Chasing Clean Air

Columbia Gorge, Oregon

We headed east on highway 84, passing trees that appeared less green than Washington trees, and not as tall.

Yet trees were everywhere as we... wow!

"There's the Columbia Gorge!"

We'd only left Portland's airport minutes earlier. It was as if we left civilization.

I enjoyed clean air, feeling truly on vacation.

One amazing positive aspect about Oregon and Washington is that they have laws against annoying billboards that ruin nature's landscape.

We drove on a mostly flat well-paved road with slight rolls, along the windy Columbia River to our left.

We made several stops to enjoy the view.

I'd heard about the windy river from travel and history books that recounted the harsh conditions Lewis and Clark encountered when they first arrived. These pioneers paved the trail to the West, and were the first white Americans to view this.

The Columbia River flows--aided by winds I noted--between Washington and Oregon, spilling into the Pacific Ocean, I believe around Astoria, Oregon.

Waterfalls dotted the route.

Here's a small waterfall enroute, I posed. And next, Multnomah Falls, the longest waterfall in Oregon,is third largest in United States.

Portland Day One - Arrival at airport

I just arrived to Portland and they're having a warm day.

The sun shines brightly through squeaky clean windows at the passenger airport terminal.

I walk through long corridors, passing recycle bins for plastic, paper, and mixed paper.

People flash Pacific Western smiles. Very natural. Soft faces.

There's an ease in the air.

Also a lot of shorts, sundresses, and sleeveless shirts, signifying warm weather.

I pick up those positive vibes and my luggage, and head for the wide swinging doors, leading to my first Portland moments. My adrenaline shifts into third gear.

Ah, Portland!

A slight breeze.

I smile, and inhale Portland's clean air.

The breeze picks up.

I am cold.

Carlton is nowhere to be seen. I call him on my new blackberry, which I bought to access email  from the road. He's stuck in traffic and crawling toward our adventure.

So I amuse myself, sending an email to a friend: Portland is having a warm day. I am cold...

Carlton and I went to USC together. He lives in muggy Pensacola and loves the Pacific Northwest, as do I. We're just friends if you're curious. We've been to dinner, lunch, writing classes, and have brainstormed creative ideas for our plays and fiction, and that's about it. Except the time I dreamt a terrorist attack hit Universal Studios near where he lived back then, so I offered my couch for two nights.

I wonder if we'll be good travel partners?

And I wait. And I shiver. My hair blows in the breeze.

I wonder when I will wear a sundress again.

I only brought three this time (with matching hats ... a green floral, aqua straw, and USC "Fight On" maroon cap).

A hotel bus rolls along asphalt for passenger pickups, blowing a plume of smoke into Portland's air. I think about Santa Monica's clean bus fleets, and I cough. Residual cough from Los Angeles, or

Puffs of white dandelion float through the air.

A silver car passes. A gray car. A silver. Another gray.

Car colors reflecting their normal weather? Chamelion cars.

I brush hair from my face, as a college girl, wearing thin cotton pants and a sleeveless top sits next to me. Her long black hair is matted down. She is happy and warm, and tells me she wants to move to California. I reach into my bag and pull out my jacket. Now I'm happy and warm too, and tell her I may want to move to the Pacific Northwest. We smile at one another.

Beyond her, I notice that no one else wears a jacket, which seems odd.

And then Carlton appears behind the wheel of a silver-gray Chrysler 300 four-door sedan.

It's 5 p.m. We haven't seen one another in two years, maybe more. Other than a slighter bigger pouch, mine might be too, he hasn't changed. Our comfort level remains level, like a dip in comfortable water.

Sunset is around 10 p.m. so we have plenty of time to drive east and explore the Columbia Gorge, waterfalls, fish hatcheries and Hood River, a windy town known as the world's windsurfing capitol. Maybe we'll see salmon swimming upstream. Maybe timing will be off. Timing being off is not foreign to me.

I wonder about the quantity of dandelions blowing in the wind. And what else might blow.

Carlton hits the gas, and my adrenaline goes into fifth gear. I've waited to explore Portland and surrounding areas for quite some time.

