Hiking Mirror Lake

Mirror Lake is one of those places we've driven by many, many times but never stopped at, usually for good reason because we are on our way to somewhere else.

We were missing out.

The access to the trail is just after civilization ends on Highway 26 east of Portland. The highway says goodbye to Welches, narrows to two lanes, and heads through some forest before widening to four lanes again and starting towards Government Camp. Off to the right the land drops steeply into a valley for awhile, but then you go around a curve and suddenly that same side of the street has a steep hill. Usually here you will see a mess of cars parked with no real signs - this is where you park to head to Mirror Lake.

This hike is a little over three miles round trip and is generally referred to as "easy." To be honest, calling this easy is a bunch of crap. Easy is walking on flat sidewalks. This hike involves steep hills and uneven surfaces, so to call it anything less than moderate is plain wrong.

Most of the hike is uphill over a myriad of switchbacks, crossing a creek or two on narrow bridges, over ground riddled with stumps and rocks. Going up the terrain isn't a big deal, but going down following a crazy little Shiba named Misaki who apparently would rather run it's kind of dangerous. Be careful! (As always, click the pictures to see larger versions.)

One example of a switchback.

I wanted to get a picture down the hill, but the trees were too dense and they didn't really turn out.

There is a rock slide that the trail switches back and forth across about three or four times on the way; Misaki was quite pleased with herself for conquering the boulders.

Misaki is quite proud of herself.

Here's a pic of one of the bridges, this one just before the trail splits to go around the lake. Misaki continues to amaze me at how fearless she is. The creek rushed underneath, but she took a measure of what it would take to hop onto the narrow bridge and just did it. Most dogs, especially smaller ones, would hesitate, but not her.

Fearless pup.

Guess who was the first one to see the lake?

Zen.

And what did she see, a little over a mile and a half into our hike? It's breathtaking, really. They don't call it Mirror Lake for nothin'.

No words.

Wifey and I had packed a lunch, so we sat on the rocks at the water's edge. We tried to enjoy the quiet, but it was shattered by a bunch of out of control kids with no sense of personal space.

One interesting note: You can make this a longer hike. Turning away from Mt. Hood, if you look up to the right there is a ridge - Tom Dick and Harry Mountain (really) - far into the distance (another four miles each way, I think). Someday, when I'm better prepared, that would be a fun (you know, if by fun I mean exhausting, mentally draining, and likely to induce massive hamstring cramps) hike to do. I can just imagine the amazing pictures one could take.

We had some chipmunks hang out with us for lunch, as well as this little guy and some birds we'd never seen before.

Our dining companion.

Misaki generally leaves the wildlife alone, but I was wondering if maybe she was going to go after some of the fish darting around in the shallows.

Looking for noms.

We had a great time. It's a great workout (moderate, not easy - I want to see their definition of easy) and not too far away. However, get their early, especially on a nice day on the weekend because that parking area can fill up and you don't want to be forced to park on the very edge of Highway 26 as cars fly by at 60+ miles an hour.

It's worth the effort, especially when you see something like this.

Should I Correct Someone Else's Kid?

Let me start with this: there is no dog I would trust more, ever, with an unknown child than Misaki. In fact, I'm willing to bet she's a better and more trustworthy babysitter and caregiver than most day cares, but that's another topic for another day.

We are lucky with her. We know that. She loves people and will go out of her way to meet them. She isn't pushy, unless you count the nosing of legs, but she'll go over to people and stand expectantly at their feet, tail wagging (happy, effusive tail wagging, not the wary, anxious kind - we know the difference) and looking up with those chocolate brown eyes, until the person acknowledges her, preferably with skritches. It doesn't matter what age, gender, race - she's excited to meet people. (We joke she'd do whatever she could to help out someone robbing our house if it meant getting loved up.)

