Goonies Never Say Die

Disclaimer: I've only seen Goonies once and that was earlier this year. I just don't think it's that good of a movie but I know everyone else loves it. That said, I am familiar with it and I know it's a great childhood memory for Jess.

Today was our last day in Oregon so we decided to head to the coast. It was a cloudy day today, which is remarkable because between our last two big road trips, it's the first cloudy or rainy travel day we've had. It only sprinkled a few times too and by late in the day it has cleared up so we've been extremely fortunate. I think this is all evening out that rainy California trip a few years ago when it rained for the first time in like 18 months the entire time we were there.

Our first stop was in Cannon Beach. It has the famous Haystack Rock and it's just a very interesting place since it's so different from our NC beach towns. It was very busy despite it being cloudy and in the high 60's today and the beach had a lot of people on it. After finding a place to park and walking to the beach, we were right next to the rock. It was misty and foggy and looked just like you'd think the Oregon coast should look, especially if you've seen Goonies. We waded into the ocean which was dicey because a) there were little jellyfish everywhere (I don't know if these dead ones can sting you, but I didn't want to find out), b) the water was really cold and c) Jess had jeans on while I was wearing shorts. The water was pretty choppy and even though we only wanted to get our feet in the water, a wave came up and got the bottom of Jess's pants and it didn't dry for hours.

The next stop was another historic site. The Lewis and Clark National Historic Park is where the expedition wintered after making it to the coast. There are multiple sites but we went to the main one called Fort Clatsop. They built a replica fort on the site of the original one and while that was ok, the park did have a decent visitor center/museum along with a bunch of trails that visit various historic sites (like where the canoe landing was). For some reason the Lewis and Clark sites we've visited have nicely done museums - I guess folks out here are extremely proud that someone (white) braved the trip to "discover" the west. The good news is we got more passport cancellations and a token so it was a successful trip. Also, Jess made another animal friend when a squirrel ran right up to us so yes, we have a bunch of pictures of that.

On the way out, we drove through Astoria which was the setting for the movie which was obvious because the houses and everything looked like you'd expect. After driving out of town, we were on a road with a bunch of houses and businesses when we noticde something on the side of the road. It was 4 elk with huge antlers just grazing on a lawn! After all the parks and forests we've driven through, it took us going through a town to finally see them. We turned around to take pictures but other people spooked them and they were gone quickly so we didn't get any visual proof. A little up the road we saw a deer near the road too but we never saw elk again.

Finally, we drove over the Columbia River into Washington and made our way to the hotel. This took way longer than necessary because of an accident around Olympia so that sucked. The good news was we stopped at Shari's Cafe and Pies and got dessert for dinner. We've seen signs for this pie place since Oregon and it was in our heads so we had to stop. I will say it was pretty good (I had chocolate lava cake and Jess had the Banana Split pie) and if we have time we may stop there again because I may have a cake problem.

As they say in Washington, "May you dream bigger than the Space Needle." Note: no one says this. 

Simpsons Hood

Road Trip Day 5

First stop: Springfield, Oregon, Home of the Simpsons

Well, we didn't really see their house but the scenery in the area did resemble some show scenes. We went to a visitor center where I read they had maps to Simpson sites but they just printed something off and gave us a map of Eugene and Springfield and told us no one really does tours anymore. We went to see a mural that was was nearby and bagged the rest of the tour. The mural was great. Simpsons creator Matt Groening played a part in it and was there for a dedication in 2014.

Second stop Cannon Beach Mt. Hood

During our drive north before heading to the coast we saw Mt. Hood in the distance and decided to do Cannon Beach tomorrow. I have some mixed feelings about M.t Hood. It was beautiful, but getting that picturesque view was a terrifying drive down a narrow 2 way street with a drop off where I could not see the bottom (which I am assuming is a million feet down)! You could not easily get to any other views because they were through camp grounds where you needed a day pass and they were so crowded we couldn't find parking. I love a good visitor center to get my postcards and miscellaneous stuff with the place written all over it but this visitor center was...well, let's say quaint. It was a small museum with a couple shelves of stuff I didn't want but at least I got my postcards.

Ryan Note: We also passed a guy selling Elk Jerky out of his old station wagon. He did have a rigging on top of the wagon that contained a 5 foot tall "ELK" in block letters. "JERKY" was written on the windows in tape. He actually had a line waiting to buy his goods. See what happens when you legalize marijuana?

