But then, Nana arrived! Today we went for a walk along the Fall River.
I made sure we were on track, frequently checking our direction on my compass.
From the Forest Service website: Fall River is a beautiful spring-fed stream flowing through rolling pine forest. Clear and cold, it springs full-blown from the ground. This is where the river originates.
After Fall River, we had lunch at Devil’s Lake.
This week, The Bigs bought Lion’s Mane mushrooms and served them with lamb chops and beans. I’m not sure what the big deal was about. A mushroom is a mushroom and they are all gross – in my opinion. I know GG Marie will back me up on that!
Last weekend Dad wanted to ride the Crater Rim Trail, but I wussed out. So he rode it by himself. Looks like it was beautiful.
Instead, I went on a ride with The Mother and we stopped at Boyd Cave.
It was picture day at school this week. While I didn’t go full tie and sport coat like last year, I still spiffed up a bit.
Our final plums are now prunes.
This weekend we watched the eclipse.
Here’s the sun almost covered by the moon.
After the eclipse, because I had the weekend off from soccer, we headed to the Oregon Outback for a bike packing trip.
The first six miles were on Highway 31.
Then we turned off on to a gravel road.
A little ways in, we stopped for a lunch of tortillas and nut butter.
Then we started the climb up to Avery Pass.
We set up camp near the top of the pass. It was chilly.
The next morning we climbed a bit more…
until we reached the Oregon Timber Trail. We only rode a little bit of it, but we could have ridden a lot more because Oregon Timber Trail connects 670 miles of trails from California to the Columbia River Gorge.
It was a very fun downhill…
with a fair share of down trees.
The ride finished up on a paved road that followed the Chewaucan River. It was a really pretty, fun ride.
Afterwards, we stopped at the Pioneer Saloon for lunch.
Unlike Alma’s Only Bar, which is Colorado’s highest bar, the Pioneer is Oregon’s oldest bar.
The Bigs are back to school, so it was a less than exciting week. I’m pretty much doing everything now. Even the grocery shopping. Sigh.
My domestic prowess is not limited to the kitchen. This week I made this pillow during aftercare.
The highlight of the week was a trip to Playful Paws Cat Cafe with my favorite neighbor, Becky. There were 10 cats to play with and pet (and adopt – but The Bigs are lame and we still do not have a cat).
This week The Bigs made plum chutney – which was delicious but not photogenic and roasted butternut squash with apple.
It’s starting to cool off in Bend as you can see from Dad’s and my attire while watching Star Wars (Episode IV).
Our plums are ready to harvest, so The Mother and I got to it on Saturday.
We packed about 10 bags this size (10 to 15 pounds). We gave them to the neighbors, we gave them to the guy delivering us a package, we just kept giving them away, but we still have about half a tree to go.
After the plum harvest I headed to soccer.
Then on Sunday we went on a rainy hike.
With a hot spring destination!
I also did a lot of cooking. The Bigs are delighted that instead of making gourmet dishes every morning for lunch, I sometimes will take a PB&J.
I made 4 ingredient Nutella brownies to bring to Dr. Chris’s 50th birthday. Dr. Chris loves his sweets.
I also made sheet pan saffron chicken and plums. It was a little more gourmet than PB&J. I had to do some spice grinding, lemon zesting, and lots of chopping.
Hot pan!
The Bigs liked it. I did not.
On occasion The Bigs still cook. This week they made sweet potato, chard, and coconut curry.
And beefsteak tomato carpaccio with green onion and ginger salsa (with garden-fresh tomatoes from our neighbor).
This week we went out to celebrate The Bigs 16th wedding anniversary. We went to the Southeast Asia (S.E.A.) Crabhouse.
We had, my favorite, fried calamari to start.
Then The Bigs got a boil, which required cool plastic bibs.
It had shrimp, crawfish, mussels, clams, corn, and potatoes all in a cajun sauce.
I got a shrimp and fries basket.
Everyone had a delicious meal and we have Uncle Chris to thank for it!
When we got home after dinner, I disappeared into the office for a while and came out with the following card:
How did I know it was their 16th anniversary? Their wedding photo on the wall is stamped with 2007, so I just did the math.
On Saturday Hunter came over. We climbed trees.
And built things.
It was super fun and then it was time to go to my first soccer game of the fall. We are the Ants. We had to play the Whales. Although the team names would imply otherwise, we won.
