Oregon: Day 4 (almost done!)

Oregon Coast here we come! Keith and I woke up at 4 am to drive the two hours to Newport to try our hand at deep sea fishing. I rarely get up this early in the morning so it had to be something really special to get me out of bed so early. Off we headed to catch the Sea Venture boat which left the dock promptly at 7 am. We were waiting in line to pay the fee for 5 hours out on the water and posted on Newport Trade Winds advertisement boards was the option to do a 33 hour tuna fishing excursion. Can you imagine being on a boat that long just to fish? No thank you! It was really cold on the coast (always is in Oregon) and we weren't prepared so Keith and I both borrowed some lost and found jackets. He found a youth large version and I found a throwback to the 80's with a pink marshmallow puff jacket that went to my knees. It sure was ugly but SO warm!

It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day on the ocean and while I spent five hours not catching a single fish, Keith at least caught one so it wasn't a complete failure. Captain Steve even donated his fight he caught and said to take it back to Texas. It didn't make it that far since we ate them that night. Ok, back to the fishing trip...Captain Steve said fishing had been slow the last few days so we weren't really surprised when we didn't get much action. When Keith finally got to yell "Fish On", you know I had my camera ready.

Despite us not catching many fish, we saw one of the greatest sights I have ever seen in the ocean...a California Gray Whale! I have never seen a live whale before and this whale was probably 15-20 feet from our boat. It was blowing water from its spout, flipping its tail in the water and just playing for a good 20 minutes right in front of us. It was magical and so exciting. I was like a little kid again trying to get a good picture but my little Cannon Elf didn't do justice.

Look at these cute sea lions!

My dad had originally not planned on joining us for the entire day but to my surprise as soon as we got off the boat, he called my cellphone and had driven to Newport on his motorcycle (yes, he owns one which is kind of a scary thought!) so we met up with him on the way south to Florence. Keith and I stopped off at a couple places on the hour long drive along the coast to Florence. One absolutely beautiful stopping point was the Heceta Lighthouse and Devil's Elbow. Who knew you would need jeans and a fleece on the coast in August. It was windy and chilly but at least the sun was out. The coast ends our last full day in Oregon and we had a fabulous time and can't wait to go back. I still have a lot of things I want to show Keith in this amazing state but we have many, many more years to do that.

I love you!

Oregon: Day 3

Keith and I spent the afternoon (well, about 7-8 hours) driving along Highway 242 which follows an old stage coach trail from the 1800's deep into the Oregon Cascade Mountains. No, this isn't the official Oregon Trail but it sure felt like it! The speed limit was seriously 15-25 mph the entire time and the road was the most curvaceous road I've ever driven. Our first stopping point was Dee Wright Observatory which is a great vantage point to see the lava fields which formed from the Belknap Shield Volcano. My dad took me here probably 15 years ago and I wanted to be sure to show Keith this part of Oregon since it is unlike anything I've ever seen before. You can see Mt. Hood, the Three Sisters, Mt. Washington and a lot of others that I can't recall all from this one spot.

We weren't able to stand the cold very long since we really weren't dressed for the part so we headed back to the car to find Proxy Falls along Highway 242. Stopping at what we thought was the falls, we hiked for 30 minutes and couldn't find anything and come to find out, we had stopped at a trail to a lake instead of the falls. We headed one more mile down the road and finally found the falls. It was almost a 2 mile hike to see the falls but very worth it!

Lower Proxy Falls

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Upper Proxy Falls

Rushing a bit through these falls, we wanted to head to the hot springs just down the road about 30 minutes but as soon as we headed away from the falls, we stopped dead in our tracks and waited for over an hour due to a motorcycle wreck around the corner. Luckily everyone was ok but since we were so far from both the town of Sisters and Springfield, we had to wait forever for US Forest Services, police cars and ambulances to reach the wreck. Finally one lane was opened for thru traffic and we made our way back to civilization and stopped at the hot springs. These weren't the hot springs I remembered because you had to pay to use a hotel pool that I guess was heated by the hot springs underground. We opted to just look around and take in the sights. I talked to my dad later that night and he forgot to tell me the hot springs we really should have gone to was by Cougar Lake and you have to hike in to see and enjoy them. Unfortunately for us it was already dark and they are closed at night so we headed back home exhausted from the day!

Oregon: Day 2

We started out our second full day in Oregon by joining one of my dad's tennis classes. Little did we know that we were actually participating in a lesson with a real tennis pro and a couple other members of the club. Keith is just naturally athletic at anything (kinda drives me crazy!) so he did awesome. My dad has a killer serve and forehand that he'll tell you about each chance he gets. I'm happy that he's found something that he loves to do and isn't too hard on his knees. Bad knees run in the Burrow family...

Dad dropped us off next at the Saturday Farmer's Market in downtown Eugene and I had to take Keith there just for the shock-and-awe factor. It is the best people watching place around with tons of eccentric people, dozens of tie-dye booths, fresh produce, hippie music and yummy homemade pastries. And just a reminder to myself: really hoppy beer at 10am is not a good idea!

We only stayed for an hour or so and off to our next adventure of rafting down the Willamette River. I had envisioned taking Keith on a guided half or full day adventure in southern Oregon on the Rogue River but my dad had other plans...we ended up borrowing one of his friends rafts instead. Not really my idea of a white water rafting adventure for Keith but we went with it. As soon as we saw the raft (probably 4 feet long and 3 feet wide with only half the air needed in it) we both had to laugh. Were we really going to go down the river in this thing? I wish I had a picture because it was hilarious. My dad hopped on the back of the raft which thankfully pushed up some of the air towards the front. Keith and I sat side by side but were almost touching since the raft was so small. I have NEVER been more uncomfortable for two hours in my entire life. Honestly my knee is still hurting days and days later. While we didn't see anything over a Class 1 or 2 rapid, the scenery was beautiful and it's always an adventure with my dad yelling orders like "Elysse - two strokes to the left; Elysse - backstroke, Elysse - dig, go faster". Somehow it was always my name getting called and not Keith's.

After a long day, we picked up Sue and headed to the King Estate Winery located just outside of Eugene. This is one of my favorite wines to drink (great Pinot Noir) and you can find it in every grocery store in the US. Keith isn't a wine fan at all but he was a good sport and even had some Vin Glace' dessert wine with us at the end of the night. The view was breathtaking as we sat on the terrace to enjoy the sunset with our wine and fabulous food. Thank you for a wonderful evening, dad!