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Our last Farmers Market visit
Vancouver, WA has a great Farmers Market. Lots of fresh veggies and fruit, as well as breads, crafts, prepared foods, and more. It’s a weekly event for us to pick up whatever is fresh (and a lot of other goodies!) Today was our last Farmers Market since we will be on the road next Monday. Looking forward to being back next year already!
On the street
Captain Vancouver has been prettified
Lots of pretty flowers
Lots to pick from
It’s nice to have a variety
Last week for fresh basil
Terrific breads too
Paella! That’s for dinner tonight
Puppy in training
Oregon and Washington have some great up and coming wineries
Bonneville Dam
In the 1930’s, the Bonneville Dam was built as a WPA project. In the ’80’s, a second addition was added for more power. Now, it supplies enough electricity for 900,000 homes. We took a tour today, but the smoke from nearby forest fires made outdoor photography pretty well impossible. So here are some of the images of our visit to the power station and hatchery.
Inside the Power Plant in the new section.
A view from lower down. The river water level is just about at the crane tracks you see running along the sides.
One of the huge generators
Below the floor, looking at the main rotor shaft
Looking down into the generator
Looking down at the fish ladder
Hey, there’s some fish now!
Hard work for those salmon, swimming upstream
But, somehow, they make it
At the neighboring fish hatchery, a top down look at a 8 foot long sturgeon
And, an underwater look at another huge sturgeon
Candles and Campfires
Last week was the Grand Finale of this year at Fort Vancouver. It is an evening presentation, with interpreters depicting life from the 1700’s to present day. Visitors were encouraged to walk down a timeline of period re-enactors, from WW2 down to the Oregon Trail days. I was in the 1870’s group, as a soldier fighting in the Indian war.
Because of my schedule, I had limited opportunities to take pictures but here is an album showing some of the representative periods.
Last black powder demonstration
This summer, I participated in various on site activities at Fort Vancouver. One of this was to dress up like an Indian War soldier (ca. 1870) and fire rifles and canons. The Dress Department gave me a full, authentic uniform (heavy wool!) and I grew a beard to match.
Although I have posted some pictures about this before, we just had our last demo and one of the visitors took and gave us some really cool pictures. These are shown below. Thanks, Susan!
Our small but representative group – drummer, 4570 rifle, 1861 Springfield (me), late 1700’s muzzleloader, and canon crew.
Waiting our turn to act
Firing of the muzzle loader
And, firing the Mountain Howitzer
A look at the Howitzer
And now, for a REALLY close look at the Howitzer!
Looks like I mean business…..
Flying in a biplane
A while back the Pearson Flight Museum had an open house. There were lots of display aircraft, as well as flying ones. But for us the excitement was in being able to get a ride in a 1929 biplane. At first, Romola was a bit reluctant to go, but after it was over she agreed: Fantastic!
There is something magical/historical to fly in an open cockpit plane, one with an original radial engine. The experience… sound, vibration, wind… all add to the feeling. Here are some images; the aircraft is a 1929 Travel Air E-4000.
Here comes our ride!
Tight fit in that cockpit, sure wouldn’t want to make a long flight!
On takeoff, you can see the Fort Vancouver site itself
Flying over the Port of Vancouver
Shipping on the river
A steep bank over one of the ships
Starting our “crop duster” pass
On the deck, below the tree top level, full speed!
That dike up ahead is looking rather large
Flying over Vancouver Lake, again below treetop level
Another tight bank at full speed over the Lake
There is Fort Vancouver, on the horizon
Making a Fort Vancouver pass. Runway visible.
Lining up on the runway
Back on the ground. That was such fun!
1860’s baseball game
Every year, Fort Vancouver Historic site hosts an 1860’s vintage baseball game. Participants, and many spectators, are dressed in historically correct clothing. Participating teams are the Shermans (military) and the Vancouver Occidentals (local favorites).
It is quite a spectacular event, and well attended by Fort Vancouver personnel, as well as the general population. By Northwest standards, it was kind of hot, it was 80 degrees. No laughter from the Dallas gallery, please!
