Crater Lake - You Simply Have To Go

Let me preface with this that I was born and raised in Portland, born over three decades ago, and I have never once made the trip south to see Crater Lake, Oregon's only National Park. Well, that's sort of true - apparently my parents went just a few months before I was born. I've seen pictures...so apparently I have kind of been there before. Wifey had been there once before, on a whirlwind trip with family from out of town a few years ago.

It's somewhere I always wanted to see... It's a place that helps define the image of Oregon on a national (and international) scale. And it's been in my backyard for 30 years and I've never been there. Literally, people have travelled across the globe from Europe and Asia and been to Crater Lake, and I hadn't been there.

On some level, that's depressing.

On another, when we decided to take this two week vacation but not actually go anywhere requiring a plane, we decided to finally put Crater Lake on the itinerary.

It's not a short trip to be sure. Crater Lake is roughly 4.5 hours (the way I drive) from Portland, which means to make it worth it we had to start early. Like set the alarm at 4am and leave by 5am early. Yikes. While on vacation? Yeah, we knew it then and know it now - it was nuts.

So we packed a lunch, lots of water, our Nikon digital camera, and headed out.

We decided to head down I-5 to Eugene (about 120 miles or so) and go east from there, which looks to be the most direct route. Plus I can push the car up to 80, especially that time of day, and not deal with any traffic. We stopped in Springfield for gas and were heading east of Eugene before 7am - good time.

Now, I have to admit something here. I lived in Eugene for three years in college and only once - late my senior year - did we go east of town. And that was only about 30 minutes on a highway slightly north of the one we took to Crater Lake. As I'm driving east on Highway 58, taking in all the various lakes and forests we were passing through, repleted with a litany of hiking trails and lack of human presence, it saddened me. What the hell was I thinking then? Why didn't we head out here on a nice Saturday? At this point we are 2.5 hours from Crater Lake - and we didn't go once? Seriously? Talk about missed opportunities...

At some point we're going to have to go back to this area to explore, it's that nice. On this day, though, we were focused.

As Wifey napped I drove up through some mountains, getting views of crystal clear lakes and watching out for the early morning truckers. Traffic was light and there was a passing lane while going uphill, so I rarely had to slow down. And every other car on the road wanted to go fast too, so that made me happy.

We pulled into the North Entrance of the park about 9:15 am, paid our $10 entry fee (hey, good for seven days, in case you are in the area!), and headed the nine miles in to the Rim Drive, which traces the circumference of the lake. On the way we passed through some serious desolation.


For those of you who don't know, Crater Lake was created about 7,700 years ago when Mount Mazama literally exploded. It used to be a 11,000+ foot mountain before the explosion, which left the caldera which eventually filled with water to form the lake. That's the short version - if you want the longer version, there are plenty of resources. :)

What you see here is the area surrounding the caldera. It's been 7,700 years and as you can see there still isn't much growing there because of the composition of the soil. It probably doesn't help matters much that there isn't much rainfall in the summer and were there the beginning of August, but I have a feeling it doesn't make much difference. Seeing this moonscape was somewhat reminiscent of seeing Volcanoes National Park on the big island of Hawaii - pure desolation. Pretty, but pure desolation.

There is a lookout just as the road from the North Entrance joins the Rim Drive, so we pulled over. Remember, this is my first in-person glimpse of this majestic site. As we walked up to the edge - it slopes up to the railing from the parking lot, then opens up down to the lake - I knew it would be good, but words cannot describe the view. It's majestic, it's beautiful, it's transfixing - basically, it transcends words.

I don't get left speechless very often and I never put much stock in the idea that a view could "take your breath away" - but that's exactly how I felt. All I could say was "Wow." At that view point Wizard Island (a close up in the preceding picture) was a ways to the right and the sun wasn't too much higher than the eastern rim of the lake.

And again, I was kicking myself at the same time as I stared at this view - why the hell hadn't I been here before?!

I got over that as the day goes - the actively kicking myself part, not the questioning. It was the first view of a million great ones - and 500 pictures that barely do the lake justice - of the day.