A lot of dogs aren't like this. We know this too, because of our experiences with Ruby the Akita. In fact, way back when in the early days of this blog I posted a plea to other dog owners about keeping their dogs on leash specifically because of what we dealt with her. If there is a spectrum of how well a dog gets along with strangers, Misaki is on one end and Ruby almost the polar opposite. She thought she was excited to meet people, but then would get so freaked out she'd pee on the floor. She would jump and bark at the slightest sound (Akita barks = earthquakes). A ringing of the doorbell on TV would put her on edge for hours. We deliberately kept her away from people - and absolutely other dogs - because after trying to get her over her fears it just wasn't happening. Instead, we gave in and decided to keep her within her comfort zone, for better or worse.

With Ruby we always told the neighborhood kids they could not pet her. Most of them were scared of the 90-pound Akita, ripped with muscles and a mouth full of sharp teeth. With Misaki? We don't worry in the slightest. Provided the kids ask politely we let them, because how could you resist this?

You can't. No one could. She puts up with a lot too. Most kids don't know how to properly approach a dog, which is somewhat darkly comical considering most of them freak out over a spider while the dog could rip their face off with one bite. She wouldn't, but she could. She lets them roughly pet her, give her kisses, put their face right up to hers, and her tail will wag wildly the entire time. The worst she might do is sniff their face and huff at them, possibly blowing a little spit on their cheeks.

We trust Misaki, but we know her. These kids? They shouldn't be so trusting. Chances are if they approach her like this that's how they approach any dog. If they had tried that with Ruby they might be dead. Heck, other Shibas wouldn't necessarily respond as pleasantly as her. I can probably count on one hand using three fingers the number of kids who have approached Misaki - a dog they do not know - in the right manner. (This is where I link to this fantastic Huffington Post piece by Sophia Lin regarding the proper way to approach a dog and how to recognize anxiety and fear reactions - hat tip to The Misanthropic Shiba for posting on Facebook. This should be required reading for everyone: parents, children, adults, old people, whomever.)

Every time another kid puts a hand on either side of her face and gives her nose bumps, which she enjoys, I think I should say something. I feel I should say they shouldn't do that, it's not the right way to approach a strange dog. I feel like I should show them the proper way.

But I don't. It's not my kid. I don't have kids, don't plan on having kids. This is something their parents should be teaching them, right? (And no, the parents are never around - not on the sidewalk and not at the park. Yes, they SHOULD be, but they aren't, and the fact they should be is a completely different discussion. Unfortunately the parents aren't in this equation.) And also, most parents don't like strangers correcting their children, even if they are right. The last thing I want to deal with is have some kid go whining home to their parents about how this guy yelled at them for petting his dog, and then at some point that parent wants to have a discussion with me.

On the flip side, if that kid gets his face torn off by the next dog he tries to approach that way, will I feel guilty when I see the story on the news? Do I have an obligation to correct these kids? Should I start? Do I have to take the time to explain to them the right way to approach a strange dog, even though all Misaki wants to do is smell their face?

This is where I turn to you, Internet. I'm going to post this on Facebook, my Twitter account, and Misaki's tumblr blog, and I'm hoping the Shiba community - and the dog community as a whole - can give some insights on this topic. Has this happened to you? Do you say something? How do you do it? Do you feel a societal obligation that you should say something?

Please, leave comments and start a discussion - I want to see where this goes. And thank you!

Misaki Now Tolerates EzyDog

About two and a half months ago, in our infinite wisdom, we bought Misaki an EzyDog QuickFit harness because we thought it would be easier on her neck and shoulders for walks.

She hated it.

She refused to walk in it so we had no choice but to go back to a regular collar. At this point she probably figured she had won and us weak humans would give up.

We did not.

Instead we spent another $30 and bought her the Chest Plate version of the EzyDog harness, also in pink camouflage. The idea was the points of contact on her would be different, allowing her more freedom of motion at the shoulder. We also decided to go a little slower this time and allow her to get used to it, rather than throwing it on her and taking her immediately outside.

She still didn't look very thrilled. (These first couple pics are from the first day, so if the harness looks too loose, it is.)

We put it on and gave her a few treats, enticing her to walk around the living room for a few minutes, moving from treat to treat. After a couple minutes, we took it off and praised her.

