It's Been Awhile, but We've Been Busy

In the trees

It's been a long time since we've posted hasn't it?  Miss us?  Probably not, but we've been super busy since the last time we had Wi-Fi.  We somehow were able to get 3G and a phone signal while in Diamond Lake Campground...weird, but true so a few posts went up on Facebook while we were 'roughing it'.

We left Seattle over a week ago and headed towards  Crater Lake National Park.   Crater was on 'the list' of places we felt we should visit since we were "close".  After driving on yet another Scenic Byway we landed at Diamond Lake, OR.  Literally.  We never thought we'd stay over a week in one spot, but we did.  The weather has been absolutely perfect since we arrived in Oregon...low to mid 70's to 80's and nights have been pretty cool in the mid to upper 40's.  Before the computer batteries ran dry we wrote about our first few days...here's what we've been up to:

Arrival Day 7/23/2012

We had not figured we’d be in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains past one day much less eight.  We had been looking for a drier area since leaving Seattle and Mt. Rainier behind on Sunday.  After spending the night in Portland, OR our sights were set on a scenic highway to Crater Lake National Park and the surrounding Umpqua National Forest in the Cascade Range.  It was chosen mainly due to the local weather forecast…mid 80’s with low’s mid 40’s and ZERO percent chance of rain.  It has been dead on correct with bright blue skies since our arrival and it’s supposed to remain so for the next 10 days.   Not sure we'll ever leave.

Cooper and Cindi's Mornin' Coffee

We pulled into Diamond Lake Campground late in the day.  It’s a very pretty lake with snow-capped Mount Bailey across the lake from the campground.  After wandering a bit we picked out our site by the lake and set up camp.   Once that was done we decided to make our neighbor Tom jealous by sending out a picture of us enjoying a Foster’s Extra Special Bitter in the late day sunshine.  Who could resist.

As the sun got a bit lower we discovered the second most hungry mosquitoes of the trip…tops still go to the Beartooth, WY ones.  We decided that in order not to be entirely covered in bites we’d need to use our screens on the canopy.  Thank goodness we decided to bring them along so we could enjoy our evenings without the smell of Deep Woods Off.

Day 2- 7/24/2012

Today we discovered that the area we've chosen is chock full of waterfalls.  Who knew?  After our breakfast we headed out to see what kind of hikes were available.  Thankfully the Ranger had several brochures...but honestly who can resist the “Thundering Waters” brochure.  The surrounding area boasts over 24 water falls…located on the Row River, North Umpqua River, Little River or South Umpqua River.  Today we hiked two:  Toketee Falls and Fall Creek Falls.  Tomorrow our plan is to hike Grotto Falls and at least 2 more in that vicinity.
 

Toketee Falls

 'prevention device'

Our first hike today was a really short warm up hike for us…at only ½ mile it was a fairly flat, easy hike along the water.  The picture we had in “Thundering Waters” was sad to say misleading.  It looked as if we could hike out to the base of the falls.  Nope…well if you had a death wish you could probably get all the way down the mountain side and climbed out.  Maybe.  The trail took us through an old-growth forest along the North Umpqua River.  After getting past the 200 steps we arrived at an overlook from which you could see the falls, but not really tell that it dropped over a sheer wall.  That was a shame because the brochure’s picture showed the rock face and surrounding greenery.   Sadly from our perch above you could not appreciate its true beauty.

Toketee Falls

 

Tight fit for 2

Don't look up

The next hike took us further down the road to Fall Creek Falls.  The hike was over a mile through more old growth forest.  Massive trees, huge ferns and some type of moss were all along the creek and trail.  Very lush feeling exactly how we imagined a rain forest.  The trail passed through a very narrow crevice and opened up as it ascended up the mountain side.  The actual water fall reminded us of Cascades out in Giles County, VA…same basic shape, but not quite as wide with far larger trees.

Fall Creek Falls

He'd rather jump it!

