A long weekend in the mountains

July Fourth weekend afforded us the chance at four straight days off. So we took advantage of it.

Against our better judgment, we spent July Fourth at Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs with about 10,000 other people. But it was still beautiful (and even better once we got away from crying children, strollers and all that).

The Siamese Twins trail gets you away from the crowds, mostly because it's not paved and you actually have to do a little bit of work. It's only one mile round-trip and a relatively easy hike, but it's amazing what tourists will bypass sometimes. It had the best view of Pikes Peak alongside these impressive rock formations — the Siamese Twins. 

On Saturday, we decided to get up super early and drive to Rocky Mountain National Park. Since we're still not in high-altitude shape, we chose an easier trail that promised great views — a 1.7-mile, one-way hike to Gem Lake, with 1,000 feet of elevation gain. 

The views of the Rockies along the way were incredible, and the ability to go off-trail and climb on granite rocks was the best part.

Almost to the top finally! The lake is just to the right of this ridge.

And we made it! It was the perfect place for an early lunch to cool off from the aerobic climb to the top.

The view from near the top was the absolute best, overlooking the small resort town of Estes Park. RMNP, we'll definitely be back soon.

A caving we will go

Also with Wanderlust Tours, we went caving. I guess it was more like "lava tubing," but that's difficult to say.

We drove to Boyd Cave, which is the only one they visit in winter, though they do lots more in the summer. There was a wet fog the night before, and it blanketed the high desert with hoarfrost that was just mesmerizing. Bend's diversity in landscape is amazing, since it's nestled right between high desert and mountains — never a dull moment when you're driving around.

So since the cave was in total darkness, we had to wear headlamps on our helmets (which also means there's basically no photos from inside). We saw a couple hibernating bats inside while we learned about the volcanic history of the region. I love volcanoes.

So anyway, here are some pictures of the hoarfrost-covered vegetation on a cold winter morning.

After we returned from the end of the cave, we were greeted by this view of the cave opening. There's some metal, rickety stairs off to the right, but this view lets us see it without the manmade structures, and it looks pretty mysterious, doesn't it?

Though it was warmer and sunnier by the time we emerged, there was still frost all over most of the plants. It felt soft like snow, if you can believe it. It looks so harsh.

And us, the intrepid cavers! Photo courtesy of our guide, Jeff, who was a geologist and knew SO MUCH about caves, and volcanoes and local wildlife. Notice the intense amount of dust on my pants, thanks to crawling around on our hands and knees. Ha.

That afternoon we visited the High Desert Museum, which was honestly one of the best museums I've ever visited. It was newly renovated, beautifully-done and so interesting. Plus they had birds of prey, which are totally some of my favorite animals out there. I could have watched that golden eagle and red-tailed hawk all day. We spent about 2 hours there, despite everyone saying it was a "small" museum — and it only cost $10 for adults to get in, which truly shocked me. Museums have gotten quite expensive these days, and this seemed like a steal.

The next day we just wandered around the downtown area (which had lots of restaurants and shops), then toured Deschutes Brewery (it was FREE and included samples)! Deschutes makes our favorite beers, from pale ales to IPAs to imperial stouts, and the brewery was so scientific and fascinating. It was huge, first of all, considering it's a micro brewery (albeit one that ships to half the U.S.). Equipment was everywhere, looking all shiny and sterilized, most people working there were guys (on the floor at least, as the tour guide said one of the women who worked there was just upgraded to a master brewer), and it was humming much faster than that opening credit footage on "Laverne and Shirley." It smelled a faint but delicious cross of bread and beer.

They reuse all of their hops, wheat, grain, etc. that are used in crafting the beer. When we ate at Deschutes Brewery the night before, the incredible pretzel we had as an appetizer was made from leftover grains, as were the burger buns. Pretty cool stuff. They're slowly taking over the world, and I'm OK with that.

Discovering Bend

Our vacation to Bend was so incredible that I literally didn't want to leave. That happens often with vacations, but this time, I actually wanted to move there. And still do. If we could find work, we'd be packing tomorrow.

Our hotel was right along the Deschutes River, and we ate breakfast (and had a fantastic dinner at their steakhouse the first night) right by the river. It was beautiful.

A short jaunt from our hotel:

And a shot of the bridge at our hotel and the hotel on the right — told you it was right on the river.

To wake up our low-lander lungs, we hit Pilot Butte for a hike on Sunday. It's very popular because of its great, short hike (there were a lot of locals just exercising), and well, the view at the top.

This shot exists basically because we were masking the need to take a break. Nothing like a hike to expose the fact that you don't live above sea level. These are some mountains in Eastern Oregon, and some residential areas of Bend (Pilot Butte is a cinder cone that's right in the middle of town).

Further up, we spotted Mount Hood up by Portland. Quite a few hours away, and it still dominates the skyline. What a mountain.

