Crater Lake National Park

Some things simply defy description, and Crater Lake certainly fits in that category.  As a picture is worth a 1000 words, I'll let you judge for yourselves:

"The beauty and intense blue of Crater Lake have awed people for generations.  Five miles wide and ringed by cliffs almost 2000 ft high, the lake rests in the shatter remnants of a volcano called Mt. Mazama, which erupted and collapsed into itself 7700 years ago.  Later eruptions formed Wizard Island [viewed in the second picture].  At 1943 ft deep, it is the deepest lake in the United States and one of the deepest in the world."

The drive around the rim of the lake is 22 miles long - we saw many  bikers taking the challenge, a few runners, and even one walker!

Of course, we had to hike to the lake - Cleetwood Cove Trail was 1.1 mile each way, taking us down 700 feet.  It was well worth the effort!!!

This amazing volcano offers unique scenery beyond the crystal blue waters of the lake.  I speak of The Pinnacles.  Formations caused by hot gasses escaping through fumaroles.  These structures are becoming further defined by erosion - some of them are over 100 feet tall.  Truly amazing!!

Next stop: Coos Bay, Oregon
See you there!! 

Lost Creek Campground

September 26 - once again the weather is not looking good along the coast, so once again we head inland, chasing the sun.  Today we left the shores for Crater Lake National Park.  Our drive is approx 6 hrs, slightly prolonged by some road construction.  When we finally arrived at the registration booth we were somewhat surprised to learn that the main campground was closed for the season, as they prepare for snow at this time of year - seriously??!!??

Thankfully, there is another campground, but it only has 13 sites!!!

So now our new real-life example of assertion (borderline aggression) is Nancy directing Dave past other cars, practically through trees and strategically placed guard rails to get the last of the campsites at Lost Creek Campground.  Due to the newness of our vehicle, "site grabbing" is not a full contact sport, but it's close (unlike getting the last washer at the Laundromat, where it's "game on"!!!).

Some more pictures of campground life:

Lumberjack Dave

Pyromaniac Nancy

Guinness the Brave (trying to ignore the campfire)

... and speaking of brave - I would like it on the record that we woke up yesterday morning to minus 1 C / 30 F - BELOW FRIKKIN FREEZING!!!!  Poor Guinness - he's not used to breaking through ice to get to his water.

I am now the Camping Queen (self appointed, of course).

Sand Dunes on Steroids

Florence, Oregon: " With 10 miles of uninterrupted beaches, quaint local shopping, scrumptious dining, and plenty of family activities, your Florence Oregon vacation is sure to be unforgettable."

We knew we wanted to "pull up" here as this is the start of the most amazing dunes area of Oregon.  And I mean dunes!!!  I grew up with sand dunes and most of my activities in said dunes will remain un-identified.  But these dunes go beyond anything I have ever experienced - people snowboard on them; go 4-wheelin' on them, and who knows what else on them?

These pictures can't begin to do justice to the height of these things!!  I have tried to show proximity by including objects to compare with, but they just look far away - they don't capture the height of the dunes.  Off in the distance, you can see our vehicle:

so just enjoy the beauty:

the sand boarding:

and the 4 wheelin'

Tomorrow: headed inland to follow the sun

Destination: Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the USA (just under 2000 feet deep! Slightly deeper is Great Slave Lake, NWT at 2015ft  - yea Canada!!)

Rain in the forecast

September 24th:  Another thing we have learned - local businesses post WiFi "hotspots" signs prominently in their front windows.  And because the weather plays such a prominent role in the success of this trip (Nancy hates being wet/cold, and if Nancy ain't happy - no one happy!), we've taken to pulling in to the parking lot of these businesses and checking the weather.

It's not looking good for the next three days - in fact, the rain is supposed to start tonight - uggghhhh!

After a very quick consultation, we decide it might make good sense to head to a hotel tonight - spend Sunday there (see previous post about Dave needing to be in front of the TV for NFL Sunday).  Although we were pretty tired from our crabbin' adventure, we agreed it made sense to get things packed up and into the car, rather than take the chance of getting soaked overnight.  Our destination - Florence/Dune City.

Tonight's sunset/sand dunes pictures were taken from the car:

Need I say more??!!??

Crabbin'

Sept 24th

OMG!!!  What an amazing day!  The weather was perfect and we were at the bait shop at about 8:30.  We knew it would be a busy day on the dock - combo of it being a weekend day + and high tide at 12 noon (we are now experienced crabbers and know that it's best to fish "into the high tide" and if you time it so that your bait (mink carcus) is thawed and showing its guts at that time, you're destined for success).

