Black Butte Ranch Sisters

We drive alongside the Clackamas River, so beautiful we run out of adjectives as we point out to each other the views we want to share. Driving up towards the Cascades we see Mt. Hood in the distance, alone and majestic. At 4800 feet we drive through Santiam Pass and start the long road down, final destination Bend. We set up camp in Tumalo State Park. It is the weekend, there are so many people in the state parks we pass, we decide to stay two nights right here.

... town) we saw a very old man pitch forking hay into a trailer by the side of the road. We laughed at an advertisement for "Lock & Load Towing", and just outside Shaniko we saw a shoe tree--it was a tree that had been decorated with hundreds of old shoes!

The 2-lane road was slow, but scenic, with what we assumed was Mt. Ranier in the distance. There was a scenic viewpoint for the Crooked River Canyon ...

We stopped in La Pine and walked.

We stopped in the Volcanic Monument.

We walked on the Lava Fields.

We drove through Bend, Redmond & Madras.

Past Warm Springs, the car overheated and we pulled over.

We waited for the car to cool down.

We, slowly, drove up the mountain to Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood.

We drove to Bend.

We drove up Pilot Butte.

We walked around Drake Park and Bend downtown.

We went to a comic shop.

We had tea at Townshend's.

We met my old friends and walked to Old Mill district.

We ate American Chinese food.

We watched a cinema.

We drove back to Prineville.

... the sencond night. On the first, they made us "Curry Copia," Lynn's dream business of setting out a curry stand at the entrance to Smith. We'd buy it for sure! They made us the most authentic green curry, barbequed chicken in the best peanut sauce, and Tom Yum soup. Man were we lucky! For those of you who might be ...

... in the winter, and mountain biking in the summer. Shane and Julie played hookey the next day to escort us up to the mountain, where we once again strapped on some skis to try out the Oregon winter sport scene. After an afternoon of skiing we headed back to town to collect our westy, say our goodbye's and head once again for the Oregon coast to continue our path north.

... ancient volcanic flows. Nobody else was around so I took that looping trail. While walking on it, I realized something strange about the forest...other than chipmunks, there is absolutely no sign of animal life. No bug sounds, no spider webs, no dung, no mosquitoes. It's very surreal when you're walking on a trail and you realize that the only sound you hear is your own light footsteps as though you're ...

... region and the other high plains areas we have been to is the proliferation of colour. Oregon is a very colourful area both in the plains and the forested areas. We traveled on secondary highways through a number of small towns which slowed us down a bit, but it gave us a sense of local history and a chance to meet some folks. On one stretch of the plains section we saw a fire burning near the summit of a very high hill. It didn't look as though is was being put out ...

... you walked. We stayed here for the most relaxing 5 days of my life. Most of the hours were lying in hammocks dazing straight into the ocean waves, or playing on the beach or being thrown around by the waves. It was also a nude beach, so I dared myself to run naked up and down the beach midday. There is a cliff that you can hike up to with an amazing view, where some people had jumped off to their deaths, hence the name "playa de muerta" or "beach of the dead ...

... was one of the best nights on the trail. Our hike to the Washington border went through some of the best forest I've seen. I'd love to get back there sometime and backpack at a slower pace. We stopped for lunch in Stevenson just before we walked across The Bridge of the Gods, which spans the Columbia River. This brought us into Oregon, finally. We were then picked up by Rabbit's girlfriend and dropped off at Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood. From there we spent two ...