And the true reason for Pilot Butte — the incredible view of the closer Cascade Mountains. On the left is Mount Bachelor (which we'll be visiting later), the middle mountains are the Three Sisters, and the one on the right that looks like multiple mountains is Broken Top.

A better view of the Three Sisters and Broken Top:

And Mount Bachelor:

This guy is the reason Pilot Butte was saved for a state park, and it's a really nice one. Bricked platform at the top, bathrooms and handicapped people can even drive up there. Click on this one so you can read it though — it's pretty funny, which is why there's a photo to begin with.

Looking east again — no idea what the mountains are out there because there are just so many and they kind of look the same from such a distance:

Pilot Butte also has great benches (or I guess one giant bench in a circle) to sit and take in the view, so that's exactly what we did. Breathing in the mountain air on a day like that was invigorating — I had missed that.

Up close of Broken Top — pretty spectacular, isn't it?

And here's a compass that listed all the mountains (and buttes, which can kind of be more like large hills) that were visible in a 360-degree view:

Needless to say, I wanted to buy a house at the base of Pilot Butte and never leave. I could walk this every day and never get tired of that view. But there's plenty more exploring to come!

Silver Falls State Park camping

Silver Falls State Park quickly became one of my favorite places in Oregon in a single weekend. Fall colors were bright, cool temperatures kept most tourists away and the campground was nearly empty.

Here's South Falls, a highly-photographed area, as you can see. It's actually really tall, but it's difficult to see that without some perspective. So trust me, it's huge.

You could walk behind it! I love when you can do that. If you click on the photo and look really close to the right of the waterfall, you can see little people on the trail, which should offer some size perspective.

Stopped for lunch on a bridge overlooking the creek, where we had Empire Cafe sourdough bread with homemade blackberry jam (courtesy of the Gunthers).

Gratuitous moss shot, just for Mom.

North Falls from an overlook just off the road. I think you can walk to it, but we were kinda tired by this point.

So we drove to Upper North Falls, which was just a short stroll from the parking lot.

This was such an awesome weekend away. We ate at the best little bakery in Elkton to pick up breakfast for our camping trip, and tried out a new restaurant in Salem on the way home (http://wordofsalem.com/). Just check out that menu, and get the creme brulee french toast — it was incredible, as was their corned beef hash. Might have changed my life. Might have to stop there anytime I'm driving past Salem. Or near Salem at all.

Rolling on the river

Here are long overdue photos from our weekend trip to Brookings/Gold Beach! We camped in Brookings at a really nice state park, then drove to Gold Beach to ride the famous jet boats at Jerry's Rogue Jets! They still deliver the mail upriver — that's how remote this area is. And the boats take you through all that remote wilderness, which would be difficult to see otherwise.

You can take longer, rapid-running trips, or a shorter, leisurely trip. We did the shorter one, mostly because it was cheaper. But I feel we need to do a longer trip at some point — it sounds like so much fun, and you get so deep into the woods.

Here's the Gold Beach bridge from the boat at the start. We saw a guy hook his first salmon when we drove by him! There were tons of anglers out there, fishing for Chinook salmon.

Further upriver, we came across a ridiculous amount of osprey (as well as other wildlife I couldn't get pics of — lots of deer, and one black bear)! Here's a couple osprey up in a tree, guarding their nest.

The trip was about 40 miles upriver, and the scenery pretty much looked just like this the whole way (with the occasional bank fisherman waving as we passed). There were tons of salmon rolling in the river.

And you know powerlines that have those colored floats on them that always span rivers? Well, we passed a few of them, and our guide said they released salt to help the salmon acclimate to the freshwater in the river.

That's obviously ridiculous. Salmon have been here far before we figured their life cycles out. But too many people in that boat completely believed him. Hilarious.

Here's the view from dinner, where we had an awesome blackberry cobbler. I could eat it every day, truthfully. But it's in Agness, population less than 100, and it would take hours to drive there along the Agness Highway from U.S. Highway 101. Hours.

Our boat, from the bank of the river. We were enjoying nature before we hopped back on the boat — it was HOT there.

Another view from where we ate dinner. There were tons of incredible house along the river as well, but I don't have photos, sorry. Some of them are only accessible by boat, if you can believe it.

View back upriver as we headed back toward the ocean. Just a perfect day.

And the bridge, with fewer fishermen, as we made our way to dock.

When we got back, we were met by this gorgeous sunset at Harris Beach State Park. We stuck around for awhile before heading back to camp.

On our way home the next day, we stopped at Whaleshead Beach, a park just north of Brookings, that I was recommended to see. It was incredible. Nice wide beach, warm sun and incredible vistas. Did I mention there was basically nobody there?

And the waves crashed thunderously on the beach heading south, creating this enchanting mist. It was a wonderful way to stretch our legs before the long drive home.