Tuesday, August 14, 2007
August 2007 Photos
Samantha and I just got back from our big camping road trip to the Northwest. Here are a bunch of photos to keep you informed...
But first, here are some pictures of the kids...
Jace playing the Nintendo DS:
Rez with the exact same facial expression:
A funny one of Rez with his tongue sticking out (taken by Jace):
Jace feeding Rez:
Ok, now on to the trip... Over a period of 10 days Samantha and I drove from the Bay Area to Oregon and then Washington. It was about 2,000 miles and we are both exhausted!
Our first stop was at the Valley Of The Rogue State Park on the Rogue River. It was a nice area but the camp spots were just a couple hundred feet from I-5 so it didn't exactly feel like we were away from it all.
Here is our campsite:
There was a nice path along the river:
Here is a half-decent picture taken using the timer on the camera:
Here I am by the river, the two plastic cups are filled with blackberries. I really love finding good blackberries to eat and the Northwest is full of them.
This is one of dozens of pictures that Samantha took from the car as we drove around the area. She was trying to take pictures of the nice houses but the speed of the car and the mediocre quality of the camera made that close to impossible.
A picture of me being annoyed by Samantha taking pictures in the car:
This is actually a pretty good picture of a mesa-looking hill in the area:
We went to Ashland to see a play at the Shakespeare Festival. We saw As You Like It which was ok but we were expecting to see it at the traditional Globe-style theater and instead saw it in the modern theater and it was re-invented to take place during the Great Depression which was odd.
After two nights at Valley Of The Rogue we headed northwest to Cape Lookout State Park. Along the way we stopped at a Canadian goose conservatory. This picture looks like I'm getting ready to shoot the geese with a machine gun but it's just a telescope:
Another amazing telescope picture:
Once we setup camp at Cape Lookout we visited nearby Tillamook, OR and checked out the Cheese Factory. It was actually incredibly crowded and I think they probably get a few thousand visitors per day.
Here is a picture of one of the assembly lines. The glass had some sort of protective orange tint on it. Maybe it was there to create "Cheese Vision". Just a theory.
Here is a short video I took of the assembly line action:
Probably the most amazing site of the whole trip was seeing a forest in the middle of sand dunes. I had never seen anything like it. At first glance it looks like a winter scene with snow but it's sand. There were several off road vehicles having fun in it.
Samantha entering the sand:
Another view:
Here is the view above Cape Lookout State Park:
Here we are at the beach near our campsite (another timer picture):
We decided to hike the Cape Lookout Viewpoint Trail. Everything about that trail name would indicate a pretty cool view at the end of the hike. Basically it's a 5 mile roundtrip through the forest on a small peninsula that juts out into the ocean:
However, that morning the fog had settled in and it was misting/raining constantly. It gave the forest an eerie glow:
Even though we were getting soaked it was cool to look at. Here is Samantha below some spooky trees:
There were lots of bushes with these red berries, Samantha wouldn't let me eat them:
Our camera doesn't take close-up shots very well but these plants had flowers that looked like small snapdragons:
Samantha walking into a tunnel of trees:
We are getting soaked:
Some sort of banana slug:
Samantha doesn't like heights so this part freaked her out:
Somewhere down there is the ocean:
It's a couple hundred feet to the bottom of the cliff:
The only glimpse we got of the ocean at the end of the trail:
Samantha pretending to be calm at the edge of the cliff:
When we got to the end and realized there was no view we realized it was time to repeat the agonizing journey on muddy paths in driving rain with no more than five feet of level ground before another steep ascent or descent. At least we got some exercise! A mediocre picture taken with the camera's timer:
A blurry snail:
A spooky sign:
Undeterred by the endless fog hike we decided to visit another nearby spot, Cape Mears:
Here is the lighthouse that used to protect ships from the cliff. It's about 150 years old but is still in good shape and they are trying to find funds to get it working again. We spoke to one of the guides for about a half hour and learned a lot about the design of the light houses and how they were used by captains.
After spending two nights at Cape Lookout we headed to Portland for a two nights. We stayed at a Motel 6 which felt luxurious compared to camping (we were flooded out of our tent that morning). Here is a famous statue in Portland (named "Portlandia") made by hand-beaten copper like the Statue of Liberty:
A view of the river downtown:
Another view of the river:
We visited a few microbreweries. Portland is known for this industry and it's something I'm interested in since I brew beer from home. This one is called Lucky Labrador and their mascot is a black lab so we had to check it out. They allow you to bring your dogs there while you eat and drink.