Third stop: Interstate 5

Literally stopped, for an hour on our way to our hotel in Portland. Traffic was so terrible Mabel (what I call the voice of Google Maps) had us make a complete circle and take us to a sketchy part of town. We finally made it and just ate dinner at the hotel because we did not want to get back in the car.

After 6 days in 6 different places we are getting a little tired and being together 24/7 Ryan and I are going between glaring at each other in annoyance and giggling over stuff that isn't even funny. (This was written before any of those Ryan notes)

Ryan Note: She's kidding. She loves my jokes and being stuck in a car with me for 300 miles a day. She just doesn't want to make everyone reading this jealous.

The Amazing Crater Lake

I'm a nerd and somewhere between the ages of 8 and 12, I was reading about an incredibly deep lake out west that was basically a caldera filled in with water. It didn't seem real to have a crater with that much water in it but sure enough, Crater Lake does exist and is absolutely amazing to see. I've wanted to come here for years and even though it was a ton of driving since this is very out-of-the-way, it was completely worth it.

The lake is in Mount Mazama, which erupted about 8,000 years ago and led to the collapse of the top of the mountain. After cooling, it filled in with rain and snow melt and now it's the deepest lake in the US and one of the clearest in the world. It has no inlet or outlet - all the water lost is by evaporation and all the water gained is via precipitation. Since there's no new sediment mixing it, it is very clear and an incredibly deep blue.

It snows a ton there and they don't open the full road until June (and sometimes not until July). There's still a little snow up there, which is insane to think about since it was about 75 degrees and very sunny at the top of the mountain and it has been like that for weeks.

It's hard to describe and the pictures below don't really do it justice. I think it's because from most vantage points you can take in the whole lake at once but whatever the reason, every view is spectacular.

I should also point out that we have about 50 pictures of chipmunks. They know people feed them so they just run over to you and basically beg for food. We didn't feed them but others around us did and who knew they loved pretzels and Doritos? They're basically the stoners of the animal kingdom. Anyway, they were cute (Disney kind of nailed their chipmunk cartoon characters) and Jess couldn't help herself. Enjoy!

As they say at Crater Lake, "Go ahead, feed the chipmunks - they almost certainly don't have the plague." Note: no one says this.

No Penitentiary Can Hold Me

After a couple of days of going non-stop, I think we may have pushed it too far. Jess crashed after dinner and now I've got to recap the day before I pass out.

Our original plan was to not do much today except for driving to the middle of nowhere Oregon. However, since we did stuff in Sun Valley last night, it didn't make sense to drive 2 hours out of our way just to take in a few extra mountain views. Jess had found a pamphlet for the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument and since they had passport cancellations, we decided to do that on the way out to Oregon since it was kind of on the way. After putting it into Google Maps, we drive for 90 minutes only to find...the Oregon Trail? No Visitor Center (that was about 15 minutes away in town) and while it mentions possibly seeing horse fossils and there were pretty views of the Snake River, there wasn't much information. It did turn out that the Oregon Trail (and the Emigrant Trail) ran right near or under the road to the top of the ridge.

Apparently there are wagon ruts marked with white stakes and they ask that you don't walk on them so they can be preserved. That wasn't a problem because we didn't see any of them. We did drive up to the where you can hike the trails but things weren't clearly marked and it wasn't that interesting. On the plus side, it was neat seeing where the Oregon Trail in one of the more difficult sections and the scenery was nice. We also saw a lizard so that was fun.

We did make a brief stop at the Visitor Center (which was done relatively well) before getting back on the road. Since we had time, Jess looked for things to do around Boise and she found the Old Idaho State Penitentiary. This is one of only four territorial prisons left in the US and it was in operation until 1973. You can still go inside many of the buildings (excluding the ones they burned down in riots in 1973) including the original jail cells and the death row facility, complete with gallows. They only ever executed one person there before moving the facilities to the newer prison. The prison couldn't hold me though as I easily escaped. Perhaps locking the front door would have helped the prison lasting past the early 70's.

Once we were on the lam, it was another few hours until we got to our destination for the evening. Once you get into Oregon, there's basically nothing but curvy highways through mountains and next to creeks. There's probably a 60+ mile stretch where there is literally nothing besides the road. The views were nice though and reminded me of some of the areas of Montana we really liked. We finally got to our hotel, grabbed dinner and turned in for the night. We did decide to spend more time in Oregon so we rearranged some plans to give us more time to see all the sights here.