We did this every day for a week or so and she gradually warmed up to it. At the beginning of a session she'd move a little awkwardly, but then decided it was okay. Well, okay enough.

Then we decided she was ready for a real walk. Mother Nature proceeded to dump 10+ inches of rain and snow on Portland over the course of two weeks and Misaki never left the house (if I didn't have to go to work, I wouldn't have either).

But today, FINALLY, it was both light out and dry when I came home from work, so Wifey harnessed and treated Misaki and we took her outside.

She still doesn't love it, but she managed to walk in it with no issues. We took her to the local park and back, our normal basic walk. We left her Lupine Martingale collar on just in case, which was good because the harness still needs a little tightening. Overall, though, she managed to walk and sniff whatever she needed to.

She even was willing to pose for a picture with her momma.

Success! We hope, at least. Apparently the QuickFit was just not for her, but then again should I be surprised? She's very particular.

And Misaki, I'm sorry, but this picture was too cute not to share:

Our poor puppy...she puts up with so much. I may want to sleep with one eye open tonight...

Merry (Belated) Shibamas!

This is a little late, being Christmas-themed and all, but it's full of cute Shiba pictures so I bet I get a pass.

Last year a group of the Shibas with Twitter (Twibas, if you will) personas got together and did a gift exchange. Misaki was a little sad we didn't sign her up for it, so when it came time for the 2011 Secret Shiba Gift Exchange, she made sure we put her name in.

Secret Shiba is an honest to goodness real thing, with it's own tumblr site and everything. It's organized by the human mother of Phineas the Shiba, who is famous in his own right after winning awards for a short film this past summer (see it here!).

There were guidelines and I believe something like 60 Shibas signed up for the 2011 version. The pups were from not only all over the United States, but also Australia, Canada, and even Luxembourg! Misaki was assigned Baron (shibamindtrick on Twitter) and she gave us very specific shopping instructions. We were to get things she liked and approved of, so into the package went some Zuke's Z-Bones, a Himalayan chew, and a stuffed goose that honks when the pup chomps it. Plus she advised us to get a little something for Baron's parents, so we found some chocolates from Xocolatl de David.

She also made sure when it came time to wrap the gifts that she approved of the paper.

And she even gave the card a kiss of approval (if you click on the pic below to make it bigger, you can see the nose prints).

My genius self pre-paid for the flat rate box at the post office, so instead of putting a sticker on it with the shipping price, they sold me a pile of stamps. That in itself took five minutes to stick all those things on.

We made sure to get it in the mail with plenty of time before Christmas and a few days later got confirmation on Twitter it had arrived.

Then, a couple days later, a box arrived for Misaki!

She wanted to open it. And, actually, so did the cats. This is Misaki being annoyed...she takes out her agression on a chew toy.

Fine, she said, can you at least put it under the tree for me? Um...sorry Misaki, but we haven't put up a tree in a couple years. This is the best we could do.

She was not amused, and she became convinced Wifey's OSU Beaver reindeer was part of her gift. Every day she wanted to open that box. She'd lay in the living room and give us the saddest, most forlorn puppy dog eyes ever.

When Christmas morning came she was excited, but when she realized Wifey and I were just going to sleep in and take our time making coffee and breakfast, she got sad again. (This cartoon from The Oatmeal about how different age groups celebrate Christmas is so true. We so fall into the category of 30-somethings without kids.)

Finally I opened the box up for her.

Her box came from Nami, who can be found on Twitter here and also on tumblr. Misaki wanted to have everything at once.

That pink Princess Nylabone really got her attention. She has been known to destroy one of these in a month, but apparently Nylabone changed the formula on them. Up until now all of them had been mint flavored, but now they also have a bacon flavor. She was ready to chew this right out of the cardboard packaging.

She also received a sock monkey toy that squeaks, which she has been carrying all over the house.

And there was this neat little container of bacon and mint treats. She loves them!

All in all the Secret Shiba Exchange seemed to go very well. The toy was a hit.

