Portland to Central Oregon

Time to catch everyone up on the last few days. We left Portland yesterday afternoon and headed west along the Columbia Gorge. We stopped at Multnomah Falls, and Bonneville Dam then headed south around Hood River. Had some great views of Mt. Hood along the way. We were surprised at one point when we rounded a curve and the dense forest gave way to an impressive gorge and desert. The landscape changes pretty dramatically as you travel to different locals in Oregon.

We arrived at our destination vacation rental home in Sunriver around 8pm, our "4 hour" drive having taken about twice that (sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination). The house is great; large common room, 3 bedrooms upstairs, several bunkbeds and futons downstairs as well as a large gameroom with pool table, ping pong, foos ball, and a dartboard with 1 and 1/2 working darts.

Today, after a leisurly 2-4 hour breakfast period (there are 12 of us here including some of Nate's friends and Casey, Riley and Brian and not everyone gets up at the same time), we headed out to the Cascade Lakes area which took us on a 2 hour loop with great views of pine forests, random lava piles, Mt Bachelor, The Sisters (mountains), and Broken Top (another mountain). A very beautiful ride with lots of stops. Now we're back at the house relaxing and waiting on some of Reuben's loaded spagetti (yum!).

Tomorrow we head back to California with a much anticipated stop at Crater Lake. It's been a great trip so far, and while it seems much longer than just a week ago that we flew into San Francisco, it's still much to short a trip to fully explore this awesome state!

8/10 - Salem...but more importantly, Panda Express

Today was the one day where we didn't really have any plans and it's the first time we're staying in the same hotel for 2 nights in a row. So we took our time this morning and relaxed, did some laundry and then went to Panda Express for lunch, then we went to get coffee, and then headed to the OSU Beavers store just north of Salem. Spent 30-40 minutes in there, we each probably tried on every single hat they had on display there, some of us a few more (I tried on 3 or 4 hats probably 7-8 times, yes...I'm picky).

From there we headed to Aunt Peg's in Salem. Spent a few hours there and had some awesome steak and fish for dinner.

On the schedule for tomorrow; we head to Portland at some point in the morning/early afternoon, do some site-seeing, meet with with a few of Nate's friends for dinner, and then picking up Dave Weaver from the airport.

A few extra pictures from yesterday:

8/9 - Lincoln City/Newport/Corvallis/Salem

Today was a little more laid back than our last few days. We took our time getting up and around this morning as some of us were up a bit past their bedtimes last night. We left the hotel around 11 and looked for the Dutch Bros. which I swore to be in Lincoln City, apparently I lied. We stopped in Otter Creek to see the Devils Punchbowl, the tide was pretty low though so there wasn't really a whole lot going on there, still pretty cool though.

We also saw some very bold and courageous squirrels who were under the impression that I was going to feed them. We got our coffee fix at a little shop there as well as picking up some Zots so it was definitely worth the stop.

Then we stopped briefly at the Yaquina lighthouse on our way to Newport. We got to Newport and went immediately to the Chowder Bowl where we got more than our fill. Dan got a salad that I'm pretty sure would've filled the Devil's punch bowl to the brim, and we each got a bowl of chowder along with our regular meal. I ended up with a bowl and a half because I realized the original cup I got just wasn't going to cut it. The drive to Corvallis from there was fairly uneventful as most of us couldn't even move or speak after eating that much. In Corvallis we saw Reser Stadium, the baseball stadium, some of the town, and Casey and Riley's house. We picked up Local Boys and $100 worth of jerkey on our way out of town. Spent a few hours at Aunt Pegs with Casey, Riley, and B-Winks, ate the food and then left and came to our hotel in Salem.

On the agenda for tomorrow is just some more sight-seeing and probably a little bit of Portland and then back to Salem for the night.

Mail Boats

Rogue River Bear Viewing

Gold Beach to Lincoln City 8/8/11

We got up early. We went on mailboats. We saw a bear, eagles, osprey, deer, otter, harbor seal. We ate lunch. We rode through rapids. We drove up the coast. We stopped at the Sea Lion Caves. There were only 6 Sea Lions. We are staying in a suite at the Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City. We are going to Corvallis and Salem tomorrow to see family. Goodnight. Look at pictures.

A few nice spots along the south coast of Oregon

Eureka to Gold Beach 8/7/11