Back To Nature

After dropping Christian and Greg off at the airport, Camille and I hightailed it off into the woods.

First stop: Redwoods

The trees are big!

A quiet stroll through fern canyon was exactly what the doctor ordered.

A post-lunch stroll on the quiet foggy beach was also what the doctor ordered.

Some say this selfie angle isn't flattering, but it sure is a great way to include the 300 foot tall trees behind you.

The Redwoods can be spiritually draining. They're just too grandiose. After a few days of strolling amongst the giants we made our way to Oregon. First stop in the new state was Crater Lake National Park. We arrived at the crater just before sunset and just before the fog rolled in. It's a lucky thing we did, as you'll soon see the view we had the next morning.

Found a wonderful little spot to camp just outside of the park boundaries.

And the next day this was our view of the lake within the crater. Glad we made the extra drive to see it the evening before! Okay, time to move on!

Found a couple nice waterfalls on our way north to Bend.

This second fall was pretty incredible as it forced its way through these spectacular basalt columns and crashed into the beautiful blue pool below.

Before getting to Bend, we stopped for a quick coffee break and talked to a local who gave us a great recommendation for some natural hot springs nearby. 

Just on the shore of East lake are some small thermal streams coming out of the ground. Some people have dug out small holes to create little hot spring pools right on the edge of the lake. Half of the year they are under water but we came at the right time and luckily had the place to ourselves. It was quite shallow but felt superb, especially with the cool fall breeze.

Then on the way back to the main road we stopped at a place called the big obsidian flow. A complete surprise to us, we found ourselves on top of a full square mile of piles of shiny black obsidian, a result of a very recent lava flow in the area. Super cool!

We camped nearby in the Deschutes National Forest and then checked out some falls nearby in the morning. Not bad!

Then finally to Bend to visit some old friends of mine. Of course we had to show Camille the lava tube caves.

 It was a brief visit as we had much more to see but it was great catching up with the Bend gang.

On the way north we stopped at Smith Rock State Park for a couple days of climbing and hiking.

We setup Christian's tent (our 2nd time ever sleeping together in a tent!) right by the cliff overlooking the park. What a great spot to sit with a beer and watch the sunset.

Then we checked out Portland for an afternoon, visiting Powell's bookstore and Great Notion Brewing. And before you know it we were driving into Washington State!

After many hours of driving we stopped for a nice hike to a lake. 

The lake had rabbits.

And kind of a view of Mt. Rainier

Another camping spot and another nice hike nearby brought us to this cute little waterfall.

Then we headed to Seattle to visit Matt and Yuri who had very recently moved there from Boston. More to come on that soon!