Ready?
Here we go again -- bound for Walla Walla, WA -- to celebrate Christmas with Tisha, Claire, and Tom:
up
505 and
5,
past the
Coast Ranges and
Sutter Buttes,
to
the
environs
of
Redding
and
the
Gates of the Mountains,
up the grade by
Gray Rocks and
Castle
Crags
towards
Mount Shasta,
to the high country of
Black Butte,
the great dormant volcano itself (with consort Shastina),
then
out
into
the
Valley,
winding
our
way
beyond Yreka,
Anderson
Grade,
the
Klamath
River,
the three northern H's of Henley / Hornbrook /
Hilt,
out of California,
surmounting the high point of Siskiyou Summit
(grateful here, as everywhere on the trip, for marvelous weather, given the season),
plummeting down
into
Ashland
and
Medford, in view of
Mt. McLoughlin and
Table Rock, launching once more into the roller coaster on the other side of
Rogue River that is
Grants Pass,
Sexton
Mountain,
Sunny Valley,
Smith Hill,
Wolf Creek,
Stage Road Pass,
Glendale,
Canyon Creek, and
Canyonville.
Near
Myrtle Creek are some of the
last vestiges of
Californianesque
landscapes,
but we must press on before Round Prairie and
Roberts Mountain,
through
the
South
Umpqua
Valley
into storied
Roseburg.
The light continues to fade impressively in
Sutherland and
Rice
Hill,
until waning just after the rising of Pass Creek and Divide,
where we reconnoiter at
Cottage Grove.
The ruddy western sky continues to guide as we reach the expansive Willamette Valley's south end at
Eugene /
Springfield; indeed, it indicts upon departing the
Corvallis-exit petrol stop.
An 11- (make that 22-) mile ridiculous mishap sends us eventually on our way again, stopping for nothing until a side adventure in The Dalles. The Columbia River Gorge and Wallula Gap all in the dark (via 82 and 730) and at last we arrive.
Ah, yes, the listening for the trip (listening to works familiar and new to Harriet):
Kurt Weill
Violin Concerto
Berlin Requiem
The Threepenny Opera
Happy End
The Seven Deadly Sins
Silver Lake
The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Leonard Bernstein
On the Town
Candide
Westside Story (Broadway and Film versions)
Chichester Psalms
Mass
Nat King Cole
Straighten Up and Fly Right
Alexander Courage
Star Trek
Earle Hagen
Andy Griffith
Dick Van Dyke
Dave Brubeck
Unsquare Dance
Nigerian High Life
Improvisation
Nyakrom Brass band
Pierre Boulez
Notations
Le Marteau Sans Maitre (two versions)
Structures
Julito Collazo
Emi Ra Obini Le Wa
Loteria
Marius Constant
The Twilight Zone
Bill Haley
See Ya Later Alligator
Johnny Mandell
M.A.S.H.
Chuck Berry
Maybellene
John Coltrane
Alabama
Miles Davis
Miles Runs the Voodoo Down
Laurence Rosenthal
Fantasy Island
Israel Berrios
Boriquen
Dave Kahn
Leave It To Beaver
Jerry Bock
Fiddler on the Roof (Broaway and Film versions)
George Crumb
Three Early Songs
Variazioni