The treats were met with approval.

And probably unknowingly, Nami also sent the kitties toys as well. They love tissue paper like crazy.

Lots of good times. Thank you to Nami and her pack for the gifts, a Merry Christmas to Baron and his pack, and a hearty thank you to Phin and his pack for organizing the whole thing.

And none of this would have been possible without Twitter. Technology really is amazing, isn't it?

New Year's Day Bombs

Wifey and I aren't big celebrators of the New Year's holiday. Maybe age is catching up with us now that we have hit mid-thirties, but staying up until midnight to see a ball drop has lost all of it's appeal to me. Not that it was ever all that appealing; most of the time New Year's Eve ended up seeming like a waste of time to me.

I mean, really, all we are celebrating is buying a new calendar, right? I have no cultural or religious ties to the symbolism of a new year and nothing seems to change on that day anyway - hey, it's a holiday, stuff is closed - so I don't see the big deal.

Which makes celebrations of the new year that much more crazy to me. When, exactly, did blowing shit up become a thing for the new year? It makes even less sense than the traditional celebrations on the Fourth of July and increasingly, in my neighborhood at least, the differences between the two holidays are becoming minimal.

This year Wifey and I went to Mirakutei for dinner on New Year's Eve. We got there early and stuffed ourselves with sushi, gyoza and ramen, and were back home by 7ish. The rest of the evening was going to be for a movie and catching up on the DVR. When we got home, though, our cute little puppy was a little freaked out.

When we go places we can't bring her Misaki stays home in her crate, closed in to avoid any possible fights with the cats we can't police. She doesn't mind this at all and is usually pretty stoked to go in there (mostly because it also includes treats). And this one, she is most absolutely not shy. Not in the least. But when we got home Misaki the Shiba was super clingy.

She jumped at sounds, even little ones. She didn't want to go outside just to go to the bathroom. As you can see from the pictures she curled up to Wifey and didn't want to let go, which is something she very, very rarely does. Not this Shiba; this Shiba can take care of herself.

Then we heard the bomb go off.

No, it probably wasn't ACTUALLY a bomb, but close enough. They were going off not long after we got home and then intermittently until after 2am, so I'm sure they started while we were gone. Maybe it's because we weren't home or maybe something louder happened, or maybe it's because it makes no sense to be blowing stuff up on New Year's Eve, but Misaki did not approve at all. (And really, if the Shiba doesn't approve it should not happen. Am I right Shiba owners?) The Fourth of July doesn't bother her at all.

And aren't these fireworks/bombs kind of expensive? I don't exactly live in a neighborhood where the household incomes typically would allow for the spending of hundreds - or thousands - on this kind of crap, but I suppose it's all about priorities and some people apparently have the priority of freaking out my dog. She would never admit it, but we could tell; her normally stoic facade was cracked.

That's how when midnight came we were both laying on the floor with Misaki, skritching her ears to keep her relaxed, away from the television or even a clock. We only knew midnight had come because the blowing-shit-up people started blowing shit up at a more rapid pace. Yay - thanks drunk people with explosives!

But you know what? It was one of my better New Year's Eves. Just the three of us, cuddled up on the floor, with Misaki's Shiba purrs rumbling between Wifey and I.

Moral of the story? Ridiculous amounts of bombs being set off by drunk people celebrating random times (not midnight) are bad, and Shibas are awesome and sometimes even they need a few extra cuddles too.

Visit Lovely Pacific City

Last week I posted about our Mother of All Storms trip to Pacific City, Oregon, but the trip wasn't all about the beer. Well, mostly, but not all.

We drove out on a Friday, which just happened to coincide with the first snow in the coast range, the hills/mountains dividing the coast from the Willamette Valley and the Interstate 5 corridor. The northern route, from Portland which heads to Tillamook, is a higher elevation and had snow on the ground, so we went south to Salem and headed west to Lincoln City, then north to Pacific City. We avoided any snow threats, but as you can see the clouds were pretty damn ominous at the coast. This is looking out at the ocean over Pelican Pub and Brewery.

