A Trip to the Redwood Forest

So when we last left off, Tanner, my mom and I woke up on a very chilly morning at Crater Lake, packed up our gear, and realized that we weren't going backpacking for three days.

Now we were six hours from home and without an itinerary. We were also without the correct provisions, because we had planned on carrying everything we brought on our backs for three days of hiking, and thus didn't bring stuff like non dehydrated meals... or luxurious car camping equipment (like, say, chairs).... or a map. Fortunately, we did have a large six person tent, so we wouldn't be subjected to our tiny backpacking tents for the remainder of our trip.

With ten minutes to come up with a game plan, Tanner threw out the idea, "what about the Redwood Forest?" I mean, hell, we already drove this far. How much farther could California be?

Without a map to tell us, we asked our GPS, and it said we'd get there in four hours. Done! Onto the Redwood Forest we went.

As it turned out, the Redwood Forest National Park is big. Like, most of the coast of California big. We didn't entirely realize that until we got to its Northern-most tip (again... no map) and by then it was too late to turn around. To visit the whole park would have taken us another week of driving, but we decided to make the best of it and stay at Jedidiah Smith Redwood State Park and explore the upper edge of the National Forest. It was an absolutely lovely campground, and we had our pick of sites since it was the end of the season and no one but us was crazy enough to camp in this weather (apparently.)

Since we only had half the day left at that point, we went on a short hike into the forest to gape at the large and beautiful trees, cooked ourselves up a dehydrated meal, took a 50 cent shower, and went to bed.

The next day we got up early, packed up our gear, and did a six mile hike through immensely large groves of trees... it was impressive, really, how magnificently huge they were. It's one of the few things I remember very clearly from my trip to California when I was six: how awe-inspiring the Redwoods were at that age, and I was happy to discover that I was no less impressed now that I had grown taller.

When we emerged from our hike later that afternoon, we knew we had to keep on our travels or we'd never make it back to Portland in time. We still had no itinerary, and two days left, so we pondered whether to take the quick route straight up the highway, or the scenic route up the coast.

Since we were already making an adventure of this trip, why not keep it going? We settled back into our accustomed positions in the truck (amid our gear and bags of snacks and great views along the way) and spent another half-day driving up the coast of California back into Oregon, on the hunt for something fun to do and a place to stay for the night...

Stay tuned for part three...

(P.S. - Happy Thanksgiving!)

A Trip to Crater Lake!

This post is a long time coming! Are you ready?

As you may recall, my mom came out to visit Tanner and me in late September, and we planned a pretty epic week while she was here. The original plan was to spend three days at Crater Lake (two for travel, one for exploring), then three days backpacking near Mt Jefferson in Southern Oregon. Our plans went a little awry after we launched our travels, so we didn't end up sticking to our original itinerary, but more on that later.

Prior to leaving, I secured us a camping spot at Crater Lake for two nights, and the first morning I had off work we loaded up the truck with our backpacks full of lightweight camping gear + a large tent to use while at the National Park. The drive from Portland to Crater Lake was much longer than I expected; it was almost six hours, and the last bit of it was off the beaten path. Granted, the drive was very beautiful, but it was nearly evening by the time we finally arrived.

The park itself was much different than I had imagined. Though I have been to Crater Lake before, I was only six at the time and don't remember much about it. In my head I was expecting the landscape to be deep, green, forested and mountainous, much like the area around Mt Hood. Instead, we were met by vast, stark landscape more desert than it was wooded. Jagged sharp mountain peaks dotted the distance, but in between it was scrub brush and sand. We were also very high. Crater Lake sits at an average altitude of 7,500 feet, where the air was thinner and the vistas reminded one of a desert moon. Once again I was amazed by the utterly unique landscapes that traverse Oregon.

Before checking into our campsite, we hopped out of the car to catch our first glimpse of the caldera that is Crater Lake. Created from a volcano that erupted on Mt Mazama 7,700 years ago, the lake is the deepest in the United States, second deepest in North America, and the ninth deepest in the world at an average depth of 1,148 feet. At its deepest point it has been measured at 1,949 feet. The waters are entirely fed by rain and snowfall, and with no sediment to cloud it, the waters are brilliantly clear and blue, earning it the name Deep Blue Lake by the first European who discovered it in 1853.

The formation at the Western rim is known as Wizard Island, a volcanic cinder cone created from several smaller eruptions occurring after the caldera formed. In the summer visitors can take a boat ride to the island and explore several trails there. Due to its high altitude, Crater Lake has a very short season (it receives over 500 inches of snow a year!) and we arrived late enough that the boat rides had already closed for the year.

We settled into our campsite for the night, pitched our tent, and slept through an extremely cold night. Though the temperatures were still mild in Portland, at 7,500 feet it dropped below freezing once the sun set and we had to wrap ourselves in every piece of clothing we brought to stay warm.

The next morning we took our truck on the 33 mile Rim Drive of Crater Lake. The guide book said to allow 3-4 hours to explore, but we spent so much time stopping at each lookout, taking photos and hiking trails that it took us nearly 9 hours to see everything. Well worth it!

This formation is known as the Phantom Ship. Due to its location, changing light on the lake and shifting shadows, it can seem to appear and disappear in the lake throughout the day, like a ghost vessel. Though it looks like a rather small island, it's actually 500 feet long and 16 stories high.

Mount Thielsen in the background.

The Phantom Ship is barely a shadow, above.

After the Rim drive, we took the Cleetwood Cove hike down to the water's edge. Though only a mile long, it drops about 1,000 feet in elevation through a series of very steep switchbacks. The trail down wasn't bad, but coming back up we had to walk slowly and carefully - our lungs weren't used to the altitude, making the hike more difficult. The views along the trail and at the bottom, though, were well worth the effort.

By then it was nearing sunset, but I wanted to go on one last hike before we returned to the campsite. We already walked down to the water's edge, but I wanted to hike up above the lake to get a great view from the fire lookout. This hike, too, was short but strenuous. But once again we were met with breathtaking views.

You can just barely make out the parking lot along the Rim drive in the left of the photo above. Below is the fire lookout, which is still in use today. The chairs inside have glass on the legs to protect the workers from lightning strikes.

We finished our drive by taking the highest paved road in Oregon (aptly named Cloudcap) at 8,050 feet high.

We were extremely lucky to get fantastic blue-sky weather, barely any crowds, and a perfect opportunity to explore Crater Lake just a few weeks before it closed for the season.

On our last morning, we woke up to drive to Mt. Jefferson for some backpacking, but discovered that my mom had bruised her rib hiking and was having trouble carrying a pack. As such, we needed to alter our plans on the fly, since we still had three days left of our vacation.

Stay tuned for part two...

It's Official!

I have some big news: Darkroom and Dearly is an official business!

It has been growing more difficult lately to keep my business and personal finances separate, so I decided the time had come to open my own business account.

As it turns out, to open a business checking account you first have to have an EIN (employee identification number), rather than using your own social security number. To get an EIN you have to register your business with the IRS, and to register with the IRS you have to be registered in your own state as a sole proprieter.

So after several pages of forms, a $50 application, and two hours spent at the bank with a personal financier, I'm now an official registered business owner in the state of Oregon and the federal government, as well as the proud owner of a business checking account, business savings account, business credit card, and all the paperwork to prove it. Hooray!

{source}

Another reason I wanted to open my own business account is so I can do direct checkout through Etsy, which will hopefully make customer payments much easier. Right now, all payments have to go through Paypal, but with direct checkout anyone can shop straight through the Etsy site with just a credit card number or Etsy gift card. I'll be getting that set up in the next few days, so stay tuned.

Though all these steps are just an official way of putting a name and title to a business I've technically been running for eight months, it's still exciting to think of the possibilities. I feel like a real adult now, running my own little business!

Now, if only tax time didn't feel so daunting....

I'm off to do a little more tweaking in the shop. Did anyone notice the new banner? I wanted something very stark and simple to match the tone of the rest of the shop, and I think this fits pretty well.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Crockpot Barbeque Chicken

The other day Tanner and I were wandering through Target. We were in there to purchase one item and, of course (as is the way with Target), ended up buying waaaay more than that. At one point we found ourselves in the kitchen section and I started mooning over the crockpots.

I've wanted a crockpot for a while, because it seems to solve a very important problem for me: I like eating good food, but I hardly ever have 8465762 hours to cook it. There's something brilliantly simple about putting a bunch of ingredients in a crockpot at breakfast, letting it sit until dinner on low heat, and having a delightful meal with hardly any effort. Yes, please?

Plus, now that the cold, rainy days are fully upon us in Portland, all I want to do is wear chunky sweaters, wool stockings and knee-high boots, drink tea and slurp warm chicken noodle soup.

Thus, while looking lovingly once more at crockpots, I told Tanner we needed to get one. We had been thinking about it for a while, right? But he said, no, no, I'll call my mom first and we can figure out which size and brand is best and yadda yadda yadda. So I sighed and said, okay, okay, you're right. I'm never one to argue with good pre-planning and thorough research.

So we went home with our modestly full truck of Target goodies (minus crockpot) and as I was putting away the groceries Tanner said, oh wait, I have to clean out the rest of the trunk, and suddenly appeared back at the doorway with a crockpot in his arms.

I was shocked, because I was still thinking how in the hell did you buy that at Target without me noticing? until I realized that he bought it weeks ago and had been saving it for Christmas. He said he had been calling his family and friends to figure out exactly which one to get and he had finally settled on the 5 quart Crockpot brand.

Of course, now I'm feeling horrible because I just ruined his Christmas surprise, but Tanner said he had always thought it weird to give kitchen appliances for presents (I am baffled by this -- I think kitchen appliances make superb gifts. I still adore the Ninja blender he got me last year for smoothie-making) and so he decided after our Target run to give it to me early.

My guilt about ruining the surprise quickly turned into: now we can have an extra two months of crockpot meals! Yay! And double-bonus: Tanner is excited about cooking, too. This is a win, people. In fact, he found a recipe, bought ingredients of his own accord, and concocted a perfect batch of barbecue chicken without my assistance.

I came home from work the very next day and the whole house smelled like wonderfulness. A boyfriend who has dinner waiting for me on the table? This is the best Christmas present ever.

{crockpot barbeque chicken}

Ingredients:

4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 whole chopped onion (we used our Ninja blender to dice it)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sweet basil
pinch thyme

Combine all ingredients over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. Shred chicken and return to pot before serving.

Tanner also discovered crockpot liners, which makes cleanup as easy as the whole process.
Now we're on the hunt for good crockpot recipes... anyone have some favorites??