Finding the Sun in Bend, OR

Last year we had a rather long, wet, and cool spring. By the time June rolled around we were dying for a peak of sunshine, as well as some warmth. We heard tale of a place in Oregon - just a few hours drive from Portland - where we could get out from underneath the towering Douglas firs, looming rain clouds, and finally get some sun on our abnormally pale faces. So on a rainy, cold Portland morning in June, we packed up our car and headed out to Bend, Oregon. Where we most certainly found sunshine!



















Here is a list of a few places we discovered while in Bend and highly recommend.

Sites:
Pilot Butte - This extinct cinder cone volcano offers an amazing view of Bend and the surrounding mountains such as Mt. Bachelor and Three Sisters. You can drive, bike or even hike to the top to catch a view like this:

















Downtown Bend - There are many unique stores, coffee shops, and restaurants in the downtown area.

Drake Park - A pretty park located in the downtown area. Drake also has a great trail for biking or strolling along the Deschutes River and Mirror pond

Food:
McKay Cottage Restaurant - The most amazing breakfast we have ever had! Definitely go on a sunny morning so you can sit outside.

Bend Burger Company - A great burger and super friendly staff...a win-win.

Baldy's BBQ - Ever since leaving OKC we have been on the lookout for some good Texas-style BBQ and this place does a good job of feeding our smoked meat craving.

Activities:
Deschutes Brewery tour and tasting - A more in depth post with pictures here.

Eagle Crest putting course - It's putt-putt but on real grass and a fun way to spend an hour.

For what's it worth we found most of these places plus many more things we want to do at the visit Bend website.

An added bonus was this amazing view of Mt. Hood on the way back to Portland.

















We enjoyed Bend so much that we went back again in August, and will head back as soon as the mountain passes reopen in late spring.

Happy Caturday!

Post In Pictures: Woodburn Tulip Festival

We had a sunny day in April (a rare treat)! We jumped at the chance to enjoy get outside and try out our new camera. We drove down to Woodburn, Oregon to take some lovely pictures of tulips at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm's annual festival. Woodburn is south of Portland off of I-5 (see the map below).

















It was nice to finally get out of the house and enjoy some non-rainy, oh I mean sunny weather. The festival has been extended due to all the rainy weather so if you are in the Portland area you might want to consider checking it out if we happen to get another sunny afternoon (HA, we crack ourselves up). Here are a few pictures (we took 100 but we really narrowed it down for y'all).








































Tulips are great and all but these miniature donkeys were a-dor-able!!

Happy Caturday!

Click, Click, Click, Click Camera

As you might have guessed you have taken our annual early spring (aka too much rain = no energy to blog) hiatus from our little blog. And we apologize to any of our readers that have been disappointed by the lack of blogging and beg for your forgiveness. Ok, now that we've gotten the groveling out of the way let's jump right in.

You might have said to yourself..."Self, is that blog title a Bishop Allen reference?" And your self would be correct. If you did not say that to your self don't feel bad just consider yourself in for a treat and enjoy the little video.



So you are probably wondering what is this all about. Well friends, we are pretty excited to announce that we purchased a new camera. A couple months ago, we decided to finally stop pining for a cool SLR camera to increase the quality of our blog pictures to go with our new look. After some internet research and trying different models at various stores. We decided on the Canon Rebel T2i (this is not a product endorsement...yet). We are still trying to figure out what all the buttons and settings do but we think our early shots still look really great.

Here is a picture with our new camera:














And just for comparison, here is the same picture with our old camera:
















We will probably still use our old point and shoot Sony digital camera some since it's easier to tote around for now (we are currently scouting camera bags). If you have any SLR or general photographic tips please feel free to pass them along.

Happy Caturday!

Seattle: The Other White Meat

A few weeks ago we took a trip up I-5 to Seattle; the other major metropolis in the pacific northwest. Peter was attending a conference and I decided that Max & Erma could do without me for a few days so I tagged along. Here are some of our pictures from our trip and a list of places we recommend should find yourself in Seattle.

We had a great view of the infamous Space Needle from our hotel room.














Other views from our hotel











Seattle sites











Pike Place Market (a definite must see)





















Sci-Fi & Sound Museum
























Other places we recommend

Easy Street Records
Mod Super Fast Pizza
Pike Place Chowder
Tap House Grill
Top Pot Doughnuts
Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co.

Happy Caturday!

