82 Comments

A great hike on a clear day in Eugene is the ridge line trail to the top of Spencer’s Butte. Great view of the city and mountains from the Cascades to the Coast Range.

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45 years ago I did that hike with my baby daughter in a pack on my back. Fun times. Now I’m old and retired like Jane never to hike again.

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Would recommend hiking Silver Creek Falls for Yogi and his son

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Good hike. Is it good for a 9-year-old? I believe I made that hike once. I remember it being dicey in a couple of spots but it make have been amid landslides and bad weather.

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I was also going to suggest Silver falls. A nine year old could definitely do the the South Falls loop where the path takes you behind the falls to feel the mist of the falls and roar of the water tumbling down. They could finish it off with a self guided walk/tour through Silverton to look at the many murals that adorn the downtown area.

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Silver Falls is a great hike for kids. I’ve been there many times with large groups of elementary school kids who seemed to enjoy the experience immensely.

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Check my rec for Salmon River hikes. Just an hour out of Portland. You could catch Timberline Lodge on the same trip, if it's re-opened after the fire. Great view of Mt. Hood from there.

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🙌

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Every legit NFL QB to come thru Pullman lifted the team to 9 wins seasons or better. Sooooooo….

I look forward to watching Miami WR be thrown behind, the offense take massive yardage losses on sacks for no reason, and just generally give or throw the ball to the other team just because

Now if we can just find someone who knows what it takes to win in a place like Pullman. Tom Herman? Paul Petrino? The ball coach from SUNY Cortland? Or maybe all NIL $$$ goes to hoops bc you only need 5

Go Cougs

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Could get by with two or three NIL players and four or five actual student-athletes who work hard on D. And use the experience to actually get an education.

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For a quick tour of Oregon history check out Oregon City, the city with the vertical street, the one and only elevator. A walking tour can also take in the historic Willamette Falls. And, as mentioned in John’s article, home of Clackamas Community College up ‘on the hill’ where I grew up. We were country folk back then but now a suburb of Portland.

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Good tip.

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Great piece JC. I love the reflections about Gilroy. McClatchy bought the Gilroy newspaper and I almost went to work there instead of Fresno!

Was Fortino’s winery there then? My wife and I went for a tour one Sunday morning maybe 40 years ago. Only people there. We walked in and heard the mom of Fortino family, who lived upstairs, yell at a son to go downstairs and tend to us. He lipped off. So dad yelled at him.

The teenager comes down, looking terrifically unhappy. “You want a tour?” He stepped out front and pointed. “That’s the vineyard. That’s the wine press and over there is warehouse where we make it.”

He walked back inside. We cracked up and bought several bottles. It was a wonderful winery.

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Dying. I know the Fortino family well. My parents house is about a mile from that vineyard. I suspect you encountered Geno that day. We played softball together. Nice family. Still there, I believe.

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John, you keep mentioning the potential re-allocation of Damien Martinez’s $400,000 in NIL funds. Unfortunately $100,000 of that had already been spent in March ($92,000 to Martinez and $8,000 to the car dealer he owed, as you reported). So I think we’re talking $300,000 left to spread to other players or go shopping for some additional assets (amazing we’re discussing buying college players on the unrestricted free agency market in 2024).

I think someone else asked you this in your mailbag, but how messed up is it that Martinez cashed a $92,000 check from the Dam Nation Collective and ran? Many OSU fans, including myself, have contributed to the collective and it wasn’t for him to hang out in Corvallis for winter term and then bolt in the middle of spring practice. Will we ever see a collective go after a player for a breach of their agreement or are programs damned if they try to hold the recipients of NIL cash accountable?

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John -

You must be talking about Casa de Fruta

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Wish we could have kept Pope, but Texas paid a lot of money for an undersized guard who can't defend his ghost.

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If that is your assessment of Pope, then why would you want the nutrias to keep Pope???

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First, beavers are not nutrias. They look alike but are completely different species. Kind of like ducks and jackasses, which often also resemble each other.

Secondly, Pope is a scorer, which the Beavers need. he can be helped on defense so he isn't exposed.

Thirdly, it's not just my assessment. Anyone who watches basketball with any knowledge can see his D is lacking. .

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Correct me if I’m wrong, but did you not say this: “ but Texas paid a lot of money for an undersized guard who can't defend his ghost.” I sense someone is getting all up in her feelings.

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Nice back peddling job. Pope went to a better situation than with the nutrias.

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No back-peddling at all. I guess time will tell whether or not it's a better situation. After all, he now has to live in Texas.

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Other than the high interchanges on the highways, I liked Texas. Good BBQ spots everywhere.

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Please tell Yogi we love his work and hope he stays around for us for awhile. Thanks, Charlie

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Take thee kid to Wildlife Safari near Roseburg, my kid went and loved it, little early to try to get to Crater Lake.

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Thanks for the article John. One of my best friends lives in Gilroy - Chris Weske. We met volunteering at Henry Coe State Park (talk about great hiking). I grew up bucking hay, picking berries, and tending nursery trees for German-named farmers in Sherwood back when it was a small town separated from Tigard by several miles of empty 99W and onion flats. We lived off of Route 4, along Chicken Creek across from a dairy. Back in the day, more tractors and potato trucks drove that road than cars. Was never more than 145 pounds in high school but started varsity football (both ways) for the Bowmen - one of the benefits of small-town life. Funny, as a teenager I couldn’t wait to get out of there and move to the city. Now, at 53, I dream of getting as far away from cities as possible. My eldest son, a freshman, had a baseball game out in my hometown recently. Sherwood has grown by a factor of ten, and most of the fields I worked are now neighborhoods. Route 4 has become busy Roy Rogers road. Thankfully, the dairy farm and onion flats were saved - reimagined as the Tualatin National Wildlife Refuge (lovely place for a walk if you’re ever out that way).

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The Multnomah-Wahkeena Falls Loop is an amazing hike with 7 cool waterfalls (including both Multnomah Falls and Wahkeena Falls). And 9 is just old enough to do it assuming the 9 year old isn't a Fortnite addicted couch potato. I took 6 bubbled 9 & 10 year olds on it 4 years ago during Covid when everything was shut down. Everyone loved it!

If you visit Oregon, and don't do at least 1 hike of this nature, you didn't really visit it Oregon IMO.

The Multnomah-Wahkeena Falls Loop and the Trail of Ten Falls (Silver Falls State Park) are the two I recommend to everyone who visits. You have to do at least one of them to truly appreciate the state as a visitor.

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I'd suggest Sliver Creek State Park and it's falls.

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My mom was raised in Gilroy. Born in 1921. I was raised in San Jose in the 1940’s/50’s. Went to Willow Glen High School. Picked cherries, apricots, prunes every summer as a job. Things are certainly different. The orchards I worked are all now subdivisions.

Glad I now live in Central Oregon. I hope I’ll see you at the Duck Spring Game Saturday. I’m bringing my 10 yr old grandson to his first Duck game.

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Gilroy. Drove by the sign advertising the garlic festival many times. I was also introduced to split lanes for motorcycles on the highway there, high speed style.

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Any hike mentioned already will do, but I would also recommend Yogi take his son to Hayward field for a walk around the most famous track and filed facility in North America. Although he may nor "get it" now, he will in a few years.

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My recommendation is to take a look at the McKenzie River by driving out of Eugene. Beautiful country.

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