This is one of my favorite pictures. We took it later in the day, towards the east side of the lake. I love the way you can see the reflection of the rocks off the ice blue water. Plus - and both of us are into this - I love the way you can see the different sedimentary layers of rock.

About the timing on this pic... When we got to Crater Lake we decided to hit go right from the North Entrance, hitting the west side first and traveling around the Rim Drive that direction. This meant all of our pictures in the morning on the west side were directly into the rising sun (it being 10 am and all), and it also meant all of our pictures on the east side in late afternoon were directly into the setting sun. In retrospect perhaps hitting the west side first wasn't the best choice with regards to pictures - but that only means we need to go back and drive the opposite direction next time.

This is an area southeast of the lake called The Pinnacles. What they basically are is fumaroles created after Mt. Mazama initially exploded. This valley was filled with ash and varying bits of debris, but there were plenty of places the earth still needed to let loose pressure, so these fumaroles were created by vents of gas and lava pushing up from the crust. Because of the elements that shaped them, they didn't erode nearly as fast as whatever else filled up the valley. The end result is this valley of pinnacles. Quite the site, and worth the extra drive away from the lake to see.

This picture was taken past The Pinnacles. We parked our car at the end of the road about at least a half mile back - I think it was further - to walk down this trail to get some better pictures of The Pinnacles. After the Pinnacles were out of site - they would be on the right hand side and further back in this pic - we hiked a bit more to see where the trail went. After a bit we came to this sign. This is actually looking back towards where we came - our car and the lake is in the direction the picture is taken.

Now, I don't know why, but this sign cracked me up. Think about it. There is literally nothing but a trail we are standing on. There are no campgrounds nearby. There are no parking lots. There are no hotels. The only way to get to the park at this entrance is by hiking a very long ways. But hey - welcome!

And the good news if you go in this way? You save the $10 entrance fee cars have to pay. Of course, it will take you another half day or so to actually hike in far enough to see the lake.

So why is this sign even here? And is it really the official East Entrance? And that warrants a huge sign - well maintained, I should add - on a trail that people probably don't hike into the park on? Sure, people may hike down from the Pinnacles to beyond this sign, and then come back - but they were already in the park to begin with. Kind of crazy. And funny.

I love this picture because of the reflection of the side of the crater onto the lake. Only on a windless, sunny day could you get this. Keep in mind also that from the water to the rim at this point is something like 1,500 feet, if I remember right. Simply amazing.

Wizard Island is to the right in the picture.

This is an attempt to get the entire lake in a single picture. It's - if I recall right - three pictures we stitched together using the handy panorama setting on the camera, and taken from the south side of the park. Phantom Ship (another vent like Wizard Island and the tiny rocks surrounding it) is below to the right. Check out all the different shades of blue, from the sky above to the darkest blue water at the bottom of the picture. How phenomenal is that?

I won't claim to be more than a casual photographer screwing around with a new toy, but it would be pretty difficult to mess up anything that beautiful.

After waiting so long to visit Crater Lake, I'm so glad we finally went. And really, the drive wasn't that bad. I do recommend coming back to Portland through Eugene as well instead of Roseburg like we did (that route takes longer, more twists in the road and less passing lanes), but it's still a pretty drive. Well, the deer grazing next to the freeway just north of Roseburg at dusk freaked me out a bit - deer on the road is a long story I'll share at some point - but other than that it was nice.

I honestly believe this is a pilgramage every Oregonian must make in their lifetime. It's a bit out of the way, sure, but it's worth every single gallon of gas and minute sitting on your butt in the car.

You can say you understand it's a great place, the epitome of being picturesque, but unless you go you will never really know what that means.

So go! Get out there and go! Tell the chipmunks we sent you!

Vacation: Lovin' PDX Food Carts!

Believe it or not, one of our goals on vacation was to hit some of the food carts around Portland, hopefully ones that are only open during typical work hours during the week. There are something like 400 carts around Portland, so we had do some research (really, we have spreadsheets and stuff - it's very scientific) to determine what would make the cut. I mean, after all, you can only eat so much in a couple weeks, right?