Happy 2011 y'all (sorry for the belated new year's wishes)! We've been working on some new post ideas and planning some upcoming adventures. I don't want to spill too much information, but this year you can look forward to more blog posts about Portland area restaurants and attractions. Plus we have more adventures in store for OKCtoPDX (some of which involve taking our whit and charm overseas). We can't be 100% sure what this year will hold for us but we hope you are as excited about 2011 as we are.

Happy Caturday (aka Meowy Catmas)!

Happy Caturday!

Happy Caturday!

Happy Caturday!

Happy Caturday!

Into the Woods

Phase two of our epic trip was a journey to the Redwood National Park. This area of extreme northwest California has many state and national forests. The Redwood National Park is more a collection of these forests/parks as opposed to a discrete park.

There are many trails and dirt roads to hike/drive. Due to time constrains, we desided to stay on main routes. U.S. 101 winds through this area, so you can take in much of the views from the car. We did take a scenic route (Newton B. Drury Scenic Pkwy). Along this parkway, we happened upon the Big Tree Wayside.





















This picture shows the Big Tree. We were not disappointed. The paper sign, in front of the tree, states that this tree is 287 feet tall and has a circumference is 68 feet. This tree is approximately 1,500 years old!

Happy Caturday!

The Crater Lake Adventure

Ever been to a caldera? Well, we have! The closest, and most scenic caldera to us is Crater Lake National Park. As our regular readers know we visited Crater Lake two weekends ago (remember this?). Here are some pictures of the Crater Lake area.

Some background... The caldera formed nearly 8,000 years ago when the volcano, Mount Mazama, erupted. The eruption emptied most of the magma chamber, which caused the great collapse forming the caldera. Centuries of rain and snow helped to fill in the caldera with water - forming Crater lake.
















To the north of Crater Lake is the Pumice Desert. Mount Mazama ejected hot ash over this area, probably killing all the indiganous life. Thousands of years later the area still as yet to fully recover. Most of the areas to the west and south of Crater Lake have fully restored pine forests, but not this area. Few trees and vegetation have returned.

The steep edges of the crater.




























In the background you can see Wizard Island. This cinder cone volcano formed after Mount Mazama blew and collapsed.





















Seven miles from the crater, these interesting formations were created. Volcanic vents formed in the ash deposits. The super-heated gas melted parts of the ash to form pillars. The rest of the ash was eroded away to leave these mostly hollow tubes.
















Native American tales tell of crayfish monsters grabbing gazers of the lake and pulling them in. We can see were the tale may have originated - one could get lost taking in the sites and inadvertently take one too many steps towards the lake. If you ever go, be careful of the edges.

Two Parks for the Price of None

Last weekend, the National Park Service offered free admission to over 100 National Parks. That offer gave us a great excuse to head down to Crater Lake and the Redwood Forest. It also gave us an excuse to go camping again. In future posts we will talk specifically about Crater Lake and the Redwood Forest. In this post we'll talk about everything in between.

In all, we logged over 900 miles in two days. Fortunately, we're no strangers to long distance driving (see here, here, and here). We went from the farms of the Willamette Valley, to the Cascade Range, the Redwood Forest to the scenic Oregon Coast. The map to the left shows our path, a la Indiana Jones (only it's not animated).





Originally, we were only going to head down to Crater Lake, spend the night nearby, and come back home. This would have gotten us back to home base by 4pm and really would have made for a short adventure. Fortunately, we called an audible and decided to head to California. We're glad we did.
















Our jumping-off point on the second day of exploration was the Joseph H. Stewart Recreational Area. Being just an hour southwest of Crater Lake, it made sense to use this state park for an overnight stay. This was a nice, full service park (running water, showers, etc.) located on the Lost Creek Reservoir. The beautiful Rogue River feeds the reservoir and offered scenic views during a portion of our trip.

From J.H. Stewart, we headed to Grants Pass, OR. This metropolis of 30,000 people, nestled in the Cascades, was the gateway to the path to the Redwood Forest. U.S. Route 199 was our official path. We have never been on a curvier or more scenic road. Unfortunately, the driver was too busy keeping his eyes on the road and having a death grip on the wheel to fully appreciate this section of the trip.
















The trip down U.S. 199 was harrowing, so we opted not to take that route back after the Redwood Forest. Instead, we took the 101! U.S. Highway 101 jumps in and out of pine trees yielding stretches of awe inspiring ocean beaches and rocky outcrops. Here are some pictures around Arch Rock in Oregon (near Brookings, OR).

















U.S. Highway 101 does not go directly to Portland, so we figured there would be some inter-coastal range hopping, eventually. Night had fallen by this time, so we couldn't get pictures of that stretch.

Check back soon for specific write-ups about Crater Lake and the Redwood Forest.