Surgery Day

What a better way to celebrate our two-year Anniversary than to take Oso to the vet first thing in the morning for his knee surgery.  There was a little sticker-shock with the price, but we both know it will be worth it to get years of hiking and playing down the road from this expensive pound puppy.  Luckily the vet was super nice and accomidating and explained the procedure and everything that would follow.  She even seemed to like Oso a lot who was bellowing in excitement throughout the entire pre-operation appointment.  An overnight stay was included in the price so the two of us headed to Portland's famous rose gardens before heading to a nearby hotel recommended by Grayson, a friend of Robbie’s. 

The Grand Lodge in Forest Grove, Oregon was like nothing either of us had seen before.  It is owned by this company (McMenamins) that buys old historic buildings (schoolhouses and in this case a Masonic Lodge) and turns them into hotels/bars/concert venues/breweries/distilleries.  Each room looks like it is straight out of 1920 (in a good way) and they did a huge remodel 10 years ago and added artwork over all of the walls and plenty of other great touches.  Highly recommend these places for the experience and the price ($60/night) if you are ever in and around Portland.  We celebrated making it two years with a great dinner and drinks and found out Oso’s surgery was a success.  Fun times.

Portland day #1

The plan for today was mainly to drive to Portland to meet up with Catherine, Beth’s good friend from Denison.  Being on a road trip and having the freedom to take stupid detours, we drove well out of our way in the morning to a little town in far Northwestern Oregon called Astoria.  For those of you born in the Eighties, you might remember this as the town that the film Goonies took place in.  After finding the house where the movie started and taking a cheesy picture in front, we were en route to Portland. 

Catherine took us down to the art/hipster neighborhood around Mississippi Street for more local beer and amazing pizza.  The three of us and Oso wandered around the neighborhood for a while checking out a few shops including this ingenious store filled with old/used building materials ranging from toilets and tiles to old wood doors and recycled lumber.  Luckily our car was too full for Robbie to fill it up with some unneeded “junk”.  That night, we both took some much-needed showers and rode our bikes down to Mississippi again to a Mexican cantina Catherine was raving about.  We got some dangerously strong margaritas and wonderful tacos before bar hopping the rest of the night around that area.  At the end of the day, we both agreed that Portland would not be too bad of a city to live in (but do not worry, we are still on our way back to Colorado).  Now bedtime (literally this time… in an actual bed).  

Oregon Coast day #3

Beth is a great girlfriend.  Sitting around on this Sunday morning talking about hikes and what to do along the Oregon coast, she miraculously remembered that the US was playing Brazil in the cup final that morning.  After scrambling around and grabbing a quick shower, we drove to the nearest town (Tillamook) and started looking around for a sports bar.  This is not the easiest thing to find in a sleepy town on a Sunday morning.  Robbie eventually found a hotel bar that had a tv in it and asked if he could turn it on and watch the game.  This isn’t a soccer blog so the game will not be dissected, but the US team surprised everyone by giving Brazil a good fight and showing that they were for real.  Hopefully the same team shows up next summer to the World Cup.

After watching the game and enjoying a couple local beers and amazing carnitas nachos, we decided to head 2 minutes up the road to check out the main attraction in town:  the Tillamook cheese factory.  The factory is best summed up by the indescribable but nonetheless overwhelming smell of milkfat that hits you in the face walking in the front door.  The factory was packed but we still managed to stand in a surprisingly long line for cheese samples and then a way too rich mudslide ice cream cone.  The best thing to do with beers, nachos, cheese, and ice cream in our stomachs seemed to be to stop by a jerky store and get some samples there.  After this great idea we did a beautiful run/hike on a nearby trail overlooking the ocean (sorry we forgot the camera though) and Robbie somehow managed not to puke up the afternoon’s indulgences.  After this it was game time again followed by bed.

Oregon Coast day #2

It seems as though a lot of people are taking this entire next week off before the Fourth and taking our campsites.  After many frustrating “Campsite Full” brown signs along the road, we eventually found one just south of Tillamook, Oregon (like the cheese).  After a quick lunch and letting Oso roll around in the soft green grass (which he barely got to do in California) we put him in his crate and went on a nearby hike.  It was beautiful.  The trail wound down the front side of a mountain to end up in a little cove beach area with cliffs to one side and empty white sand beaches to the other (see pictures below).  Pathetically, all we could notice was all of the dogs happily running around us (kidding… mostly).  On the way back to the campsite we stopped at a little store up the road that sells seventy-something types of jams, mustards, and other various dips.  After trying every single sample with the little pretzel sticks they gave us, we bought an amazing spicy artichoke dip made in the store as well as a local spicy mustard since we were getting low.  The dip barely lasted once we were back to the campsite, but we didn’t totally ruin our appetite.  After dinner we played a few games (which are definitely getting more and more competitive as the trip goes on) and went to bed with our depressed doggie.

