For all of you fellow Pastafarians out there, I hope that this holy day is a great one for you, too!
ARRRG!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
South Sister Summit
Well, we summitted the South Sister, the third highest peak in Oregon. This leaves Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood as second and first respectively for us to summit. However, after South Sister, I'm not sure I'll be summitting anything tall again for awhile.
Its not that I'm sore... well, I am a little bit. It's more the fact that it takes 11 hours to do. At about hour 8 (an hour after you begin the descent) your feet begin to throb. And it just gets worse and worse and worse until you are about to break down and cry like a little girl. Luckily none of that happened... but I began to have my doubts at about 10.5 hours into the hike. When we finally saw the parking lot a wave of relief came over me, but it didn't stop my feet from hurting.
Anyway, as far as the trip goes: Molly and I, Josh and Lindsey drove down to Bend on Friday evening and stayed in a Yurt... which is a very fancy tent. It has electricity and beds. We went to bed early and got up the next morning at 6AM. We started the hike at 8AM.
The mountain is 10,358 ft tall and the trail gains 4900 ft elevation in 5.5 miles.
Lindsey is around 6 months pregnant, but was determined to get Globby (their pre-birth name for the glob of cells growing in her uterus) up his first summit. She is a freaking trooper! We went nice and slow to keep her heart rate at or below 140 beats per minute. We stopped a bunch, drank a lot of water, and all-in-all took it nice and easy. Having said that, however, I wouldn't have wanted to go much faster, because it is a very tough hike.
We summitted at about 2:30-3pm (forgot to look at the watch). We stayed up there for about 30 minutes then started back down. We got back to the car at just before 7pm.
I am SOOOO sun burnt. I used plenty of sunscreen, but missed the spots on the back of my knees. If you've ever been burned there, you understand my pain. If not, trust me, it HURTS every step you take.
For dinner after the hike we went to Red Robin where I ate a burger, fries and had my obligatory Birthday Beer. I was so tired I felt that I would pass out at the table before I finished the beer, though.
We got back to the yurt at around 9 PM.. took a shower at the campground (very, very HOT) then I climbed into bed. I feel almost instantly asleep.
The next morning we got up at 7AM ate breakfast in Bend, and headed back to Portland. For my Birthday, Lindsey and Josh had bought Molly and I (and themselves) tickets to see Patton Oswalt in Portland. The show was fantastic, but we had seen about half the material before. Some of the funniest stuff we saw was the stuff he made up on the spot. Look out for KFC's "Double Down" sandwhich. I'm going to get one ASAP.
Anyway, all in all a FANTASTIC trip. I just won't ever do a tough hike for my B-day ever again.
Enjoy the pictures!
Its not that I'm sore... well, I am a little bit. It's more the fact that it takes 11 hours to do. At about hour 8 (an hour after you begin the descent) your feet begin to throb. And it just gets worse and worse and worse until you are about to break down and cry like a little girl. Luckily none of that happened... but I began to have my doubts at about 10.5 hours into the hike. When we finally saw the parking lot a wave of relief came over me, but it didn't stop my feet from hurting.
Anyway, as far as the trip goes: Molly and I, Josh and Lindsey drove down to Bend on Friday evening and stayed in a Yurt... which is a very fancy tent. It has electricity and beds. We went to bed early and got up the next morning at 6AM. We started the hike at 8AM.
The mountain is 10,358 ft tall and the trail gains 4900 ft elevation in 5.5 miles.
Lindsey is around 6 months pregnant, but was determined to get Globby (their pre-birth name for the glob of cells growing in her uterus) up his first summit. She is a freaking trooper! We went nice and slow to keep her heart rate at or below 140 beats per minute. We stopped a bunch, drank a lot of water, and all-in-all took it nice and easy. Having said that, however, I wouldn't have wanted to go much faster, because it is a very tough hike.
We summitted at about 2:30-3pm (forgot to look at the watch). We stayed up there for about 30 minutes then started back down. We got back to the car at just before 7pm.
I am SOOOO sun burnt. I used plenty of sunscreen, but missed the spots on the back of my knees. If you've ever been burned there, you understand my pain. If not, trust me, it HURTS every step you take.
For dinner after the hike we went to Red Robin where I ate a burger, fries and had my obligatory Birthday Beer. I was so tired I felt that I would pass out at the table before I finished the beer, though.
We got back to the yurt at around 9 PM.. took a shower at the campground (very, very HOT) then I climbed into bed. I feel almost instantly asleep.
The next morning we got up at 7AM ate breakfast in Bend, and headed back to Portland. For my Birthday, Lindsey and Josh had bought Molly and I (and themselves) tickets to see Patton Oswalt in Portland. The show was fantastic, but we had seen about half the material before. Some of the funniest stuff we saw was the stuff he made up on the spot. Look out for KFC's "Double Down" sandwhich. I'm going to get one ASAP.
Anyway, all in all a FANTASTIC trip. I just won't ever do a tough hike for my B-day ever again.
Enjoy the pictures!
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| South Sister - 2009 |
Hummingbird in my yard!
Just caught some pics of the little guy enjoying our Birds of Paradise flowers early in the morning (which is why the color is a little funny).
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| Hummingbird |
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Oregon Dunes, 2009
A few weeks ago, Molly, me, Josh Y. and Lindsey all went to the Oregon Dunes. These are located on the southern-middle coast of Oregon. Most of the Oregon coast is very rocky, and doesn't have much sand. This particular area has a lot of sand, and it blows inland creating very large dunes. Needless to say, this is a very unusual sight admist groves of large pine trees.