Despite complaining daily how tired I am, I went for a long mountain bike on Sunday morning and then while The Bigs did yard work in the afternoon I rode laps around the neighborhood and then my ramp repeatedly – trying to learn how to jump.
The Mother decided our bamboo walls need a facelift. Check out the difference between the refinished bamboo and the old stuff.
Ah, so much better. Only three more to go Mom!
This week we made red Thai curry.
And I made chicken thighs and broccoli for my weekly dinner.
I started school on Wednesday. No more following The Bigs around the house asking ‘what are we doing today?’
Except on the weekends, that is. Dad didn’t even give me a chance to ask this weekend. He planned another bikepacking trip. We did a route called ‘Catch and Release’.
There were some cool rocks near our campsite.
Here is a close up. They almost look like manmade columns.
There was also a very nice creek.
I think we broke The Mother. We found her laying down a lot.
On the second day, we had to cross the creek.
I was really cruising on my new bike.
Sometimes I would drop The Mother. Where is she now, laying down again?
Oh, there she is.
There were some gorgeous views of the mountains on our way in and out from camp – but they were a little hard to capture while riding!
After a vacation-imposed hiatus on my weekly dinner, I’m back with hoirino me mapa (pork and cabbage stew) from a cookbook I picked up at the library called ‘The Glorious Foods of Greece’. I have a great solution for avoiding tears when chopping onions – swim goggles!
It was smoky in Bend again, so we packed up the car and headed to Lassen Volcanic National Park.
We arrived in the early evening and stopped by the visitor center to pick up bear cans and took a walk around Manzanita Lake.
Our first full day in the park we did ‘touristy’ things. We hiked to Cold Boiling Lake. Why is it called Cold Boiling Lake?
Well, it is a lake and it is cold, but if you look closely you can see bubbles rising up to the lake surface, like it is boiling. Gases from a hydrothermal area below the lake are being released and make it look like boiling water.
We hiked up from the lake
and headed to Bumpass Hell. Why is it called that? Well, a guy named Bumpass was giving a tour of this hydrothermal area and at some point stepped somewhere he shouldn’t have and fell through the crust and burned his leg severely. Hopefully you can see the steam from the fumaroles and mudpots.
After checking out the sights we headed back
stopping at Crumbaugh Lake for lunch.
After that we drove to the Sulfur Works.
It was stinky.
We capped off the day with a swim in Helen Lake.
The following day we headed out for a three-night backpacking trip. The Dixie Fire in 2021 burned 70% of the park, so a lot of the trees looked like this:
We passed a lot of lakes on our trip. This one was especially green:
We stopped for lunch and a swim at Silver Lake.
We camped at Rainbow Lake on our first night.
This little guy was wandering around above our campsite, but he left us alone.
Day 2, we headed to the Cinder Cone.
A view of the Painted Dunes, the Fantastic Lava Beds, and Butte Lake from the Cinder Cone:
We were able to hike down into the crater at the center of the Cinder Cone.
Painted Dunes with Lassen Peak in the background:
We camped at Butte Lake on our second night:
On Day 3, we stopped at Snag Lake for lunch and a swim.
Heading back to camp at Rainbow Lake again:
Heading out on Day 4, we stopped for a swim at Echo Lake:
Whittling a marshmallow roasting stick with my new jackknife:
On our last day in the park, we hiked up Lassen Peak, 10,457′.
I practically ran to the top, passing countless adults along the way. There was still snow near the summit.
Mt. Shasta from the summit:
On the way home from Lassen, we stopped at Mt. Shasta to spend a day exploring the area. Castle Lake:
It was a bit smokey in the morning.
Next, we went for a short hike to see Lower,
Middle,
and Upper McCloud falls.
After some coaxing, I jumped into the icy cold water and went for a swim at Middle Falls.
A couple of times.
We went for Thai food in Mt. Shasta. Spring rolls:
Stuffed chicken wings:
Eggplant stir fry:
And pad se ew:
The excitement did not stop after returning home. A new, larger bike with 24″ wheels was waiting for me! I am now 20% faster than I was before.
And, as if that weren’t enough, I got a back-to-school haircut.
I turned 8 this week. I requested bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and toast for breakfast.
After breakfast we went downhill mountain biking at Mt. Bachelor – my request. The Mother was too busy trying not to crash to take pictures. After biking we picked up my bud Hunter and headed to the pool.