I bought a sticker for the car:
They have hundreds of pictures of dogs owned by various guests:
A dog mosaic on the back wall:
My favorite thing to do at breweries is order the sampler. They pour each beer they have on tap into a small 4 oz. glass. Tasting all the beers helps instantly understand what the brewery offers and also helps to understand all the varieties in general. It is best to drink them light to dark (Pilsner to Stout) so that you don't overwhelm your taste buds. It looks like a lot of beer but Samantha and I shared it so that's only 1.5 pints each.
We had to stop at our favorite Portland restaurant, Montage. It's a cajun spot located under an overpass in an industrial area. The staff is funny and friendly, the food is good, and they wrap up all the leftovers in crazy animal shapes:
Other Portland eateries we visited...
We heard about Voodoo Doughnut from Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations (our favorite food show) and my uncle Steve mentioned it as well. I had their famous bacon maple bar and it was yummy:
We found out that the best fried chicken in town is served at Reel M Inn and it was excellent. It's a dive bar with one person working there. She had to work the bar as well as the fry cooker. She could only cook one order at a time so if someone orders chicken before you that means another 20 minutes to wait until you get yours. I got the smallest meal of two huge pieces of chicken and some JoJos (fried potato wedges) and it was awesome. Samantha and I couldn't wait to eat it so we both burned our mouths up.
We left Portland for Vaughn,WA where our friends Martin and Holly live. Along the way I documented my geeked-out car environment. It's a laptop with a USB GPS antenna for navigation, an FM Transmitter to play MP3s through the car stereo, and my cell phone attached to get internet access. I also used the laptop to watch DVDs in the tent at night.
Here is a crazy brown banana slug that looks like poop from a distance:
This is the view from Martin and Holly's house:
This is the view from Tacoma:
Here is a brewery in Tacoma named Harmon Brewing where I ordered yet another beer sampler (served on old skiis):
Here we are on a ferry to Seattle where we visited the Pike's Place Market:
On the way home I made sure to get a picture of the incredible Castle Crags in Castella, CA:
That's all!
But first, here are some pictures of the kids...
Jace playing the Nintendo DS:
Rez with the exact same facial expression:
A funny one of Rez with his tongue sticking out (taken by Jace):
Jace feeding Rez:
Ok, now on to the trip... Over a period of 10 days Samantha and I drove from the Bay Area to Oregon and then Washington. It was about 2,000 miles and we are both exhausted!
Our first stop was at the Valley Of The Rogue State Park on the Rogue River. It was a nice area but the camp spots were just a couple hundred feet from I-5 so it didn't exactly feel like we were away from it all.
Here is our campsite:
There was a nice path along the river:
Here is a half-decent picture taken using the timer on the camera:
Here I am by the river, the two plastic cups are filled with blackberries. I really love finding good blackberries to eat and the Northwest is full of them.
This is one of dozens of pictures that Samantha took from the car as we drove around the area. She was trying to take pictures of the nice houses but the speed of the car and the mediocre quality of the camera made that close to impossible.
A picture of me being annoyed by Samantha taking pictures in the car:
This is actually a pretty good picture of a mesa-looking hill in the area:
We went to Ashland to see a play at the Shakespeare Festival. We saw As You Like It which was ok but we were expecting to see it at the traditional Globe-style theater and instead saw it in the modern theater and it was re-invented to take place during the Great Depression which was odd.
After two nights at Valley Of The Rogue we headed northwest to Cape Lookout State Park. Along the way we stopped at a Canadian goose conservatory. This picture looks like I'm getting ready to shoot the geese with a machine gun but it's just a telescope:
Another amazing telescope picture:
Once we setup camp at Cape Lookout we visited nearby Tillamook, OR and checked out the Cheese Factory. It was actually incredibly crowded and I think they probably get a few thousand visitors per day.
Here is a picture of one of the assembly lines. The glass had some sort of protective orange tint on it. Maybe it was there to create "Cheese Vision". Just a theory.
Here is a short video I took of the assembly line action:
Probably the most amazing site of the whole trip was seeing a forest in the middle of sand dunes. I had never seen anything like it. At first glance it looks like a winter scene with snow but it's sand. There were several off road vehicles having fun in it.