In the end we didn't get to all the ones on our list, and we hit some that weren't on the list, and we hit some that didn't qualify for the "only open during work hours" clause, but whatever. It was fun. And yummy. We still can't get over the quality of the food you get at these places, the variety of the food, and how cheap it is overall. I never really thought about how much of a restaurant price is based on rent, but it must be about 50% considering the cheapness and quality of the food at the carts.

Who needs restaurants anyway?!

So here's a hitlist of where we went (you knew I was getting back to food at some point).

Moody's: This tiny donut cart is hidden behind the Rocking Frog Cafe near 25th and Belmont. We hit it up and got a chocolate and vanilla doughnut to go with a mocha from the Cafe. The doughnuts were solid grub. They weren't greasy or oily and had nice flavor, but they weren't the best I've had or anything. Would I go back? Maybe if I was in the neighborhood and had a hankering for doughnuts, but I don't see that being very often. The mocha was just okay.

Spella Caffe: This coffee cart downtown deals in various espresso drinks as well as gelato (Italian ice cream). Plenty of people called this the best espresso in the city, so of course we had to try it. We ordered a mocha and some stracciatella gelato (vanilla with hard chocolate - an Italian standby) to see how it compared to our favorites. The mocha was solid, but I didn't think it was the best in Portland. The gelato was good and may be one of the best in Portland, but I confess to not having tried very many - yet. Would I go back? I would, I think. Next time I might just try a plain old espresso, since people who talk about this place say that's what they love. Mark Spella down as "needs more research." Hey, someone has to do it.

Maximus / Minimus (Seattle): Yep, hit up a food cart in Seattle too. This place is started by the same people who run Beecher's Cheese (Sugar Mountain) and it's pork. And the cart is designed to look like a pig. Seriously, how could anyone NOT check this out?! We hit up the cart just after the lunch rush, so it wasn't too busy. Actually, we got downtown during the lunch rush and there was a huge line, but by the time we found a parking spot (Seattle, you suck for downtown parking) and hiked our way back to the cart, no line at all. Um, yay us?

One thing jumped out immediately as we ordered our sandwich with slaw and Beecher's Flasgship cheddar added on (honestly, I think we went minimus - sweet instead of spicy - on the flavor): these people are efficient. In Portland when you order at a cart you typically wait for your food for a bit and you may pay when your order or when you get your food, just depends on the cart. Here the cart actually had what I can't really describe as anything other than a waitress with a handheld computer. You gave your order, she punched it into the machine, and then she swiped your credit card. The receipt then printed on another machine on the side of the cart, managed by another employee, who gave it to you with your order number. In short, this place was designed for high volume traffic, something none of the carts I have visited in Portland have done on par. Is that good or bad? Neither, really - just different.

Oh yeah, the food. Even though we went light on the spice with our sauce, that little sandwich still had some kick to it. And it was good, but it wasn't amazing or anything. If you go, which you should just for a picture with the pig (which I might do next time), don't bother getting the cheese. Honestly, I couldn't taste it at all. I'm not sure if that was because there was so little of it or the pork and sauce just overpowered it. The slaw was excellent - no mayo, which for me is a plus with slaw. You know, because I'm obviously concerened with calories. If I lived in Seattle and especially if I worked downtown I'd check this place out repeatedly, but coming from out of town I think it's a one-time thing - too many other places to check out.

Brunch Box: Brunch Box is a cart that has got a lot of love nationally for what they do - burgers and breakfast. It also made some best burgers in Portland lists and caught my eye with something called YouCANHasCheeseburger (funny for those lovers of LOL cats - one of my favorite sites). It's basically a regular burger, but instead of a hamburger bun it's stuck between two Texas toast grilled cheese sandwiches. Brilliant! Why not?! I mean, more bread and cheese with my cheeseburger? Of course! Lay it on me! When it came time to order, though, I went with something called a Redonkadonk, which is basically the same as a YouCANHasCheeseburger plus a OMG Burger - added fried egg, spam, and ham. And yes, lord, it was good. I wouldn't recommend this to precede an afternoon run, but if all you are going to do it sit on your ass, it's good stuff. Oh, and it's huge - we made it four servings I think. Oh yeah, I'll go back. I need a YouCANHasCheeseburger.