Cooper needs help

At this point Cooper decided that he needed to dip his toes in the cold water at the waterfall’s base…except the crazy dog wouldn’t actually go for a true swim.  The trail wandered all the way to the top of the falls and once again we tried to get Cooper swimming in the deep pool.  The dog figured out he could go around the edges rather than swim across so Bill took off his socks and shoes to drag Crazy into the water.  Coop must be missing that particular Lab gene because after 2 swims he figured out he could leap to shallow water.   He’s still fascinated by the creeks, lakes and rivers just not so much when he can’t feel the bottom.

Happy Hour was spent once again on the shore of Diamond Lake looking across to Mount Bailey's snowy top…a perfect ending to our blue sky day.

Day 3  7/25/2012

Rainforest hike

Another day another set of waterfalls…Yasko and Grotto.  These were quite a distance away from our camp site.  As we were heading down the road we came up with our new motto:  "the journey is the destination."  It seems a good way to explain our love of driving back roads…or any road really.  We seem to discover something entertaining or interesting on all the roads we travel.

Timber

Today’s road out followed along the Umpqua River until we reached Glide, OR.  We drove out 16 more miles when we hit the National Forest Road which surprisingly was paved for a few miles before becoming gravel.  It went through a good portion of recently cut timber…and almost got ourselves clobbered by a lumberjack and his HUGE delimber.  He was so busy he did not notice our presence.  Thankfully we noticed him.

Huge trees

Yasko Falls

Finally we reached our first destination at the Lake-in-the- Woods campground…Yasko Falls.  The map claimed it to be a moderate ¾ mile hike which seemed simple enough.  The trail moved through yet another old growth forest of huge trees.  Virginia does not grow these behemoths…wow, no way could we take a chain saw to them.  It was an absolutely beautiful trail- various flowers, ferns, mosses and so much green.  The trail ended at the bottom of a 60 foot waterfall which cascaded down a set of huge boulders.  It looked like thousands of miniature falls all hitting the pond below.

Swimming finally!

We were so far off the beaten path that we had the area to ourselves.  Cooper even got to practice his swimming off leash...don’t tell anyone that we broke the rules.   He’s still missing that Lab Gene, but he did take 2 passes across the pond before he called it quits.

Grotto Falls

Averaging almost 200 mpg!

Once back in the car we retraced our path out to reach our second falls…Grotto.  One of the Park Staff told us about this one yesterday.  She claimed that she thought it was the most beautiful and you could walk behind the fall.  It was mentioned that it had a cave behind it that you could explore.  We had to do this one…it’s not often one can walk behind a wall of water.  Of course Cindi became 'concerned' about the car's gas situation since we were well under her comfort zone of a half a tank of gas.  'No problem' was mentioned quite a few times as we coasted back down the road...conserved quite a bit according to the car's computer.

View from behind

Walking behind the falls

Shower time

The Grotto Falls was really off the beaten path, but it was well worth the drive.  As you see the falls you realize that you can indeed walk behind them.  The water was really cold...although if the campground didn't have hot showers we may have been tempted.

Tomorrow we tackle Mount Thielsen.

Cooper's Personal Assistant

Cooper in Jessi's car

As everyone knows we bought Cooper along for the ride.  He's been a most excellent traveling companion.  Coop has it all figured out.  He goes to sleep as soon as the car's speedometer hits 55 MPH...almost catatonic he'll doze until we stop.  As soon as the car decelerates he pops up and is ready for whatever is about to occur...whether it's a hike, a picnic (his most favorite 'cause it involves food) or just a potty break.  We get back in the car he assumes his position and sleeps until the next stop.  Even hotel rooms have gotten routine for him.  We do wonder what he thinks about all this moving from place to place.