I fall back into the lush gray-leather-covered seat, and we're off!

I like acupuncture

"You can control your environment by building up your immune system or you can find a new environment without the triggers in which to live," Ting Jing, my acupuncturist said, staring down at me.

She'd just put needles in my feet, legs, chest and head to decongest. I couldn't move, lying flat on the table, soft music in the background, masking buses outside.

"Why did I get fever followed by coughing all night?"

"Probably humidity. It can trap the smog. Cars here are bad. Too many cars. People cough, fighting triggers in the environment. I see it all the time."

"Must be good for your business."

"I don't prefer that kind of business, I specialize in infertility problems. A lot of my clients have coughs here and when they go away it clears up on its own."

For years since I live in Los Angeles, she has helped cure me of a sinus infection in just one acupuncture session.

I had acpuncture yesterday, followed by her recommended herbal teas, and no coughing last night, feel much better.

Construction on nearby freeway kept me up most night, which wasn't great especially considering I'm going on a trip.

Got to run.

Here's Ting Jing's web site if you live in Los Angeles and need relief. www.tcmhealingcenter.com

She has a very nice manner, and cares about her patients.

The Best Laid Plans

I'm excited about pending trip.

And yesterday while eating oatmeal and sipping coffee I was filled with energy, as if I could sprint, and hike a mountain, and oh yes, that's my plan!

Invisible to the eye, but very much present for breakfast were my visions of pristine lakes, Douglas-fir trees, the flowing Columbia River, blue skies free of black smog, Powell Bookstore, the largest in United States, and then I broke out in a sweat, my body got weak with aches all over, and my temperature rose.

And rose.

I slept most of the day without eating, and throughout the night. When I woke this morning my temperature was down but I still don't feel normal.

No idea what went wrong.

I'm praying I get better in time to fulfill those visions in the timely fashion I'd planned.

I'd planned to leave today, though.

I'm very disappointed. Hopefully, tomorrow.  I made a new reservation.

So many times, life does life, without any consideration of my plans.

Just Say No To Nuclear Energy

So I was strolling down the blogging lane this morning when I stopped by Green Wombat.

And rather than experience the eyes-glazing-over-from-radiation-overload from reading too much early in the morning (E-Books will never work) I found my temperature rising because as I strolled down this well-written business environmental site, I found myself reading comments from ill-advised readers applauding the possible resurgence of nuclear power. Thankfully, California is not biting. We've already been bitten.

So I wrote my comment on Green Wombat to let my temperature come down. I had to speak, er, I mean, write, the truth.

Nuclear energy is not green, is not clean, is not healthy, and the southwest is in a drought! It takes tons of water to regularly work a nuclear power plant. And nuclear accidents have happened throughout this country. The worst one was NOT Three Mile Island. The worst nuclear accident in U.S. history happened in Los Angeles's backyard at a Rocketdyne plant in Simi Valley. According to estimates by UCLA scientists, approximately 457 times as much nuclear isotopes went into the air when a third of the reactor melted. No one was told at the time. Many aren't now, yet many, many people got cancer as a result. Google the subject and you'll find out. Hanford Nuclear Facility in Washington State is where we have stored most of U.S. nuclear waste. No more room there. And the nuclear waste currently stored in cannisters, according to reports, are leaking. When Hanford asked Bush for money to fix them, they were told there was no budget. I get angry when I hear people talking nuclear energy when they haven't considered the facts. A better use of time and money is to find and implement renewable solutions that do no harm to humans or earth. 

Got that off my chest, and can move on with the day. If you feel like reading more here's Green Wombat's site: http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/

Off to the gym. 

Green Summit taking place at UCLA where Mayor Villaragosa will encourage private businesses to build green.

Los Angeles's anti-terrorism budget is going down 5% to $73 million a year. Wonder what they do with that money? I had no idea we had that much protection. If we do.

Dreamt I was stressed from too much planning on upcoming trip. Need to allow things to unfold as they will instead of being on a tight schedule, which I started to plan to fit a lot in.