And this is looking out at Haystack Rock.

Wait, I can hear you saying, isn't Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach? Yep, it sure is. And in Pacific City. And there is, apparently, another one further south in Bandon, Oregon. (Yeah, I didn't know that until I looked it up either.) These rocks are called sea stacks or offshore monoliths. They were created of basalt from volcanic eruptions in the Grande Ronde mountains 10-17 million years ago (thank you Wikipedia) and were once connected to the land, but years of erosion from the ocean now leave them standing as offshore sentinels.

Pacific City's Haystack Rock is actually taller than Cannon Beach's - and the second-tallest in the world - but doesn't get near the press as it's brethren to the north. Why? Our theory is because the Cannon Beach one is close enough to walk to at low tide, while this one is not. Or maybe it just had a better PR team.

This is looking north towards Cape Kiwanda. Just to the right of this picture are some towering dunes which would be very cool to explore were it not rainy and 40 degrees.

But you know what? It was Mother of All Storms weekend and this was a storm...it's impossible not to find some beauty. This picture below was taken just a little before sunset.

This is Misaki and I standing on the porch of Pelican Pub and Brewery the next day. It was still cold and windy, but the rain had let up. During the summer the pub has tables out here, right next to the beach, and dogs are allowed as long as they stay in the sand. When we went previously Misaki broke the rules and hid under the table on the concrete pad next to the stand, but she's so perfect no one cared.

The Wildlife

We found some unexpected wildlife near our hotel. I saw all these black shapes over in an RV park and though they were rocks. Until they moved.

Rabbits. Tons of them. And not the normal wild bunnies you see out here, but big, built bunnies that look like pets.

I asked the front desk at the hotel what the story was with all the rabbits. They seemed not exactly tame, but not as fearful as wild rabbits normally are. She laughed, which made me think they get this question a lot. Apparently there was a rabbit breeder in the area many years back who wanted to get out of the business and didn't know what else to do, so she released the bunnies to the wild.

Surprisingly to us, they have thrived. Usually released domestic animals don't do so hot with predators, but she said the population has gone up and down over the years and they have just always stuck around. Apparently they can be seen all over town as well.

And hey, we found the Easter Bunny!

The Hotel

Speaking of the hotel, we stayed at the Inn at Cape Kiwanda, which is right across the street from the brewery. Check out that link. It's interesting because the Inn, the brewery, and a few other businesses in that immediate area work together to build packages for tourists. I'm not sure if all are owned by the same people or if this is simply a mutually beneficial partnership, but it makes planning easy.

The room was nice and we'd stay there again. It was clean and well managed, and our only complaint was neighbors down the hall being loud around midnight. Then again, we stayed at an inn across the street from a brewery on a Friday night...

Obviously dogs are allowed for $20 extra per night. That fee got Misaki a blanket so she could chill on the couch - which she doesn't get to do at home - and a bag of local dog biscuits, which she liked.

Food

Only being in the town for one night and having Misaki with us limited our food options, but we still had some good meals.

Stimulus Cafe - See the hotel pic above? This is the business in the lower right corner of the building. We had a few espresso drinks from there - eggnog latte, mocha, and caramel macchiato - and each one of them was a tad too sweet. I want to like them because they use Stumptown beans, but the sugaryness was just too much.

Pelican Pub and Brewery - The pub takes orders over the phone and does take out, so given the weather and the proximity we ordered dinner Friday night and breakfast Saturday morning from here.

Dinner (menu link) was fish and chips, made with cod, that came with beer battered fries, coleslaw, and tartar sauce. I'm not usually one for tartar sauce, but this one had a great dill flavor. The fish was solid, not too greasy, but those fries were damn excellent. We'd order this again. We also ordered the risotto cakes, which came with a red pepper coulis, sauteed chard, and topped with a mushroom and fennel salad. The cakes, which sounded like an arancini, really didn't have much flavor and were a tad too oily for me.