Samantha entering the sand:
Another view:
Here is the view above Cape Lookout State Park:
Here we are at the beach near our campsite (another timer picture):
We decided to hike the Cape Lookout Viewpoint Trail. Everything about that trail name would indicate a pretty cool view at the end of the hike. Basically it's a 5 mile roundtrip through the forest on a small peninsula that juts out into the ocean:
However, that morning the fog had settled in and it was misting/raining constantly. It gave the forest an eerie glow:
Even though we were getting soaked it was cool to look at. Here is Samantha below some spooky trees:
There were lots of bushes with these red berries, Samantha wouldn't let me eat them:
Our camera doesn't take close-up shots very well but these plants had flowers that looked like small snapdragons:
Samantha walking into a tunnel of trees:
We are getting soaked:
Some sort of banana slug:
Samantha doesn't like heights so this part freaked her out:
Somewhere down there is the ocean:
It's a couple hundred feet to the bottom of the cliff:
The only glimpse we got of the ocean at the end of the trail:
Samantha pretending to be calm at the edge of the cliff:
When we got to the end and realized there was no view we realized it was time to repeat the agonizing journey on muddy paths in driving rain with no more than five feet of level ground before another steep ascent or descent. At least we got some exercise! A mediocre picture taken with the camera's timer:
A blurry snail:
A spooky sign:
Undeterred by the endless fog hike we decided to visit another nearby spot, Cape Mears:
Here is the lighthouse that used to protect ships from the cliff. It's about 150 years old but is still in good shape and they are trying to find funds to get it working again. We spoke to one of the guides for about a half hour and learned a lot about the design of the light houses and how they were used by captains.
After spending two nights at Cape Lookout we headed to Portland for a two nights. We stayed at a Motel 6 which felt luxurious compared to camping (we were flooded out of our tent that morning). Here is a famous statue in Portland (named "Portlandia") made by hand-beaten copper like the Statue of Liberty:
A view of the river downtown:
Another view of the river:
We visited a few microbreweries. Portland is known for this industry and it's something I'm interested in since I brew beer from home. This one is called Lucky Labrador and their mascot is a black lab so we had to check it out. They allow you to bring your dogs there while you eat and drink.
I bought a sticker for the car:
They have hundreds of pictures of dogs owned by various guests:
A dog mosaic on the back wall:
My favorite thing to do at breweries is order the sampler. They pour each beer they have on tap into a small 4 oz. glass. Tasting all the beers helps instantly understand what the brewery offers and also helps to understand all the varieties in general. It is best to drink them light to dark (Pilsner to Stout) so that you don't overwhelm your taste buds. It looks like a lot of beer but Samantha and I shared it so that's only 1.5 pints each.
We had to stop at our favorite Portland restaurant, Montage. It's a cajun spot located under an overpass in an industrial area. The staff is funny and friendly, the food is good, and they wrap up all the leftovers in crazy animal shapes:
Other Portland eateries we visited...
We heard about Voodoo Doughnut from Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations (our favorite food show) and my uncle Steve mentioned it as well. I had their famous bacon maple bar and it was yummy:
We found out that the best fried chicken in town is served at Reel M Inn and it was excellent. It's a dive bar with one person working there. She had to work the bar as well as the fry cooker. She could only cook one order at a time so if someone orders chicken before you that means another 20 minutes to wait until you get yours. I got the smallest meal of two huge pieces of chicken and some JoJos (fried potato wedges) and it was awesome. Samantha and I couldn't wait to eat it so we both burned our mouths up.
We left Portland for Vaughn,WA where our friends Martin and Holly live. Along the way I documented my geeked-out car environment. It's a laptop with a USB GPS antenna for navigation, an FM Transmitter to play MP3s through the car stereo, and my cell phone attached to get internet access. I also used the laptop to watch DVDs in the tent at night.
Here is a crazy brown banana slug that looks like poop from a distance:
This is the view from Martin and Holly's house:
This is the view from Tacoma:
Here is a brewery in Tacoma named Harmon Brewing where I ordered yet another beer sampler (served on old skiis):
Here we are on a ferry to Seattle where we visited the Pike's Place Market:
On the way home I made sure to get a picture of the incredible Castle Crags in Castella, CA:
That's all!
