Have you ever revisited a place you once lived? Ever had that experience of returning to a childhood home and thinking, “I remember things much larger than they are here.” Part of our Southern Oregon trip was an opportunity for Pedro and I to continue learning about each other, and showing each other previous places we had lived and spent time.
This explains why our first road trip after the start of the pandemic included such an unlikely vacation destination as Klamath Falls, Oregon.
My earlier post mentioned that he had lived in Ashland for six months. After that, Pedro moved to Klamath Falls, and lived, worked, and went to school there for years. I was born when my family lived in nearby tiny Chiloquin, Oregon, so of course I was delivered in the hospital in Klamath Falls. Grandpa and Grandma Trulove lived in K Falls near the military base most of their lives. My family has a lot of K Falls connections and I have a lot of memories of the somewhat ordinary, blue-collar, ranching/agricultural community. My brother Tanner also lived and went to school at Oregon Institute of Technology (same school as Pedro and at the same time!!!). Tara’s partner Cameron also lived there. For as unremarkable a city as it is, my connections to it are like a tapestry of woven threads.
After another scrumptious breakfast with Curt & Peggy (blogger at Wandering Through Time and Place), we set off for the short drive to Klamath Falls, Oregon.
As we recalled, it was not a particularly pretty or interesting city, but the small downtown area kept our attention for a couple hours, as we walked down one side of the street, and up the other side, and Pedro told me about who owned what when he lived there, and what this or that building used to be. We tried to find a restaurant he remembered, but it was now a Co-op grocery store, so we found another place for lunch. We also toured the Sunday farmer’s market, but it was closing time, so stalls were half-empty and it was pretty quiet.
On the north end of town we visited the campus of Oregon Institute of Technology, often called Oregon Tech. When I visited there we called it OIT, but I think there has been some re-branding. We explored the campus where he had to start all over and get new degrees because apparently the U.S. does not recognize academic degrees if the university is in another country. Not too long ago, Pedro and my brother Tanner discovered that they not only both attended Oregon Tech, but the years they attended overlapped. They never met each other while there. Pedro’s Master of Science degree is in computer engineering, and Tanner’s degree is in civil engineering, and apparently the two groups are of the opinion that they are better than the other, and don’t mix. Ha ha ha!! They did play pool at the same places, and remembered the same crazy college stories.
One thing I was enjoying very much were the murals.
Kingsley Field is a U.S. Air Force Guard Base on the edge of town. Grandpa Trulove encouraged me to join the Air Force and try to get stationed at Kingsley Field so I would be close to them. Well, I did join the Air Force, but since it was active duty and not Guard (which is part time), I could not go to this base. 
This mural recognizing the logging history in the region looks so real it seems like a photograph. 
I was glad to see this mural recognizing the earliest occupants of this area. The scenes depict what is now Lake Ewauna on the edge of city limits. The people are likely Modoc or Klamath Indians, as those are the tribes indigenous to this place. I like seeing the tule homes, and tule skirt, and depictions of fishing. 
I tend to love old murals as much as new ones. This looks like two advertisements overlapped, both fading. They are possibly both for the hotel, since I see the word HOTEL and also MODERN ROOMS. 
Bonus! Two in one. An ad for HOTEL ELK, and also a new mural of a cougar in the snow. 
Here’s the close-up of the cougar. Looks like the setting is one of the area’s lakes, with one of the area’s many many waterfowl. 
I do enjoy wall murals that depict a historical event, such as this one. (see next image) 
May 20, 1909: The arrival of the first train to Klamath Falls. In 1990 I took a train from Klamath Falls to Spokane, when I wrecked my car on the ice, just two days before I needed to report back to Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane. The train took me back to work and I figured out what to do about the car later.
Pedro and I drove to the former houses he had lived in, and he recalled stories of neighbors and things that happened while he lived there. We drove north past Lower and Upper Klamath Lakes, up to Agency Lake in Chiloquin. I remembered Uncle Charley’s place, and then we went to look at the place my dad and step-mom built overlooking Agency Lake. Then we went back to K Falls and checked into our hotel for the night to get a good night’s sleep before we got up to explore Lava Beds National Monument the next day.
Conscious Engagement 
Uuu, Lava beds, sounds borderline dangerous. 😀 But you know that I’d go with you. 😉 How interesting that they went to the same university! And yes, I have returned to where I was as a child only and it’s really funny how smaller everything seems. By the way, have you seen the Fantastic Fungi as advertised on the cinema display? It’s on my list to see for some reason. I bet it’s fascinating. And another thing – don’t tell me that your supermarket chain is called Coop as well? 😀 Our supermarket by the lagoon is called that.
Thank goodness the lava has cooled!! ha ha. It was a great stop and I have some neeto photos, which will be posted soon. I’m glad you would trust me, even into lava. What power I wield. In an odd twist of things, YES! I’ve seen Fantastic Fungi, just a couple days ago. My friend Margaret, who was visiting, is interested in mycology, and had seen the film and recommended it to us, so we all watched it together. It is fascinating, and I loved the facts they came up with. Margaret and I both critiqued their lack of explanation or references behind the “facts.” So mushrooms are a miraculous cure for cancer, Yay! And then they would go onto the next point without proving it. I’m perfectly happy to believe it all, I just like to have more to chew on, before I buy in. I’m sure you are the same. The photography alone is enough to make it worth watching. Brilliant time-lapse photos of mushrooms growing. I think it’s so funny you noticed that on the marquee, which I did while posting, and considered mentioning that I had seen it, but didn’t. And now you gave me the opportunity to mention it anyway. I can’t remember the name of the supermarket, only that it was a customer cooperative business, so I called it a Co-op. But that would have been so cool to find a market with the same name as yours.
It’s like the 6 degrees of separation rule where any 2 people in the world can find some connection within 6 people. I have the same with my hubby who attended the same university, in overlapping years but different faculties. And yes, Civil and Computer Science engineers are beasts from different planets.
Somewhat along the same lines .. it is a coincidence that you’ve been posting topics close to but not inspired by our Friendly Friday Challenge: Road Trip, Time Capsule and (today) Flashback! I’d say there’s a new cosmic rule forming here 🙂
Ha ha, Sandy! So great to get your validation that computer science and civil engineers are different beasts. I think Tanner and Pedro would agree. What fun to have memories of the same place with your husband. There *might* be a new cosmic rule forming within the bloggosphere. I’m normally such a practical-minded person, but sometimes there are connections like this that seem more than coincidental. I have a few friends that insist I trust my intuitions about all the interconnections globally. I can’t prove it doesn’t exist, so I’m willing to leave it as a possibility. 🙂 Ah, I love all the intriguing blog challenges, but I am intimidated by the commitment. I tend not to join (except now and then, like the Monday Washing and the doors and balconies), and feel proud of myself when I get a blog post up at all. Nice to hear from you again.
Fascinating trip – perhaps aided by different people’s memories. Always a time of mixed emotions
Of course you must speak from experience because you are exactly right. We both recalled happy times and hard times. It was an excellent way to learn more about each other’s lives, and what things contributed to who we are today. Through another person’s perspective, we learned more about our experiences, retroactively.
Yes
I love how small the world can sometimes be, and find this description of yours particularly beautiful, Crystal – “For as unremarkable a city as it is, my connections to it are like a tapestry of woven threads.
Thank you, Jolandi. I envision it as threads, each coming from a person I know, from a different direction, different colours, sizes, material, winding together and eventually touching me. I agree that it’s delightful to discover how small the world can be.