All I can say is I am glad Dad and I decided to leave the Bend area. Freezing warnings? Seriously???!!! Wow. The coast was MUCH warmer, and today we flew our kits and walked the beach in the sun! I believe I have mentioned I like the sun? And heat, too.
I am home, with a cat on my lap, and dad in the comfy chair doing a sudoku. Bed time draws near, as we must be well rested for Vernonia's City Wide garage Sale tomorrow. Big day!

Day 5

Man,we were tired last night! We slept 11 hours, rolling out of bed about 8am. We had a delicious egg scramble with bacon,cheese,onion and zuchini. I whipped up some pancakes, and we ate like kings! A good thing, too, because we burned it all off hiking along the Crooked River in Smith Rock State park. It was beautiful as I remembered, but I am getting ahead of myself. On the way to Smith Rock, we stopped to check out the Peter Ogden Memorial. The old bridge spanning the Crooked River couldn't handle the amount of traffic going over it, so they built a bigger bridge next to it. It was fun to walk out onto the old bridge and look down about a bazillionty feet to the water. It was also interesting to see the sign in the parking lot telling people to leave their dogs in the car because they have several deata a year due to doggies jumping off the cliff. Go figure.
After spending a while putzing on the bridge, we continued to our destination, stopping at the post office to mail a few postcards. We passed a sign for deer crossing on the way that had been defaced in a manner that made you understand why the dear was jumping (apparently for joy, and we will leave it at that). We passed another that had 'y' strategically placed so you would know that the specific part of the road you were on was patrolled for litter by The Mountainer Orgy. These things are good to know. It alerts you to the dangers of small town living. If we were to stay, we would know to avoid happy deer and mountainers. Just sayin'.
By the time we pulled into Smith Rock and determined that no parking spot would end up in the shade later, we hauled our cooler to a picnic area and downed some lunch. Luck for us, I had spied the a lady using one of the tables as a dirty diaper change station, with no sanitation barrier between Poopers but and the eating surface. I was able to direct us to the non-poop table for safe eatings. Food and water downed, we broke out the cameras and headed down the trail to the river. Our hike lasted about 3.25 hours, and was...fantabulously spectacerifous!!! Trust me, it's in the dictionary that all the cool people use! We saw butterflies, Canadian geese, fresh water clams, a falcon who entertained us by catching himself a fresh fish lunch, deer, wrens, magpies, and a few other birds we couldn't identify. We hiked down to the horse crossing, where you have to cross the river by wading through it. That was so nice and cool on the feet! We climbed up on rocks, hiked the smaller side trails, found a huge eagles nest on the face of one of the cliffs, and only saw 3 other hikers. It was like breathing in fragrent, warm serenity, and breathing out stale, cold stress. So relaxing.
We eventually wandered back to the car, and stopped in at the Terrebonne train depot for some pie. Except they didn't have pie. They had warm brownie sundays, though, so we suffered and split one. Washed it down iced tea, watched a train go by, and just enjoyed sitting on our tired little butts. Back at camp we made the dinner of champions; baked beans and wieners! Tonight, we stay away from open flame and leave the tent flap open. On the way to the dumpster, I was telling dad how I was going to slather myself with hand lotion after my shower, and pretend I was a big hand. That made me think of the Hamburger Helper hand, and so I told dad I could be hamburger helper! Apparently, only I think that would be a cool thing. Le sigh! Of course, I also told him that a good punch in the face makes you forget how cold your feet are. I know I am right, but he didn't want to find out the scientific way. I guess it is still a small dialog victory.
Now I am sitting here, smelling like soap, feeling like a big white hand, and getting ready to hit the sack. Last night was a vitual nightime zoo. Deer, quail, owls, a wild cat, and bats. Tonight I will sleep with a flashlight so I can investigate the awesome sounds of the wild on my way to the restroom. Might just save myself from a happy deer attack.

