Fremont Lake (Stop #5) was nice. A little reprieve from the ‘dig your own hole’ camping philosophy. Nicer still was knowing we had some of the most beautiful stretches of the country between us and relaxation with friends and family in Boise.
Here’s the map of Spots 6-10:
One of the ‘amenities’ of the day’s drive was the renowned Grand Teton Brewing Company in Victor, Idaho.
If you like beer and you’re ever in the area, Grand Teton Brewing is highly recommended. In fact, just ‘being in the area’ is highly recommended: amazing views/skiing/hiking/fishing/hunting.
In addition to all the delicious beer, they have this tiny shadow box in their tasting room displaying all the medals they’ve won at the Great American Beer Festival: like 15 of them. Wish we had a picture because the box is so small it’s almost comically overflowing. There are probably hundreds of head brewers at micros across the country who would give their firstborn for one GABF medal, and Grand Teton has so many they wouldn’t notice if one grew legs walked off the shelf.
From Victor we headed north to Lower and Upper Mesa Falls, which were so beautiful I’m running out of adjectives. Apparently we can’t stress enough how important it is to see this neck of the woods. Also: Jellystone and the Grand Tetons are just around the corner, so it would be easy to incorporate probably the single-most spectacular national park into such a trip. Just sayin.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, hold onto your seats! It’s time for another episode of “Tony and Jess’ Dam Tour, Featuring: Jess and Tony”. I know, pretty much the most exciting thing you could possibly imagine. This week’s edition highlights the Teton Dam! Which is a little more exciting to the general public than any Dam Engineer wants their design to be… Here’s a link for those who want to brush up on engineering disasters of the 20th century.
Unfortunately our day got less exciting from there: to Idaho Falls for a Land Cruiser part *cough, which Tony broke, cough*, food/ice, and a break from the heat because Snowball decided it was too toasty for her and started blowing hot air through the vents. So we hightailed it to Craters of the Moon.
Stop #6 – Craters of the Moon National Monument
There might not be another place on earth like it. Hmmmm, I wonder where they got the name…
We had a quick night and rose early to bike around the road and see the sights.
We got crazy-lucky with the timing of our visit; the vast expanses of black rock were speckled with bursts of color courtesy of the blooming wildflowers. Apparently June is prime wildflower season, yay!
With the exception of one small accident (Tony took a corner a little too fast for the bike trailer and Bee took a tumble) we had a wonderful day and managed to loop the entire park! We should mention, it would have been a little more fun without the dog. They don’t allow pets on any of the trails (rightfully so!) and that made it a little hard for us to leave the bikes/dog for more than a couple minutes to go see some cool rocks. All said, everyone enjoyed themselves.
We spent two nights in the Craters campground so we could have a full day out-and-about the grounds. Preferring highways over interstates, we opted for Episode 2 of “Tony and Jess’ Dam Tour, Featuring: Jess and Tony” and took the long way to Boise. We went up to Fall Creek at Anderson Dam, then down the South Fork of the Boise River to Arrowrock Reservoir and then Lucky Peak. A three hour detour, well worth the wait for a couple Dam(n) Nerds. 😉
Stop #7 – Boise
Ancient Chinese proverb say: “Time with family and friends like children’s book: too many pictures, then it’s over.” Alas, we didn’t take enough pictures. But here’s some of them:
We spent a week each with Jenna and Blane, Marie and Cody, and Amaya and Ben. It was seriously some of the best times of our lives, we cannot thank you enough. We feel like there isn’t enough time in the world to spend with family and friends, and we are grateful to have had these moments. We were able to grab dinner with Nana; be there for our niece’s first birthday party; go backpacking with best friends; see Marie and Ben dance; and even fix the code that Snowball had been throwing since we bought her. Seriously, too many awesome memories to name, share or show here. We thank you all so much.
The morning we set out to leave, we made pancakes for Ben, Amaya, and Jenna. When we had to leave we started getting emotional, and Amaya said, “you don’t have to go, you can just stay.” As much as we wanted and still want that to be true, we couldn’t end our trip so soon. We have too many places to see, people to meet, and things which simply must be done.
To Oregon!
