Oregon Tourist Classics - The Oregon Vortex and the Wildlife Safari

Day 14 Medford, OR to Home!

On the home stretch, we first took on the mystery of the Oregon Vortex.

What is a vortex, you may ask? According to the Oregon Vortex folks, it is a spherical field of force, half above the ground and half below the ground, that causes numerous unique phenomena in the area. The most famous of these phenomenon is the claim that nowhere in the circle do you "normally stand erect", instead the visitor "inevitably assumes a posture that inclines towards magnetic north", thus causing the perception that people's heights change relative to each other, depending on where they are standing within the vortex.

We wished that we had brought along our own level, but then again, can you fake a level? Something to consider. They used levels to show that the platform below was indeed level on both sides. I was careful not to move my camera or position between these shots, although it's clear that I wasn't centered between the two. Can you see a difference in the angles here?

We may print these out and paste them on a white background to measure the angles and see what we come up with. It's interesting that they don't allow videography on site, only still photos. We managed to find a video on line from the 90's of the experiment posted above so we'll include that in our examination. We had hoped for more details about the Vortex and how it is measured, as the scientific handbook you can buy in the gift shop lists the different times of day that the Vortex field increases and decreases but the handbook was vague about the forces behind the Vortex and how they are measured. Hmmm.

The house of mystery, a former supply shed, slid off it's foundation and came to rest in this unique position. It has been replicated in many places but is unique because it's the only one within a vortex. The perceptual illusions are truly amazing. You can roll a 2 liter bottle what absolutely looks to be downhill and it rolls back to you. You can balance a broom to stand up on it's own.

Following our closely guided tour of the vortex, we traveled another hour north to Winston, OR, where we waited in a surprisingly long line to tour the Wildlife Safari. People come from all over to see this attraction. Nestled into 600 acres of gorgeous rolling hills, animals from around the world call this place their home. Accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Wildlife Safari is known around the world for it's successful cheetah breeding program. Normally very difficult to breed in captivity, 176 cheetahs have been born in the park.

This guy looks relaxed! Cheetahs are evidently quite susceptible to stress, so this is a good sign.

Fun to see the hippos out of the water.

In this section of the park you can feed the animals and birds from your car.

It was a lovely drive through the park, and we'd do it again, because you get to see different animals up close each time, as they are free to wander. Here's a sight we saw often on our trip:

That's Mistletoe growing in the trees!

We'll post a trip mash-up and summary tomorrow, but for now:

There's no place like home.

Adventures in Food

Olive Oil tasting at the Olive Pit: Yumm!

Day 13: Modesto, CA to Medford, OR

We learned something new today, and that was how much food production,and shipping and packing, goes on in central California. We didn't have time to visit all the yummy sounding options, for example, Oakdale Cheese, where they make Gouda cheese, or Beekman and Beekman, and their honey mead. Because we still had many miles to drive we stuck to places right off the freeway. The Blue Diamond Almonds packing plant and store was our first stop. They don't give tours of their factory any more but they do have an educational display in their store, as well as a tasting bar for almonds of all different kinds:

Salted Caramel, Mocha, Coconut, Sriracha and many other flavors of Almonds.

Notes on how almond production happens.

Patrick's mom, Ruth, gave us a great tip for our second stop, The Olive Pit. They used to stop here on family trips to California, and the nostalgia made the stop doubly fun. Located just off the freeway in Corning, CA, this place will knock your socks off if you love olives!

This is one small portion of the store.

You can try many of the varieties of olives that they sell.

Olive trees outside the store.

After thoroughly stocking up on olives and olive oil, we were on our way through northern California. All along this trip, we have heard so much about the drought and the water shortage. This really hit home when we passed by Lake Shasta. Here's what it looks like, mid March:

Poppies!

Day 12: From Carlsbad to Modesto, CA via Antelope Poppy Reserve

Today we started our journey home. On the way we stopped at the Antelope Poppy Reserve. Liz's favorite flowers are California Poppies and it just so turned out that they had a bumper crop growing this year. The Reserve website posted that they would be in full bloom right about the time we were heading home. Unfortunately, California has had an unexpected heat wave this last week and most of the poppies died. Here's what the park looked like when we arrived:

There was still hope as we had heard the poppies survived on the north facing slopes, so we hiked up to check it out. Nope! Not much there, a few flowers here and there. However, from the top of the hill we could see a bright orange hillside across the highway with a trail of cars running from the reserve to a dirt road through someone's field. We followed along and here's what we found:

That's Otis in Ninja mode out there amongst the flowers.

And Sofia!

Not a flying monkey. :D

Look at the hillside full of orange in the distance! I can't imagine what this must have looked like a week ago, before the heat.

From the Antelope Valley we headed west to catch up with the 99 towards Visalia. We saw several of these trucks, full of lemons, along the way:

We don't see these at home!

And finally, a delightful stop for dinner with some of Patrick's California family, the Heinrichs! We got to chat with our Grandma Adelia's brother Les and his wife Marie, along with their kids Deanne, Darrell, Keith, Arlene and Arlene's husband Allan, along with their boys. We enjoyed getting to know this side of the family a bit more and were so happy to get to share a meal with them.

