Category: Travel

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Are we there yet?

We enjoy planning road trips.

Short or long it doesn’t matter. Maps come out, calendars are penciled in … its all good stuff. Personally, I think we like the possibilities of a new adventures, as much as the trip itself.

We used to be limited by vacation time. So, of course it was all about “getting there.”  Now, not so much. Since retiring, we’ve adjusted our mindset and have slowed things down.

All those roadside stops we used to zip by are now interesting. We stop at historical markers, geological sites, scenic outlooks … heck, even wide spots in the road.

Some of this dawdling has had some surprising results like: catching a storm front near Biggs, driving through freezing fog south of Pendleton, viewing dippers on the Malheur River, enjoying a sunset in Yosemite and marveling at the Metolius Balancing Rocks (a small wide spot with trail that lead to this geological wonder).

All because we started with a plan, then changed it.

Storm front near Biggs, Oregon
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Fall at Summer Lake

In Central Oregon Fall seems to have gotten skipped over and we’ve moved directly to winter or at least the cold part.  That said we took off for Summer Lake this morning hoping to catch some migrating waterfowl.

The weather was overcast with temperatures just above freezing as we drove south Fremont highway (US 31) past Fort Rock on to the high desert.

Took a brief side trip a few miles up USFS 2901, which would eventually take you to the rim of the cliffs that border the west side of Summer Lake. Snowy roads persuaded us to turn around before they got worse higher up.

The reserve at summer lake was packed with pre-wildfowl season RV’s, no people just their trailers.

The clouds broke up and we enjoyed some birding, highlighted by a trio of swans landing and paddling around just a few hundred feet away.

 

 

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Trip to the Moon

Explained in an earlier post, the expanse of land between home and western Montana is too much for a day’s drive and also a bit formidable in the blast of summer’s heat. Any route includes several hundred miles of desert driving through either  Idaho or Nevada and eastern Oregon.

At the end of a week long tour we’d found ourselves on the western edge of Wyoming and looking at a two day drive home which would include a trip to the moon, well nearly.

Few places on earth offer a more barren landscape than Craters of the Moon scenic monument. This expanse of lava flow, cinder cones and sage brush sits in the middle of southern Idaho. US 20 runs along the northern border so it was more or less on our way.

From our camp site in Wyoming’s Teton Mountains, we were half a day’s drive of the National Monument. The plan was to enjoy a visit before the heat of the day bore down on us. Then press on to the Oregon border and a hotel stay to avoid the nearly 100 degree temperature.

There is a loop drive through the park offering lots of different angles on the unique landscape.

On a cooler day we might have walked one of the trails or even stayed the night in the moonscape campground. Worth the effort as it is a strangely beautiful spot. But it doesn’t have much to offer in the way of shade from an August sun.

 

 

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Photo Ninja

20 years ago I read a book that focused on the roads less traveled. William Least Heat-Moon wrote Blue Highways in 1999 and we’re acolytes of his travel philosophy. The blue highways have become single red and black lines on current maps, but we seek them out just the same.

A recent road trip was meant, primarily, as a shakedown for the Eurovan and us as campers. To date our “vanlife’ has been overnight fishing trips. Now, we are going to be on the road for a week or more.

This type of excursion involves a great deal more drive time. The first two days were spent just getting to our major destination … Montana. In all that driving JQ developed a ninja-like prowess for snapping pictures from the van’s windows.

A wealth of images were found speeding along the highways from Oregon through Idaho, into Montana and Wyoming. Thats not to say we didn’t take advantage of scenic overlooks, historical markers and other roadside stops. But from the window of her camper, JQ gathered a rather nice collection of the sights along the red & black highways.

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Is everyone in Yellowstone National Park?

 

Sulphur Caldron (one of the most active areas of Yellowstone’s buried volcano)

The geological phenomena that is Yellowstone National Park (NP) attracts a global array of tourists. It’s July and it seems like everyone is at the same overlook we’re at.

We’d picked July because the Flyfishing Federation International meeting was in Bozeman. 

No surprise …

it’s not a good idea to go at the peak of the season.  That said, Yellowstone is the kind of park you can see from your car.

Pretty much most national parks are not dog friendly. Tip was banned from nearly every trail, boardwalk, and even short-paved paths to scenic overlooks. That, and the jam of people kept our visit to a day and a half, but in that time we managed to see a lot of cool sites.

Artist Point (Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River)

It should be noted that we avoided the geyser basins. My childhood memories of Yellowstone are of unpleasant odors (gagging and retching), rather than magnificant views.  We managed to find some un-occupied pull-outs along the Madison and Firehole rivers that made perfect picnic stops.

It’s a beautiful park, just a bit crowded which is to be expected.  We did manage to catch bison stopping traffic, as well as a couple of bull elk in velvet. Yeah, the classic Yellowstone picture ops.