Sidecart: Right next to Brunch Box, and opened and operated by the same person, is Side Cart. In what is simply a stroke of genius Side Cart specializes in all the side dishes you'd love to have with your hamburger or breakfast sandwich that are, conveniently, made by Brunch Box right next door. We opted for tater tots and seasoned curly fries - both very good, not too greasy, good flavor - and we'll definitely go back for those mac and cheese bites or cheesy tots. We ordered a side order instead of a full order and that proved to be a good choice - it was still the size of a medium take-out Chinese food container, more than enough food. A full order is probably a meal in itself.

Grilled Cheese Grill: Grilled Cheese Grill has almost a full lot in Northeast Portland on 11th and Alberta, with eight picnic tables and a converted old school bus to sit and eat if you like, in additioin to the trailer they make the food in. Honestly, it's a nice setup. Plus, you can sit on the opposite side of the lot and still hear when your order is ready because they announce it over a PA system. Oh, and they take credit cards here - I love not having to use cash, but most carts don't take cards. The idea of this cart just blew me away, honestly. An American classic, the grilled cheese sandwich, spiced up with all sorts of flavors and ingredients. Check out the menu to see what I mean. Wifey ordered a Jalapeno Popper, which had jalapenos, cheese, cream cheese, and tortilla chips on the sandwich. Good stuff. Not too spicy, but plenty of flavor. Me? Well, when someone has something called the Cheesus Burger, you know I'm having to get that. Like the Redonkadonk at Brunch Box, the burger buns are replaced with grilled cheese sandwiches. And you know what? Just as yummy. It's actually a bit smaller (no egg or pork), but still two meals. Given the size of their menu I don't know that I would necessarily order it next time, but I wouldn't rule out getting it again. It was yummy for sure. Oh, and how the menu said you don't have to eat again for two days? They aren't kidding. But in a good way.

Ziba's Pitas: Question for you, dear readers - Have you ever had Bosnian food? Do you even know what Bosnian food is? Yeah, neither did I - so that's why we went here. Why not try something completely off our radar? We ordered a Burek, which is a meat pita. And when you read pita, don't expect anything like a Greek gyro - these are completely different. They come similar to a sandwich, but there are multiple tubes in the bread filled with meat. I'd love to see how these things are put together because I don't get it just by looking at them. We ordered the full meal, which I recommend because the sauce that comes with the cucumbers on the side as well as the ajvar (grilled vegetable sauce) make excellent dipping for the pita. Again, very, very good. I'm a fan and I'll definitely go back. However, a word of warning: Don't eat this if you are working out in the next six hours. Probably not a good idea. I don't know for sure, I'm just guessing - it's a heavy meal.

Nong's Khao Man Gai: To be truthful, I had never heard of this Thai cart until a friend from Seattle came into town and said this was a place she absolutely had to go to. We were like - um, what? Don't you hate it when someone from out of town comes to your city with something like that, a place they have to eat or something they have to do that you have never even heard of? For me, that was Nong's. After our friend went there and then proceeded to rave about it, calling it one of the best places she ate in Portland - and she was here for four days expressly for food - we had to hit it up. Actually, I think Wifey knew about the place and she probably told me, but it probably slipped my mind because the menu didn't really jump out at me. Why? Because Nong does only Khao Man Gai, which is basically chicken and rice. And honestly, who doesn't like chicken and rice? Especially perfectly cooked chicken and wonderfully flavored rice, with a soy bean sauce (a delightful kick for mixing), and a Chinese winter squash soup. For $6! $6! A deal! And honestly, this was the best chicken and rice I've ever eaten. Wifey wanted to go back the next day despite our list of places to go back to, it was that good - and I can't disagree. I shrug at the soup, but it did provide some balance to the spicy sauce. When we go back we'll opt to spend $2 for extra rice. So good though... And neither of us had any idea we liked Thai food. Apparently we do. And Bosnian.

