Blogs from Oregon, United States, North America - page 98

These past few days have been a blast! We got my dad and Vanessa from the airport in San Francisco. We drove around and saw Fisherman's Wharf, and we drive down Lombard Street. To get to Lombard Street (a.k.a. the most crooked road in the U.S) we had to drive up a really steep hill at about a 45 or greater degree angle. As a family we ate at this burrito place called La Corneta and there was live Mariachi music in the restaurant. I thought my burrito was pretty good maybe around a 9.3 because I don't remember the details of that particular burrito. Paulo wrote: Ellie gave me the opportunity to write a bit about my impressions about northern California and Oregon. The drive up from San Francisco to the redwoods area is wonderful: ... read more

Crater Lake was our first camping experience without men. No Juan Rambo to wake us with hot coffee and a brush up with mountain lion/bear survival skills. No Texas Red and splitting a bottle of wine three ways--the bottle was up to us this time. Building a fire was all ours. Scaring the bears with the manliest and growliest yawps we could muster was our task alone. Juan Rambo told us and we quote, "What I like to do is pick up a large boulder and then smash it because it makes a lot of noise." Umm. Thanks Juan Rambo, but we might not be able to lift the giant boulders! Perhaps we could instead go into cheerleader formation and look taller and scarier than a bear that way. Bears in the campground? Who cares? J. ... read more

July 22nd Columbia River Gorge,OR to Girabaldi,OR We finally saw it-the Pacific Ocean! I went down and touched the water just to say I did! We drove from Columbia River Gorge to the northern part of the Oregon Coast at Cannon Beach. Our first look-and it is so different from the Atlantic we are used to. It is quite wild and untamed. The fog was rolling in and it was gray but beautiful. It is so weird to see mountains that come almost right up to the beach. There are huge rock croppings that are right on the sand. We say Haystack Rock.I think it's the biggest monolith(?) in the US? Another unusual thing is that there are not many people. Back east the beach would be packed. We walked a little around Cannon Beach and ... read more

Our drive through eastern Oregon to Crater Lake gave a full impression of the hardships that lined the original Oregon Trail. Even today in 2009 the state is made very difficult to navigate through due to lack of signs, constant road work, and rollercoaster roads. The most shocking thing was the change from desert to volcano to near-rainforest weather. The moisture in the air went from non-existent to oppressive. When we approached the park office pay-$10-booth at Crater Lake and I asked if there was camping, I was given a mysterious non-committal response and told there was road work causing delays, the campground was "far away" and I should turn around unless I "really wanted to see the lake". By the girl's tone of voice she didn't seem to suggest I did really want to see ... read more

View of the Columbia River and the postcard view. This was where I first saw the Bridge of the Gods.I had driven almost 3,000 miles altogether to see this bridge. It was August and river chiggers and gnats abound,along with all kinds of other summer insects but none of that bothered me.Alone with that river just changed my life.I reflected upon my journey and what I had been through.I had traveled so far and now it was starting to feel like home.... read more