What do Irises and Malheur have in common? They are both at their best in
May in Oregon!! In addition to my birding interests, gardening and
landscaping are strong interests and I have for years wanted to go to the
bearded iris festival at Cooley's in central Oregon. This is one of the
largest iris farms in North America and over 600 varieties will be blooming.
Of course, after all the discussion of Malheur on tweeters this year, I
couldn't go to central Oregon without making a trek a little further east.

So what I'm wondering is, are there any tweeters out there who share these
two interests and would like to join me? My husband doesn't have enough
vacation time and isn't big on birds or flowers. The iris festival runs May
18 - June 2, and it seems mid-late May might also be a good time to drop in
at Malheur. I don't like driving long distances by myself, and would like a
female companion or a couple/mixed group would be good too. I don't plan to
camp, am looking into B&B or cabin-type accommodations. Would there be a
Portland-area tweeter who could put up a couple of birders for a night
and/or join us for a day trip?

One possible itinerary:

Day 1: Leave Seattle early, get to Silverdale (near Cooley's)
Day 2: Spend most of the day at Cooleys, then drive to Malheur area
accommodations
Day 3: Malheur
Day 4: Malheur then back to Portland
Day 5: Ridgefield NWR, then back to Seattle.

Other side trips or ideas could work too.

Let me know directly:

Teresa Michelsen
tcmnem at halcyon.com