Author: jstv

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Hard Cider

 

In this country when we talk about cider, often it’s in reference to the unfiltered juice of apples.

The rest of the world is talking about a drink Americans call “hard cider.”  This may be changing as more and more craft brewers turn to apples as a fermentation source.

Last week while scanning the beer and wine selection at a local market, we noticed they had Legend Cider on tap.

Legend NW Cider Company is Oregon family owned and operated. Their cider is hand-crafted, has no added sweetners and is made from natural juices and Northwest-grown apples.

Luckily for us they began construction on a facility in La Pine this summer, but as is often the case, progress was slow. Finally, early this fall they opened their brewery for public tasting.

We decided it was past time to try their ciders, so stopped by the local tap room.

Our initial flight featured Apple, Columbia Gorge Grape, Paulina Pomegranate,  and Coastal Cranberry.

Subsequent samplings included Broken Top Blood Orange. Rockaway Beach Raspberry, and a limited offering Tank Blend.

Coastal Cranberry was a favorite of JQ and I particularly liked the Blood Orange. That said, we did reach an accord. We left with a growler of the tank blend, featuring cranberry and pomegranate.

We’ll definitely be back to refill the growler.

When ordering a flight at Legend NW Cider Company, you have the option to select four cider flavors of your choice. We really liked what we were tasting, so ordered nachos from the food truck adjacent to the brewery, then settled in to sample all seven ciders on tap.

 

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War Time Sketches

We try to make it over to the High Desert Museum at least once a quarter, which is how often they change out exhibitis.

The most recent one is a collect of journal drawing from a Japanese internee and it was extremely interesting. A totally unique look at the shameful treatment our government pushed on American’s of asian descent during the second world war.

Takuichi Jujii was an art student in Seattle at the beginning of the war when his family was ‘relocated’ to a camp in Central Washington state. through the duration of his inprisonment he filled sketchbooks and portfolios with views of life in the camp. this exhibit is a selection of that work that illustrates the life of the ‘interned.’

Mixed in with porcupines, otters, and a 1904 ranch and saw mill are these currated pieces of history and art that really make the High Desert Museum a treasure.

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Sunriver Nature Center

One sunny afternoon last week we headed over to the Nature Center at Sunriver Resort.

The idea was to check on the new trumpeter swan cygnets and maybe get a glimpse of the river otters JQ spied earlier this month.

The swans were in sight, however no river otters. Instead we were treated to a close up view of a Great Horned Owl, Joe.

He was hit by a car and is blind in one eye, thus he’s become a permanent resident of the nature center’s rehab and education facility.

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Back on the Crooked

November is turning into a really great month, weather wise. We’ve had sun and mild day temperatures for the last few weeks. Mornings are frosty but by 10 am the sun has taken the chill off.

This week we headed out to an old favorite, the Crooked River, to do some fishing and take some photos of the canyon in fall. Had the place to ourselves, set up the camp chairs and really enjoyed the day.

Fishing was good even got into an afternoon dry fly session. As you can tell from the post the canyon was very picturesque.

The other activity was to put up a ‘Flybrary Project’ card.

You likely saw the post on Instagram @jstv. Essentially this is a fly sharing project to encourage people to share their pastime. You can check it out at www.flybraryproject.com and if you are interested, catch an episode of ‘huge flyfisherman’ on YouTube, it’s hilarious.

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Walking Circles

The initial frigid fall temps have moderated and we’re currently enjoying an “Indian Summer” of sorts.

Hiking is thirsty work. For every step we take, Tip takes four. He runs ahead, then runs back. We stop frequently to keep the little guy hydrated.

Taking advantage of these mild fall days we’ve re-started fall hiking trips that were put on hold when it seemed like winter was upon us.

In spring of last year we’d attempted to walk the Rim Rock Springs Loop trail but it was buried in snow. It’s not a summer hike destination as it’s way too exposed to high desert sun … but Fall is perfect.

It’s a relatively easy hike, taking off from a wayside East of Madras on Highway 26. There are a couple of observation points to get a look at migratory bird habitat and some great vistas of the Cascade Peaks. The first half of the trail is even paved.

The were no other hikers so we enjoyed the solitude, shot a bunch of photos and generally took in the scenery. Finished up with a picnic lunch for a perfect November day trip.