We left Idaho over possibly the least-traveled road to Oregon and then proceeded to Episode 3 of “Tony and Jess’ Dam Tour, Featuring: Jess and Tony”!!! Owyhee Dam. The first glory hole either of us have ever seen ever seen. Yeah, hahaha, funny. AAAAaaaaaanyways, here’s a pic:
Owyhee Canyon is a pretty cool place to be, and there were quite a few of out-of-state fly fisherman, so it must be a destination. From there we had a choice to make: south through Bend and the more desert-y parts of Oregon, or north through John Day and some forest (longer). Guess which we chose. Yep! John Day is alright, but we never had the chance to see John Night. I bet that one’s way better. (Jess rolls her eyes) So, that brings us to…
Stop #8 – Malheur National Forest
Using Tony’s trusty “just-look-at-satellite-imagery” method of finding a campsite, we ended up with a tiny flat spot on the side of a mountain road. Seriously, life can’t possibly be this easy, can it?
I hate to be the person who answers their own question, but no, it can’t be that easy. Tony was a little intoxicated when he packed the big blanket in the tent last night (shout-out to Ken/Blane/Tom), and it wasn’t finished drying. Since we cinch the tent tight when we close it, the moisture sponged into the sheets. So when we opened it, both were pretty wet. After a brief altercation that didn’t end with Tony being voted off the island (though it was a close call), a makeshift clothesline was taught and sheets were drying. All was once again quiet on the western front.
We went on a little bike ride to burn off Bee steam and made dinner. One day out of Boise and although we missed everyone, solitude has it’s own style of comfort. We woke early for two reasons: 1) we knew we wanted to make to it Bend so we could buy a new cover for our rooftop tent from the manufacturer; and 2) we had no idea where we would stay the next night, or even how we would get there. When the only thing you have plenty of is time, it’s spent resolving unknowns.
Once the tent was taken care of, we spent too much money lunching and drinking at Deschutes Brewing Co, another must-see for the avid beer connoisseur. Re-upped food and ice and we were again on our way west. Another choice: the well traveled US 20 to the north through Cascadia and Corvallis, or the little squiggly line OR 242 connecting Sisters and Belknap Springs. Not to hard to guess which we opted for. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the reason why OR 242 was so ‘less traveled’ was because it goes through a lava field from which you can see the source volcano and along some steep windy switchbacks. Looks a little like a throwback to Craters of the Moon, eh?
We chose an unmarked side road off the highway for our camp, and it suited us perfectly (Stop #9).
Spot #9 – Willamette National Forest
After a quick camp setup, we biked just down the road to an amazing hike that just so happened to be around the corner and found some beautiful waterfalls.
It was so peaceful, we barely heard a thing all night long. Combined with the new moon, this turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing because we lost sleep unnecessarily worrying about things that go bump in the night. For those with similar problems, the pessimist solution is earplugs: if there is something that wakes you up while camping that is actually going to hurt you, hearing it coming isn’t going to increase your chances of survival. Especially once you realize your first and only reaction is a whispered ‘what was that???!???‘.
Waking relatively-well rested, we drove through Eugene, Oregon, where we encountered a fortunate traffic jam which led us to Voodoo Doughnuts. We knew of the original in Portland (thanks Naia!), and we knew there was one in Denver (thanks Laura/Julie/Ashley!), but we didn’t even know there was one in Eugene until we started looking for any way to get around what must have been the slowest 5k ever walked. I can tell you firsthand: Good things come in pink boxes. If you happen to be nearby, you must get VD. It’s to die for. And yes, there are dirty stickers for sale alluding to getting VD at their various locations.
Sugar-high as a kite we continued downstream to Florence, OR and the Pacific. After some fun playing in the sand, we set to finding a campground with a free space. This was easier said than done because it was the 4th of July.
Stop #10 – Florence, OR
Eventually we managed to find a spot at the Sutton Campground. We made camp and proceeded to continue playing in the sand! A nice walk on the beach was just what we needed. Unfortunately, Bee’s first ocean experience would have to wait until tomorrow because woofins weren’t allowed (there was an endangered nesting bird of some squawking variety).
To be continued!
"Purposefully Unrushed" 