Running in the Footsteps of Legends

Happy Sunday! We hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend. We're sure everyone is looking forward to the next week. Or not. Our weekend was pretty amazing, I must say. Today's post isn't a crafty one, but we felt the need to share! We spent the weekend down in Eugene, Oregon. Now, for those of you who don't know, Eugene is home to the University of Oregon. It is also home to the legendary Hayward Field, Steve Prefontaine, Bill Bowerman, the Olympic Trials, and pretty much anything else that has to do with the world of running!
We went down there on our trip two summers ago, but didn't see much of the school. We kind of did a drive by of the track, but not much else. This morning, we ran in the Eugene Marathon. It was pretty amazing. On the bus ride to the race, we saw their 'Student-Athlete Academic Center'. Let's just say it was no room in the basement of the library. During the race, we ran by their football stadium. We're pretty sure our entire college campus could have fit in the stadium and parking lot. The entire campus is ginormous! So, skip (or run) ahead 26 miles and the race finished on the track. This was the best finish to a marathon. The track is definitely the best track to run on- it's so squishy! It was probably the fastest 200m we've run in a long time! And then they show you on the big screen at the end of the track. It was such an awesome experience!

And, of course, we had to wobble our way to the entrance of the track to get our picture in front of it. It may not have been our best times, but they weren't our worst, and we were able to find each other in the end, which has been a problem in the past. Except for the uber bad chub rub and my phone dying at mile 22 (which meant no more music) this was the best marathon we've done. It's also the only one (so far) we would think about doing again!
Thanks for stopping by! Now it's time to go ice, eat, and go to bed!

Fall Foliage

 Happy Monday! We hope everyone is having a good week so far. We actually don't have a project for today. We have some pictures of our trip yesterday. We drove down to Portland yesterday, to see some fall foliage. We had decided earlier that we were going to go to Multnomah Falls and see it in the fall. We went last summer and it was amazing. It is the second-highest year-round waterfall in the country. Anyway, if you go on Pinterest and look it up, there is a gorgeous picture of it during Autumn, so we wanted to see it for ourselves.

 We checked and re-checked the fall foliage outlook from the Weather Channel and it said the area was at peak. All I can say is "Lies!" Granted, there are a lot more evergreen trees out here than in the Northeast, and there were some trees that had changed color. It was also chilly, and raining on and off all day (y. Which meant that part of the trail was pretty muddy. The only nice thing was that it wasn't too crowded, so we were able to get some nice pictures without having to fight too many people!

 This picture was taken on a side trail. The water was flowing pretty quickly, with all of the rain we've been having. I love the little bit of orange and yellow in the foreground!

This one is from the top of the falls. Once we trekked through the mud and got to the overlook, we were alone, which was great. This is actually Washington, on the other side of the Columbia River (and I-84 below)
It is really a gorgeous place to visit! We wanted our parents to go there when they came out, but they passed on it. Which is unfortunate, because at least they would have had nicer weather. There were a few other spots we wanted to stop at, but the road was closed for improvements.

 Anyway, thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for another Halloween project!

