Grand Tetons and a long travel day

Our flight into Salt Lake City was delayed causing our drive to Jackson Hole to be later than expected which made for a slightly stressful drive with antelope, deer and one giant moose on the side of the road. 

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We passed the new Afton WY Mormon Temple which got me googling the Mormon population for the state which is the third largest behind Utah and Idaho.

We started our day planning on riding the Jackson Hole tram and visiting the Elk Reserve. Both a bust. The tram doesn't open for two more days and the elk have migrated. But we turned the day around when we visited Schwabachers Landing. It originally was a place for boats to access the snake river but beavers had other plans. They dammed two areas creating beautiful reflecting lakes. In the pictures you can see the beaver lodge and the dam. 

The beavers had big plans for this tree and but gave up. 

Mormon Row was our next stop. The remaining structures from a thriving Mormon community from the 1880's. 

Teton National Park did not disappoint. Lots of free range bison and elk. Just not close enough for my iPad camera.but I took a picture anyway because Mark was taking pictures with his long lens. We will see more and close up in Yellowstone 

The ragged mountains of the Teton chain were formed from violent earthquakes. We stopped for a picnic lunch at Jenny Lake with snow covered ground even though it was 65 degrees.

 The numerous lakes were formed from melting glaciers. We went on some short hikes and ended up at a view of one of the remaining Teton glaciers. You can find it between the Grand Teton and Mount Owen it looks like a U shaped bowl of ice and snow. While Mark was taking pictures, a young Asian visiter came up and asked us if we had a bottle opener. We didn't but I said that Mark could use some American ingenuity to open his soda bottle and popped the top off with the side of a sign. The guy was quite happy and learned a new skill to take home with him. Speaking of the masses of Asian visitors the national park has a bathroom message for them.  

The glacier is in the middle between the two peaks

HA! 

 With no sunset colors to capture, we headed back for dinner at a craft beer brewery in Jackson Hole. On to Yellowstone in the morning. 

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.