El Masry: And, apparently, Egyptian. As I think I mentioned, one of the things we wanted to do was step outside our comfort zones a bit, hence the forays into things like Bosnian, Thai, and Egyptian cuisines. El Masry has a huge menu, but we ordered the chicken schwarma (that might be spelled wrong, I've seen multiple spellings) and it came with seasoned fries. The schwarma was wrapped in a pita with a myriad of vegetables and a sauce, not overly dissimilar from a gyro in presentation but a decidedly different flavor. And excellent. We'll definitely go back at some point because there were about 20 other things on the menu that looked good as well. Thumbs up.

Funny story. When we hit El Masry it was on 9/11, just before the lunch rush. We placed our order - didn't pay yet - and were waiting for it to be made. Wifey and I were the only ones there that early so we were talking when this other pair comes up to us, man and woman, dressed in business clothes (we were on vacation, so probably looking like we were going on a hike or to the gym, I can't recall which). I paid them no mind until I realized they were talking to us. Here's my inexact but generally legitimate rendition of the conversation:

Woman: Have you paid for your lunch yet?

Me: Um, what?

Woman: Have you paid for your lunch yet?

Me: (Silence...just looking at this lady trying to figure out why the hell she would be asking that. I mean, that is weird, right?)

Woman: We're doing a sort of pay it forward thing in rememberance of 9/11 and we want to buy your lunch.

Me: Umm...

Woman: We don't want anything in return, no strings attached. We'll buy your lunch.

Me: (looking at this lady like she is a bit weird, perhaps with three heads) That's okay.

Woman: It's just something our ad agency is doing, a pay it forward thing, to say thank you and do something nice.

Me: (shaking head no)

Woman: (looking suprised)

Me: No thanks.

Woman: Are you sure? I mean, no strings attached, we just want to buy you lunch.

Me: I appreciate that, but it's not necessary.

Woman: (clearly surprised) Well, okay then. Have a good day!

Me: You too.

Was that weird I turned them down? That I said no, I'll pay for my own food? I agree on the surface it probably seems silly on my part, but it just felt wrong, you know? I mean, we don't break the bank or anything but we do okay - it's not like we NEED anyone buying our food for us. And an ad agency? That part is probably what got me more than anything, though I probably would have turned it down even it was just some random person.

Here's the deal though. If they really wanted to do a good deed, we were in downtown Portland. There are plenty of homeless people trolling the streets - there were probably some nearby in that part of downtown - so why not by THEM lunch? Why the middle class couple who can obviously afford their own food? Buy food for the homeless guy, give him a nice Egyptian meal, and have that be their special 9/11 remembrance good deed. Why rely on some theory of pay it forward, when you can help someone who is literally right there in front of you?

That's not something I'm going to do. I'm not a big believer in the goodness of humanity - Wifey jokes I'd be the one to end this kind of chain (and she's probably right) - but if I was some company who is doing this for a reason, shouldn't you at least find people that need the help?

I just didn't get it. And I didn't need it. So I turned it down. Wifey laughed when they left, saying they'll go back to their office at the end of the afternoon and tell people they made the offer to 200 people and only one person turned them down. I'm sure I'm some kind of weird story in that office. Oh well.

Fun times at the Portland Food Carts!

Putting on the Miles

During my two weeks of vacation I think we put about 1,500 miles on the car and never strayed more than four hours from home. Yep, that's a pretty serious amount of driving.

It adds up quick though.

We took a trip to the coast, to Newport, to visit the aquarium (more on that later) and see the beach - that's 135 miles each way. More if, like us, you drive north up the coast and come back home through Lincoln City instead of going straight back to I-5 through Corvallis.

Seattle was another trip, 190 miles each way. Then we drove all over the entire city, east to the University of Washington area and then west all the way out to West Seattle - which is on somewhat of an island.