Day Thirty-Nine: Redwood Tree: 1, Robyn's Car: 0

We left pretty early today since it was supposed to be an eight-hour drive down to California today, and we figured that we would probably need a few extra hours, knowing how we like to get lost. The ride was pretty uneventful for the first two hours. Until we got to Eugene. For those of you don't know, Eugene is the home to the University of Oregon, and is nicknamed "Track Town USA." Hayward Field is where they have the USA Championships and Olympic Trials. Well, it was closed for resurfacing, but as wanna-be runners these days, we had to stop and get some pictures of it! The school is pretty cool. The buildings are huge and look pretty fancy. Their stadium would eat all of Central. After driving around the school, we got back on the road out to the Oregon shore.
It was about another 2 hours out to the shore. We passed through Linn County, which boasts being the "Grass Seed Capital of the World." The spot where we met 101 was the Oregon Dunes Recreational Area. These weren't any dunes. They were HUGE! I mean, like building height. We stopped at some of the viewpoints along the way to see the Pacific Ocean. It's neat to see the difference in the northern Pacific and the Atlantic. The Pacific is so much rockier. There are all kinds of rocks sticking out of the water. And it's definitely chillier here than at home. It's a very comfortable 60 degrees out.
We finally got out of Oregon and into California! They have border patrol where we crossed. The ranger asked if we had any live plants or fresh fruits or vegetables. Well, luckily they didn't check the car or anything, because I totally forgot that we had oranges. Shhh... Don't tell anyone! I'm not sure what they were looking for, but in other states, they have signs about how you can't bring things in from one place to another. In Washington, you can't transport apple trees from one part of the state to another because of apple maggots (gross) and in Wyoming, they had watercraft checks. Interesting, too, that you can't bring fresh fruits, vegetables, or live plants into Canada. Wonder what California is worried about... We also passed through Smith River, the "Easter Lily Capital of the World." These small towns will brag about anything! Like Mitchell, SD and their corn palace!
We got to the campground for the night. It is right on 101. Great area. It looks like an area out of Jurassic Park, with huge trees and all the ferns. Kind of like the rainforests in Washington. That's where the fun started. Apparently when they tell you that a road is a dead-end, you shouldn't try to drive through it anyway. Luckily I have a small enough car that I was able to get around the posts telling you not to go that way (my co-pilot didn't foresee to tell me that it was supposed to be a dead-end. Well, we got almost all the way through... Didn't see the small-ish branch sticking out of the stump on the side. It jumped out at me! Luckily, there isn't much damage to it. I think when we stop at Wal-Mart to get some duct tape, bright pink will look fantastic on the gray. Maybe I can find a color that kind of matches...
(Just noticed that the guy in the corner is wearing cut-off jean shorts that are cut so high you can see the pockets...)

Life is a Highway Pictures updated: 8/3/11

States Visited: California, Connecticut, Idaho,Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming (15/50)

Day Thirty-Eight: All Good at Mt. Hood

We found out today that not only does our neighbor have one set of antlers, he has two! The second one is attached to the hitch in the back of his van. Why they aren't in front, who knows. And he didn't even sleep in his tent last night! Only the antlers did. We woke up to see his van covered in tarps and then he got out of it. There definitely are some characters out here.
Anyway, we had decided last night to go out to Mt. Hood National Forest today. We need to do some more research on these places before we head out, or something. We put it into our GPS and figured that the place it led to would be the actual park. Well, it didn't. It led us to a visitors' center in the middle of a town about 30 miles away. After stopping there for a few minutes, we kept on going out to the mountain. It's the highest point in the state. There wasn't much to do out there once we got there. It is definitely something that needs to be done in the winter when you can go skiing and do all those winter sports. It was a very nice drive, though. We took a different route on the way back and from there, you can see Mt. St. Helens. Pretty neat, but I'm not sure how I would feel living right between two volcanoes.But the land sure is pretty out there, and apparently very good for growing fruits and vegetables. We did learn that there are 16 volcanoes in Oregon alone, along with another 5 in Washington and 4 in California. It's an early night tonight because it's a long way tomorrow. Headed to Northern California to see some really large trees!