... and for the young ones, here's why you have to be cautious in poppy fields.

Movie Magic

Day 11: Universal Studios

Universal Studios, where so much movie and television magic happens! We took the studio tour, which was fantastic. They were filming a live show on one of the outdoor sets, and we caught small glimpses of the action. Minions have taken over the place and are in all the gift shops, as well as in a "ride" of their very own. The Transformers ride was our family favorite.

We saw construction going on for a new attraction: Diagon Alley! Harry Potter is coming to Universal Studios Hollywood in 2016. They are also opening a Fast and Furious segment for the studio tour this summer.

Can you tell which one of those guys in black is an actor?

Looking down at some of the outdoor sets. In the background are the Warner Bros studios.

Plane crash set of War of The Worlds

Our new fishy friend

Minions Everywhere!

After experiencing a hefty dose of LA Traffic (that's capitalized on purpose) it was a wonderful break to stop in for a visit with Liz's Uncle Lee and Aunt Mona. We caught up on what's been happening, reminisced and had a lovely time. So good to visit with family! We hope our path brings us back for another visit soon.

Zoo Day

Day 9: San Diego Zoo

It's been a few days since we caught up with our posts. We hit the travel exhaustion wall on Monday, about half an hour into the San Diego Zoo. Located on 100 acres, the San Diego Zoo not only hosts over 3,700 animals, but it is also a lush, beautiful botanical garden. More than half a million people are members of this zoo. It's huge! Despite our flagging energy, the kids perked up when we found the reptile exhibits. Many of the snakes and lizards were active, as you can see below in this short video that Patrick took. We also enjoyed the archeological exhibit and watching a hippo and a polar bear swimming around in their separate pools. We learned on our zoo tour that the polar bears have adapted to sunny southern California and won't get into the water if it's colder than 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Can you identify this snake?

Otis at the reptile exhibit

I was captivated by the huge variety of trees in the park. It is breathtaking and if you love plants, I highly recommend a visit.

Gorgeous Tree!

This walkway was cool, even in the heat.

This archeological exhibit shows what animals lived in the area 12,000 years ago.

One more, because I can't help myself! So beautiful!!

Sofia has been wanting a portrait for the entire trip, and finally convinced us that since all the money raised would go to helping animals, this was the perfect time. She enjoyed every moment of it. Here's the finished work:

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Day 10: A Lesson In Neurology

Tuesday we had the honor of having our EEG's interpreted for us by Dr. Yi Jin at the Brain Treatment Center. Dr. Jin has over 30 years of experience in electroencephalography, and he has been a professor at the University of California, Irvine, for 14 years. He gave the kids a personalized lesson on how our brains function, what the EEG actually measures and how important sleep is for proper brain function. They were enthralled. Dr. Jin could tell from looking at their EEG's that one of the kids might be a little short on patience, (right on the mark!) while the other might have trouble with learning some things and need to go over things multiple times, again, right on the mark for that child. We could see on the EEG results exactly how their brains are operating differently to cause those effects. He said that one will do well in the performing arts, while the other needs to get more sleep and less exposure to electronics at night time. Wow!

I (Liz) also had the privilege of sitting in on a meeting Patrick had with Conway Ho, the CEO of BTC and hearing about all the exciting things that are happening in this particular field of medicine. We saw a video of a man who had been paralyzed on one side after a stroke for a year. On his second day of treatment with the MRT, he was able to move his previously paralyzed arm and leg fully, as well as walk down stairs, something he hadn't done since his stroke. It was moving to see his reaction to getting his mobility back. We got to meet Jon Warren, a veteran who survived his humvee getting blown up and hear a little bit of his story. He says that the MRT treatment saved his life and now he's he working on trying to make that treatment available to other veterans who suffer from PTSD/TBI. His story is featured in this Washington Post article.

It's hard to explain what is going on with this treatment and how exciting it is because it sounds too good to be true. Except to all the people and families that have been healed by it. We are so used to bad news! But USC is building their new Center for Neurorestoration around the MRT technology. We can't wait to see where this goes!

For lunch we tried out a recommendation from my cousin Read, and boy were we happy we did. Tip Top Meats is the extreme opposite of Disneyland (theme park) food. For $8.95, which would get you a corn on the cob at Disneyland, you get this:

Now that's a reuben!

Tip Top St. Patrick's Day Fare

Fun With Family

Day 8: Catching Up With Our California Cousins

Sunday we had a lovely visit with Liz's cousins, Ann and Bill, and Read and Jennifer and kiddos. They introduced us to a Southern California staple: the carne asada burritos at Roberto's Mexican Food. It was so yummy that we completely forgot to take a photo. We might have to go back for one! Sunday was a gorgeous hot and sunny day, and the beaches were packed, so we ended up hanging out at the pool. We adults caught up while the kids had a blast playing in the water for hours. It was so good to see our family!

With Ann and Bill and Jennifer and Read

Second Cousins- These guys had so much fun together!