For breakfast (menu link) we split an order of the crab cake eggs Benedict, served with hash browns. This was hands down the best thing we've had from Pelican (well, apart from Mother of All Storms, at least for me). The crab cakes were hearty and well done, the eggs cooked perfectly, the Hollandaise creamy goodness, and the hash browns crunched perfectly.

Greatful Bread Bakery - On the way out of town we stopped here to check out a bakery many people had good things to say about. I picked out a pesto baguette, an apricot and sour cream scone, and a cinnamon twist. All of them were okay and we'd go back if we were staying in Pacific City again, but it's not a destination type of bakery for us. The scone I personally didn't think worked very well, but that's probably just me.

TILLAMOOK

We reached the coast really early on Friday, way too early to check in, so we drove up 101 to Tillamook to check out the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Dogs are not allowed inside - which made cheese lover Misaki a tad sad - but she was a good girl in crate for a few minutes while we grabbed some nibbles.

We bought a bag of cheese curds (squeaky cheese) mostly for her, but we like them too. Also picked up some fudge (dreamsicle - interesting) and some smoked white cheddar, which is excellent. Since it was lunch time we grabbed some ice cream - vacation calories don't count, remember? I ordered a scoop of the new pumpkin and one of Grandma's Cake Batter. Neither of them, in our opinion, are keepers (last summer they had a Birthday Cake flavor that was much better). Wifey ordered a scoop of French vanilla with a scoop of orange sherbet. That was predictably fantastic - it's sad the orange sherbet is a Cheese Factory exclusive, because it would always be in our freezer.

LINCOLN CITY

On the way home on Saturday we headed into Lincoln City, but stopped first at a random viewpoint just south of Pacific City. Misaki hopped up on the stone wall to check out the view.

We basically hit Lincoln City for three things: coffee, caramel corn and a bathroom.

Mojo Coffee - Here I just ordered a large mocha, which comes with four shots. Really? They understand that if I want a larger size that doesn't mean I want it sweeter and need more espresso without having to order extra shots? (This is sarcasm - I totally agree with this practice.) Starbucks, take note. I enjoyed it and I'd go back (they also use Stumptown beans).

Candyland - One thing we must always get when we go to the beach is caramel corn. It just seems right. This trip we stopped at Candyland, some place I hadn't been for years. It's right in the old "downtown" part of Lincoln City on Highway 101. The caramel corn was okay - it had this odd flavor we still can't place (and oddly dissipated over time). But hey, caramel corn is still caramel corn. We might go back here, we might not. The woman behind the counter could see Misaki and Wifey in the car from inside the shop and asked me about the dog, what breed she was, etc. Then she offered to dog sit if we needed it. I'm not sure if she was serious or not, but, um, thanks?

We stopped at the beach access at the mouth of the D River (I guess they don't like saying "Devil's") for a bathroom break. Misaki took a liking to the beach grass.

CUBANISIMO

And then it was time to head home. At the last minute, just east of Rickreall, Oregon on Highway 22, we decided to take a quick side trip to Cubanisimo Vineyards for wine tasting. A while back another winery had recommended their rosé, so we were in the area and figured what the heck.

Our tasting that day was for six wines, which costs $5 (or nothing if you buy a bottle). As it turned out we liked five of the six, something that has never happened at any other winery we have visited. Usually we like at most one or two, but at Cubanismo we even like the pinot noir, something else we don't usually go for (despite Oregon being so well known for them). It was just before Thanksgiving so they had already started their specials for the very popular wine weekend, and since we liked so many of the bottles we went with the 2010 Rosado de Pinot Noir, the 2008 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir (a blend), and the 2008 Estate Pinot Noir. That last one will go very, very well with a nice steak, but all of them were excellent. I urge you to check out the photos of the vineyard and if you are in the area to check them out. The grounds are beautiful and their people very down to earth and knowledgeable.

We came home with three bottles of wine, a case of beer, baked goods, and a ton of great pictures. What else could you ask for from a weekend away? We definitely want to go back to Pacific City and next time may rent a house and stay longer.