Bend, OR

We haven't heard one bad thing about Bend, in fact, we've been told that Bend is one of the coolest spots in Oregon with the best ski mountain in the northwest, Mt. Bachelor. The growing mountain town definitely lived up to its reputation. Brian and I spent President's Day Weekend camped in the heart of it. The other big thing we've heard about Bend is the amount of delicious craft micro breweries. A few you may have heard of or sampled before is the Deschutes Brewery, famous for their Black Butte Porter, 10 Barrel Brewing and the ATLAS Cider Company. We visited several in the area and were not disappointed once.  We also happened to be in Bend just in time for Winterfest. It was an outdoor festival full of local vendors, live music and a Metal Mulisha (dirt bike) event. Between brewery tasting and festival attending, we also got some things squared away with the camper, like the oven, which has not been working for months. 

We had a super lazy Valentine's Day which was nice and Brian cooked us a fantastic dinner. He looked up the best way to prepare filet minion and nailed it. It was so, so good. We tried to ski on President's Day but the mountain was swimming in pea soup and winds were recorded at 136 mph (nope, not a typo) at the summit. We held off until Tuesday and instead drove back into town where it was mostly sunny and 50°F. The bikes needed a little lovin' so we put them on the back of the truck and drove down to the bike path along the Deschutes River. We rode around and then stopped on the river for a picnic. Later we checked out Crux Fermentation Project that was recommended to us by a nice couple we met in the park. There, we met a new friend, Justin who continued to hang out with us as well as show us around and tell us about some other really cool places in Bend and in Portland. 

After leaving Bend, we drove up to Mount Hood to ski. The conditions were a lot better there than at Bachelor. With all that high wind and warming and cooling temperatures, Bachelor was pretty icy. We'll have to get back on a better day because it was a really awesome place to ski. At Hood Meadows, it was warm and spring like conditions but all the snow was soft but not too slushy. Brian and I had some great runs on untouched snow. We camped right there in the Mt. Hood Meadows parking lot that night. For $5 you can get an overnight pass and no one will bother you. Right after dinner, Brian and I were playing Bananagrams when we realized that the window was plastered with snow. We debated leaving but it was white out conditions and who knew what the roads were like. We waited it out and eventually it turned back to rain and were able to get out just fine in the morning. We did think ahead and brought the slide out it so that it wouldn't be covered in sleet as we drove out. 

Well we are headed to our last stop before Brian has to go back to work. We'll be visiting the Murphy Family as well as couple friends in Portland. It will be nice to be settled for a week or two before Brian flies out. Looking forward to seeing what Portlandia has to offer. 

All the photos below were taken from Brian's iphone

 The Deschutes River

 Skiing Mount Bachelor

 Camping at the Mount Hood Meadows parking lot

Mount Hood Meadows 

Next and Final Stop: Portland, OR

Summer Lake Hot Springs, OR

I'm going to start with a very bold statement - This was my favorite stop of the trip yet. It was weird and desolate, a hidden secret with immense beauty and healing powers. A place where the never ending, deep blue sky is crisscrossed with white jet streams and birds of prey. If the people above only knew about the sanctuary below them. 

Brian heard about this place while sharpening our skis at a small ski shop in Mammoth. Brian tells the story much better than I, but the guys in the shop were enthralled with our travels and when Brian said we were heading up to Bend, this young man raved about the Summer Lake Hot Springs. Even when we altered our route slightly and headed further west so we could ski Mt. Shasta, we decided to go check this place out. It was a gorgeous drive through the Oregon high dessert. If we hadn't known about this place, we would have driven right by it. There are about 10 RV sites and several cabins available to rent. Then there are the hot springs. One large building houses a big pool and outside the building are 3 rock hot tubs continuously filled with hot mineral rich water.

From their website I extracted this information about "The Journey of Water" - Traveling from an aquifer nearly one mile below the surface, fresh water is heated by volcanic conditions and through pressure, the now hot water is forced upward along the Slide Mountain fault line.  On its journey, the water absorbs various minerals before it comes out of the ground at 106°F to 113°F. This water is then channeled to the large soaking pool, various outdoor rock pools and geothermal floor heating.  It is high in silica and you will notice a silky and soft feeling on your skin soon upon entering in the water.

It was so silky smooth and so relaxing and so utterly good for the soul. Brian and I sat in the outdoor tub looking at the stars and feeling the strong breeze in our hair with only the hot, rejuvenating water from beneath the earth's surface around us. 

We awoke early for sunrise and for one more soak before heading out. We also chatted with the owner, Duane Graham, and some of the other guests staying in the cabins. So, if you ever find yourself in south central Oregon near Paisley, do yourself a favor and stop by the Summer Lake Hot Springs, your mind, body and soul will be so thankful. 

 Owner, Duane Graham

Next Stop: Bend, Oregon

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Lassen Volcanic National Park, the last of the National Parks in California for us to visit. It was also the hardest to see this time of year. In the winter, the visitor's center is closed on Monday and Tuesday. Both times that we have driven through the area in the Lassen National Forest, it has been on a Monday or a Tuesday. Therefore, we couldn't buy our park sticker [insert angry emoji face]. And though you can drive through the area, the only road through the park is closed in winter. We went in through the north entrance and parked the rig in the vacant parking lot. It was a beautiful day and even though we really couldn't experience most of the park, we made the best of it and spent the afternoon exploring what we could. We hiked through the snow around Manzanita Lake, taking time to take pictures and play with my tripod. 

Lassen is a very interesting park. Represented in the park are all four types of volcanoes found in the world - shield, composite, cinder cone and plug dome. The area has been volcanically active for the past 300 million years. The most recent eruption for Mt. Lassen was in 1915. Though the area is dormant now, steam vents, boiling springs and bubbling mudpots are active. There is no direct prediction for future eruptions but the sure thing is that it will happen. 