Day Thirty-Seven: The Rose City

Today has been, so far, one of our more-successful days. We were able to sleep pretty well, without too much trouble from the train. After our hearty breakfast of coffee, pancakes and sausage, we decided to go into Portland for the day. We were able to get into the city, but once we got there, we got confused and I almost threw the GPS out the window. The first stop we were going to make was to the International Rose Test Garden, which is in the middle of Washington Park. It is a huge park, with a bunch of other parks, and the zoo, inside its boundaries. Apparently everyone else had the same idea as us. It seems to be working out that way for a lot of our stops here. There weren't any parking spots, so we drove around some more, and decided to fill up with gas, since we figured we'd have a lot more driving around to do. Once we did that, we continued to drive around some more, and found a parking spot at the Garden. We spent an hour or so there. Luckily, we came at the right time of year, because the roses were in bloom, although some of them looked a little dried out. It was really neat because from the road you could see Mt. Hood, the city skyline, and then all of the flowers. Although in the pictures, you can't really see the mountain.
After that, we decided to take a detour and look for the house from Twilight. We found it, alright, and drove up the drive-way before realizing that it was not a road. I don't know how they ended up filming there, because it didn't look like there was much room around, but it is an AWESOME house! We were able to get a picture of the deck...then we realized we shouldn't be there and left very quickly. (The house is on Quimby Street, which for Simpsons fans out there, is the street that Mayor Quimby is named after. There is also a NE Flanders St. and a Lovejoy St. Matt Groening is from Portland and named his characters after the streets. There is also a Burnside St. which we are thinking may be where Mr. Burns came from...)
After that, we headed to Voodoo Doughnuts, which is a doughnut place (obviously) out here that has its own cult following. They make a whole bunch of different, random doughnuts, and apparently that's where you should go when you're in the city (the lady from Canada, who made fun of us for making coffee in the morning, told us, too). So, we found it alright, but the line was literally out the door, down the street, and around the corner. Again, same idea as us. So, we decided to forgo that, and kept driving. Maybe we'll try again on our way out...
Our last excursion was to Roloff Farm, for mom. Before that, though, we took a small detour to Beaverton. Nike's World Headquarters are located here. There was a gate, so we couldn't go down it. From there, is was out to the farm. It is on the outskirts of the city, maybe about 10 miles away. From the street, all you could see is the house, and not the rest of the farm. It's closed until pumpkin season, so we could only do a drive-by. We got the pictures, so that's good. Maybe during pumpkin season, we can come back for a $300.00 family-member-led tour. There's not much in the town either. It's in the "agriculture area", so there are a bunch of farms around.
After we found our way out of Portland (rather easy, which was surprising), we headed back to the campground. Since it is Sunday, there is a whole new group of campers here. Our neighbor is one of them, and he is mighty interesting, to say the least. The first thing he pulled out of his car? A pair of antlers. He proceeded to put them into one of his tents after he set it up. I'm not even kidding. He also had two inflatable kayaks. Those didn't go in the tent. They just book-end it. Then he asked us if we knew how the weather was supposed to be. Wouldn't you check before going camping?! He is one of those people who walks around barefoot. I guess when it's really dusty, it doesn't matter anyway. But, he was nice enough to offer us a spare lantern. (He probably has three more in his van.) I don't know where he went, though, he kind of just disappeared...
From what we saw today, Portland is now high on our list of favorite cities. But, now it's off to bed, and Mt. Hood in the morning!

(I know we haven't put any pictures up in a while- We're trying our best! The internet connection at the campground isn't the best, and it's taking a while to get them all up!
Life Is A Highway- here are a few pictures, hopefully!!)

Day Thirty-Six: Bridge Over Untroubled Water

Last night, we got a recommendation for breakfast at a place in Damascus called the Carver Cafe, so we headed out that way, after a night where the train didn't wake us up! Well, you can figure out why they recommend it, just by looking at all of the cars in the parking lot. And I guess since it was Saturday morning, it was probably even busier than usual. Well, we were hungry and didn't really feel like waiting for a table, so we ended up at our usual go-to, Starbucks. Not as exciting. Oh well. Maybe another time. On the way back, we passed a sign for a town named 'Boring'. Don't think I'd want to grow up living there...
After that, it was to Route 30 and the Oregon Historic Scenic Byway which is the Lewis and Clark Trail. A lot of people had the same idea as us. Again, probably because it's Saturday and the weather is gorgeous today. We stopped at Vista House. This was a building up on the cliffs, overlooking the Columbia River. There were a lot of people, there, too. (Mom, we did see a truck that said 'Roloff Construction'.) It was a look-out point. Along Highway 30, there are a bunch (5 or 6) different waterfalls along the way. The biggest one is Multnomah. (They actually filmed the falls in a few scenes from Twilight...) They are the second tallest all-year falls in the country. They are 620 feet high, which doesn't seem very tall, but they definitely are. There was a trail to the top, so we decided to take it. Man, that was a steep trail. They stretched it out over 1.5 miles, but parts of the trail were wicked steep. It was kind of funny watching the other people going up who decided, "Ehh... that's far enough," half way up. When we got to the end of the trail, there was a fork in the road, but the trail markers don't tell you where the two trails end up. So we decided to take the one that had more people (they couldn't all be wrong, could they?) and it was the right one. It led to a viewing deck, where you could look down onto the falls. You couldn't really see much of the falls, since the trees had grown over the water, but the view looking out and down were awesome. You could see Washington over the river. The way down was a lot easier than the way up. At the bottom, there where all kinds of gift shops and a small cafe. We went to the gift shop to get some postcards (which none of you are getting. :) and then we headed back to the car. There was another trail called the "Return Trail", hoping that it would take us back to the parking lot. Luckily, it did, and it was much better than walking on the road, which is what we did going there. It led us back to Wahkeena Falls, which was a smaller waterfall. There are quite a few in this area.
After we left the area, we decided to head back to camp for the night. We are trying out a few more grilling recipes, so hopefully we'll be successful! We are going to spend the evening updating, etc. We have tons of pictures that we are going to try to put up in the next few days. It might take us a while!

