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Published: June 28th 2008
Oregon Coast
a lone haystack off the coast of OregonWe took full advantage of Tims' hospitality and not only showered but washed some of our clothing. Amber was actually ended up doing it and she turned it into a bit of a game - "who has the dirtiest clothing". The level of dirtiness was measured by how many rinses it took before the water didn't turn black anymore. I am proud to say that the original Schwalm family (jeff and I) both tied at like 5 rises (which is pretty damn dirty) - the water was disgusting (poor Amber).
Healdsburg, CA (Sonoma)
We got a late start that morning and headed out to Sonoma. He hadn't been on the road for more then 30 minute when we made a stop at the first (of many) breweries (Sudwerks). I have to admit, I really love having a brewery theme mixed into the road trip - this proved to add a number of fun (and unique stops) to our road trip. When we got to the brewery we where comforted by the fact that there was one other person having a beer (it was before noon). 12 samples later we left and made a quick stop at a thrift
Flight of Beer
One of the many stops at a brewery along the way store then continued to Healdsburg (Sonoma) and its wine.
Healdsburg ended up being a ton of fun and a good chance for us to experience the CA wine scene without feeling too much like a tourist. We did the typical wine tours (we where the only one at the 4 different wineries we went to) but then headed into town for a local market and outdoor music event that goes on every Tuesday. We stuffed ourselves with fresh peaches, tamales and then listened to some music in the park. We made a trip to a local brewery - got some BBQ oysters - a six pack and headed back to the outdoor festival. We made camp at a local park....all in all a great day.
Redwood National Forest
We all got up extra early today - this was a day we had all been looking forward to, the first time that we'd get to see some Redwood Groves. We all fall into our positions - Jeff driving, Amber Sleeping, Chris reading and make our way up to the northern most point of California - Redwood National Park.
Breweries:
* Sudwerk Brewery - Davis, CA
*
Clovers
Clovers and redwoods always seem to be together
Bear Republic Brewing Co - Sonoma, CA
* Six River Brewery - McKinleyville, CA
* Pizza Co-Wild River Brewery - Harbor, OR
* Mad River or Three River ?????
* Rogue Brewery - Newport, OR
* D'shuettes (no idea how to spell it) - Portland, OR
* Lucky Labrador - Portland, OR
* Tug Boat Brewery - Portland, OR
* Rogue Brewery - Portland, OR
* 2 more that I forgot the names of.
We are all so excited about the trees that even Jeff (Mr. efficiency) agrees that we should take every scenic route possible, so we do that. We do all the things you are supposed to do on a road trip! We drive through a tree (boy Amber was very nervous about her car getting scratched), we get out and link arms trying to reach around the trees (and get less then half way). We all pose for tons of pics, Jeff attempts to climb one, we go on lots of short little hikes, we moon people (not really), we basically just slowly work our way up to the Redwood National Park.
The redwoods truly are breathtaking. There is something almost enchanting about not
Wine Time!!!
Part of our little winery tour in Sonoma (Healdsburg) only there size, but also all the time/history that they represent. Most of these trees have been around for thousands of years. Most of the smallish branches in these trees have more history they the United States. One of the ranger stations had an interesting exhibit - it was a slice of a downed tree - which they had counted all the age rings and put markers at historical events . It was pretty cool to see how things as early as the Magna Carta happened halfway through the life of this (comparable young) tree. I was impressed.
That evening we hiked into a Old Growth Redwood forest and setup camp along a small river. We scouted all around the area looking for the "perfect camp spots". I had been looking forward to camping among the redwoods and discovered the perfect spot - underneath some low-hanging branches - right next to a hollowed out section of the tree truck. The forest floor was covered with soft leaves that would have been great to sleep on....it would have been great to sleep on but while we were making camp I spotted 3 small dead animals in that hollowed out section
Redwood Tree
MASSIVE TREES of the tree truck. It looks like we tried to make camp in someone else's home - exactly who's home it was was something that worried us for a while. Most likely it was a fox (the animals looked like chipmunks and squirrels or small possums) but we were more concerned that it might be a mountain lion (and yes they are in that area) or even sasquatch (and yes he is in that area too). So we quickly packed up camped and moved down the river a ways.
That night we had a huge tin foil dinner, a few beers, and a game or two of rummy. Another great day.