I think about 7-8 times we ended up in downtown Portland and out on the east side of the city, which is a minimum of 30 miles each way. We also went southwest to the Newberg area for wine tasting a couple of days, which is probably roughly the same mileage as downtown.

Obviously the biggest trip was to Crater Lake, which is something like 250 miles each way. I'd give you a better number, but apparently Google Maps has no concept of a north entrance to the park (but since we used it, and paid there, I know it exists, so if you rely on Google and want to go to Crater Laker, just keep that in mind). The fastest route from Portland is to go to Eugene, head east, and basically follow the signs.

So yeah, that's a lot of miles. I like driving though - it's peaceful, usually. Heck, when you leave home at 5am like when we went to Crater Lake there isn't much to make it unpeaceful. When you are out of Eugene by 7am you never have to deal with any traffic, even on busy Interstate 5.

It's funny - I lived in Eugene for three years and never once went east of the city. Driving that way now I was saddened by the fact I never did that. The forests in that area are spectacular, with lakes and rivers and hiking trails...what was I thinking?! Literally, about 20 minutes from Eugene you are in a different world, with no people or civilization at all. And hey, no cars either - so apparently I'm not the only person who lived in Eugene who isn't making the trek.

When you drive a lot - and when you drive like I do - you start to notice things, mostly about other drivers. When I say drive like I do... I'm usually the guy who is in the left lane passing. I use my blinkers (which, apparently, is rare). I try for the most part to be courteous, but I'll tailgate a bit if someone isn't going the speed limit, and I will pass on the right (in a legal lane) on the freeway if there are too many fools in my way.

So here's a couple things I'd like to talk about.

1 - If you aren't passing anyone, move to the right. On the freeway I tend to stick to a middle lane unless I'm passing, but nothing, to me, is crazier than me going faster than the cars in front of me in the left lane, and having to move to the right to pass because some people get in the left lane and park there. The absolute funniest part of this is when one person who does this comes up behind another person who does this; neither one of them will move over, either to pass or to allow the other to pass. Here's the deal: If there is a car behind you and space in the lane to the right, move over. Simple as that. Most people do this, even if they then move back left after getting passed. Some don't. Those people need to change.

2 - This is more for rural highways, mostly two-lane highways that have the occasional passing lane. Oregon has a lot of those between I-5 and the beach and in the Eastern interior. If you are in a line of cars what almost always happens - no matter what speed you are going in the single lane - is the ENTIRE line speeds up when a passing lane is available. For example, say I'm third in a line of five cars, moving at 50 mph on a 55 mph rural highway. If a passing lane comes up, I guarantee everyone speeds up to 65 mph for the duration of the passing lane, then drops back down to 50. For me this is insane, because I'm wanting to go 65 the entire time. That means I have to push it up to 75 mph for the passing lane to get around fools so they don't hold me back the rest of the time. It would be comical if it weren't so frustrating. Why do people do this? Why do drivers who go under the speed limit suddenly find their gas pedal when a passing lane appears, then lose it again? Boggles the mind...

You see a lot of crazy things when you log this many miles: the exiting the freeway from the left across three lanes of traffic, passing in the breakdown lanes, the drag racing... Heck, when we drove north from Roseburg after Crater Lake (which, yes, made the trip longer - whoops) we saw plenty of deer just feet from the edge of the freeway. Which, frankly, freaks me the hell out after I hit one just after I got out of college and did $1200 in damage to my old Honda. Seeing those things while I'm driving puts my nerves on edge now...which, I suppose, is probably understandable.

Our car gets decent gas mileage - high 20s - but not anything to write home about. So yeah, on a 1,500 mile vacation it adds up, but I wouldn't trade the freedom of driving my car for much of anything. Do they pollute? Do I wish there was an affordable alternative fuel source? Sure I do....but I also love the freedom behind the wheel, the options to turn wherever I want, and the ability to explore to my heart's content.

