Crater Lake National Park, OR

Day 3: Bend to Crater Lake National Park, Oregon.
I'll let the pictures speak mostly for themselves, only sharing a few facts and impressions of this incredible place. If you ever find yourself in Oregon and have the opportunity to visit, go, go, a million times go.

This is the first view we saw of the lake as we entered the park from the north. We had been driving through frozen snow banks and white-powdered trees, and were completely bowled over to see this emerge as we reached the summit of Watchman's Peak:

I think our tires may have squealed as we whipped the car back around to get another look. Allow me to say that I had very few expectations for Crater Lake. I didn't know exactly what it was beyond the name. Hadn't seen pictures before this trip. We just saw it on the map, checked to make sure the drive was doable en route, and were looking forward to a good night of camping. Even compared to the images I had seen in the brochures we'd picked up at the Oregon state line, this lake in person was overwhelmingly beautiful. One of the few times where I actually felt like the ordinary world had been knocked out from underneath me, and I had landed someplace infinitely better.


(Those darker patches on the water are the shadows of the clouds above; the clear turquoise-blue is the natural color of the water).













(You can swim at Cleetwood Cove, and after the hike down, it may have been almost warm enough, but I didn't quite feel like stripping down all my layers of winter clothing and jumping in. This guy went for it. I'd like to return in July or August someday and go for a swim.)

What we were completely unprepared for - it was the Summer Solstice, I'd packed lightly for a six-day summer road trip - was the unpredictable weather and the snow. Most of the park roads and hiking trails were still blocked by snow even in late June, and even though our campground was a different climate entirely than the caldera, there were still patches of unmelted snow. Despite this, we couldn't have had better weather for viewing the lake. Imagine visiting on a day when these views are completely obscured by clouds or fog.

Those facts I promised:
Crater Lake was formed by the volcanic eruption and collapse of Mount Mazama. It's the deepest lake in the U.S. (about 2000 feet) and is fed only by rain and snow, no rivers or streams. The park brochure says it's considered the cleanest large body of water in the world. Another eruption formed Wizard Island (shaped like a wizard's hat), which you can reach by boat tour. There's only one trail to legally access the water, and no motored boats are allowed except rangers'. The hike back up is the equivalent of climbing 65 flights of stairs. The yellow swirls you see on the water are made from pine pollen.

We hiked the Garfield Peak trail first thing in the morning and, on a whim, hiked the Cleetwood Cove trail down to the water before we left, only intending to park the car for the view. Therefore, we did the whole thing without water, snacks, or sunscreen! We stayed one night at the Mazama Village campground inside the park.

And oh, did I mention that we happened to visit on a Fee-Free Weekend? I didn't know such a thing as Get Into Your National Park Free Days existed, but they are wonderful. The next one is August 15-16...everyone get out and enjoy your national parks!

commitment

"The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating - in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life."
-Anne Morriss

Found via this blog. Apparently it's one of a series of advice written on the side of Starbucks cups - and Anne Morriss, aside from this quote, is no one famous. Isn't it a gem?

Bend, OR

Day 2: Boise to Bend, Oregon via scenic Highway 26.
This may have been my favorite drive of the trip, as we ignored Mapquest entirely and chose the longer route to Bend, part of which I believe is an Oregon scenic byway. The route wound through several national forests and long stretches of open countryside. It seemed like we barely saw another car until we got within an hour or so of Bend. This made for an amazing driving atmosphere. We had no idea how long it would take - I still don't know how long we drove, but I think it was the longest stretch - and we spent the entire time engrossed in conversation, without any music or distractions. The tone of the road trip had been pretty well set by that point: spending the morning wrapping up whatever we felt that we needed to do before leaving our destination (strolling, hiking, eating, exploring), setting a leisurely pace and bothering only with the loosest timelines, hitting the road sometime between late morning and late afternoon, and arriving at our next stop by evening. We had also eased deep into our comfort levels with each other by this point and, day by day, covered each possible topic of conversation about one another's lives in depth - past, present, future, both the mundane and the significant.