So: Rental for one crab ring - $10; an Oregon State Crab License - $12; frozen mink carcus - $3; a measure thingie $2 - good to go!!  I was sooooo excited - we had our camp chairs, and our little red cooler to safely confine our catch (it was with great angst that Dave removed all our cold beer from the cooler that morning - not at all convinced that we could ever catch enough crab to justify warm beer!). 

So - females get thrown back (damn!) and males have to be a certain size (damn!) - could be discouraging, as the basket was often quite full, but most of the catch had to be thrown back.  What became the most fun of all?  Every time anyone pulled up their net, everyone else gathered around to see what they had, and what they got to keep.  You only pull up every 20-30 minutes, and I thought I'd have plenty of time to read my book ...  but between pulling our own trap, and joining in while all our dock neighbours pulled their traps - we didn't barely have a minute to call our own :)

So - we ended up with 5 beautiful Dungeness Crabs and sunburnt faces - all in all - PRICELESS

And after a full morning of crabbin' a fella gets a big of a hunger on - what better to eat than freshly smoked ribs, pulled pork or chicken:

After a very full day, the fruits of our labour:

Beachside State Recreation Site

Beachside State Recreation Site:  "A few miles south of Waldport and north of Yachats on the central coast, this small, exquisite destination campground is right alongside miles of broad, sandy beach that makes the park perfect for kite flying and watching. Tent and electric sites accommodate one vehicle per site. Every site is mere seconds from the beach, which makes the park perfect for watching storms, sunsets and whales."

We had checked this spot out the day before, so the layout of the campground, and the amazing proximity to the beach, came as no surprise to us. We arrived before 11, so pretty much had our choice of campsites.  We have learned that the campgrounds are not at all busy during the week.  That's one of the least important things we have learned on this trip.  Of greater importance - at any sight of rain, we head immediately inland, or to a hotel.  Dave "needs" to be in a hotel for NFL Sundays, and Nancy "needs" to be in a hotel for Survivor/Criminal Minds night (Wednesdays) - it's all coming together, as we slowly work our way down the beautiful coast of Oregon.

It didn't take us long to get set up and to the beach.

We will never tire of these amazing beaches, and Guinness continues to enjoy his long, unrestricted beach runs.  He sleeps well at night (especially now that he's gained access to the tent), and has even gained a tolerance for our nightly campfires (from the safety of behind our camp chairs :)

Italian night was a big hit (for the humans ;)  Dave has assumed the role of cook (except for coffee, which will always remain my domain), and I have assumed the role of chief bottle washer - a match made in heaven!!

I think the best part of this entire trip is having the luxury of absolutely no schedule - a luxury so rare for so many.  We were only planning to spend 2 nights at Beachside.  But after spending some time at the dock on Alsea Bay, watching the folks hanging out and periodically pulling up their crab traps, we decided to prolong our stay by a day so we too could go "crabbin".

A glimpse of Alsea Bay:

Should We Stay or Should We Go??

September 20th

Woke up to a bit of a chill in the air - curiosity made us start the car, just so we could see the temperature - 6C!!!  Good thing for toques, gloves and hot coffee (and left over bacon for bacon and tomato sandwiches)!!  We're up early thanks to 2 G** D***** Jack Russell terriers that started barking at 6:30!!!!

We really loved Bend and had a hard time deciding whether we should stay for another day, or not.  The weather along the coast looked better, so we decided to pull up camp and head northwest to Newport.  We wanted one night in a hotel (top priorities - shower and laundry). 

With all this time in the car, you get to know all kinds of important things about your travel mate - for example, Dave and I have been married for over 23 years, and I didn't realize he knew most of the words to the song "Tequila makes her clothes fall off"!!! Amazing, eh?

So we're back in the land of the Tsunami Evacuation Route signs:

Newport is a beautiful little seaside town and we have found a hotel right on the shore - the Elizabeth Street Inn (structure on the left). 

They love Guinness and we sleep with the sliding glass door open to hear the crashing of the waves on the shore.  Night one was so comfortable, we have decided to stay another night :)

The beaches, the sanddunes and the surf are absolutely magnificent - but I have to say, we haven't had much luck with the sunsets.  Even on the nicest of days, the sky seems to cloud over just about that time of day - we'll keep looking, but for now we've seen nothing that comes even close to our sunsets at Indian Point and Port Joli.  We'll keep you posted on that one.

Truth be known - I'd trade a good bucket of clams for a sunset any day :)

Next stop: Beachside State Park (2 miles north of Waldport).  The plan is to spend 2 nights there and book a hotel for Sat/Sun.  Dave went without football last Sunday and I hesitate to guess what would happen if he went two weeks in a row with no NFL!!

Love to all, N, D & Mr.G

Getting Tail in the Tent

NOT THAT!!!! ...   :)

Just wanted to let you know that our efforts to keep Guinness under the fly and out of the tent have failed!  He was getting so good at sneaking in - we just gave up!  Our two person tent is now officially a two person/labradoodle tent, and we wouldn't have it any other way!!!

