B & D's USA Hideout: Oregon Part I: Caves and Grapes

Driving north and away from the coast on a meandering road through the mountains, I'm not sure if the feeling was more comforting or discomforting to be headed to our final destination. Comforting in the fact that we've survived this trip and excited to finally be moving on to a new state yet discomforting in the way that Brian will be back to work shortly and we still had service repairs needed for the trailer and had not officially locked in a spot for me to stay for the next two months. Luckily, things have been working themselves out, as they always seem to do. The guys at Trailer and RV Parts Warehouse did an awesome job beefing up the leaf springs on the trailer and giving Brian peace of mind about the axel, tires and overall weight of our hideout (which is way under by the way). Did I mention the heater broke too? Yeah, well, they fixed that and ordered our wheel cover piece that that crazy dog ripped off back in Paso Robles. While the Hideout was being worked on, we drove around looking at the different RV parks in the area. Most were very unsightly and right on the highway. They were also all booked. We finally found a secure spot for me at Glenyan RV Park in Ashland. I will be moving the trailer there on October 16th and will stay until mid December when Brian comes home. At the moment we are staying at Emigrant Lake Park, which is just beautiful. Unfortunately they only allow a 14 day maximum stay, otherwise, this is where I would be. I have two friends in the area who have also recently moved here. Emily, Samantha and I trained together in Seattle to be observers back in 2012. Emily is going to graduate school here at SOU and Sam is traveling back and forth to the Gulf of Mexico for the fall for work but will eventually be out here full time and looking for a new job. We will have a great time together.

We made good use of Brian's last couple days on the west coast and the last few days of our trip. Emily's cousin, Ryan, a Northeastern student, flew out for the holiday weekend and together we did the southern Oregon tour. On Saturday we stayed local and went wine tasting at two great places. Did I mention we are in wine country? Lucky me. We took a tour of Eden Vale Orchards, where we ate grapes right off the vine, (I had no idea how delicious they were!) as well as tasted our way through the entire process of winemaking. It was awesome and an absolutely beautiful day for it. We also visited Dana Campbell Vineyard, which had a lovely view, delicious Viognier and outdoor games! We continued on to downtown Ashland to some funky places and barhopped our way back home. Brian was the DD. Lucky him. The next day we took a drive down to Oregon Caves National Monument. After signing up for the 1330 tour, we checked out the coffee shop located in the their historic inn. It was like taking a step back in time to a real 50's style diner, we of course, ordered their milkshake, which was more like a giant sundae. The cave was very cool, literally. The average temperate is 44 degrees. We learned that the marble rock in the cave was a product of tectonic activity. Also, that the cave was once a tropical reef that was pushed under the continental edge to a depth of 12 miles and then uplifted to 4,000 feet about sea level. There was some human influence/defacement in the cave, but not nearly as bad as we've seen in some of the other cave systems within the National Parks. It was a very enjoyable tour.

To end the day we drove down to the Redwoods so Ryan could get a glimpse of the monsters and step into California for the first time. We brought miscellaneous picnic items like cheeses, crackers, party mix and blueberries to snack on while we sat on a blanket on the river bank. But after a long day and still a drive ahead, we left as the sun set.

Sunday we'll drive up to Crater Lake National Park to spend the day. Ryan will join Brian and I while Emily has classes and work to attend. More then.

Emigrant Lake: