Newburg Oregon (suburb of Portland) and Mt Hood

Sharon's brother and his wife live in Newburg Oregon . We spent a few days with them in early September. This area is close to Portland and consist of an area with lots of small towns surrounded  with small farms that grows a variety of fruits and vegetables. It appears to be an area that is ideal of these kind of crops as well as grapes vineyard. It has become well know for its wine producing  fields. As one drives around the area you will come upon all kinds of wine and tasting facilities.

While in the area we took the time to visit Mt Hood. Mt Hood was around a 2 hour drive from Newburg where we were staying. One of the advantages of having someone local show you around, they know all the net places that as a tourist one will miss (note picture of as specialty shop below)

Mt Hood from a distance

at the base of Mt Hood

As you might amazing it was cooler than what we have been use to for the last few months. Very windy as well.

Sharon's brother and his wife along with us at the entrance of the big Timberline lodge

Looks don't always tell the true story. One of the spots Sharon's brother stopped at along the way going to Mt Hood. Ever up that way it is a must if you are a pastry lover. 

Crater of the Moon

You might wonder why we sometimes refer to our journey as Rambling. This site is a perfect example of our rambling. We were traveling to Boise Idaho from Jackson Wyoming and was taking a short cut and noticed a sign that said "Crater of the Moon" monument this way. It sounded very interesting so Sharon picked up her iPhone and goggled the words Crater of the Moon. Sounded interesting so away we went. It was a great experience! We spend a few hours in the park.

Craters of the Moon is, in fact, peppered with volcanoes. Cinder cones, splatter cones, and a large shield volcano span the Monument. The great rift as it is officially referred to stretches over 50 miles along a zone of fractures in the crust of the earth. Some pictures below with tell the story better than I can ever explain the Monument.  

A visual of the different Volcanoes in the Crater of the Moon Monument Park

A visual I am using to tell more about the Crater of the Moon

Note the little plot of plants located through out the cinder hills. They appear to have been planted  in some order all within a short distance from one another. In reality they are not. The whole valley does not have much moisture so the roots of the plants reach out for the moisture making the survival hard for other plants as they fight for moisture. 

Up close picture of lava rock

Lave fields within the Volcanic area

More lava formations

A plant (buck wheat) that grows on the large cinder fields slops

Many caves were formed by lava throughout the 50 mile long Great Rift

Cinder domes along the drive in the park. Note the white van in the distance to get a perspective of how large the cinder dome is.

Boise Idaho, a few days rest while the rest of the nation celebrated Labor day

After we left Jackson Wyoming on September 3rd our next continued stay was Newburg Oregon by September 7th where Sharon's brother lives. We planned our travels to have time to do a little rambling along the way as well to hold up in Boise Idaho for a few day until labor day was over. We did not want to be on the road during this heavy traveled weekend.

As we usually do we had booked a few months ahead of our scheduled arrival date a cottage that we ran on to on AirBnB. It was a little cottage in a thriving old district in down town Boise. We always use either homeaway.com,  vrbo.com, or airbnb.com to schedule a place to stay. These are sites where owners list their homes (or rentals) for rent for 1 (we usually rent for no less than 3 days and up to 2 months) or more nights. We highly recommend this process if you are traveling or just need a place to retreat for a while. Have a few pictures below of the kind of quaint places one can find along the way 

Valley before we entered the Capital City of Utah, Boise

Capital building in Boise

Looking at the sign I either started a new business, (not) or I found a relative in Boise, or I found someone who has a business with my last name so we had to stop and check the food out.

The little cottage we rented in Boise was near  downtown in an old neighborhood that was build in the 1920 and has now been rejuvenated. It consist of 2 blocks of businesses (mostly restaurants) and little shops and several remodeled homes.  

One of the Restaurant next to our cottage

Another hangout

Our Cottage which we rental for 3 days on AirBnB (also hawks mobile Rambling rig)

Yellowstone National Park

We had not planned to visit Yellowstone National Park because we both had been there a couple of times. However one day as we were cruising the Northern part of Teton National Park we came upon a sign indicating that Yellowstone was 20 miles away. We both love Old Faithful geysers and with Sharon's quest to get to as many National parks as possible to get her National Parks Passbook signed and stamped it was a must to continue on to at least the visitors center to get her stamps. Once there at the visitors center we ask how far it was to Old Faithful. The answer we received was 20 miles. Well 20 miles is nothing to us so we checked to see when Old Faithful was to go off again. With what we had to travel yet we would be there about 30 minutes before it was to do it's thing. Sure enough we made it on with time to spare.

Yellowstone National Parks inspires awe in travelers from around the world. New Zealand and Iceland are known for geysers, but nowhere are there as many as in Yellowstone. At the heart of Yellowstone's past, present, and future lies volcanism. Old Faithful is not the biggest (nor does it go the highest) geyser in Yellowstone but it gets the most exposure and is loved by all about every 90 minutes of the day. Below are a few of the pictures of our visit.