Bend was in many ways just how I'd imagined it: a relaxed, lovely little town with so much natural beauty it would be impossible to experience it in the short time we were there. Of all the places we visited, I was so, so glad to have the advantage of staying with hosts who knew and loved Bend and could share stories of their adventures there, since we didn't have the time to try out the biking, river running, hiking, camping, and daytripping they told us about. But what an incredible place to live, surrounded by so many options! I feel lucky to live in Utah for similar reasons...but Bend had such a laid-back, friendly vibe that is hard to replicate in a larger city (too much anonymity), impossible to find in most suburbs (too much isolation), and, I'd imagine, rare in smaller towns and rural areas as well. If anything, I would have expected to see more of an au naturale, eco-groovy, hippie-dippy type of aesthetic going on in Bend. It was charming to me the way they seem to have that mixed with a sort of old-fashioned American family-friendly energy - the nuclear family, the strollers, the Costcos and Targets just on the fringes of town. Like a jeans-and-tshirt but ready-to-whip-out-the-gore-tex-at-any-moment type of town, if you know what I mean.

Leaving all sweeping generalizations aside, our very specific experience in Bend was thanks to two wonderful Couchsurfing friends, Jodell and Eric. Jodell was gracious enough to host us at her condo with very little notice and spend time showing us around. She and Eric both were so friendly, easygoing, and eager to share travel stories and experiences with us as well as all the little local tidbits about their city and state. We happened to be in town for the Bite of Bend festival, so it was great to see so many Bendians (?Bendites? Bendonians?) out and about. The four of us went out to a delicious Sunday brunch at Mother's Juice Cafe and lucked out with two-for-one coupons and gorgeous outdoor-eating weather on their patio. The city was easily compact enough to walk everywhere, so we were able to take in the views from Drake Park along the Deschutes River on the way to breakfast and stroll through all of the quaint downtown (and the Bite of Bend) on the way home. Our local Bendonian (I like this one the best) hosts hooked us up with way more than a couch - a really genuine glimpse into their community, lots of great conversation, tips for spots to check out on the rest of our trip, and a reference to a friend in Portland - that I feel so grateful for.

Braid Wednesday

Braid Wednesday. Everybody's doing it.


samara-olive

danske

piperbole

clumsybird

kristenaderrick

knitted_owl

I love buns (especially when they're called chignons) and braids (especially when they're called plaits), and am relying exclusively on these two styles to grow out my all-time favorite hair love, the pixie cut. I had one of those hair books when I was much younger - you know, the kind you buy in the bulk grocery store book section that comes with a plastic box of trinkets to make your own bedazzled barrettes - and all I wanted was to achieve the perfect braided-into-bun ballerina look. It's a goal I still strive for but never quite reach.

Me today. I'm going to need to enlist the help of Cameron to create a photo worthy of Braid Wednesday.

right this very second

Finn asleep in my lap.

Today is a good day.

Boise, ID

Day 1: Salt Lake City to Boise, Idaho.

The drive on I-84 was bucolic and beautiful. The weather was slightly stormy and very windy, so we had a lot of high-speed flying tumbleweeds as highway companions. The sight was pretty hilarious - one tumbleweed would follow a car on the side of the road for miles; another would be bouncing along the middle of the street; several lodged themselves in cars' grilles.

We went to Boise to visit my brother and sister-in-law, who had just moved there from Salt Lake a couple of weeks before to an adorable house with a guest bedroom and bath. As we drove into the city, we turned on the radio and heard the song "I'm in Boise, Trick!" (a remix of this song - hilarious! Turns out they have all sorts of city-specific versions...check out "I'm in Your City Trick" on iTunes - Ft. Wayne? Chattanooga? The 'Burgh?). I had never been to Boise proper before, but the city really charmed and wooed me. The four of us ate dinner together at Gernika Basque Pub & Eatery - who knew Boise had such a rich Basque culture? There's apparently a huge Basque community stemming from the 1800s, many of whom make their living as sheepherders. I love that they're preserving elements of their culture through Basque language courses and the Fronton Association (Basque handball league - played in a court from 1912!). As a whole, Boise was a much more vibrant and lively city than I would have imagined - so many people out in the streets, dancing to live music, spending time with their friends, enjoying the weekend in the middle of the roads! The neighborhoods we visited seemed very clean and lovely and quaint, much like Salt Lake's Sugarhouse streets. I got a definite hip-but-not-too-hip young-family-living type of vibe. I mean, check out that father-son duo just drawing some sidewalk chalk art on a Saturday morning! We woke up early to check out the Farmers' Market, which, again, is right in the street, ensuring it's the place to be on a Saturday morning - like an arts and crafts festival, fresh food market, local musicians' gathering, and community circus all jammed into one (the Pride Parade literally marched right through the farmers' market the day we were there, and everyone was already there to enjoy the festivities with their groceries!). I had the most amazing vegetarian crepe for breakfast, and we stocked up on veggies for our dinner and a baguette that served as car snack for the remainder of the trip.

