Crater Lake "ish" to Vancouver WA Day 7

We had a nice evening at the Prospect Lodge. Fun time chatting with the owners and other guests around a fire pit while making s'mores. Pretty place. Would recommend if you ever find yourself visiting Crater Lake. 

We did get to see Crater Lake and imagine how special it must be without layers of smoke. Some quick facts- the lake was formed by a volcano in the Mazama line of volcanos that stretch from Canada to California. The volcano grew, blew, fell and filled with snow and rain. It is so clear because no river feeds the lake bring sediment to cloud the water. It is 6 miles wide and the deepest lake in the US. 

The trees are simply huge. Not many places to chose for breakfast. We picked Becky's. Becky greeted us outside the restaurant in a black shirt and blazer suit with pantry hose! Opened the door and seated us. It was a bit odd to say the least with every person in the place in hiking gear. 

The drive back without Portland traffic would have been a little over 4 hours. But it took us an hour and a half to go less than 30 miles. It seriously reminded us of trying to get to Dallas from Austin on Texas vs OU weekend. Y'all come visit Oregon it is great but we said "ah hell no" to the traffic and are staying the night across the river in Vancouver,WA. We are ending our blog because tomorrow is our last vacation day and nothing exciting planned before traveling. It will be good to be home. We miss our family!  Fun times. 

Darn Wildfires! Day 6

We knew about the wildfires before heading out to Crater Lake.but decided to chance it anyway. We wanted to see the number 1 tourist attraction in Oregon since we were here! Well... hum....let's hope for tomorrow! Travel advice - don't come during fire season.  It is a long drive to Crater Lake to begin with from the Portland area and it was made about an hour longer because the route we were taking had a road closed due to the wild fires. Ugh....

The wildfires are very close to Crater Lake and 100's of fire fighters are working and camping around the area. I had flashbacks to my FEMA incident command structure training and can only imagine the coordination nightmare of fire management. We saw signs pointing to the fires to guide the firefighters, water trucks with axes and shovels tied to them and fields of helicopters.

 Believe me,  Prospect tiny and  not big enough for any type of airport. This is for state coordination efforts. 

The air is thick with smoke and smells like Christmas trees on fire. Eyes burn and we are listening to people coughing all around us. Crazy part people are still hiking and bike riding. 

There was absolutely no view of the lake. Just smoke. You can see snow - yep it is mid August and patches of snow still exist. Everyone (and there are tons of people here) are bummed and we hope that some of the smoke blows out overnight and we get some view in the morning. We stayed for sunset because smoke can provide a backdrop for cool sunsets. 

We stopped  at a really cool place called natural bridge. A river fed by snow run off takes s journey through lava tubes and broken tunnels.  335,000 gallons of water flows through the lava tubes per minute. Pictures don't show the force of the water but you can see, hear and feel it in person.  

Crater Lake is remote to say the least.  Not many  options for overnight stays unless you are camping. We are staying at very nice private home. Owned by Mike and Lisa. Huge log lodge in Prospect about 40 minutes from crater lake. Wonderful family - who left a bottle of wine for us in our room as a welcome gift. I will post pictures tomorrow, more about Crater Lake and HOPEFULLY some pictures!  

Chilllaxing - Oregon day 5

We spent a lazy morning at the Carlton Farmhouse. What a great home base for exploring Oregon and the Willamette Valley for wine tasting.

 The Weiss's have put so much thought and planning into their 3 bedroom vacation rental. High end appliances, a kitchen stocked with everything you can possibly need, a cozy reading nook, a loft office space with an extra sofa bed and the most incredible place to have a cup of java and breakfast on a cool morning. 

Not to mention a place to rock on the front porch and have a glass of vino at the end of a day of wine tasting. 

One of the neighbors left a beautiful basket of vegetables from their garden. I tried my first lemon cucumber. Super mild and tender.    

We decided to change up the travel itinerary and stay local to enjoy some more wine.  We focused our day in the Dundee Hills region. Mark was disappointed there were no crocodiles. 😉

We hit four wineries today. Alexana stands out as the star of the day. Luscious wines. 

This day simply did not suck. 

Seems like the every road is covered with wild blackberry vines. I had to stop and pick a few to taste. Wow! So sweet and no seeds. 

We  visited Durant - ok wines but the notable reason to stop is awesome artisan olive oil and their lavender honey. They have a beautiful nursery filled with fragrant plants. Plus a distant view of Mt.Hood. You could see the smoke haze from wild fires but is was a gorgeous stop. 

Lange was a nice stop. We liked their wines but it was bottling day and the smell was amazing. 

We finished up at Pike Road which has a very refreshing rose'..Very nice day. Shout out to Arie who described and poured wines. And also called ALL  over town to find a wine shipper box for us. 

Columbia River Gorge and Mount Hood - Day 4

The Columbia River is huge and looks more like a lake than a river. And I didn't take one picture! The gorge has a chain of beautiful waterfalls most very short hikes from the main Columbia River highway. 

Bridal veil - we hear extreme kayaker's have gone down the fall. It is 118 feet in two tiers. 

Mark doing what he loves best- pictures without people. 

Multnomah Fall must be the number 1 tourist attraction in Portland. Seems like thousands of people were visiting.. But that doesn't impact the gorgeous view of the falls. It is 635 feet in two tiers. 

Horsetail Falls -  Named because it looks like a horse tail. 

After a picnic at a state park, we headed around the Mount Hood Scenic Loop. We stopped at the base of the mountain that shows the volcanic rock from past eruptions. Mt Hood is a potentially active strarovolcano. The lava flowing from  a stratovolcanoe typically cools and hardens before spreading far due to high viscosity. Fumes will kill you but the lava won't. Good to know!

Then on to Trillium lake which offers a great picturesque view of Mt Hood. 

The Oregon Coast- Day 3

We were able to witness Mother Nature in all her glory today. After saying a heart felt thank-you to Jeff and Vicki, we started out to Cannon Beach to see and let Mark photograph the haystack rock formations. It was a very breezy 65 degrees. Kids in swimsuits and sweatshirts. The water was burrrr cold. We walked a mile in the sand enjoying the scenery. Lunch in town at the Pelican Brewing Co. served up the biggest and messiest burgers that we have had in a long time. Good but still didn't beat Hugo's

Next stop was the Ecola State park. Amazing to drive through rainforest like conditions filled with ferns and pine trees that grow right up to the beach. It was the best view of the long abandoned Tillamook light house that is a mile out into the ocean. Leaving the park we recused two girls in their mid twenties from Salt Lake City that hiked into the park about 5 miles in stappy sandals. They were told there was no parking (there was a ton) and you could tell they were dragging on the hike back out which was straight up hill. They were grateful for the ride. 

With lots of time left in the day, we took the Pacfic Coast Hwy down through Tillamook (huge traffic jam around the cheese factory) to Oceanside to see the Cape Mears Lighthouse. Walking down through the pine trees smelled like Christmas. The lighthouse feeds  the imagination of days gone bye.  It was all light with a room probably used to store spare parts. We doubt it was ever manned. 

Ahhhh....Back home to enjoy a glass of vino and a fire.