Newport Oregon
Our time along the Oregon Coast was similar to the day that I just described, but instead of stopping to check out the tree's we checked out the Oregon coastline. The coast in this part of the country is really raw and beautiful in that way. You typically have to hike through some old forest, with trees covered in moss along small streams with lots of little waterfalls. The beach it self often has driftwood piles, bone white from its time in the sun,
Ferns and Family
Portrait in the Redwood forest ferns a few surfers in full body suits, and even a couple of camp fires. The woods come right up to the sand. There are tidal pools all over and normally large rock formations just off the coast. Another of the many amazing sites that we saw. This place would be perfect if the water was warm or at least not FREEZING cold. You definitely don't seen girls frolicking in bikinis in this part of the country. But I guess it fits better with the environment.
This part of the trip was broke up with a number of brewery stops, short hikes along the beach, and few daring toe dips into the water - but never more then that 😊
We spent the night in Newport, which is the home of the "famous" Rogue brewery. This brew pub was right out of the movies. Small little fishing village, half empty pub along a pseudo harbor, all the people in the bar had beards and were definitely not from out of town. We fit right in with our dirty camping cloths and REI. I think one guy even had sea weed stuck in his beard - Jeff felt very much at
example of tree size
and this isn't even a large one! home (j/j)
Portland
So we finally turned inland from the coast, arriving in Portland welcomed by a friendly good of hippies/bums looking for money for beer, playing hackie-sack, giving out free hugs, and sitting with their feet in the water of park fountains. Good vibes. It was a beautiful day and everyone was out and about enjoying it. We got a hotel downtown and rode the public transportation to meet up for a brewery crawl with Haley (and my) friends Morgan and Alex. A great night - memories the second half of the night are somewhat clouded in my mind, like an unfiltered Hefeweizen (of which we had many). Oregon takes pride in their IPA's and we enjoyed many a round of those as well. The brewery scene is pretty incredible. We visited about 5 and never had to walk more then a few blocks. All the beer was top notch - I'm eager to go back. Both Morgan and Alex are very familiar with the area and showed us a great time that night.
Columbia River Gorge
Our last day was spent exploring the Columbia river gorge - a great way to end the
River Reflection
by our campsite in Redwood national forest trip! It was a pretty exciting day - we saw tons of waterfalls (as you can tell by the photos) - met Smoke Bear, locked our keys in the car, and hiked up a river with ice cold water. The day was topped off with a trip to the Nike Employee Store (thanks to Morgan) which was pretty incredible.
I have done a bit of traveling, mostly to locations outside of the US. But I constantly impressed with my own country. The US has natural beauty that rivals almost all other countries (well not NZ). These past two trip to the Western US (the first to the Zion area with Haley, and now the North West) have been real eye openers. Unfortunately I think that when people visit the states they go to NY or LA and rarely get a chance to see our national parks. I was pretty excited when in Yosemite I met a international group that was involved with a program called Trek America. Trek America focuses on bringing international traveler to our state parks (good for them). I've seen a lot of this country but I have much more to go - I'm most excited
about getting back to Utah and up to Alaska. This truly has been an epic trip - and I'm looking forward to my next one (Egypt). Thanks Jeff and Amber!
Extreme Locations that we visited:
- Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in the United States
- Multnomah Falls is a the tallest waterfall in Oregon and is is also the second-highest year-round waterfall in the United States
- Mono lake is the oldest lake in North America (at least a million years old)
- Mono lake is also the most alkaline lake in the country (and we swam in it, 2nd most in the world)
- Badwater Basin (Death Valley), California (−282 feet; −86 meters) — lowest point in all of US territory
- Highest Average temperature in the US goes to Death Valley as well, and highest temp ever (134)
- The Oregon coast also has the worlds largest sea lion cave
- Portland is home to more breweries than any other city in the country.
- D River, Lincoln City Oregon - Worlds shortest river
- Depeo Bay, Oregon - Worlds Smallest Bay
- Redwood National Park - Home of the worlds tallest tree.
Waterfall
Group shot at another waterfall. Oregon is full of waterfalls like this!
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Margie
non-member comment
Looks like an awesome trip, Chris!! The Oregon coastline is definitely inspiring, and clearly you picked a great time of year to see all the greenery. If you ever need a guide around parks in Utah or Colorado, let me (or better, my dad) know and we'd be more than happy to show you around.