Oregon Coast

Next on the agenda was the sand dunes and coast of Oregon so we packed up camp and headed west.  We actually are getting scarily good at taking down the tent and packing the car.  This morning probably took less than twenty minutes to do everything.  Go us. 

Once we were in the car we had a serious talk about what to do with Oso and what it meant for the rest of the trip.  After doing some research online (you can too) on Patellar Luxations in dogs we realized he wasn’t going to get any better with rest.  Earlier this spring he started limping after runs on the beach or a lot of activity.  The vet diagnosed him with PL (which basically means his kneecap slides way out of its groove) and told us surgery would have to happen at some point.  With our crazy summer, we thought this meant after we were settled back in Colorado this fall or winter.  With all of the hiking and fun times he has had this trip, his kneecap now will not even stay in place when we push it back.  After some phone calls we found a great veterinary surgical center in Portland and have an appointment and surgery time set for next Tuesday, the 30^th. 

While the timing is not ideal, we are glad the three of us got to see wonderful places like the Redwoods in California and Crater Lake in Oregon.  We will not be cutting the whole adventure too short as we still want to visit friends in Portland to celebrate the Fourth as planned and then Seattle for a long-overdue visit and wedding for one of Robbie’s good friends.  We will still do our best to fit in hikes and the like in between taking care of Oso post-op, but the next two weeks look to be action packed in a different way than anticipated. 

After a stressful morning we reached Florence, Oregon and had a greasy but yummy lunch that really hit the spot and took Oso for a little walk around the harbor area.  We quickly stopped by the sand dunes south of there and walked around in the howling wind for a bit before leaving due to potential for “sneaker” waves.  Robbie’s mom warned us repeatedly to be careful around the coasts of Oregon and it worked because we got away from the beautiful beach as soon as we could (kidding ;)).  We headed north and found a tiny campsite (which was the last available one for miles) nestled away in some trees before going to sleep.  

Eugene, OR day #2

Sadly, one of the first things we saw this morning was Oso limping around and not putting any weight on his bad knee (more on that later), so we decided to give him a day off from hiking, running, etc.  After putting Oso in his crate, we left for a quick run around the state park and nothing much to report besides the fact that it was Beth’s first time running since her foot surgery almost two months ago. 

In the afternoon we got tapioca bubble teas (which were way too sweet) and walked around Eugene and the University of Oregon campus.  It was a very beautiful campus with huge balls of flowers that Beth was fascinated with and just a good overall atmosphere.  If we weren’t moving back to Colorado, we both think Oregon would be a great place to live (but then again we aren’t witnessing all of the rain that makes everything so green).  After a run to the beer store to get some local beers for Robbie, we went back to camp and took Oso down to the swimming area at the lake and just relaxed.  Still limping L…  We are going to have to figure something out for that poor dog.

Eugene, OR

After much needed showers, we were on the road bright and early on our way to Eugene.  We rushed to find a parking spot and a sports bar because the US soccer team was playing against Spain (the #1 ranked team in the world) in a tournament in South Africa.  In a huge upset, we beat Spain 2-0 and it was a great game all around.  Sorry to be talking about a soccer game in a road trip blog, but not much else happened of note today.

We found Oso a sweet dog park with swimming pools and plenty of friends since he had been in the car all day and it was getting hot.  Then we spent the rest of the afternoon in the Eugene Public Library catching up on Internet stuff and having a grand time taking two algebra quizzes and a test before grabbing dinner next to the University of Oregon campus.  Finding a campsite for the night proved to be more difficult than we planned, but we settled in next to a big lake in a peaceful state park.  Good night.

Crater Lake day #3

Being from the Midwest we thought mosquitoes only got bad around dusk; apparently with the conditions just right in Crater Lake they swarm at all times of day (not a fun thing to wake up to at dawn).  Even as we went to sleep the night before we could hear a constant humming of the mosquitoes trying to get into our tent.  But enough complaining about bugs...  We had a few hikes we wanted to do around Crater Lake, but the majority of them were still closed due to snow.  We drove halfway around the rim (the east half was closed) and hiked down to the only point you could legally access the lake.  Holy crap that water was blue.  The lake is barely above freezing and is something like 2,000 feet deep (Lake Superior is about 1,300 for comparison) and not to get into the physics of it all, but this is why it is sooooo blue. 

