Central Oregon - Family & Outdoors

We took (another) three day weekend and set out for Redmond, OR last Thursday after work. (It's near Bend if you're not familiar with the area). Matt's brother Greg and his wife Stephanie live there and we were super excited to get to visit them and spend some time outdoors. Central Oregon is known for being sunny and snowy in the winter. They were a bit short on snow, but good on the sun so no complaints from us!

Friday we had been hoping to go snowboarding at Bachelor but the less than stellar conditions made it so we didn't feel like spending the money. We had a relaxing morning around the house getting caught up and then went skeet shooting in the afternoon. Greg & Stephanie are avid hunters, and while I certainly wouldn't call him a sharpshooter Matt does at least know how to load a gun. Me? I'd been skeet shooting once before during my freshman year of college. It was a beautiful sunny day, and there's lots of BLM land only a few minutes from their place. It took me some pretty embarrassing attempts to get up to speed but eventually I think I was about 50/50. We all had a great time.

That afternoon we wandered downtown Redmond (super cute in that old small town sort of way) and had lunch at Seventh Street Brewhouse. Unfortunately I forgot my camera during this entire days worth of adventures, so all there is is a few phone pictures from skeet shooting.

Saturday we all got up and had breakfast together again and then Greg, Matt & I went snowshoeing. We had been planning something at Meisner or Swampy Lakes b/c they have nice loops with shelters. Turns out there was only half an inch of snow. We ended up at Tumalo Mountain, the trailhead right across from the Bachelor parking lot. It was a great 6 miles round trip with 1500 feet of elevation gain. The sun was out, and views of Bachelor and the three Sisters visible the entire way. From the top we had a 360 degree view of the region. It was a great snowshoe.

Bachelor

The Sisters. Matt & I climbed South Sister (the one on the left) three years ago.

That evening a bunch of Greg & Stephanie's friends came over and we all had dinner (brisket smoked for 15 hours, yummm) and burned the burn pile. If you're from somewhere urban like myself, you're not quite sure what that means right? Well, when you own a few acres, a yard waste can doesn't do it for you. So you stick it all in a big pile. When it gets about 20 feet tall and 20 feet wide, what do you do? You light it on fire. It was a fun night hanging out and meeting new people.

Check out Greg in the corner of this one. Thats how tall it was

Sunday Matt & I crept out of the house early in the morning and hiked up to Tumalo Falls (which is actually in a totally different area than Tumalo Mountain). We had the area to ourselves, it was another sunny day, and the falls were neat. It was nice to be outside.

The snowy mountain in the background is Tumalo Mtn

We headed back, cleaned up, and went out for a late late breakfast before hitting the road back to Seattle. We had a great weekend getting to spend time with Greg & Steph and be outdoors in the sunshine. Thanks for hosting us!

Cave Ridge & Guye Peak Snowshoe

If you remember my post from a month ago, we went snowshoeing and were trying to find the Guye Peak trail but were a bit confused. This past weekend we went snowshoeing with our friend Tom and decided just to park at Snoqualmie and head out into Commonwealth Basin and see where the day took us. There are a multitude of trails winding through the basin and we didn't have a particular agenda, so just kept to the left.

It was a beautiful sunny day, and the views were spectacular thanks to the fresh snow coating everything. There was at foot of new snow on the ground, only lightly packed on the trail.

After a couple hours we saw ahead what every snowshoer dreads - people breaking the trail you were on. Ok, that was dramatic, it's not really dreaded but it often means those ahead aren't on a particular trail (and therefore may not be going anywhere interesting/with a view) and it always means that you are going to catch up to them and have to start breaking trail yourself. Which is hard work. But we're tough (hah) so we just laughed at ourselves and kept going.

We caught up to the group of four guys at the top of the ridge and after some friendly greetings they asked 'where are you headed?' Matt and Tom looked at each other sheepishly and I laughed and asked them where we were. They in turn laughed at us, the snowshoers who not only didn't know where they were going, but where they even where (the thing with snowshoeing is, as long as there's not blizzard, you can always follow your trail back). They pointed out Snoqualmie Mountain one direction from the ridge and low and behold, Guye Peak the other direction. Snoqualmie Mountain looked big, so we headed for Guye Peak. It's a clifflike rock face on three sides, but there's a ridge along the back (that's climbable, though Class 4 in the summer and steep in the winter). Taking care for avalanches and cornices we picked our way to the top.

The views were fantastic - probably my favorite snowshoe so far. After a snack we turned down and were back in the city for NYE.

2011 In Review

When I ‘did the numbers’ for 2010 travel this time last year, I said if I never had another year like it til I retired, I’d be ok. And it truly was a pretty amazing year. While I didn’t quite beat 2010 by the numbers this year, we came pretty darn close. More importantly we spent tons of quality time with friends, and were blessed by the ability to travel and spend time with some of those who don’t live near to us. Here’s to 2012 being just as fulfilling!

6 Countries (5 new ones!)

5 States

5 trips to Canada

48 days out of the country

3 very special weddings, and visits from all 3 of my favorite Germans

Ok, not so much backpacking but…
20 days of hiking

A mere
110,000 frequent flyer miles used each (with about 200k each in waiting for next year)

1 finished basement!

Cheers!