Oregon

We've gotten a lot of miles under our belts in the past 4 days. On Sunday we (Karen, Jordan and I) visited Astoria. A cute little town at the mouth of the Columbia River. A center of fish canning in the early days, now mostly a tourist destination. Lots of nifty Victorian homes.

Monday, Jordan and I took off for Crater Lake.  it is a trip from here, about 4 1/2 hours south. Crater lake is a misnomer. if you think an asteroid created it or something, it didn't.  It was created by a massive explosion of the volcano inside the mountain.  The explosion made a perfect pit, 2000 feet deep, which sealed itself and filled with the bluest water you've ever seen.  Jordan said it looked like jewelry, it was so deep blue. We hiked all around the area, even had to cross some snow to get to the trail.  fortunately it was not as hot there as anticipated, about 79 degrees, so a pleasant day for a walk.  At an altitude of 7800 feet, I could feel the exertion more than usual and had to catch my breath a few times. There are a bunch of volcanoes from British Columbia to Northern California along the Cascade mountain range.

We concluded our day by driving to Bend and staying the night. Of course, a brew pub was on the to-do list (there are dozens of them in Oregon) and then after the pub, we crashed.  Tuesday, we walked around town and the park.  I was disappointed to not find any rapids or kayakers, and despaired of seeing any.  Not to worry, though, we were just not looking in the right place.  We visited with Jordan's cousin, Amanda who lives with her husband Kyle and their two little boys in Bend, and they told us where to find the rapids.  It was within walking distance of their place, so we took a trek and sure enough, rapids and kayakers.

After our walk, we took off for the return trip to Portland. The heat was rising rapidly as we left, but by the time we reached a little town called Indian Head in a valley near Mount Hood, the thermometer read 108.  I didn't believe it, but a marquee in the town read 109, so it must have been true.  Jordan rolled down the window and an oven wave of heat came rolling in.  The air conditioning was hardly able to keep up with the mass of heat.

By the time we were on the slopes of Mt. Hood, the temp had fallen 20 degrees, thankfully. Tomorrow I leave (sadly) for California (happily), so there will be more tales to tell from there.