Blogs from Oregon, United States, North America - page 17

Geo: 45.0148, -123.016Happy sunny afternoon from Salem, Oregon! (Dzień dobry! in Polish)We're packed and leaving on a jet plane in the morning for our Eastern Europe adventure. Three countries in 10 days on this whirlwind. We plan to blog (somewhat), but will probably spend less time writing this trip and just stick to posting pictures and captions as we go. Here's our ambitious itinerary:Mon, September 26, 2016 – Depart PDX 10:30 AMSeptember 27, 2016 -- Arrival in PragueSeptember 28, 2016 -- PragueSeptember 29, 2016 -- Bus Trip from Prague to Český KrumlovSeptember 30, 2016 – Prague, Overnight Rail Journey from Prague to BudapestOctober 01, 2016 -- Arrival in BudapestOctober 02, 2016 -- BudapestOctober 03, 2016 – Budapest, Overnight Rail Journey to KrakowOctober 04, 2016 -- Arrival at KrakowOctober 05, 2016 – Krakow, Guide... read more

Geo: 45.7056, -121.52After finishing our hikes at the Clarnounit, we drove on to Hood River in the Columbia River Gorge and our hotel for the next two nights, the Westcliff Lodge. The lodge was originally the Vagabond Lodge when I made the reservations but changed its name a few weeks before our arrival. We had gotten an e-mail announcing the name change, but I missed it and Anne, though she remembered the e-mail, couldn't remember the new name. So finding it was a little challenging but after searching for a bit and actually asking for directions, we arrived and checked in. It turned out to be a very nice place with several buildings built right on the banks of the Columbia River with some really pretty views. Our roomwas on a ground floor of one of ... read more

Geo: 44.2911, -121.548Since we had already done Smith Rock State Park and had no desire to visit it again, we moved up our plans to hike another section of the Pacific Crest Trail. This trailhead was about 20 miles west of the town of Sisters at the summit of McKenzie Pass on Hwy 242. The highway, also called the McKenzieHighway, passes through a large lava field that flowed from two volcanoes, Belknap Crater which erupted 1,700 years ago and Little Belknap which erupted only 1,600 years ago. The Dee Wright Observatory is in the middle of this lava field about a quarter of amile before McKenzie Pass. It is a structure built using the lava rocks that consists of a small room atop a mound of the lava. The room has view ports through which one ... read more

Geo: 45.3308, -121.71Our flight left GSP at 5:30 AM, which meant getting up at “0 dark thirty” on Tuesday for the drive to the airport. The early departure from home allowed us to arrive in Portland around 11 AM (PDT) and then drive on to the Timberline Lodge where we would spend the next two nights. The author of the book “Wild” had described the sections in Oregon in such a way as to make the trail seem like a good one for day hikes, with relatively easy access to scenic sections at several points . The most promising was access from this iconic, historical Timberline Lodge on the south flank of Mount Hood where she had rested overnight before her final 50 miles to the Oregon/Washington border where she ended her hike. The trail crosses ... read more

After a nice night of sleep, I got up and drank coffee while watching two birds play in the bushes near my tent, I tried to focus on them and not think about the great unknown that lay in front of me. I had spent several weeks before my trip looking through tourist guides and internet forums, cataloging potential places to stay and things to see, starting with the northern-most section and working south. I had planned through Honeyman Park, and then simply run out of time. The entirety of my plan for the rest of Oregon was "head south". Before I did that though, I needed to head north. Rather than head for the next town, I backtracked to Florence under a misting rain. The first task of the day, as with so many mornings ... read more