Today's outing

Today I got some things done around the house - which was sorely needed, so I didn't get on the road as early as I would have liked. At least I did manage to go to the Cascades, hike, as well as get my chores done, so I will take it overall as a great success. I finally took all those clothes to donation - and I took care of the leaves in my front yard that had started to take over the driveway of both my neighbors :( They have been quite patient with me thus far but I didn't want to test that any further! I also did dishes and laundry and other sundry stuff that seems never ending...

Then I headed out of town. I stopped first at a bakery to pick up some lunch - I got a slice of fritatta that was very tasty! I want to try to make one of those - shouldn't be too hard. Hardest part for me will probably be remembering to look up then pick up the ingredients and remember to use them before they spoil!!

Audrey and I drove east toward the Cascade mountains and the tiny town of "sisters" that sits between two of the "sister" volcanoes that are some of the highest peaks in the state. Around 3pm I realized I'd need to find a place to hike because there were only ~2 good hours left before dusk. I stopped at the first spot to find that it was only a 1/4 mile trail - but it did have a great creek for Audrey to play in. We stayed only briefly in order to find a better trail.



















The 2nd trail I found was much longer, called "rooster rock". We never did find the rooster rock - according to the one set of people I met we went about 2/3 of the way up - but after 1 h of hiking I knew it would be wise to head back without making it to the end, least I find myself heading back in the dark. The trail wasn't very well used, and would not have been nice to hike at dusk. Apparently the view is worth it - in fact I found this online:

http://www.oregonphotos.com/TableRock-Pan.html

I may try the hike again someday - or maybe just push on up the road and find a new trail! There are way too many to choose from - I could probably never see them all. I got some nice pics on this hike, mostly of trees since that's about all I saw the whole time. I did have one odd experience - I kept seeing two people ahead of me, but then they would disappear. At first I thought I was seeing things - maybe it hadn't been a person - plus I was shocked because I hadn't heard or seen anyone the whole time and I wasn't walking fast so I doubted I could have possibly caught up to other hikers. Just when I was thinking I may need to start believing in ghosts (haha) I realized what they were doing - they were picking mushrooms! They kept going off the trail and bending over and such, which is why they kept popping out of sight. And that's also why they were going slow enough for me to catch up to them. Crazy locals :) People here are fun... We stopped back at the creek so Audrey could cool off - she seemed a bit hot from the hike. I actually took those pics on the way back. On my way home I stopped in a small town at an authentic looking Mexican place and had a big yummy burrito. Here are some pics I liked from the day (there's a woodpecker in one of them... maybe you can spot him?):





































I have to interject my blog right now with a random thing - my roommate is listening to some compilation album of uniquely American songs (so nice of this foreigner to try to learn our culture, but somewhat misguided effort, I think!) Currently playing is "home on the range" - oh Uncle Bob, I will never forget your lyric: "show me a home where the buffalo roam and I'll show you a dirty house" - I have quite the urge to sing along right now using those lyrics :)