Anyway while we've been in Seattle he's found a new favorite person, Jessi.  She is one of those special people who loves dogs and works for a company called  Fetch.   Over the weekend while we attended to the wedding festivities of Gabe and Leanna she took care of him.  We could not believe how quickly Cooper took to her.  He jumped right into her car...didn't really look back.  As you can tell he chose his most favorite spot and promptly went to sleep.

Treat time at Jessi's!

"Zyborg Eyes" per Jessi

A bit unusual for Cooper to walk away from us so willingly.  Jessi introduced him to her GSD and sent us a few pictures.  It would seem that Cooper has made a few friends while visiting Seattle.  He has never been so calm as he was when Jessi brought him back.  She must be another dog whisper.  

We can't say thanks enough for taking such good care of Cooper.  Thanks Jessi for making Cooper part of your family...if we are ever in the area we will be sure to call.  If you get stationed in Virginia give us a shout we'd love to hear from you!

Jessi and Cooper

*as always pictures to enlarge

Disappointment

Fog rolling in

A disappointing day on the weather front.  We left Seattle this morning and decided to swing by Mount Rainier on our way to Mount St. Helens.  The clouds did not want us to enjoy ourselves too much today.  As we approached Mt. Rainier via Stevens Canyon Road and Paradise Valley Road all we could see really was heavy fog.  The views would have been stunning had there been clear skies.  We'd been pleased had it been even partly cloudy.  Unfortunately it wasn't ideal weather conditions for photography.  You could certainly tell that if one could see through the fog the views would have been beautiful.  We'll have to make a return trip at some point and hope for clear weather.

Cooper wakes up to noise

Male Sooty Grouse

We were able to see something new because as soon as we entered the 'official' Park Entrance off in the middle of the first pull over was a group...or flock...of grouse.  The male was in full display mode.  He was making vocalizations like crazy which caught Cooper's attention. Now if the Bend's Resident Game Bird Man would confirm our identification of a Sooty Grouse (our 1st choice)...or maybe it's a Dusky Grouse we'd be appreciative of his expertise.

Female Sooty

Mt St Helens

We did have a bit of sunshine as we neared the exit from the Park so we could have one last picnic in the area.  Cooper enjoyed his chip and slice of ham.  On we headed on a forest service road which eventually led us to Mount St. Helens.  Got to say the road was fun to drive...the motorcycles zooming past really seemed to like the rolls and pitches.  The official name for the area is Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument...had always figured it was a National Park.  We really felt the need to go see the volcano for a couple of reasons- the event occurred during our lifetime and on Bill's birthday.

Trees blown down by blast

Spirit Lake- trees 'floating'

It is astonishing the amount of destruction that occurred in the area and is still visible.  Few if any trees have rotted...they are still laying where the blast blew through and flattened them.  Spirit Lake has a massive amount of dead trees at one end...floating? It's hard to tell what the trees are doing.  They could be floating or laying in layers of mud. The area really does have an eerie beauty to it.

Mt St Helens- blown out side

The most disappointing part of our day was the amount of cloud cover on Mt St. Helens.  It was windy, cloudy with a few drops of rain and a COLD 49 degrees.  Weird that Medicine Bow Mountain at 10,000 feet was warmer that the measly 4200 feet overlook on NF-99 (National Forest road 99).  No great view of the blown out side...still it was an amazing site to see.  It seems that we will have another area we'll need to revisit in the future.  Now if only we can get a guarantee of a clear, warm day.


*as always click pictures to enlarge

It's Raining in Seattle...what's new about that?

It's a washout kind of day so nothing was done...except for quite a bit of napping by the fellows.  No one wants to see another picture of that do they?  Our sitter is coming shortly to pick up Cooper for a play date while we're at the rehearsal dinner for Gabe & Leanna.

This could prove interesting for Cooper...he loves his people.  We're not sure how he's going to react to someone he's just met take him away from his people.  Pretty sure his conversation would go a little like this:

Cooper..."Where's dinner?" "Does she know to add something extra?"  "Wait!! Does she know about giving me a snack at 9 PM"

It's all about his stomach and the need for us to feed it.  We're pretty sure it's why he keeps us around.

