beached

We love the Oregon coast. It is clean, and for the most part, quiet. Florence had quite the crowd, we think, because of a farmers market downtown. Not much for the feel of the crowd or the noise of the bikers (motor not man-powered), we went in search for a kite and headed to find a nice spot on the beach so we could fly it.

What a spot did we find! Washburne State Park boasts a lovely day-use area. There was ample parking and no crowd on a lovely but windy day.

We whipped out our new kite (Detonator by Dodd Gross in electric blue) and had it in the air in minutes.

The wind was crazy strong but the temperature was pleasant so I ran around in my bare feet and just enjoyed the afternoon. I did fly the kite but ended up crashing it a couple of times. Alan flew it much better. In the end, it hit the ground a bit hard and we lost, and later found, a few pieces to the kite.

When our hands were numb and cold, we decided we were hungry and went in search of food. We ended up at the Rogue Brewery in Newport. Not the best Rogue food or service we have had but we will still go back... to the Eugene location at least.

Pictures from our short, flighty weekend are here.

In other travel news... those strong Oregon winds will soon send us far... to exciting new places and to see old friends... more on that trip soon.

Until then, go fly a kite!

Scandinavian Festival

We attended the Scandinavian Festival in Junction City today, as we did last year. Once again we got to eat some of our favorites, Rosettes, and Abelskivers. As always, the line for Abelskivers was quite long, but well worth the wait. The art show and crafts were fun to look at as well.

We watched with amusement as people bought ice cream cones the size of their heads.

Crater Lake

Last year, on our way back from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, we decided to drive through Crater Lake, since neither of us had ever been there before. Unfortunately, as the person at the entrance booth advised us (after we paid the entrance fee), we were unable to see the lake due to a white out and snow.

So, before it got too late in the year, we decided to head there and try to see it finally, and see it we did!

We drove down 58, stopping for lunch at the impressive Salt Creek Falls. Continuing South, we entered Crater Lake National Park at the North Entrance and finally got to see the majestic blue waters of this giant, which is the deepest lake in the United States at about 2000 feet deep. The water is extremely clear due to no inlets or outlets, with water only from rain and snowfall.

We drove the west rim to our first hike, the Watchman Peak, a short, steep hike to a fire lookout on the west side of the lake. On a clear day, you can see all the way to Mt. Shasta in California.

We continued driving around the rim until we came to our next short hike, the Sun Notch Trail, which provides great views of the mysterious Phantom Ship rock, supposedly the remains of a previous volcano shaft that existed long before Mt. Mazama, the volcano that houses Crater Lake.

We camped at the Mazama Village Campground. For dinner, we had fire grilled chili-dogs and corn on the cob. When we drove into the camp loop for the first time, we had to go around a giant RV that managed to wedge itself into a tree enough that the fenders on the back were buckling and ready to come off. All while setting up camp, cooking dinner, and eating, we watch them talk about it, talk with others, and eventually a park ranger, who we think told them that it would be illegal to cut the tree down in order to unstick themselves.

Some time later, a gigantic semi-sized tow truck arrived on the scene and managed to navigate in through an alternate route to get in front of the RV. They talked, set things up, and finally pulled the front end sideways to get the back away from the tree. All of this took a good 2-3 hours, and of course, they had to have the big tow truck idle its engine the entire time, right next to our campsite. We had gone to bed by the time they left.

The next morning, we awoke to a brisk 37 degrees (last week we melted at 104 degrees, quite a change). The forecast low was 52, which is about the average for that day. The lowest recorded temperature for that day was in 1985 at, yep, 37 degrees.

We cooked another epic breakfast with bacon, eggs and smoked cheddar cheese, with blueberry pancakes, this time using our cool new folding dinnerware instead of disposable plates (thanks Carey!).

After breaking down camp, we drove to the rim and hiked the Discovery Point Trail from Rim Village to Discovery Point and back. This hike follows the edge of the rim for about a mile and a half. It was amazing to look down so far and see rocks 10-20 feet below the surface of the water. And the color is just something that has to be seen in person.

Returning to the car, we made the drive up the East Rim to complete the loop and then out of the park. For our return trip, we opted to take 138 west to Roseburg. This road has a series of smaller waterfalls and campgrounds. We stopped at Clearwater Falls, Whitehorse Falls, Watson Falls and Tokatee Falls, but were unable to get to the last one due to a closure of the area. Our guess, a bridge must be out. At the junction though, we decided to head up to Umpqua Hot Springs. The walking bridge is washed out, so the only way across the river to the springs is a downed log with some boards nailed to it. On the other side, and after a short and very steep hike, we found the hot springs, and luckily not too crowded (and thankfully, everyone had swimsuits on). The pools are various temperatures with the highest being 112 degrees, a bit to hot. I didn't have a swimsuit, but Alan had an extra pair of shorts, so he tried soaking in one despite the warm weather.

Driving further west, we drove through the active fire area. The road is now open, but there is still active fire fighter duty and it was a little smokey. At the end of the canyon, we saw the massive tent city that made up the fire fighters' temporary home. It still brings tears to my eyes thinking of those folks fighting fires and living in tents. They are brave and for that I am thankful.

From Roseburg, we simply took the Interstate home only stopping at Rice Hill for a shake and fries.

Pictures are here!

Backpacking in the Cascades

We planned a quick one night backpacking trip with our friend Jennifer in the Jefferson Wilderness Area. Unfortunately, our copy of the Sullivan book was written in 2002, the year before the 2003 B&B fire that destroyed the area we were headed too. While a bit of a downer, the route was still doable, from an alternate starting point on the PCT. Unfortunately, the lack of tree cover (due to the fire) combined with the unseasonably hot weather (it was 104 in nearby Sisters, where the previous high for August 1st was 95!), caused us to change our plans. We were just baking in the sun while hiking with heavy packs (heavier than last time due to advanced food ideas) and Lou (Jenn's dog) was overheating and suffering from the hot dusty trail sand on his paws (relief came when we went by a small pond).

Though we realized we could hike out in the earlier hours of the day the next morning, we decided to head back and find other recreation. We hiked out and back to the cars and drove down highway 126 towards Clear Lake. Foiled by masses of campers, we headed to the next campground (Ice Cap) and found the last available spot there. Still toasty, but with much appreciated shade, and close proximity to the McKenzie River, we cooled down in the afternoon as we set up camp.

For dinner, we tried a recipe from the Lipsmackin' Backpackin' book that Kevin and Laurel gave us. Since we don't have a food dehydrator (yet), we packed a couple of the items fresh (and as cold as possible). We put together a smoked sausage and rice dish with bell peppers, sundried tomatoes and spices. Quite good!

As the sun was setting, we started a fire in the campsite's firepit and started work on our smores. We may never go back to regular chocolate after trying Jen's caramel stuffed chocolate that made for some of the best smores we've ever had.

In the morning, we started with a wonderous feat, that of blueberry pancakes, bacon, and eggs (with smoked cheese), backpacking style. Though we were next to the cars, we'd packed everything for this in our packs. We'd gotten a backpacking frying pan and spatula, froze the bacon, carefully packed the eggs and blueberries in tupperware, and got pancake mix that only required adding water. The meal turned out quite awesome if I don't say so myself. Misty cooked up some of the best blueberry pancackes I've ever had.

Our breakfast may have hinged on our change of plans, since I'm not convinced that the bacon would've made it to Sunday morning had we not returned it to the cooler with the fresh batch of ice from the Clear Lake resort.

After breakfast, we walked over to Koosah Falls and made the short Waterfall Trail hike up to Sahalie Falls.

A good time was had by all. Additional pictures are here.