Based on numbers recently released by the Population Research Center at Portland State University the number of disabled in Oregon passed the 600 thousand mark in 2007. This number is an estimate which I based on tables from the U. S. Census Bureau. I combined percentage of disability from the census data with the Oregon population figures.
I am not surprised. This is due to the increased number of persons over 65. The percentage figures for Oregon from the Census Bureau show a disabled rate of 14.5% for those from 21 - 64 years old. It jumps to 41.0% for those 65 and older. The number of disabled will continue to grow as more Baby Boomers hit 65.
The Cascade Divide
Flying south out of Portland you follow a line of mountains. This is the Cascade Range. In Oregon it has five peaks over 10,000 ft and four more over 9,000 ft. Now it is a skier’s paradise. One hundred years ago it was a barrier dividing the state. The only safe route between Eastern Oregon and the Willamette valley was a rail line through the Columbia River Gorge.
Enter Sam Hill
Large problems call for big ideas. Sam Hill was a man with such ideas. An attorney, he managed the Great Northern Railroad interests in the Northwest. Shrewd investment made him wealthy and one of his civic enthusiasms became the ’good road’ movement. Visits to Europe persuaded him that a road through the Columbia River Gorge was possible.
Gaining Support For His Road
Driven by his enthusiasm, Portland businessmen joined to support the idea with time and money. John B. Yeon agreed to serve as foreman for a year for one dollar. Simon Benson not only donated the 250 acres that contained Multnomah Falls but also subscribed for $75,000 of county bonds. In 1913 the Oregon Legislature appropriated the money to build such a road. By 1916 it was completed, not just a road but the first ’scenic highway in America.
Not All Is Lost
Sections of the highway are still in use. Driving east from Portland you leave the Interstate belowand climb to the Historic Columbia River Highway. Just a winding two lane road by today’s standards, but a milestone in U. S. highway construction.
Edged by sturdy rock walls, it offers view after breathtaking view of the amazing geology of the Columbia River Gorge. You see graceful arched bridges spanning chasms and torrents of water plunging over the basalt cliffs high above you.
My Photograph
The photograph was taken from the Portland Women’s Forum Scenic Viewpoint, Crown Point and the Vista House are seen in the distance. This is the site of the Chanticleer Inn, a popular dining spot which opened which opened before the highway was built. You would arrive by train or boat and a horse drawn coach would wind it’s way up the hill. The Inn burned down in 1930 and the land was bought by the Portland Women’s Forum. It was then donated and became a state park.
Tips For Travel From the Wheelchair Traveler
Tips for Travel: A 50 ton Basalt Rock stands at the entrance to the viewpoint to commemorate Sam Hill and his efforts to promote the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Highway.
Record Numbers Over Easter
The Easter weekend promises to set new records for the Eurostar High Speed 1 train from St. Pancras International station to Europe. It is anticipated that the throng of holiday travelers will reach 160,000. This would be a 20% increase over last year.
More Riding On Eurostar
This increase in the use of the train is partly due to the opening of the newly remodeled St. Pancras station. People also realize that the Eurostar travels from city center to city center, not from airport to airport. When the time and cost of getting from the airport to the city is considered, the high speed train is very attractive.
Benefits Of Eurostar For Wheelchairs
For the wheelchair traveler there are additional benefits. It can be a real problem getting a power chair from the airport to the city. Unless there is direct, public, and accessible transportation you are stuck trying to arrange for a van to get you and your power chair to your hotel. The additional benefit of using the train is that you do not have to give it to the baggage handlers to load on the plane. You then have to wait for them to return it to you, perhaps in pieces.
Extra Service to Disneyland Resort Paris
Due to the popularity of trips to Disneyland Resort Paris, Eurostar is adding schedules in July and August. These direct, high speed trains will run from St. Pancras International in London to Marne la Vallee Chessy. This stop is only a few steps from the gates of Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios. These extra trains will handle another 33,000 ‘Friends of the Mouse.’
Love Train On Valentine’s Day
Over the Valentine’s Day weekend the Eurostar train became the ‘Love Train’, as about 140,000 travelers went under the channel for a romantic getaway. In only 2 hours and 15 minutes you are in Paris, the most romantic city in the world. Forget to pick up some chocolate for your sweety? Brussels is only 1 hour and 51 minutes away on the High Speed 1 train.
My Photograph
My photograph is of some of the architectural detail of the historic St. Pancras International train station. The grid in the photograph is a metal mesh. I presume it is to protect against the pigeons.
Tips For Travel From The Wheelchair Traveler
Tips for Travel: There is wheelchair space on the Eurostar. You will pay the standard fare for you and one companion but you will be in the business class section.
On The Balclutha
I am examining the rigging on the Balclutha, a steel-hulled, three-masted, square-rigged ship launched in Scotland in 1886. During it’s varied career it carried coal and whiskey to San Francisco, pit-props from the forests of the Northwest to the mines of Australia, and salmon down from Alaska. It even appeared in the original version of Mutiny on the Bounty.