Even though we were freezing when we woke up, at this point it was close to 80 degrees so we got a nice big ice cream cone to end the day.  We decided to go back to the campsite and brave the mosquitoes for a bit and hang out before our evening’s event.  The Park Service was hosting a talk by a geologist/volcanologist named Charles Bacon.  We were interested (because we are dorks) and decided to check it out, but were nervous we would be the only two people there.  We were wrong.  The place was packed wall to wall (maybe due to the mosquito onslaught outside) and the talk was great.  Then bed time after killing a few rouge mosquitoes in the tent with Oso’s help.

Crater Lake day #2

After sleeping in, we got in the car and headed downhill, out of the park where Oso was welcome (sorry to complain so much about dogs not being allowed in National Parks, but its our blog, so deal with it).  Robbie stopped by a ranger station and found a handful of things for us to spend the day doing.  The first trail was pleasant and went along the Rouge River before ending at some huge boulders and a waterfall.  The ranger had said the other hike nearby just gave you a different view of the falls so we almost moved on but decided to check it out just in case.

It was true that it did offer a view downstream of the falls we had seen earlier, but after taking the right at a fork in the trail we found a massive waterfall just shooting out of the hillside.  Again, pictures do not do its beauty justice.  It was a very steep trail down that was interesting to tackle with an eager dog but being at the bottom of the falls literally took your breath away (Robbie thinks the word “literally” is overused, but it really was hard to breathe next to the pounding water and mist).  We also had perfect timing and had the entire base of the waterfall all to ourselves for at least 20 mintues so we could take all of the amazing pictures we wanted and Oso could frolick around in the mist and moss-covered landscape.

Here the Rouge River (which is roaring this time of year due to the snowmelt) dives into an old lava chute and roars underground for 200 feet.  The ranger told us how people and animals used to get sucked in until they updated the surrounding area and put in fences everywhere.  It is easy to see why and again (we will probably be saying this a lot over the road trip) the pictures do not do it justice.  Hundreds of thousands of gallons of 38 degree water was just rushing into a relatively small opening and then shooting out downriver.  Crazy stuff.

After surviving the water tube of death we got a huge ice cream cone and headed back into Crater Lake National Park.  We figured since we were sleeping in the shadow of this former mountain that exploded 7,000 years ago and left a beautiful natural wonder in its place we should check it out.  Again, TPDNDIJ (the pictures do not do it justice).  The water is like glass and is such a deep blue color it is insane.  Eventually we made it back to our campsite after a long day and played some games while dealing with tons of mosquitoes that are apparently breeding in the melting snow surrounding our tent.  Whew, that was an action packed day.  Goodnight.

Crater Lake NP, OR

We started Father’s Day out by arguing over how the car should be packed before hitting the road.  Actually not really arguing as much as filling the stereotypical male and female roles for a car trip.  Spent most of the day in the car and stopped for lunch and happened to catch the end of the US-Egypt soccer game which was a pleasant surprise.  

Oso's giant stick collection

As we got closer to our destination (Crater Lake, Oregon) it became apparent that we would need to bundle up.  We booked a campsite anyways among the melting snow (the lake rim is at about 7,000 ft and in one winter in the 1930’s had 70 ft of accumulated snow).  Even though our license plates are California, we didn’t want to be wimpy about the below-freezing temperatures that night so we just reminded each other that we were moving to Leadville, Colorado and we had better learn to embrace the cold.

It ended up being too cold to sit around drinking wine and beer and playing the games we bought at Walmart earlier that day, so we just went to sleep.  Luckily the three of us made it through the night without any frostbite or hypothermia.  

Redwoods day #2

Waking up at 6:30 in the morning wasn’t so bad given that we were surrounded by huuuuge redwoods.  After breakfast we drove to a nearby trail that sounded appealing and spent the morning hiking through massive trees and ending up at a little waterfall out into the ocean.  Overall it was an amazing hike with amazing trees, bridges, snakes and slugs but since it was within National Park boundaries, Oso had to wait in the car.

Feeling so guilty about leaving him in the car, we headed to one of the state beaches where dogs were allowed off leash.  Oso had a great time running around the millions of hollow crab shells littered about and found a claw that felt like it had some meat left in it.  Being the considerate dog owner that she is, Beth tried to crack open the shell only to be squirted by the unmistakable smell of rotting meat.  Yum.