I have been watching the lady camper across the way, looking at all the full pockets on her cargo shorts. They remind me of my mom's jean jacket. She took it when we went camping, and it doubled as a back pack. However, it seemed to have all the things a backpack didn't. Gum, wet wipes, tissue, paper and pen, the kitchen sink, trail mix, nail clippers, etc. I am pretty sure my brother and I counted about 50 pockets on that thing, and that was just the ones on the outside. I was always impressed with how she knew exaclty what was in each pocket. It was amazing!
Dad and I have just finishesd a nutritional dinner of bacon, pasta, and beer. Burp! Dessert was a fruit cup, where everything tasted like pineapple. We made a postcard from the top of the pasta box, which we are sending to one luck person. See, you CAN craft anywhere! We are exhausted from our previous night of so-so sleep and our day of glorious back road exploring and caving. Originally, we were going to revisit the Lava Bed visitor center, but apparently it is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Figures. We laughed, and consulted the oracle (which looks strangely like a Dechutes Forest map) and headed for the Lava caves. They were closed. We laughed again. We headed farther down the road to the Boyd caves. It was open. The entrance called to the bat in me, and I was down the ladder like a shot, looking for my fine flying friends and saying "Kewl!" about every three seconds. Unfortunately, it very quickly became a crawl space cave, and I don't do those without better equipment and at least 3 people. That way, when I am pinned under the cave in, or have snapped my ankle in 5 places and am unable to move, some one can go for help while someone else stays with me and tells me how great it has been knowing me.
After our short but awesome trek in caveland, we headed for the Skeleton caves. Not only were they closed, but they had been barred shut with bars that looked as if they could hold in King Kong. Feeling a bit glum because my caving desires were not being fullfilled, we got back in the car and kept going, keeping a keen traveler's eye out for the ice caves. Apparently, that is where Bend got all it's ice in the days before ice trays and freezers. It had been closed for the last 10 years because ice had blocked the entrance, but was once again open to the curious passer-by such as my Dad and I. After what seemed like to long a drive through dry, sunny, hot, beautiful high desert, we found a shadey little pull off, and had some lunch. This is when the two cute guys in the Forest Service truck came toodling down the road. They stopped to see if we were alright, and we took the opportunity to ask them if we had passed the ice caves. Actually, Dad asked, I made flirty eyes with the tastey one behind the wheel. Sure enough, we had past, back we went, this time armed with the knowledge to find the unmarked road needed. The caves were closed due to 10 years of ice blocking the entrance, thus causing a massive cave-in that crushed the stairs leading down. I think I might send the God of Spelunking a scathing letter about his slacking off on his godly caving duties. Why follow the leader if he's simply going to lead you to a bunch of unaccessable points of interest? Seriously!
So, after 5 hours of back road discoveries (including free range cows, chipmunks, and non accessable tourist stops) we headed back into Bend for gas, cool drinks and a snack. A quick consulting of our trusty oracle pointed up north toward Redmond and the Palasides. It was as beautiful as I remember, and we found a lovely spot with no little rain cloud, and no side kick wind. We have paid for two glorious nights, and tomorrow we will go to Smith Rock and hike the creek trail. This is one of my favorite spots in central Oregon. My last visit was disapointing because the company was bad. This time it will be great because the company is good, and the weather is amazing, and we have trail mix bars for snacks!
Oh, by the way, breakfast was pretty good. Fruitloops and waffles and orange juice! Yum!

End of the day update.

Those of you who know my Dad and I know we love sun and heat. Today, there was no heat. We waited, and waited. We drove into La Pine for gas and a frying pan, and still no sun or heat. We hiked to Pauline falls. We took pictures of the little bitty froggies at the resort. All with no sun or heat. Then, the thunder started. So, being smart campers, we grabbed our cameras and hiked up little crater trail. As we went up, it became colder, and started raining. Determined to tough it out, we kept going. The veiw was amazing, the thunder close, the rain and wind- persistant. We were wet by the time we finished the mile and a half loop. And cold. And there was no sun. We drove back to camp to watch our tent. Again, it was trying to fly, so I looked at Dad and suggested that maybe we should hit a hotel, get some weather information, and find the sun and the heat. So, we packed up, and are now settled in at a Budget 8, watching tv, and looking at our maps. Apparently, we were camping under the only little tiny rain cloud in all of Oregon. Go figure! We think we will be staying close to Bend, since there is a ton of stuff we want to see that isn't under that mini cloud-with-an-attitude. But for now, we will shower and have dessert, and read/look at maps/watch crappy tv/and internet it up. I am looking forward to the free breakfast. They will have waffles and fruitloops!!!