And we're proud to advise that Guinness seems to be overcoming his deathly fear of fires - poor little guy, the first few nights were pretty traumatic for him.  He has now figured out that he's pretty safe lying directly behind our camp chairs.

High Desert

September 19

The Bend area is considered "high desert".  It is extremely dry and the vegitation is exactly what you would expect to see in a desert, maybe a slight bit more green - and very, very dusty!!

After another good nights sleep in the tent, we decided to explore some of the sights of the area.  First we hiked up Pilot Butte.  It is right in Bend and provides a magnificent view of the entire city and surrounding area - again, not a cloud in the sky and it seemed you could see forever!!!  A very friendly man directed us to our next adventure - the Newberry National Volcanic Monument.  Alan had told us that this was worth seeing, but our new-best-friend said that most people miss the best part of the Monument - Pauletta Peak ( elevation 7984 ft).  The adventure was mainly in getting there - a single lane dirt road - if you meet a car, the car on the mountain side stops and the other car proceeds (very slowly) past it.  Without a word of a lie, I almost told Dave to go back down - I couldn't stop myself from looking down and was sure the loose gravel under the passenger side of the car was going to let go, pitching the car side over side to our most certain death.  Seriously - I had palpitations!!!  I'm glad to report that the drive from hell was worth it.  The scenery at the peek was absolutely breathtaking - unfortunately the pictures don't do it justice! 

Noteworthy - it was 28 C at the bottom of the climb, and 15 at the top!

Tumalo State Park

Sorry for the silence - no WiFi at Tumalo State Park :)

September 18th - After our forced stay in a hotel in Bend (the Bend Inn and Suites - quite unremarkable, but better than nothing), we were bound and determined to get back into the tent.   So, with baited breath, we once again headed to Tumalo State Park, so nervous we'd see the dreaded "Campground Full" sign.  We arrived between 10 and 11 am and - yippee - the bad sign was replaced with the good sign "Vacancy".  The Oregon State Parks have a self-registry and this is how it works - you drive around the campground and look things over - any site that is empty and has a "one night stay only" or "two night stay only" is up for grabs (maybe).  You throw something on the site to claim it and then return to the self registration booth to see if anyone "incoming" has the site reserved.  If the site you want is not on the incoming list, you fill out the paperwork, pay and ...  it's yours!  We found an amazing site right on the little river.  The sun was shining (not a cloud in the sky) and the temperature by the time we set up, was over 20 (it would go up to 28 that day!).  Leaving the shore for a few days was definitely a good idea - we said that numerous times as we enjoyed the sunshine, warmth and sound of our own little river.  Guinness agreed and loved the feel of the fresh water rinsing off all the sand and salt (or at least we thought we heard him say something to that effect).

Yummy burgers/Greek salad for dins.  Have I told you how much I love camping??!!??

And breakfast?  What else:

even if it was a bit on the chilly side:



Good news/Bad news

Sept 17th

Woke up to pouring rain!!!  Not just a Vancouver "drizzle", a full on Nova Scotia sideways, soak-you-in-a-minute rain.   It made packing up the car a bit of a challenge, but helped with our decision to leave the coast for a few days to follow the sun.  We originally planned to go to the Portland/Gorge region, but according to the Internet, the weather was not great there either.

So off to Bend we go, fortified with a "big stinky" breakfast at the Pig 'n Pancake.  We felt pretty adventurous, and had tons of information on Bend from Alan, so off we headed ...

the bad news?   After approximately 8 hours in the car, we arrived at the campground to see a very prominent sign saying "CAMPGROUND FULL".  Damn!!!  I really was looking forward to setting up camp, having a fire and a nice bottle of wine.  Well, I got my whine alright - no room at the inn!  We were too late to get to an Information Centre, and the doggie friendly Inn Alan found for us was also full :(   That's all the bad news.

We both stayed cool (in a nice way) until we found a place that would welcome Guinness - the good news???  It's right across the street from an outlet mall!!!  What's a girl to do??  ...

We're confident that the weekend warriors will return to their homes tomorrow, and we'll scoop up their campsites - hope to stay here in Bend for a few days, and then head back to the coast.

We'll keep you posted.  Lots of love to all  N,D & G

Beach Yoga

September 16

The only thing better than beach yoga, is beach yoga with your labradoodle:

This ended up being our best beach day.  It was glorious to spend the afternoon reading at the beach, watching the waves pound onto the shore and listening to the sounds of the sea - exactly what we hoped it would be!!!  After a day at the beach, we cleaned up and strolled down the road to a wonderful pub - located in a heritage house, so no deep fryers permitted.  Excellent food, and a short walk to the beach for sunset!