Oregon

Day 328 – September 21 (continued)

After leaving Mt. St. Helens we drove south to Oregon. We spent a few hours at starbucks working on the blog, and then had an overnight at our usual money saving location

Day 329 – September 22

We slept in until 10 (because it was rainy and miserable out) and then did our grocery shop before heading eastwards to the Columbia River Gorge area

First stop was Multnomah Falls. The falls are so tall that Murray had to use a fish eye lens to capture it all.

Me on the bridge over the falls

Multnomah Falls is 620 feet tall is the tallest year round flowing waterfall in the United States (Yosemite is taller, but doesn't flow year round)

Then we hiked up further – this is the view from the top of the falls down to the parking lot. Look at those ant like cars - yes it was a hard core hike straight up - however this was only 1/3 of the way!

Along the trail there was a few other falls as well





I think this might be Welsendanger Falls





Me hiking with my hood on because the rain was off and on







I think this is Ecola Falls







And finally – Fairy Falls

On the trail we also spotted this unusually colored banana slug!

Oh - Hello



The view back down to the highway

The views were gorgeous, but out of the sun it was FREEZING!!

The last waterfall – Wahkeena Falls

Wahkeena is a Pacific Northwest Native American phrase meaning 'most beautiful'

This waterfall is 242 feet tall

I was so frozen solid that I went down the path quickly and then got a hot chai latte while waiting for Murray to finish with his photos

After our (6 mile in total) hike – which was probably the most beautiful hike we have done on this trip – we tailed gated and had some lovely sandwiches (by then it was 6pm)!


Murray – back at his ‘office’ at starbucks with a strawberry cream frappachino – lovely

We ‘worked’ at starbucks until it closed at 9, and then made our way back to Wal-Mart for the night (and burrrrrr was it ever a cold night).

Day 330 – September 23

We had a quick bowl of cereal, and then drove south of Portland down highway 5. After a few hours of driving we noticed a sign that said ‘shoot a real tommy gun.’ After calling my Dad to check that we don’t need a license to go to a shooting range, we turned around and went back to find the place.

Me posing outside the shooting range

Murray was given his choice of weapons, ammunition and ear protectors – then the guy brought us into the range to show us what to do

We were shocked that he didn’t ask for any kind of id, we just both had to sign a waiver (me too because I wanted to go in and watch, but I didn’t want to shoot anything).

And then the guy left – and Murray was off – shooting his first round of bullets

Not bad for his first time in a range!

The casings from the bullets were ALL over the floor! (you aren’t supposed to pick them up though – you leave that for the clean up crew)

Me showing off the target man from my watching bench


Murray really got into it

Trying out making a smiley face like Mel Gibson did in Lethal Weapon, however with the target all the way at the back it was hard just to hit it!

Not as easy as in the movies though....

The bullet case




From 75 feet (at the back)

From aprox 55 Feet

From approx 25 feet

The Glock 9mm handgun that Murray shot

He had a great time (I thought it was WAY too loud!), but then it was time to get back on the road.

We drove on a few more hours and then finally cut across east on scenic highway 138. We decided to stop and camp before reaching Crater Lake because we were exhausted and it was starting to get dark. So we found a state campground by Diamond Lake, which had nice hot pay (well ‘dollar donation’) showers. Then Murray worked on the blog while I cooked us a bit of pasta.

Day 331 – September 24

It was a cold night – 35f when we got up! We drove around the campground for awhile trying to find the showers again – took a bit – but after circling the confusing loop we finally found them and took one to warm up a bit.

Then it was time to continue south towards Crater Lake

We went to the visitors center first (which was just ok…. very small) – although the video was pretty good (it told a lot of the native American legends about this area).

Then we drove up to our first viewpoint of Crater Lake

It was just a shame there was fires burning in nearby areas – it made the whole area look smokey

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. It is fed by rain and snow (but no rivers or streams) and is considered to be the cleanest large body of water in the world. The lake rests inside a caldera formed approximately 7,700 years ago when a 12,000 foot tall volcano collapsed following a major eruption. See the brown dust in the air at the lower right hand of this picture?...that's from Murray running back to be in the shot! ha (timer)

We also visited the lodge – this is what it used to look like

The prices in the good old days – funny how they split out the price for bath or toilet or hot and cold water or a bowl and pitcher!

We then drove further south to Medford, had a lovely Quiznos sandwich (like a gourmet subway) and then stopped at our usual place to restock the cooler with ice (after first draining the melted ice - thus the water trail)

Then it was back to our office – starbucks in a safeway grocery store – for free wifi and 7 yes SEVEN hours of working on the blog

Nice to be in a grocery store though – we bought drinks, some not so great broccoli salad and I even got a magazine to keep me busy. I know it’s strange to use these places as a living room to work on our laptop, but at least we weren’t like the guy who came in with his printer and was making business calls for a few hours! Lol!

We finished up at 10pm, got some McDonalds for dinner (we can’t really cook in the Walmart parking lot….) and then got to bed!

Day 332 - September 25

On the way to California we stopper for gas, and Murray managed to slam Dolph's VERY heavy door on his finger

SO he ended up driving all the way to California like this - ha ha (YES I know the answer!) It ended up actually being broken!

Next up - California