 Manzanita Lake, Mt. Lassen in the background

 Snow Angels!

 The best assistant photographer a girl could ask for

From Lassen, we continued west to the small mountain town of Mt. Shasta. We camped at the KOA at the base of the mountain. Temperatures are really mild right now for this time of year so we enjoyed a day of spring like conditions on the mountain. We had a great time and we're happy to add another west coast ski mountain to our list. 

 Whoa, goggles

Mount Shasta summit in the background, alien cloud hovering over the ski park. 

Next Stop: Summer Lake Hot Springs, OR

Mammoth Mountain, CA

If anyone is looking for ski deals, we found a 4-pack of lift tickets to Mammoth at Costco.com. You can also check REI and Liftopia to find some discounted deals. The town of Mammoth Lakes was a bustling ski town. We put the Hideout at Mammoth RV Park, where there were several other RV-ers enjoying the snow. We enjoyed chatting with the people there, it was a very friendly spot. Though, it was pretty cold so we decided not to hook-up the water or sewer and just used their facilities. They also had an indoor hot tub, which was really nice, especially after a long day of skiing. There is also a free town shuttle that picks you up from the RV Park and brings you to the village where the gondola is. Brian and I skied on a Thursday and a Friday. On Thursday, we had the mountain to ourselves. Mammoth is such a big mountain to ski, it takes two days to see the whole thing. Friday was busier but still really enjoyable. The conditions were fantastic. Brian eagerly dropped into a couple bowls even claiming that he had the best run of his life down one shoot. He wiped out on this run but apparently it still holds a record in his book. I, personally, love the groomed trails. I love the corduroy rippling under my feet and the absolute control you feel with each turn. As the day goes on, I will even ski the crispy, crusty edges of the trail that have some grooves left, just to feel the vibration under my feet and the grip it holds under my skis. 

Also while we were in Mammoth Lakes, we visited the local brewery, Mammoth Brewing Co.. And after skiing on Friday, we did some happy hour hopping and toured around the village. We decided not to ski over the weekend because of crowds and we had used up our previously purchased passes. It was nice to catch up though, we brought a mammoth mountain of laundry to the laundromat and Brian replaced a jack on the camper that has been a little bent for some time now. We stayed through Sunday and watched the Superbowl. I was pretty confident that Denver was going to win, Brian was sure that Carolina would. Though the game was good, the commercials were not! Where were my Budweiser clydesdales? The one with snippets of them doesn't count! Where was Coca-cola? Lame. Anyway, from here, we are off to visit our last National Park in California, Lassen Volcanic. And from there we're going to shoot over to ski Mt. Shasta in Northern California before we pop back into Oregon. 

Mammoth Brewing Co.

Next Stop: Lassen Volcanic National Park

Death Valley National Park

Driest, lowest and hottest, oh my! Starting with the lowest, Death Valley ranks amongst the top ten lowest places on earth. At -282 feet below sea level, it is in fact, the lowest place in the North America. Interestingly, this depth was not carved out from erosion, movements in the earth's crust have created this lowness. Death Valley is known to be the driest due to its location. Winter storms pass over the mountains on the west side and dry up by the time they meet the east, leaving dry "rain shadows" in the distance. No rain was recorded in the years of 1929 and 1953. Yet, the driest stretch on record was only .64 inches of rain from 1931-1934. It is hottest because the Valley is a long, narrow basin and is walled by a range of steep mountains. The summer sun penetrates the dessert floor and with little vegetation cover, the rocks absorb the heat and radiate it back. The heat is then trapped by the tall mountains and circulated back down to the Valley floor.  The hottest temperature EVER RECORDED was in Death Valley at 134°F. This was the highest temperature in the span of the heat wave in 1913, 5 consecutive days reached 129°F. Death Valley holds the record for the hottest place on earth! Oddly enough, 1913 was also the year that Death Valley saw it's coldest recorded temperature at 15°F.

It was a long road to nowhere before we entered the park. Brian and I camped at Stovepipe Wells, just inside the entrance. This is the in-season for Death Valley, though it wasn't very busy. But everything was open, the gas station, market and saloon. The temperatures were mild, mid 50's during the day and high 30's at night. Some roads were closed due to recent flooding, but we were able to see most of the park. It was beautiful. Another park that we did not expect to be as amazing as it is. Yellow flowers called Desert Gold were in bloom all along the roadside, letting a soft, fragrant aroma fill the air. We visited almost all the points of interest including the Badwater Basin, which is the lowest elevation at -282 feet below sea level, as well as Natural Bridge, Mosaic Canyon, Mustard Canyon, the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, and Salt Creek. The only thing we didn't have time to do was visit The Racetrack. The Racetrack is a mysterious place where large rocks appear to move on their own. No one has actually seen them move but there are long trails behind the rocks and no other footprints or markings around them. What a phenomena! Our stay was over Groundhog's Day (My Gram's birthday!) so to celebrate the saloon showed Groundhog's Day, the movie, on a film projector. Brian I and enjoyed the movie with a couple cold ones ("Watch out for that first step, it's a doozy!"). We wish we had planned for more time in this park but we're so glad we were able to experience it. The drive out was also gorgeous, snow capped mountains, Joshua trees, red rock and a winding road leading through all of it. 

Badwater Basin

Salt!

Desert Gold

Natural Bridge

A 20 Mule Carriage at the old Harmony Borax Works. Mustard Canyon in the background.

Salt Creek

Playing with intentional blur

The Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

Sunset in the Valley

Playing with night shots. The stars were unbelievable!

Mosaic Canyon

Next Stop: Mammoth Mountain, CA