March Madness and Coos Bay!

This has been another good week in Oregon.  We spent most evenings playing our new favorite game, Farkle and enjoying the extended daylight with evening runs and outdoor basketball.  Due to the 3 hour time difference, the tournament games start while I’m still at work (around 4:15).  So, on Friday Eli drove down to Roseburg to meet me at a local bar, so we could watch UNC whoop Marquette!!  We are bummed that UNC just couldn’t pull it out against Kentucky, but we are definitely on the VCU bandwagon!!!

Tony's Crab Shack

On Saturday, we put the pups in the car and headed to the coast to meet Laura Hutchinson at Coos Bay.  She is stationed there with the Coast Guard, and took the day to show us a good time.  The weather was  crazy as we counted over 10 times that it switched from pouring down rain to sunny skies and back to rain.  Laura told us we could never say the “s” word (sun) because that would surely bring more rain.  We started off heading south to Bandon where we walked through the cute downtown and went to several candy shops.  We also ate some delicious seafood at Tony’s Crab Shack.

Coquille River Lighthouse

  After exploring Bandon, we drove along 101 to some beautiful sites, including the Coquille River Lighthouse. We are still surprised by the differences of the west coast with jagged rocks and huge waves in comparison with the east coast which is equally as pretty, but just different.

  Once we had made our way back to Coos Bay, Laura gave us a tour of the cutter (boat) that her and her crew takes out. The cutter is a 110 patrol boat and is named the Orcas. Laura is a lieutenant on the boat and is the second in charge of a crew of herself and 15 men! Touring the cutter was the highlight of the day!  It was wild to see the tight living quarters of a crew of 16 and just how they jam so much into such a small area.

After touring the boat we went driving to a part of the coast where we were able to do some hiking with the dogs and enjoy some gorgeous views! After exploring around a bit we met up with Laura's friend, Patrick, who is a pilot in the coast guard. We all went to a local pizza place for dinner and had a good time hanging out and talking.  We got back home late, but enjoyed sleeping in Sunday morning. Sunday we spent a lazy day watching basketball and then relaxing in the hot tub Sunday night! We have been here for over two months and just realized that we are counting down the days to our next destination.  We still have a lot to explore but are very excited to find out where our next location will be!

Hot Springs, Wineries, and Wind Storms...

King Estate Winery

Last weekend, March 11-13, we decided to stick around Cottage Grove and do a bit of sightseeing locally. On Saturday we spent several hours in the afternoon driving around to some local wineries. We went first to the King Estate Winery, which is one of the largest and most well known wineries in the state of Oregon. The winery has 1,100 acres of land with 465 of them dedicated to their organic vineyards...it is actually recognized as the largest organic winery in the United States. Along with the vineyards it also has 30 acres of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. King Estate has a restaurant at the winery in which they serve all local and organic food...most of it grown right here on the property. There is also a bakery on the site in which they prepare all their own baked goods that are served in the restaurant. It was a very cool place to visit and walk around and do some tasting of their world renowned Pinot Gris wines.

Sweet Cheeks Winery

After visiting the King Estate we went about three miles up the road to the Sweet Cheeks Winery where we did some more sampling of the local wine scene. Sweet Cheeks has a great outdoor area where Katy and myself decided to sit and relax for a while enjoying the beautiful scenery.

McCredie Hot Springs

On Sunday we drove up into the foothills of the Cascades to go to the McCredie Hot Springs. To get to the springs should be about a 45 minute drive for us...the key word..."SHOULD" as it took us over 2 and a half hours to get there! When we left it was raining pretty steadily, but as we've learned over the past two months living in Oregon, weather here is quite fickle and so can be pouring rain one minute and then be bright and sunny in the blink of an eye! So, we thought nothing of the rain and started driving fully expecting sunshine at the next turn. Well, as you can guess by the length of our trip we did not encounter any sunshine but rather the worst wind storm Oregon has seen in the past 15 years! We were heading up into the mountains on a twisting two lane highway bordered by the typical plethora of Oregon evergreens. The wind was whipping like crazy (we'd find out later that wind gusts were as strong as 65mph) and not long into our trip we were forced to slam on the brakes as the truck in front of us had a pine tree come crashing down in its path. The driver jumped out of his truck to try and move the tree and so I jumped out as well to give what help I could. Within just a couple minutes there were 10 of us lifting this tree together to move it off the highway. After this little adventure we kept pushing on towards the hot springs, but about another mile up the road we encountered another downed tree. At this point Katy raised the point that it might be a good idea to head back home and visit the springs another day...but I was set that we were going to make it and that no little gusts of wind would stop us. Well, after six more trees down, some Paul Bunyan like men who just happened to have chain saws in their trucks saving the day, and another two hours in the car, we finally made it to the springs.

There are no signs letting you know you're there, so we were not positive we were in the right spot. We parked on the side of the highway and found a beaten foot path that we assumed must lead us to the Hot Springs. We started walking through the rain down a muddy and uneven path along the Salt Creek River not sure if we were headed the right way, but just when we were ready to turn around we saw steam rising above the water and knew we had made it. There are certain Hot Springs in Oregon whose temperatures can reach 200 degrees Fahrenheit, but the springs we were at ranged anywhere from 95-130 degrees! There were definitely areas of the spring that were a little cooler then others, and areas that were a little too scalding to sit comfortably in. It was a very cool experience to soak in the springs and we hung out there for over an hour enjoying the warm water and the gorgeous mountain scenery of the running river and the huge pine trees.

Reading by flashlight

Our trip home was much easier as the storm had passed, but we returned to bad news...the wind storm had knocked our power out! We ended up being without power for two and a half days and did not get it back on until Tuesday night! So...no water, no heat, no electricity! On Monday night we broke down and used bottled water to wash each other's hair and we ate dinner out three nights in a row as there was no cooking being done in our house. We were very thankful for the power to come back on Tuesday night...especially since the NCAA tournament was starting up on Thursday!

Washing each other's hair!

This past weekend we were the laziest we've been since coming to Oregon...we took advantage of the weather and did a lot of playing outside with the dogs and we watched a lot of college basketball. On Sunday we returned to the King Estate Winery to eat lunch at their restaurant....it was very tasty! They informed us that all their meat comes from just a couple miles down the road at an organic farm, so Katy thought we should go tell the pigs thanks for allowing me to eat one of their brethren as I had a sausage with my meal!

King Estate Winery Restaurant 

Keep Portland Weird

On Saturday Eli and I drove two hours north to Portland, Oregon while our landlady, Paula, was nice enough to keep an eye on the pups.  It was something I’ve looked forward to for a long time with the main reason being that we planned to meet our dear friend Tara Stewart to spend the weekend exploring and catching up.  We lucked out on weekends as the well-known Saturday Market was kicking off it’s first weekend of the year.  It is an impressive set-up and is the longest continually running open air market in the United States that comprises several blocks of vendors selling locally made art, clothing, food, etc. There is also live music and the occasional street preacher.  After several hours exploring the market we walked to Stumptown coffee which is a local favorite and on the “must-do” list Rachel Dirito created for us.  She had spent two months in Portland for a clinical rotation and told us all the best spots to hit!!  After leaving Stumptown we strolled around the city by foot.  We came across an open area with live music and lots of dancing known as the Pioneer Courthouse Square.  This was a people-watcher’s paradise.  It was drizzling at this point but it did not stop anyone from having a good time.

View from our table!

The big pink building
is hard to miss!

After exploring the city, we headed to the Portland City Grill.  Paula, our landlady, recommended this place.  She could not remember the name but told us it was the big pink building which was very easy to spot.  She was right…you can’t miss it.  Just before 4:00 people start lining up to get a good spot by the window of the bar which is located on the 30^th floor and looks over the city, the Columbia River, and you can see Mount Hood in the distance.  We rushed in and luckily Tara used her skills to get us great seats.  We enjoyed piano music, food, drinks, and watching UNC whoop Duke!!  Eli asked our waitress if she could put on the game and she was more than happy to but had to come back three times to ask, “now, what are the names of the teams playing.”  We knew we were far from home when someone was not familiar with those two schools and the rivalry it entails, but we cheered loudly and proudly anyways!  Following dinner, we walked back to our hotel, The Jupiter, which was just across the Burnside Bridge and within walking distance to all that we had done.  There were two bands playing in the bar attached to the hotel.  We really enjoyed the first band, the Foxstreet Allstars.

The wait for VooDoo Doughnuts!

On Sunday morning we walked back downtown to finalize our shopping and get Voodoo doughnuts.  We have read that these doughnuts are a must so we were going to get the doughnuts at any cost….even if it was an hour and a half wait!!  Eli initially waited while Tara and I shopped.  After we waited and waited, it was finally time.  Eli and Tara both got the Voodoo doll doughnut and the maple bacon doughnut, which really had slices of bacon on top!!!  We got our box and headed to Stumptown to enjoy the doughnuts and coffee.   After a wonderful weekend with Tara we headed back to Cottage Grove to gear up for another week.

For the love of traveling!

This past weekend we loaded up the dogs and drove five hours down to Redding, California. What was so exciting down in Redding, you might ask. Well, nothing. We drove there because that was the closest place to us in the state of California where they do live scan finger printing on Saturdays. This was something Katy needed to get accomplished so she can get her California license in time for us to be there by the beginning of May. Oh, the things we do for this traveling adventure! It was, however, a pretty drive as we had Mt. Shasta in our sights most of the way. Regardless of the drive, it was a productive weekend as Katy got fingerprinted, had passport size photos taken, and forms notarized all so she could finish and turn in her paperwork for state licenses in Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and California! Sunday was a great day because it was a lazy day! We played outside with the dogs, went running, and ordered some pizza while watching the UNC basketball game.

Tuesday I was back at the community garden and was able to bring a few goodies home with me to share with Katy. They cook lunch for the volunteers every day the garden is open, and everything they cook with is grown on the property (except for a few spices and the bread is donated by a local bakery). So, needless to say the lunches are awesome and I have realized that I need to diversify the vegetables that I eat. Katy and I eat a salad most nights, but every night is the same...spinach and, depending on what we have, some combination of peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, and carrots. Well, Tuesday night I made a salad solely with the handful of veggies I picked before leaving the garden, and then made a homemade salad dressing that one of the workers from the garden told me about. The salad had in it cabbage, kale, chard, peeled red and yellow beets, red and yellow beet leaves, corn salad, and the dressing was made with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dark brown sugar, a little salt and a little pepper, and then you caramelize some fresh garlic and fresh leeks and mix that into the dressing.

On the far left is the leek, beside that at the top is the cabbage, to the right of the leek is the red beet and beside that the yellow beet. Directly to the right of the yellow beet is the corn salad and then the colorful leaves is the chard. At the very bottom is the kale.