Ford and GM, no electric car will ever allow people to do this...unless you start putting charging stations all through the interior. I suppose it could happen...

Pac-10 Football: 9/12 Aftermath

Wins: Oregon State (watched), Oregon, USC (watched), Cal, Washington, Arizona, UCLA (watched)

Losses: Stanford, Washington State

Disappointments: Oregon's close home loss to weak Purdue, (to me) USC barely beating Ohio State (nope, not a high opinion of the Big 10 here)

Surprises: UNLV putting OSU on edge with the spread offense and the backup QB, UCLA winning at Tennessee with a QB playing with a broken jaw

AP, USA Today

USC – 3, 3
Cal – 8, 7t
OSU – 28,24
UCLA – 30,36
Oregon – 38, N/A
Arizona – 39, 39

And, for fun:

Boise State – 10, 10

OSU is not getting enough love from the voters, but when you start the season unranked what do you expect? Haven't seen much of anything from the Zona schools. There shouldn't be one person in the nation who should be giving Oregon votes after this weak start to the season...

Oh, and one thing that needs to be added: We watched OSU and UNLV on something called CBS College Sports. The color guy, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila was giving quite a bit of love to the Mountain West Conference. That's not overly horrible, but it led to some, um, interesting remarks. No, James and Jacquizz Rodgers are nothing like the Kennedys. Seriously.

And why does the Mountain West have their own cable channel for their conference, but the Pac-10 does not? Just asking...

It's Been a Long Time...

...shouldn't have left you/without a dope beat to step to...

Whoops, sorry, music in my head - channeling Timbaland.

It's been over two weeks since I posted, and with good reason: Wifey and I were on vacation.

For us, this year, vacation was a quiet affair filled with day trips and visiting roughly every restaurant in Portland (only a slight exaggeration - you'll see). We had tons of fun, taking trips to Newport, Seattle, and Crater Lake, eating our way through downtown and the east side, reading and watching movies, taking in the start of the NFL season... And, of course, college football.

I took notes on it all so I wouldn't forget any wheres or whats, plus I'm going to attempt to post pictures from Crater Lake. I had never been there before; it's simply amazing/breathtaking/indescribable - but I'll attempt to do it justice. Let's just say if you live in Oregon and haven't been to the remnants of Mt. Mazama, the fact that it's 4.5 hours from Portland is no excuse. Literally, no excuse. Don't even try with me.

After taking some time to think a bit, to ponder what I was posting, I'm taking a step back and re-working this a bit. I don't want this simply to be food reviews - I'm not a qualified reviewer nor do I think it's all that interesting. And above all, I want this to be interesting. I'm still going to be doing food stuff, but it'll be a little different.

Plus, I noticed just about everything I posted was food related, which makes me out to be a pig who can't cook. The former may be somewhat true but the latter is not, though I will admit to occasional bouts of laziness in the kitchen. That's what food carts are for!

So there will be more of a melting pot of pieces from here on out. Some more hikes, more destination type things, and I will be adding some occasional college football stuff. I'm an Oregon Duck, Wifey is an Oregon State Beaver, but we get along on Saturdays - that's why we have the big screen. Again, you'll see what I do - but it will be geared around Saturdays sitting on the coach. I love sitting on the couch.

I'm going to introduce some mildly personal elements too. Nothing too personal, since this is the internet (nothing too helpful for those crazy people out there), but issues that to me are personal. For an example, I'm trying to lose a few more pounds, so there will be some talk around that.

I also have to get over a little writing thing for me. When I sit down and write something, I want it to be deep and complete, and with me that usually means 1,000 words or something like that. Which, of course, isn't necessary always. Or, sometimes it is but I don't want to spend that kind of time... I think there may be more, smaller posts in my future here.

And yes, I will discuss the vacation. I'll break it down into a bunch of pieces - but I won't leave much out. It was a general good time.

Of course, I get back to work today and after filtering through the 350 emails of worthless bits of information, I literally didn't miss much at all in two weeks. Shows how important I am in the grand scheme of things...

Stay tuned...I promise high quality stuff.