A vacation in August: Oregon

This blog post is for Andrea! You are such a good friend, I have a feeling you are the only one that sometimes still checks in on our blog status, thus the reason we haven't updated as often as we should. So if I'm wrong and there are other friends and family out there still checking in on us, give me a comment and let me know what you think... even if it's demanding more blog posts.

This August was the first time in 3 years that Jeff and I have been on a summer roadtrip. The last one was actually what started this blog when I moved to California! With my fundraising event, Day in the Park on hiatus in 2009 it gave us a chance to make the most of my free time and go on this 6 day road trip up to Oregon, a state that i'd never had the opportunity to explore much of in the past. It's beautiful!

It was a great way to get away from everything just the two of us and explore a new area of the country. We love our friends and family so much but so many of our trips are about events, holidays and visiting them. Trust me~ someone even asked me "Why Oregon? Who lives there?" so that's when we knew we needed a trip that was just spent on us and what we love to do: hiking, camping, exploring new towns, wineries, breweries, shopping, and just hanging out with one another. It was a great trip and the perfect note to end the summer on.

Can you tell this trip was all about the beer for one of us?

Portland, OR

Silver Falls State Park
Our trip was a perfect compromise, we camped for two nights in Silver Falls State Park and then went to the city of Bend for two nights. It was a great campground and we took a spectacular hike among the falls. We hiked for 9 miles, the first four we didn't see another person. It was as if we had this beautiful lush, tropical forest all to ourselves. We took a picture of all 10 falls we saw but I've only included some of my favorites here.

Did you know? It's apparently good luck to kiss under a waterfall, we better go buy a lottery ticket!

On the drive to Bend, we made a stop at a winery with some great nearby views. Always an Osborn train fanatic, Jeff had to get a shot of this train bridge. I enjoyed the wines and the fun beatnik label artwork of the Maragas Winery. Plus sitting in the sun and making friends with the 12 year old Winery pup, Chloe was fun too.

Bend, OR

We spent two days in Bend at a really cute studio rental home about a .5 mile from their really cute downtown. There were 3 breweries in town, but Jeff had the most fun at Deschuetes. I enjoyed the peace and quiet on the deck where i could read a book and watch the sunset. Having no deadlines or "to-do" lists for an entire week was the highlight of this trip!

Crater Lake National Park ~

Honestly one of the most beautiful places that i have ever seen in nature in this great world!

Jeff and I were just amazed by the pristine beauty of Craker Lake, the water was so blue and it's only accessible late June-August, definitely someplace everyone should visit once.