We all went for a stroll along the Boise River before we left. One more thing I loved about Boise - you know how cities seem to come to their own unspoken agreements about bicycle trends? Like, how some are dominated by the fixed-gear community and a certain amount of snobbishness, but in others you're fine clunking around on your old mountain bike to the coffee shop? Boise seems to have come to this amazing consensus - for what reason, it's not really clear, but I love it all the same - that they are a beach cruiser type of town. Everywhere you look, cruisers after cruisers after cruisers, clusters of cruisers chained together on bicycle racks, vintage cruisers, new cruisers, flowery cruisers, classic cruisers, you name it. It made my little heart flutter with happiness.

an introduction.

I haven't forgotten about that little road trip I took last month, and in fact have been itching to share the photos. I feel like I've given the trip the proper time to settle in, to be appreciated, and also to give attention to other things that needed doing in the meantime.

Now, I feel like sharing.


This is Heather. This photo was taken on the evening of her 25th birthday, the day she arrived in Salt Lake, at her birthday dinner at the Red Iguana. We had had a few conversations before this about the quarter life crisis, and I thought her plan was the perfect antidote: roll into the city on one of the legs of her solo road trip across the country from Virginia, fresh from camping in New Mexico and southern Utah; meet up with her bff, then spend the day walking leisurely around the Avenues and eating the best vegetarian fajitas money can buy.

Here are some facts about Heather. She is the rare breed of childhood best friend that grows into adulthood best friend with hardly any effort. We were both born in Virginia, approximately two months apart. We met in the 6th grade in chorus class. We share some embarrassing middle school stories, in the vein of Mean Girls. When I moved to Utah, we wrote each other letters and recorded cassette tapes (she, on an actual Talkboy) of ourselves talking to each other about the fascinating details of our teenaged lives, alternating whose turn it was for a letter and a tape, all through high school. These tapes are my most treasured possession. Our packages to each other often included little trinkets like iZone sticky pictures. I spent part of each summer staying at her parents' house, swimming in her pool, going to the beach, and spending lots and lots of hours at Potomac Mills mall. We share the same name. We both became vegetarians around the same time, unbeknownst to each other. We've visited each others' colleges. She's worked in Hawaii, the San Juan Islands, Costa Rica, and now, Vancouver Island...I think she made a wise decision studying marine science. She recently traveled through all of Central America. She is a remarkably skilled outdoorswoman - camps, hikes, bikes, kayaks, sails, etc. etc. etc. She has a fraternal twin. We both spent most of our adolescence chatting on AOL or the phone, and updating our AOL profiles, collecting movie posters, and reading teen magazines. We both turned out OK despite this.

We've visited each other in Virginia, Utah, South Carolina, and Minnesota, with brief little stops, I believe, in North Carolina and Georgia over the years. I joined her on the aforementioned road trip between Salt Lake and Portland as she made her way to Vancouver for a gig teaching a marine mammals course to the world's luckiest high schoolers. (I've also seen her lead gator walks, crabbing classes, and canoe trips...her jobs really are the best.) I'm continually impressed by her. We've led totally separate lives (only living in the same state for two years of our friendship) but have the easiest relationship I have with anyone, always naturally compatible without trying too hard, and in respectful awe of the things that make us different.