Day two

Today started at 6am, which is actually quite late for me. It's was a beautiful sunny morning. It promised candy and rainbows and unicorns. It delivered coffee and shopping and wind. Oh, and a whole lotta smoke from a 7000 acre wildfire nearby. And where there is smoke, there are cute firefighters. Yum!
We headed towards Sisters, and stopped for a couple of hours to play tourist, pick up some gifts, and by a cup of coffee. Then we headed into Bend, picking up a cooler, ice, and a bottle of wine. Now that our supplies were complete, we continued down toward our goal; Newberry Volcanic National Park. I had been here once before with 'the man who's name we shall not speak' and it had been a disaster(of course). It was nice to drive in with Dad, who doesn't mind seeing where the road goes, and doesn't freak out if there is no plan beyond seeing where the road goes.
The nice Ranger told us which campgrounds we were still allowed to have a campfire in, and then we hit the visitor center for a quick peek. That nice ranger told us it would be worth our while to walk the Trail of the Molten Land. She was right. The view was spectacular, the trail was easy, and the informational markers were informative. Plus, there was a crap-ton load of adorable little chipmunks everywhere, making my squee meter read off the charts! After our little jaunt through the now not molten lava beds, we headed up the road to find a place to camp. Found a lovely spot right on Lake Pauline. Set up the tent, took a few pictures, and finished following the road up to the end, which was about another 5 miles. Chatted up the girls at the resort to find that everything was closing down for the season. This waa fine with us, since it meant no crowds. We drove through the last campground on the road, which had over 100 sites. They were all very lovey, and I think I would feel safe enough coming up here on my own. Might have to do me some camping next year.
We headed back to camp and started getting supper ready. That was when the wind decided to pick up. It was warm and felt nice after a day in the sun. However, it was on a mission, and that mission was to see if it could launch our tent into outer space like a kite. We spent a lot of time holding onto the tent for dear life (and this is with our stuff IN the tent, mind you) and laughing our asses off. We finally used a break in the wind to empty the tent and move it behind some trees. That made absolutely no difference. Dad pulled the car in front off it to use as a wind break. The wind simply laughed. We dragged the tent across the road to another site away from the lake. The wind said, "Ha!" We finally figured out that if we took the rainfly off, the tent became a tent again. We positioned it in the best place we could find, staked it down, and lined the inside with rocks. The wind got pissed off and invited the rain to join in the game. It started raining. We put the rain fly up. The rain would stop and let the wind have at it. We'd take the rain fly off. The wind would hoot and holler as the rain would get us. We finally decided that those two hoolagins were NOT going to vote US off the island, and we took the rain fly down for good and went back to making supper. Apparently, this decision annoyed them both, and they wandered off to torment some other souls. We had a good laugh and decided that we would tie the tent to the trees in the morning in case they both snuck back when we were out. Dinner commenced, followed by a few games of dominos, and then we took ourselves to bed and away from the hungery mosquitos. But not before I found and held a cuuute little froggy! Squeeeeeee!!!

Day one

Fabulous first day on the road. Beautiful drive down highway 47, through Forest Grove, Gaston, and all the beautiful country side between , until we hit Hwy 99 west. As we approached Salems' River Front Park, we saw a feild of flags. Curious, we stopped to find a memorial honoring the fallen from 9/11, and the local military persons who had served in the war after that day. It was quite well done, really making it easy to comprehend the loss we suffered. We wandered around for a while, remembering, like so many others. We also peeked at the river boat and indoor carousel, and I was able to get a few postcards for my Postcrossing habit. Driving through Salem, we picked up Hwy 22, continuing southeast toward Bend and Sisters. The farther we went, the smokier it became. It made us a little nervous to see all the cars heading the other way, so we wisely stopped at the Detroit Ranger Station to chat up the employees about the fires, where they were and if we need worry. Of course, I added to my map collection, and have been amusing myself ever since by finding little treasures on them. For instance, did you know the Devils Garden is right next to Christmas Lake? neither did I! There are cool back roads, campgrounds and trail heads everywhere we looked on the maps. We kinda wanted to get to Crater Lake, but I seriously don't think we are going to make it. There is so much to see!

Shorty after Detroit, we pulled into Whispering falls to set up camp. Truthfully, I see no falls, and there is no whispering, so I am not sure what is up with that name, but whatever.
However, the cars are quite loud, and if our site was any closer to the road, we'd be road kill. But we have a beautiful fire, over which we roasted the worlds largest marsh mallows and I have thuroughly killed Dad in several games of dominos, and teased him mecilessly about making such brilliant comments like "When I put my head in a bag of vinegar chips and breathe in deeply, it about gags me" and "I'll poop tomorrow." Those last statement make me excited as to see what tomorrow will bring in words of wisdom. For now, I am amusing myself with the typing noise my little Android is making. Dads thinks he is hearing squirrels. Hehehe!

PS: Dad was able to get me to stick my head into the bag of vinegar chips and inhale deeply. I have no idea how he came up with the idea to do this in the first place, but he was right. Man, does it make you nose close and your eyes burn! My doing this proves we are related, and share the "mentally challenged" Hoffmann gene. I want to point out, however, that I am a good daughter; I obey my parent even when I don' t understand my parent. So, I am thinking that kinda balances the ' weird' factor out. Shut up.

As soon as I got off of work, my vacation started. I flew home to find dad was waiting there already. I still had a ton of stuff to do to get ready, so I settled him in front of the computer and introduced him to The Bloggess and Telling Dad. While hey giggled and laughed, I got my house in order, and packed for the trip. We took a nice evening walk before bed, then crashed early so we could rise with the morning and and get the hell out of dodge.