Chocolate and Bacon: oregon

Showing posts with label oregon. Show all posts

Friday, September 19, 2014

Oregon: On the Road

We found some cool things between Portland and Bend.

Not surprisingly, we stopped for coffee.

Broadway Coffeehouse in Salem had ok coffee. What impressed me was the open walls, blending the patio and the interior shop. I've always been drawn to restaurants that can open up like that. It's rare to find such a place near my home.

We opted to stay and drink our latte and americano at the shop because why not.

The drive out to Bend took us south before crossing the mountains near Mt. Jefferson. On our way up through the cascades we found... Detroit?

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

We also stopped at one of many many fish hatcheries we saw throughout the week. In New Jersey, there are two hatcheries. The one that is open to the public no longer allows the public to get close to the fish.

Here, we just walked in. After a few minutes, a man came out, gave us a bucket of fish kibble, and then disappeared into the woods.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Leaving Bend, we drove north before crossing at the foothills of Mt. Hood. This gave us some time to see the desert.

Can you believe this is the same state?

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

What a truly beautiful place.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Oregon: Government Camp

On our way back down Mt. Hood we made a short pitstop at a place I hadn't been to since 2007.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

When I was 17, I flew alone across the country to spend one week in July at High Cascade Snowboard Camp. I remember it as a kind of snowboard Neverland. I was riding in tank tops, hanging out with snowboarders who had graced the pages of Transworld Snowboarding magazine, and riding in a lime green "Bustache" along the Oregon Trail. I also slept a lot because I didn't know I had mono. Although I didn't develop any lifelong friendships, HCSC has still held a small but special place in my heart.

I had hoped to get a Cobra Dog and Volcano Cone.

Unfortunately, they were closed.

So we used the bathroom in the visitor's center (which I don't recall being there seven years ago...) and took some pictures.

Camp was over, so we were able to avoid being creepers. But that also meant the skate park was disassembled.

Maybe I'll return for one of their adult camps.

Next up: Bend

Monday, September 1, 2014

Oregon: Mt. Hood

In Oregon, you can spend one day at the beach, and the next hiking the Pacific Crest Trail just below a glacier. Is this real life?!

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

We once again used our East Coast sleep schedules to our advantage, setting out early to drive up Mt. Hood. On our way up, we stopped for coffee. Twice. Jesse got one of the best coffees of the trip from a small coffee shop in a strip mall near Rhododendron on route 26.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Route 26 takes you over the lowest slopes of Mt. Hood. The Timberline Highway takes you up the mountain. Just before we reached the parking lot, we caught a glimpse of the peak through the trees. The view was so breathtaking that it cut Jesse off, mid-sentence.

During the winter, the glacier extends down the hill and meets up with new snowfall. This puts the Timberline Lodge at about midway up the skiable slopes.

Timberline Lodge, you may notice from this unflattering selfie, resembles a certain haunted hotel. It was both the inspiration for and the exterior model for The Shining.

An extremely short walk behind the lodge brings you to the Pacific Crest Trail.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Besides being a longer trail then the Appalachian Trail, the PCT is also far more isolated and thus more challenging.

We were only out for the day, though.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

This bird was about two feet away from Jesse when he took this picture. It lingered near us for several minutes, which was both wonderful and terrifying (birds and I have a long, tumultuous history stemming back to when a seagull stole my hotdog from my hand at the Lincoln Memorial when I was 4).

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

There was a remarkable variety of terrain and weather along the PCT here.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

We hiked about 6 miles round trip. Originally we had hoped to hike to Paradise Park, a large meadow full of wildflowers. However, my worn out hiking boots were making each step increasingly painful. We turned around at Zigzag Canyon.

On the way back, I took the opportunity to cool my feet in a glacial stream.

Although it was a shorter hike than we had planned, we had a fantastic time.

Next up: A pitstop on our way back down the mountain

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Oregon: Astoria

We left Cannon Beach and headed north on US 101.

We stopped to visit the Peter Iredale, a shipwreck that has been slowly rusting away since 1906 in Fort Stevens State Park.

Also in Fort Stevens State Park is the top left corner of Oregon! For some reason I found this to be very exciting. I suppose the more exciting part is the mouth of the Columbia River, where Lewis and Clark's expedition finally reached the Pacific Ocean.

It was a short drive from the park to Astoria. Since it's been about five years since I've seen The Goonies, I navigated us to the big tall thing on top of the hill: The Astoria Column.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

After walking to the top, realizing that I don't like heights and Jesse doesn't like small enclosed spaces, and almost calmly walking back down, we sat on the hill and enjoyed the view in a less stressful manner.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

Our wistful gazing and selfie-taking was only briefly interrupted by two Norwegians - one with a longboard and the other with his foot in a fresh cast - asking me to take their photo. Jesse also took this time to flop on the ground to take pictures of flowers.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

After siting for a good long while, completely at a loss for what to do, I consulted Yelp. Even though I have never ordered fish and chips for myself, I couldn't pass up an almost perfect rating. We headed down the mountain, into Astoria.

We were not disappointed. Bowpicker serves fish and chips and that's it. And boy do they do it right!

After lunch we wandered around Astoria before heading east, back to the city.

Photo by Jesse Stratowski

But wait! We had one final adventure before returning to the Portland area. All day we had been seeing these tiny, drive-up espresso stands. Whaaaaat?

We couldn't resist.