It was a great game, with the Shermans pulling it off with 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th. Final score: Shermans, 11 and Occidentals, 10. Below are some pictures of the event, both the game and the attendees.
The Whiskey River Orchestra provides some topical music
Cassie looking spectacular in vintage dress
More pretty ladies on parade
Even more ladies in their fineries
Discussing pre-game strategies
A hit by the Occidentals
Watching the game
Here comes the pitch
Looks like the shoes are kind of hot….
A big grin from Roman
Having a drink, 1860’s style.. no plastic bottles!
Fort Vancouver – Medicine
Medical care in the 1800’s was primitive by our standards. Blood letting, leeches, limb removal were all standard operating (pun intended) procedures. Yet there were doctors, and there was medicine, especially herbal. Romola has spent quite some time studying the healing methods used, and is doing presentations at the fort to educate visitors.
Since there were no nurses in those days, Romola is dressed as a doctor in order to make a history-true presentation.
Romola is fully outfitted, including top coat and derby, just like the doctors wore in the 1840’s
One room of the doctors living area, adjacent to the infirmary.
The doctor’s family bedroom
Surgical instruments were certainly crude compared to today’s high tech tools
The infirmary, or hospital, certainly was close quarters
The doctor is ready to see patients
Fort Vancouver – carpenter shop
Back in the day, the carpenter was one of the most important tradesmen at Ft. Vancouver. He was responsible for building pretty well everything, from the buildings themselves, and cradle to casket. Compared to the fort itself, the shop takes up only a small space, but a lot of work was done here. And all with hand tools, no power equipment during the early years.
This year, I have been trained to make presentations to visitors about the shop, the tools, and the tasks. Very interesting, and I get to use the tools :)…. it gives great appreciation to the skills of the settlers, making such a variety of products with limited resources.
All dressed up and ready to work
Closeup of the foot pedal powered lathe
A good, sturdy and flat table is a requisite of the wood shop
The grind stone is hand powered too
On the far wall, many types of draw knives and hand planes
Raw materials, waiting projects
Additional projects, such as axles, wagon wheel, and ox yokes
Another view of the lathe area
Striking a cavalier pose in my period correct clothing
Fort Vancouver walk through
We went for a walk through the Fort Vancouver Historic Site and snapped some pictures along the way. Today was a relatively quiet day and a good day to reacquaint ourselves with the site. Below are some of the pictures to give you an idea what the place where we will work this summer looks like. There will be a lot of reenactments, demonstrations and other activities to make this a fun three months!
Blacksmith at work
Looking along some of the restored buildings
Inside the medical doctor’s office
Inside the carpentry shop
A lathe to turn anything round… handles, furniture legs, etc….
Inside one of the bedrooms
Two canon in front of the Chief Factor’s House, mostly ceremonial
Family dining table in the Chief Factor’s House
Outside the communal kitchen
An old candle lantern
The Chief Factor’s House… two families lived here, and the whole camp was run from this building
The well — it required a lot of labor to haul all the water up by the bucket full
Arrival at Ft. Vancouver
We completed the 1,000 mile drive from Dinosaur NM to Vancouver, WA in 3 days. The drive was relatively uneventful, except for some serious wind gusts through the Columbia Gorge. The scenery went from flat prairie fields to mountain terrain. We paralleled the Oregon Trail, the Lewis and Clark trail, and finally the Columbia river.
Now we can stay put for 3 months while we do our volunteer duties at Fort Vancouver. Below are a few pictures of the trip.
A lake along Highway 84, just north of Park City, UT
Flat prairie land as we enter Idaho
No vegetation to speak of as the road heads up
The Snake River on the horizon
Another view of the Snake River (Idaho)
Mountains on the horizon
The terrain changes as we head into Oregon
Finally, the scenery makes driving more interesting
But flat roads are not totally behind us!
Now this was a funky RV place, nothing but trucks and RV’s!
Along the Columbia River. Note the white caps, and the wind mills… tough driving!
The drive in the Columbia Gorge is quite spectacular
Arrival… Fort Vancouver!
Laninga's Travel Blog 