Day Thirty-Five: Oregon- Pacific Wonderland!

Last night was probably the best sleep we've had the entire trip. The kids next door were quiet (the moms threatened to take today's trip away from them) and it was actually warm out, so it was quite comfortable! We slept through our alarm, which turned out to not be a bad thing. We packed up and headed to our next stop, which was Cascade Locks. We got a little turned around, like usual (probably tired of reading about that and think, "What's the point of the GPS if you don't follow the directions?" We do. Or at least, try to...) So, after taking an hour or so longer, we got to Portland, Oregon. First impressions: it doesn't seem that there is as much 'city' as 'outside sprawl'. We did learn, though, that Oregon gas stations are not self-serve. The lady was kind of rude about it. Even though she clearly saw we were from out-of-state, as she grilled our license plate, and then came to help. Also, we are getting back to where it is warm. It was around 80 at 4:00 this afternoon. We have to re-acclimate!! Anyway, we kept driving out to our campground and in the distance, you can see Mt. Hood, which is Oregon's highest point. We are staying about 30 minutes from Portland, along the Columbia River. I sure hope the girls next to us invite us over for some drinks! They have an entire bar out there. But I hope that whoever is lucky enough to have the hammock doesn't roll out tonight. That would hurt. Since we got here pretty early, we were able to set up (in record time, probably) and make dinner. Tonight was Baja Citrus shrimp. It was delicious! We're getting good with the grill. And dessert, too- grilled pineapple. So, now we are going to plan the next few days out in Portland and the surrounding areas. (And Sarah, Oregon is up there, too, on our list of places, not just Washington! ;0) ) And, of course, this campground is also next to a railroad track. They have so many out here, I guess it has to be near something. And the bats. I hope they don't get me tonight. Robyn is being a jerk about them. Someone may end up in the car tonight...And then there go the dogs...

Day Thirty-Four: Darn Elusive Troll

Today started off pretty early because we had a few out-of-the-way stops planned. We made breakfast and packed up (probably the best yet). The lady in the bathroom made fun of us for making coffee. She can go back to Canada. After two hours, we were ready to go. Our first stop was the Fremont Troll on the way back through Seattle towards Mt. St. Helens. We had that troll's address in our GPS and were ready to find it. We must be the only ones who can't find it. We looked up, we looked down, we looked all around. Who knew it would be so hard to find a 13,000 pound, 18 foot high concrete sculpture? Turns out, it is for us. We ended up driving above it on the Aurora Street Bridge. Arg. Maybe one day we will find that elusive troll...
After that fail, it was off to Mt. St. Helens. It was about 2 hours away from Seattle. The drive there was pretty uneventful. We were getting bored and played I-Spy. It isn't easy when things fly by you and by the time the other one is ready to guess, it's long gone. We got through that and made it to the monument. It's part of the larger Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We kept thinking we were "there" but it was about 8 miles from the first "Welcome to" sign to the observatory and visitors' center. Once we got to the top, or bottom, since you had to go up, and then way down again, it was so cool! You could see where the top of the mountain blew off in the 1980 eruption. And another cool thing is that it has a glacier right in the middle of that crater. We also saw, with the help of a friendly volunteer, a herd of elk in the distance. There really is nothing in the immediate area of the volcano except for a lone tree and rocks. Lots of rocks. Farther out, you can see some of the trees that are still left from before the eruption. They are basically stumps, but they look really neat. They have all sorts of jagged edges where the rocks and debris hit. Since there are all kinds of ridges around, on some of them, one side is empty and the other is filled with trees. Some of the areas have been replanted since with different fir trees. Hopefully there won't be another eruption so they can harvest all of those trees.
We decided earlier that we wanted to take the scenic way to Oregon, which includes the 4.1 mile bridge over the mouth of the Columbia River between Astoria, Oregon and Point Ellice, Washington. It was the final link in creating the Mexico-to-Canada Highway, or the Pacific Coast Highway. In order to get there, we had a small 2 hour detour through Washington. (The other way would have had us cross into Oregon earlier and drive through to the campground.) The views from the bridge were awesome! The sun was trying to peek through the clouds onto the water. All you could see on either side was water. Pretty neat. We finally got to the campground around 7:30 and set up. Of all of the places in this huge campground, we would of course be next to the loudest kids. And the dog park. Hopefully they'll go to sleep early tonight...
States Visited: Connecticut, Idaho,Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming (14/50)