After the pool, we went to the Yacht Club for dinner. I was hoping for pizza, but the pizza cart was closed, so I had a Oaxacan burger from the Barrio Food Truck. It had a beef patty, bacon relish, jack cheese, guacamole, and LTO.
It was a delicious mouthful.
The Mother had the Cuban sandwich. It was pressed with pork carnitas, Spanish jamon, pickled veggies, jack cheese, and mustard.
The Father had tacos. One chicken, one carnitas, and one mushroom.
After the Yacht Club we headed home for vanilla cupcakes.
It was a pretty good day. The next day I headed out to try my new rocket. It was cool.
As you can see from the rocket picture, it is smokey in Bend. So, we decided to hit the road again. We headed up to Mt. Hood for a bike packing trip. I was particularly excited to head out because I had my new bike bag.
Unfortunately, just after we started out, it began to rain. Not sure if you can see all the raindrops hitting Clear Lake behind me.
We lunched under some trees and then headed back out into the rain.
It stopped and the rest of the afternoon was nice. Phew. We stopped at Little Crater Lake. It is 45 feet deep and a beautiful, bright blue.
A tiny portion of our ride intersected the PCT. No bikes allowed on that trail, so we had to walk them.
By the time the day was through, I had recorded my longest day ever, covering 29 miles.
We camped at Stone Creek Campground on Timothy Lake.
It was a bit smokey there too, but nothing like at home.
In the morning, it had cleared and you could see Mt. Hood.
Our second day had a lot – A LOT – of climbing.
I hung in there and finished up strong. I ended up climbing about 3500 ft over two days. Quite a bit more than The Bigs thought we were going to do.
That’s OK because now that I’m eight, I am a man-imal.
In other news, it looks like our plum tree is going to be as prolific as our cherry. We had to prop up the branches, because they looked like they were going to break….
Here is the 2nd installment of last weekend’s post.
We went to Olympic National Park and did some backpacking. We started at Graves Creek and headed to Pyrites Campground the first day.
Our first day was only 10 miles.
Despite the ‘easy’ day, The Mother was tired.
Probably from carrying a bear can full of food. Dad carried two! Altogether we had 37 pounds of food for our six day, five night trip. The Bigs were dragging.
We know Nan is saying, where did they go to the bathroom. Here, Nan!
DAY 2
We left Pyrites Campground headed for Siberia Camp. Today would be our first pass.
In the Enchanted Valley, there was a chalet folks could stay at in the 1930s.
We also passed the world’s tallest western hemlock (marked by this sign).
Looks tall.
We ran into a ranger who suggested skipping Siberia Camp and going a little further to LaCrosse Junction to camp. So, by DAY 2, I walked 21.8 miles.
DAY 3
Today we needed to climb our highest pass.
I summited LaCross Pass no problem. I just set little goals and work towards them.
We had to climb over and under many fallen trees and climbed and descended a lot.
We finally made it to Marmot Lake.
It was a tiring day and The Mother and I slept in the next morning.
Dad forgot to take a picture of his watch in the evening, but on Day 3 I walked 12.4 miles, bringing my total to 34.2 miles.
DAY 4
We left Marmot Lake and headed back to the Enchanted Valley.
We had one more pass and I handled it no problem.
Dad and I were busy looking at some glaciers when The Mother came waddling down the trail saying ‘Bear, guys, bear’! This guy was working his way up a hill of huckleberry bushes about 100 ft from where we stood. He was much more interested in huckleberries than us.
Day 4 was another long one. I walked 12.4 miles, bringing my total up to 46.6 miles.
DAY 5
We woke up to rain. One of The Bigs was surprised to see it was raining. Um, it is a RAIN forest…
Thankfully The Mother carries contractor bags in her pack.
After a soggy 11.6 mile walk, we made it to our final campsite at Pony Creek. I had now walked 58.2 miles.
DAY 6:
We had an easy 2.8 mile walk out. I covered 61 miles and climbed countless feet with a super positive attitude, even when I had to sit and wait for The Mother to catch up.
When we got back to our car, we found a mouse had moved in. He ate a lot and pooped a lot. After we cleaned up the mess, we headed to Westport, WA for some surfing. We stayed at a cool hotel with hammocks.
And we went out for dinner where I had my favorite, calamari
and some fish tacos.
I surfed all day
and then we checked out the town.
After surfing we headed back to our hotel. They did not have a room available so we stayed in one of their campsites and made dinner in their grill and chill area. We had lingcod and mini peppers.
