Monday, December 26, 2011

December 26 - Sun Rise, Get Set


Take Tom to work,


then


double


back for Harriet,


and off we go, south on 11, over the Oregon border with the Blue Mountains beckoning,


towards Athena and


Pendleton,


west on 84 across a harsh mistress of the arid Umatilla / Morrow lands, relief provided almost immediately over the


Gilliam boundary


as


Arlington,


the


downgrade to


Blalock


Canyon, and the


John


Day


River roll by.


More Columbia River Gorge, through Sherman


(Biggs, overlooking


Miller Island) and


Wasco (Deschutes River and


Cliffs,


Celilo


Bend


and


Inn,


The


Dalles,


across from


Columbia Hills and


Devil's Hole,


the views opening up to


Mosier


and


beyond),


then into the moist spectacle of Hood River


(Mitchell Point,


the somewhat-snowy Cascades,


including Wind Mountain) and


Multnomah (the Falls and


Crown Point).


Beyond Troutdale, we turn southwest on 205 into Clackamas,


over the Willamette River, then hit the main route at I-5.


South,


south,


the land migrates by:


through the


Valley,


up the gentle incline


towards Divide,


down Pass Creek to


Sutherlin,


Roseburg


on the


South Umqua,


the Myrtle Creek country (Round Praire,


California Hill,


the Rock,


and


the


Ranch),


up-down-up-down-up-down-up-down through


Canyonville,


Canyon Creek,


Glendale,


Stage Road Pass,


Wolf Creek,


Smith Hill Summit,


Sunny Valley, and


Sexton Mountain Pass.


At


Grants Pass, the lights definitely lower, and we proceed through


increasing aridity beyond Rogue River and


Table Rocks towards distant


Mt. McLoughlin.


Beyond


Medford,


Ashland's


highlands


are


mostly free of stratus and snow,


so up we go,


and over


Siskiyou Summit


with no more incident than the beauty of California's rosy colored-sky extending to distant Mt. Shasta.

The playlist, all the way home through hours of darkness continues to be George Crumb, back-tracking a bit with Ancient Voices of Children and Black Angels, then continuing with:

Vox Balaenae
Makrokosmos I-IV 
(including III Music for a Summer Evening, in two performances,
and IV Celestial Mechanics)
Dream Sequence
Star-Child
Apparition
A Little Suite for Christmas
Processional
A Haunted Landscape
An Idyll for the Misbegotten
Federico's Little Songs for Children
Zeitgeist
Easter Dawning
Quest
Mundus Canis (A Dog's World)
Otherworldly Resonances
Unto the Hills