaking pools, steam rooms, and saunas before they come get you. incredible experience.
mystery airbnb on the oregon coast, near waldport. went down here with a couple friends who ended up getting engaged on that trip. i say that like it just sort of happened but it was in fact planned. this hot tub was cool because it looked back across the bay toward the bridge that highway 101 runs over, instead of looking out to the pacific, so you can see all the car lights and town lights twinkling. boat lights too, i guess.
sol duc hot springs. this place is up on the olympic peninsula, and it’s kind of an interesting spot. as far as actual soaking experiences go it’s not my favorite, mostly because every time i’ve been there it’s been completely slammed full of people. also the water is very smelly. but the scenery is hard to beat and there is something fun about spending 20 minutes on a little tiny winding road crawling up a mountain valley and then coming across this big bustling resort complex. worth a trip, probably, if you’re up there anyway.
cafe mokka, arcata california. i didn’t actually soak here but i wanted to mention it because it looked super cool. i got a recommendation from a local while i was in the area on this most recent road trip. it’s a little finnish cafe / soaking facility / they have saunas too / i don’t know what you call this type of place but there’s probably a word for it in finnish. i showed up right as they opened on saturday and there was already a line out the door of northern california quasi-hippie types with their woven bags and drapey clothes and natural fibers. the tubs filled up instantly and they started taking reservations for the next day. so i just got some coffee, which initially startled the people behind the counter, but was allowed, and then poked my head into the central courtyard to look at the ponds, bridges, tables, saunas, and soaking tubs dotted around the place. looked pretty magical. looked pretty hobbity. i got back from this trip already starting to think about when i could get down there again.
well i think that will about do it for this week. have a good week everyone. stay out of ukraine if you can help it. although we’re all only human. i understand that sometimes you just have to do a little peacekeeping. a little light saber rattling with russia. gotta look tough. gotta secure those wmd’s. see ya next tuesday. bye.