In 1954 it was returned to San Francisco and lovingly restored to it’s original condition and name. On board the ship you can see the tiny quarters which were home for the 140 days it took to sail around the horn of South America to come to the West Coast.
Display Of Historic Ships
It is one of the collection of historic ships at the Hyde Street Pier near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. The pier is part of the Marine Park which is administered by the National Park Service.
Free Admission With Golden Access Passport
Visiting the pier is free, but going onto the ships costs five dollars. Admission to go aboard the two wheelchair accessible ships is free with the Golden Access Passport for the permanently disabled.
Tips For Travel From The Wheelchair Traveler
Tips for Travel: The other wheelchair accessible ship at the Hyde Street Pier is a wooden-hulled, side-wheeled paddle steamboat. Built in Tiburon in 1890 as a railroad ferry it was converted to carrying cars and passengers. Renamed the Eureka, it returned to service in 1923 with a capacity of 120 cars and 2300 passengers.
A Peaceful Park
The fountain is located in Russell Square in the part of London called Bloomsbury. It is less than a mile south of St Pancras Railroad Station, the new terminal for the Eurostar train to Paris.
The fountain, which jets out from the pavement, is popular with the children during the summertime. It was added to the square in 2002, when the landscaping was redone in a design closer to the original concept.
The First Purpose Built Hotel In London
The building behind the fountain is the Russell Hotel. It was built in 1898 and has recently been completely remodeled. It has 373 rooms, is wheelchair accessible and totally air conditioned. It still retains much of it’s Victorian charm.
A Cultural And Educational Center
The Bloomsbury district is notated for cultural and educational activities. The main library as well as a number of colleges of the University of London are located west of Russell Square. The British Museum is just around the corner.
The Bloomsbury Group, Far From Victorian
Much of the cultural reputation of the area is related to the Bloomsbury Group. The members had all met while attending Cambridge University at the end of the 19th century. It included the writers, Virginia Woolf and E. M. Forster, critic Lytton Strachey, and artists, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. To me, the surprise member of the group was economist, John Maynard Keynes.
Although their atheism, liberal economics, modernist fiction, and their non-nuclear family and sexual arrangement alienated many; the Bloomsbury Group pioneered many aspects of our current popular culture.
Tips For Travel From The Wheelchair Traveler
Tips for Travel: At the time I took the picture, the Russell Square Tube Station was not accessible. However, a number of buses go by the square.
This is the first video which the wheelchair traveler has uploaded to YouTube. It is not an actual video, it was created by a computer. A program called CamStudio will record every thing which apears on your computer screen as you narrate the video. The slide show feature of Photoshop displayed the maps and photographs. To view my videos on YouTube Click Here.
So far I have done two of the CamStudio videos. One is a tour of the Cultural district of Portland and the other is a wheelchair tour of the Fisherman’s Wharf area of San Francisco. I also have a real video of a cute meeting between two dogs being walked by their owners.
I promise not to get carried away with the videos on this blog. However, my Nikon S4 camera that I generally carry around my neck when I go out does very good video. Using it, I have the choice of either still photos or video as the situation arises. I might decide to do a vlog in addition to this blog.
Tips For Travel From The Wheelchair Traveler
Tips for Travel: Check out the video capabilities of the digital camera that you have. Posting to YouTube is simple.
Enjoying Amtrak
Last fall I was enjoying a train trip from Philadelphia to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Once you leave the track side sprawl of the city you pass through a number of bedroom communities set in the verdant countryside. I had my Nikon point and shoot camera out, being not only the wheelchair traveler but also the wheelchair photographer.
I Become A Law Breaker
It was another nice day when I returned to Philadelphia for my flight home. Again I had my camera out taking pictures of the quaint towns and stations where we stopped. The conductor passed by and and told me that I could not take pictures from the train. He said it was because of 9/11.
When I was younger I would have argued about my rights and probably been put off of the train. Now, older and occasionally wiser, I turned off my camera. I did wonder how my photograph of a 1895 era railroad station in eastern Pennsyvania posed a threat to national security.
Not Guilty
When I returned home I sent an E-mail to my senator’s office asking about this prohibition of photographs from trains. In December I received a reply saying the question had been forwarded to the CEO of Amtrak. I have now gotten a reply from a vice president of the railroad. It is perfectly alright for amateur photographers to take photos from trains as long as you did not take pictures of the people on the trains.
However, he continued, the conductor was in charge of the train and he could use his judgment on what was allowed or not allowed on the train. He said that the photography policy would be called to the attention of the crews on this route.
Tips For Travel From The Wheelchair Photographer
Tips for Travel: I later found out that, because I used my photographs in Wheelchair Traveler E-books and in this blog, I was considered a professional photographer. I still needed permission every time I wanted to take pictures from a train.