On our way into the Park we had noticed a 60’ tall Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox tourist trap and had to go back.  The trap worked so well that we strongly considered paying $14 each to ride a gondola through the trees but just felt wrong about doing that.  So instead we visited the “largest non-funded Native American Museum in the US” which was actually amazing and bought a handmade bear statue to mark the end of our time in California.

Still wanting to wear Oso out before dinner/bedtime we stopped by another amazing beach with black sand and huge piles of bleached white driftwood.  Beth commented that the driftwood looked liked piles of bones and even found one that looked just like a pelvis.  Luckily she realized it was a rotting elk carcass and didn’t pick this one up for Oso.

Redwoods, CA

Wanting to escape the unending wind, we packed up and set the GPS to “Redwoods”.  Having learned our lesson about camping reservations we got online (which by the way we have access because Beth has one last prereq to take online before PA school) and booked a campsite for a couple nights.  On the way we would have to drive through Humbolt County, California, which will have certain connotations with weed-oriented individuals.  Basically when we stopped at a recommended pizza place in Arcata for lunch we were the only people not completely stoned or dreadlocked.  There even was this kid in the town square with a pet goat tied up on a string that sounded appealing given the trouble we had finding a hike we could do with Oso. 

Eventually we arrived in what seemed to be Jurassic Park and confirmed the reservation and headed downhill to our campsite. Coolest location ever.  Situated within an old grown redwood grove next to a racoonless stream with thick moss and ferns covering everything we were set.  After a quick walk around the campsite during which we somehow almost got lost it was time for bed.

Point Reyes, CA day #2

Even though we awoke a bit angry at Oso for his constant growling the night before, we managed to do a great hike on a nearby trail before packing up to leave.  Not much of note from the hike besides it was Beth’s first real hike since her foot surgery.

Hike #1 through a beautiful meadow. 

After packing up the car again we drove out to the Point Reyes lighthouse, which seemed like a relaxing way to leave the Bay area.  Instead the weather changed from sunny and warm to scary foggy and gusting winds.  In the lighthouse parking lot we were honked at to let us know that our car top had opened up on the bumpy road and dropped a few of it contents (as far as we could find, 2 chairs and a tarp).    The pictures below do not do the constant wind and clouds as well as the drastic surrounding cliffs justice.  All we could talk about was how miserable it would be to live there and attend said lighthouse.  Robbie thought that drinking a lot of scotch would be the only solution. 

We left that day northward to look for a campsite.  Pessimistically we pulled up to a “full campground” sign and asked if they knew of any places in the county to sleep.  They luckily had one place left for a night and it ended up being the ONLY campsite that was protected from the howling wind. 

 The town we were staying nearby was called Bodega Bay and rung a bell with the two of us and after a phone conversation with the parentals we knew our guess about it being the location of The Birds was in fact correct. 

This entry is seeming long but we had to add that before going to sleep we wanted to escape the wind and sand (being sick of both having lived in Morro Bay) and headed inland to Guerneville.  Our visit is best summed up by the following anecdote:  walking across a green footbridge over the Russian River, a kid from a group of local boys yelled through a toothless grin “Hey, ‘dose are some nice sunglasses ya got dere!”  After this we dipped Oso in the river since it was mighty hot out and headed back to the evil birds.

Point Reyes, CA

It was now time to reorganize the car before officially beginning the road trip (no showers/running hot water).  After convincing Robbie the car was acceptable, we were off to Point Reyes National (or as Beth asked later “Aren’t all sea shores ‘natural’?”) Seashore.  After stopping for a much needed burger and great white shark warning in Stimson Beach, CA we were in Pt. Reyes.  Did you know that you need a reservation at least 10 days in advance to camp in most areas of California?  Not really, but that’s what it felt like when we showed up looking for our first place to sleep.  But this “blog” isn’t for complaining, so we will stop digressing. 

Stinson Beach, CA

Never saw any great white's thankfully!

We found a huge beach to relax on after finding a campsite and met some people who were obviously from Berkeley ;).  The campsite for the night was adjacent to a stream and a wetland and came with a warning about raccoons.  At 3 in the morning we found out why when Oso’s singing mouse toy magically turned on signaling the beginning of an all night battle between us and two brave raccoons.  

Our first campsite at Point Reyes

Point Reyes Beach