Molly and I drove down on a Thursday evening and set up camp. It was very dark when we arrived and had to leave the car lights on to set up the tent. Unfortunately we did not remember to leave the car running as we did this, and after about 10 minutes with the high-beams on, the car battery went dead. Luckily we had the tent up at that point, so we called Lindsey and Josh and ask them to grab some jumper cables before they left to join us the next morning.
Our campsite was literally a 3 minute walk from the dunes. We had some foresight and had packed a bottle of cheap champagne. We grabbed it and a beach blanket and headed to the dunes. We climbed to the top of the nearest large one, popped the cork and enjoyed the moon and stars with the salty smell of the ocean. Once the clouds started to roll in and the champagne bottle was empty, we headed back to camp and went to bed.
The next morning we were greeted to rain.... lots of it. We had expected to get up and explore the dunes for awhile while waiting for Team Yellison to arrive... but with the rain and our dead car we were pretty much stuck. We ate breakfast in the car and prepared for a long wait, as we didn't expect them until about 1pm (it was 9AM). After awhile I remembered that I have a AAA premier membership that I have been paying dues on for like 5 years and haven't ever used. I gave them a call and within 2 hours we had our car jumpstarted. Nearly 10 minutes later, Josh and Linsdey called and told us that they were about 20 minutes away. We drove to meet them and pondered what to do with our day. We eventually decided that lunch and a Movie were in order, and found a nice place in North Bend that had excellent milkshakes and fries. Afterward we saw Julie and Julia, a good, yet forgettable movie. By this time the rain had cleared up, so we headed back to camp to play in the dunes for a little while, play Farkle and get dinner started. We had a second bottle of Champagne, so we did the dune-moon-wine thing a second night.
The next morning was beautiful. We got up early to go visit the Sea Lion caves north of Florence, OR. This is apparently the largest coastal cave by some metric (in Oregon... in the US, in the World... in private ownership? who knows). It is famous because it is generally full of very stinky and loud sea lions. At this time there were none there, so we decided not to spend the $12 to see no sea lions. We, instead, went to a local lighthouse with great views... and a boring tour. There was an older lady and her daughter on the tour with us... both very obese and more than willing to share very personal information with everyone. It made the tour too interesting.
After the tour we went back to the campsite for the big dune hike: from the campground to the ocean! The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, but it was very beautful and involved many different micro-climates.
That evening we played Farkle, ate a nice dinner and sat around the campfire until it was bedtime. The next morning we packed up camp and drove to the Oregon State Fair!
The fair was not great. There were some interesting things to see... but all-in-all the food selections were sub-par. We did try the deep-fried oreos and deep-fried snickers bars. Other things tried were corn-on-the-cob, loaded baked potato, corn dog, Australian potaotes, funnel cake, ice-cream, sausages, onion rings, carmel apples and others.
We got back home on sunday, full, tired and ready for bed.
Enjoy the pictures!
Molly and I drove down on a Thursday evening and set up camp. It was very dark when we arrived and had to leave the car lights on to set up the tent. Unfortunately we did not remember to leave the car running as we did this, and after about 10 minutes with the high-beams on, the car battery went dead. Luckily we had the tent up at that point, so we called Lindsey and Josh and ask them to grab some jumper cables before they left to join us the next morning.
Our campsite was literally a 3 minute walk from the dunes. We had some foresight and had packed a bottle of cheap champagne. We grabbed it and a beach blanket and headed to the dunes. We climbed to the top of the nearest large one, popped the cork and enjoyed the moon and stars with the salty smell of the ocean. Once the clouds started to roll in and the champagne bottle was empty, we headed back to camp and went to bed.
The next morning we were greeted to rain.... lots of it. We had expected to get up and explore the dunes for awhile while waiting for Team Yellison to arrive... but with the rain and our dead car we were pretty much stuck. We ate breakfast in the car and prepared for a long wait, as we didn't expect them until about 1pm (it was 9AM). After awhile I remembered that I have a AAA premier membership that I have been paying dues on for like 5 years and haven't ever used. I gave them a call and within 2 hours we had our car jumpstarted. Nearly 10 minutes later, Josh and Linsdey called and told us that they were about 20 minutes away. We drove to meet them and pondered what to do with our day. We eventually decided that lunch and a Movie were in order, and found a nice place in North Bend that had excellent milkshakes and fries. Afterward we saw Julie and Julia, a good, yet forgettable movie. By this time the rain had cleared up, so we headed back to camp to play in the dunes for a little while, play Farkle and get dinner started. We had a second bottle of Champagne, so we did the dune-moon-wine thing a second night.
The next morning was beautiful. We got up early to go visit the Sea Lion caves north of Florence, OR. This is apparently the largest coastal cave by some metric (in Oregon... in the US, in the World... in private ownership? who knows). It is famous because it is generally full of very stinky and loud sea lions. At this time there were none there, so we decided not to spend the $12 to see no sea lions. We, instead, went to a local lighthouse with great views... and a boring tour. There was an older lady and her daughter on the tour with us... both very obese and more than willing to share very personal information with everyone. It made the tour too interesting.
After the tour we went back to the campsite for the big dune hike: from the campground to the ocean! The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, but it was very beautful and involved many different micro-climates.
That evening we played Farkle, ate a nice dinner and sat around the campfire until it was bedtime. The next morning we packed up camp and drove to the Oregon State Fair!
The fair was not great. There were some interesting things to see... but all-in-all the food selections were sub-par. We did try the deep-fried oreos and deep-fried snickers bars. Other things tried were corn-on-the-cob, loaded baked potato, corn dog, Australian potaotes, funnel cake, ice-cream, sausages, onion rings, carmel apples and others.
We got back home on sunday, full, tired and ready for bed.
Enjoy the pictures!
 |
| Oregon Dunes - 2009 |
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| oregon dunes2 |
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