Lewsi Falls (29' drop) on Hiway 89 going North  from the south entrance

Below Lewis Falls

Old Faithful at near rest about 15 minutes before it blows

Old Faithful just starting to blow (note the 2 Ravens on the right. They done seen to get as excited as people watching.

Old Faithful flexing her muscles

Firehole River falls just South of Old Faithful

   

Rockefeller Preserve in the Teton National Park

One of our favorite spots was the Rockefeller Preserve in Teton National Park. It is a few miles into the park just North East of Teton Village and Jackson Wyoming. It consist of over 33000 acres that the Rockefeller family begin to buy up in the early 30's for the main purpose of protecting the Teton valley and eventually giving it to the National Parks service (beginning 1949,up until 2001). The family spend over $20 million in preserving the land and its natural habitat and create the trail system and construction of the visitors center and make other improvements (estimated input of over $60M).

Phelps Lake (shown in one of pictures below) is the source of this small creek that runs through much of the reserve and is a life line of much of the animal within the Park.

One of the many beautiful views of the Tetons while hiking to the back of the Preserve to view Phelps Lake

Reflection of the Grand Teton in Phelps Lake ( about a mile and half hike over some moderate terrain

 

Here this artists rendition of  Phelps Lake and Mt reflection. (it is 10' by 15' light box collage made of 1" by 1" pictures of the area . Located in the Visitors center and is absolutely beautiful (sorry could not bring out this beauty here in this picture)

Visitors center built in 2008 is made of recycled lumber from buildings on the Rockefeller Ranch. When you first enter this center it does not show much but as you move around the center the acoustics will blow your mind as it represents all of the natural sounds and sights of the wilderness  

Grand Tetons of Northwest Wyoming

With no foothills to obstruct ones view, the jagged peaks and deep canyons of the Tetons Range rise abruptly from the Jackson Hole valley. This landscape was born out of the ancient past and shaped by the recent geologic forces. Millions of years ago movement on the Teton fault generated massive earthquakes causing the Mountains to rise while the valley floor dropped. The Snake River runs through the valley and provides a habitat for all kinds of animals as well as other creatures and recreations for man from all walks of life. It is a beautiful valley and as it runs north it joins Yellow stone National Park.

This area has a brief growing season and persistent wind and cold create desert-like conditions. The tree roots tap water and nutrients, creating habitat for many other plants and animals. Sagebrush flats looks uniform and empty but is a surprisingly diverse and complex dry habitat. Good soil and moisture produce dense vegetation attracting a variety of wildlife including bears both Grizzlies and Black. Ranges warn you over and over about the bears and how to stay safe. They even recommend and train you if you wish to carry bear spray. Most (including JD and Sharon) hikers  carry bear spray.  

 Our base site for us was in Teton Village a ski village just north of the city of Jackson which is located in the valley of Jackson Hole. Yes I know some what confusing but they are different. While at this home base we spent time at both the Teton Park, Rockefeller Reserve, and Yellow stone National Park as well as Jackson. Here we have pictures of the Tetons. Enjoy!

Mountain Hunt 10783' high and just north of Teton ski village

Grand Teton Mt with the snake river in the fore front

Grand Teton Mt 13770 ft high sprinkled with Glaciers

on the left Grand Teton, in the middle Mount Owen 12928 ' high, right Teewinot Mt 12325' high

A 2 year old Moose feeds along the trail in a marsh.

Mule Deer along our trial

Bryce Canyon National Park in Southern Utah

Bryce Canyon is Poetry in Stone. It's serene vistas are deceptive; the landscape is never static. In the geology of the canyon lives the HOODOOS. They are formation of rocks that don't grow like trees  but are eroded out of the cliffs where rows of narrow walls form. These thin walls of rock are called fins. Frost wedging enlarges cracks in the fins, creating holes or widows. As windows grow, their tops eventually collapse, leaving a column. Rain further dissolves and sculpts these limestone pillars into bulbous spires called HOODOOS. The delicate climatic balance between snow and rain ensures that new hoodoos will emerge while others become reduced to lumps of clay.  

While here we wanted to experience all aspects of the canyon. We started out  as we usual do by visiting the visitor center and viewing any information movies they offer. After that we usually find a picnic table and have lunch and then on to exploring some of the resources the park has to  offer. Some of the events that we wanted to take part in this park was  sunset and then later at night we returned for what they call Starry Night. High elevation, clean dry air, lack of light pollution make Bryce Canyon one the earth's darkest places. We never dreamed their were that many stars out in space. The next morning before daylight we were there again for sunrise. Because of the different colors in the rocks the time of the day and how the sun touches the Hoodoos you can get a very different appearance of the formations. Later in the day I took a long hike down into the narrow loops of the canyon. A drop of several hundred feet. A total different world down in. In addition we saw an abundance of Deer and Prong Horn Antelope.

This was a National park that was hard to leave because of the beauty of the canyon formations at different times of the day and how the clouds, sun and noon react upon the different formation.

A close up of Hoodoos

As the Sunset

Navajo Loop where I hiked down into the canyon just after sunrise

If you choose you can ride horses down into the canyon

Some of the wild life we observed (Prong Horn Antelope)