Golden Eagle

Evacuate!

Since someone failed to post the Golden Eagle shot for our trip out to Rainer yesterday we'll leave you with it and a few other goodies.

I've seen signs for Snow Route, Snow Removal, and Hurricane Evacuation, but never for Volcano Evacuation...may be the best road sign ever!

Flowers- no idea what

More flowers- still no idea

Compare and Contrast

Cooper- no stress, no worries

Window washing

Today was all about the driving in traffic...city versus country.  We evidently are back country drivers.  The traffic in the city started making us twitchy and it didn't take long.  As you can tell Cooper wasn't feeling twitchy at all.  He wasn't feeling much of anything...no stress and no worries.  Another thing that made Cindi twitchy...window washers.  She marveled at how they could work while suspended by rope over the side of a building. 

Space Needle from Kerry Park Overlook

This morning we decided to take the opportunity to drive into the downtown area to scope out the location of this weekend's wedding venues.  While we were waiting on our oldest and his wife to arrive it seemed like a good way to hang out in the city.  Did not count on the craziness of the traffic.  Heading into the downtown area we noticed a few things...people drive really fast,  people are really impatient, and the roads are not marked in a clear, concise manner.  The most important thing we learned is that our GPS is wonderful...got us where we needed to be, eventually.  We started wondering how on earth did people drive about this city before GPS.

Mt Rainier

Gravel road to Mt. Rainier

We met up with the kids for lunch and a little catching up.  Afterwards we headed our separate ways.  They headed down to the ferry for a trip out to Bainbridge Island.  We decided to head out to Mount Rainier rather than go out on the ferry.  Far easier with the dog to head out to the mountains than off on the water.  We drove fairly close to Rainier on a gravel road that wound itself up through areas that had been logged not too long ago.

Playing with water

Along the way we found snow on the side of the road and lots of small waterfalls that the melting had created.  We could not take Cooper on any hikes in the Park...those pesky rules.  We could only play around along the roadway.  It was a good day even though we could not hike any of the marked trails.







When we got back to the city and turned to look behind us we caught sight of Mount Rainier one last time. 

City view of Mt Rainier

Butterfly and flowers

Mount Rainier

Dry road to Seattle

We left Boise this morning and headed towards Seattle to attend the wedding of Gabe and Leanna.  Our plan was to drive straight to Seattle by way of Interstate Highway, without our usual side trips...of course it didn't happen.  We left the Interstate in Yakima, WA and headed towards the Cascades and Mount Rainier.  We really could not pass up a scenic highway or byway especially when it's 'on the way'.  The weather seemed to be good and we hoped that the sun was shining on the volcano.

Traffic delay- behind

Traffic delay

As we got on Rt 12 it was pointed out to the driver that there was a highway sign alerting us to the possibility to of traffic delays..."possible 45 minute delays."  Not fun...the driver stated 'they're lying' and off we went looking for a spot to have lunch.

Lunch by the river

After lunch by the river we continued on up the mountain taking in the huge pines, the river and wondering about the lack of traffic delay.  Again it was mentioned that they lied about the delays.  As we got to the top of the next ridge...stopped traffic.  People were out of their cars taking pictures and walking dogs.  It was then mentioned 'maybe they weren't lying'.  It appeared that the delay was due to blasting and cleaning the rock debris off the roadway. 

Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier

Right around the curve from the blast site we had our first view of Mount Rainier...sun shining and bright blue skies against the bright white snow.  Stunning view that we had to ourselves for a few minutes before traffic descended on the overlook.   We stopped at a few overlooks on our way to Seattle, but the sun was shinning on the snow too brightly to photo well.  It really didn't matter it was still a beautiful sight.

Glacier on Mt. Rainier

Tomorrow we're going to wander around the city of Seattle a bit...that'll be different.