When you live your life in a wheelchair you quickly learn patience. This, together with adaptability and acceptance will get you through most situations. This is particularly true when it comes to travel. And sometimes this will lead to the cooks tour!
I was in Reno shortly after I got my power chair. I was staying at the Sands, where I had been going for years. I was comped the comedy club, so I called and made a reservation for the buffet next door and the show. When I realized the only way up was by escalator I checked with security. One of them took me back to a service elevator and went up to the kitchen and into the buffet. I had just been given the cooks tour.
This did not bother me, I just never ate there again. I like to go in the front door. There are some benefits to the cooks tour. You can check out the appearance and cleanliness of the kitchen. If your tires have problems with traction on the floor you best turn around and leave.
Perhaps you can talk to the chef. Do not ask him what is good today. This implys that most of the menu is garbage. He will probably try to move something that is not selling. The proper question is, “What do you recommend?” Now you are asking for his professional opinion.
Here is another scenario. An organization which I belong to was planning an annual weekend meeting. I went to check out the hotel that had been selected. It had two steps and a long walk to enter the lobby. When I spoke to the organizer he dismissed my concerns. I was told to contact the desk and they would get someone to open the back, servants?, entrance and take me up in the service elevator.
In the photograph the blue wheelchair symbol indicates the beginning of another cooks tour. Isn’t it time for Wheelchair Pride?
Tips For Travel From The Wheelchair Traveler
Tips for travel: Check on the access to the restroom before ordering in a restaurant. In Bermuda, one of the few second floor restaurants with an elevator had the restrooms on a half level and not accessible.
What Was It?
The question is, what was she photographing? She was sitting in the snow to get the picture of something. Whatever it was, it wasn’t significant enough for me to take a picture. Of course I always enjoy taking pictures of photographers taking pictures. Particularly when they are female and attractive.
I took this picture on the 3rd of July at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. It was taken just on the outside of the rim of the crater. From the angle of the lens, she is probably taking a picture of a small critter on a log or a rock. Probably either a Golden Mantle Ground Squirrel or a Steller’s Jay.
A Great Summer Job
I worked for the National Park Service for two summers while in college, What a wonderful place to work in the summer. No matter how often you see it, the view of the lake is breathtaking. I was even questioned by the FBI about a multiple murder which occurred in the park one weekend. As far as I know, that murder was never solved. Luckily I was visiting my sister that weekend.
The Crater In Crater Lake
Crater Lake was created about 7,700 years ago when the 12,000 foot high Mt. Mazama erupted. So much volcanic material spew out that the mountain collapsed on itself. This created the caldera which we see today. Wizard Island is a volcanic dome that started to rebuild the mountain, much like the active dome in the crater of Mt. St. Helens.
The lake is 1943 feet deep, the deepest lake in the United States. The only source of water is precipitation, mainly snow. The average annual snowfall is 533 inches. That is almost 45 feet. The only outflow is evaporation and seepage. These balance to maintain the depth.
Just An Oversized Swimming Pool
The average water temperature at 300 feet, is 38 degrees. In the summertime the water temperature on the surface can reach the mid fifties. While I was working there a college swimmer swam across the lake. She had no problem except a moderately bad sunburn.
Tips For Travel From The Wheelchair Traveler
Tips for Travel: A hemlock log has been floating in the lake for over a hundred years. Called the, ‘Old Man’ it is driven by wind and currents around the lake.
Aerial Photography
On my last flight from the East Coast I had to change planes in Salt Lake City. I took the photograph of the Great Salt Lake from the plane as we were gaining altitude and heading west. I was seated in the first row and on the proper side of the plane to take the picture. I used a Nikon S4 that I always carry hanging around my neck. It is a 6 mega pixel ‘point and shoot’ camera with a 10X zoom lens.
It is possible to take good photographs from a jet airplane if conditions are right. Once seated in the plane, the wheelchair is no barrier to taking pictures. I like to sit as far forward as possible to eliminate glare from the window. There must be some prominent feature on the ground to create a design. Mountains, lakes, or rivers are good. Hope for a sunny day, although I have gotten good pictures of mountain peaks thrusting out of fluffy, white clouds.
The Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake is the fourth largest terminal lake in the world. A terminal lake is one without an outlet. It is 75 miles long and 28 miles wide. It is the remains of Lake Bonneville which covered the majority of Utah up until 16,000 years ago. It was 325 miles long and 135 miles wide. Filling an enclosed basin, the lake finally broke through into the Snake River drainage.
How Salty Is It?
Evaporation reduced the lake to the present size and raised the salinity of the water to 3 to 5 times higher than that of the ocean. Every year companies extract 2.5 million tons of sodium chloride as well as other salts and minerals from the water. Major uses are salt blocks for cattle and sheep and for road salt. It is not pure enough to be used as table salt.
Tips For Travel From The Wheelchair Traveler
Tips for Travel: The Bonneville Salt Flats, which cover 30,000 acres west of the Great Salt Lake, have been the site of most major land speed records.