  

As they say in Oregon, "A beaver and a duck will always bring you luck." Note: no one says this.

Idaho All Day and Loving It

Road Trip Day 2

First stop: Snake River Canyon

The Visitor Center is behind the Outback! That's something I never thought I would hear but this wonderful attraction is kinda in the middle of a huge shopping center. We watched a guy BASE jump from the bridge while practically standing in an Old Navy parking lot. If Twin Falls, Idaho ever got a NHL team I would live there.

Ryan Note: As Jess mentioned, this is right near a major shopping area. I told her about the bridge and since you can't even see the canyon below until you get right near it, she didn't know what to think as Google Maps told us we were almost there. The canyon goes down about 500 feet and has nice walking trails all around it, including areas under and across the bridge. It was formed when Lake Bonneville expanded past it's natural boundary and caused water to rapidly flow down an existing (albeit much smaller) canyon. It was flowing so fast (70 mph) and with so much water that it carved out the soft rock to what we see today.

This place is also famous for being near the location that Evel Knievel attempted to jump the canyon in a rocket motorcycle...unfortunately, it didn't go as planned as he only made it out partway before falling (slowly, thanks to the parachute) to the bottom near the river. This was the inspiration for the climatic scene in The Simpsons episode "Bart the Daredevil" which is mostly why I cared about it. The dirt ramp Evel Knievel used is still there and visible from the bridge.

Finally, as we got there there were a couple guys packing up parachutes. I thought we missed the BASE jumpers but thankfully one more went as we were standing there. The last two pictures below show them on the bridge and in the last picture you can see the blue parachute against the water. Apparently this is the only man-made structure in the US where you can BASE jump without a permit so it happens quite frequently. I'd like to say that I would try it but considering I only could walk about 50 feet out on the bridge (on the safe pedestrian walkway) before the shaking got to me and I high-tailed it out of there, I doubt I'd ever try that.

Second stop: Shoshone Falls

Only a short drive later, we got to Shoshone Falls State Park and after quite a terrifying drive down a winding road we got to a picturesque waterfall with a mist rainbow and everything.

 

Third stop: Craters of the Moon National Monument

It was a 2 hour drive to get another stamp in my National Parks and Monuments Passport! This was once again all Ryan's idea and once again it didn't disappoint. First, there was a small hike off the scenic overlook which was full of dull black lava rocks with shiny blue streaks, awesome flowering bushes and twisty trees. The second time we stopped we climbed a mountain...well, a 160 ft cinder trail up the side of what felt like a mountain and at 6000ft elevation it wasn't all that easy. The 360 degree views at the top were well worth it!

Ryan Note: I've wanted to come to Craters of the Moon for a long time. I don't know why - I think when looking for something to do in Idaho, it came up as the top attraction. Frankly, I had read some unflattering reviews of it so I was preparing to be underwhelmed. Whoever doesn't like this place doesn't know what they're talking about. We were lucky to get a cool day (about 70 degrees) - usually it's hotter this time of year and with all of the black rock around, it makes the surface temperature very hot (and unpleasant to walk on).

Some of the lava flows that created the cones and features were only a couple thousand years ago. I guess while the volcanic activity is currently dormant, it's not extinct and odds are it will erupt again within 1,000 years. There are many different lava features here so it was very interesting to see.

The highlight was the Inferno Cone, which contains a pure cinder trail up to the top. It's pretty steep - 160 ft that's between a 8 and 28 degree grade and the pictures below show views going up and down. The panoramic view at the top was incredible and worth the hike (though I will say that going back down is tougher because the rocks are so loose and it's so steep). This is such a unique place in the continental US and it was definitely worth the stop. I should have known better - the National Park Service rarely disappoints.

Fourth stop: Ketchum Cemetery

We checked into the cute little Wood River Inn and headed out looking for dinner but drove a little further to check out the place were Ernest Hemingway is buried. It's in a little cemetery with a view of the mountains and the grave is under a tree. We left a couple coins and paid our respects before heading out.

Ryan Note: Yep, Ernest Hemingway is buried here. He moved to Sun Valley late in his life because he was paranoid that the government was watching him and trying to spy on him. He was partially right, as it turned out, but the alcohol and other illnesses didn't help the situation. He killed himself in 1961 in Ketchum which is why, despite his famous connections to other places in the world, his wife buried him here.