Coming to you all from Portland. Portland, Oregon that is.

So yesterday as we were driving into Portland she asked me if it was Thursday. I said no, that it was Wednesday, and only corrected myself after checking my watch indicating it was actually Tuesday. When did we really lose track of time? I don't know. Maybe it has been since we entered into Oregon at the end of last week. Doesn't really matter all the same, how time is dictated by where we want to go versus where we need to be.

I wasn't really sure we were ever going to able to leave California last week. There had been a bad accident just on the border and we sat for nearly an hour and a half in traffic. We had spent the morning checking out a few last redwoods and had just stopped for a lunch break before hitting the standstill traffic. Very glad that we are all safe and we weren't too upset that our journey was delayed. We had thoughts of visiting some caves but later found out that we would have waited twice as long for a chance to explore the underworld, so we were glad to have chosen to drive on toward Crater Lake.

I had heard about the amazing colors of Crater Lake and was not disappointed in any manner when I got my first glimpse of the blue waters. We hiked up Garfield Ridge to get a better view and escape some of the quickly growing crowds. The crowds were in full force as it was a Saturday and although I wanted to escape, the kids did need to work on their junior ranger badges. I was amazed to learn that the mountain/volcano blew less than 8,000 years ago. Just a blip of geologic time.

It was hot of course and the best way to cool off was to do a mile hike down to the lake. Mo thought the water temp would be around forty but a ranger said it was closer to sixty. We saw some folks jumping off some small cliffs, one guy decided it was best not to jump off a really high cliff and I decided to slide into the cold water. The kids got in slightly. Maggie accidentally a little more than Quinn as she lost her footing. I told them I would take them to a water park back at home if they went in and it's tough to judge if they really went in. I'm not sure if they will even remember the deal, as they seem to forget many details of this trip but I'm sure they will remember any promises we've made.

Apparently Oregon is just full of volcanoes as we stayed south of Bend and explored a couple unactive spots in the area. The two beds of volcanic rock were distinctively different from one another but both very hot. We took a different strategy to cool off by heading into Bend and choosing the Deschutes Brew Pub from the among the dozen or more other breweries. Sitting there felt more normal than usual as it was kind of like being back in Freeport at Gritty's.

We were both pretty tired out from a bad's night sleep and as I got ready to drive north I couldn't buy myself a cup of coffee. Two different stores did not charge me for coffee refills and I was liking Oregon more and more. One town I learned was the hometown of Jacoby Ellisbury, Maupin, and although I wasn't wearing any pinstripes or Red Sox the people were very nice.

More nice people were waiting to greet us as Mo had a college friend waiting to host us for a couple of nights. Erin Kovalchuk and her husband Greg live on the Columbia River with their two sons, Connor and Oscar. They both work at a dam ensuring that fish survive their journey up and down the river.

I spent Monday going to Mt. Hood with Greg while Mo and Erin took the kids to a hike checking out a waterfall. Hood actually runs a ski lift all year long and we hiked up from the lodge where The Shining was filmed. Greg was pointing out mountains that surround Hood and noting that the snow did not extend down the mountain nearly as far as it did last summer. We watched mostly young kids come skiing or boarding down the mountain before they had to hike up and over the lava fields in order to get back to the lift. I was surprised no one was in shorts as the day was perfect but I could still make a snowball that I wanted to bring back with me to get the kids with it.

Erin and Greg treated us to another home made meal that night and the kids enjoyed playing video games with the boys. In the morning I got to go for a run just by climbing up a hill out their backyard. Great views looking over the Columbia and after turning north I was treated to a great view of Hood.

It was hard to decide which waterfall we were going to check out on our way to Portland, but Erin had encouraged us to stop at a nearby dam that had a very good visitor center. I expected us to just get in and out but once we found out their was a junior ranger program suddenly the plans changed. We did get a good dam parking spot and seemed to beat the dam crowd and got a dam nice greeting by a dam ranger. The kids got to work on their dam programs and we saw some dam osprey trying to catch some dam fish to bring back to their dam nest. There was a spot to get a dam good view of the dam fish trying to get up the dam river. Once the kids got done they did their dam oath to become dam rangers and the dam volunteer even made a dam announcement.

Done with our dam visit, a waterfall hike was just about across the dam road. Only a mile in were some wonderful falls, and we nearly had to ourselves. Back at the parking lot I was thrilled to find a car with Connecticut plates, and we are now down to only one state for our license plate game. Amazingly the missing plate is New Hampshire, as we didn't start the game until we left Indiana.

Coming into Portland we stopped for groceries and beer for our hosts Chris and Dawn Rinehart. Chris had hiked with both of us on the Appalachain Trail. Since then he and Dawn have hiked both the Pacific Crest and Continental Trail. Apparently they have also become huge Portland Timber soccer fans. People we saw at the grocery store totally fit the Portland fit our perceived image of Portland.

After a lovely dinner, we were taken into the city for a soccer game. The Timbers second tier, or minor league team were playing hosts to Newcastle United. Not second level Newcastle, but the English Premier team coming to America for warm up matches. I'm sure they weren't playing their best players completely but it looked like it was going to be a one sided game as they scored a goal in the first five minutes. The crowd was still very lively and vocal and lots of fun to be a part of, but even more fun when the Timbers surged to a 3-1 halftime lead. They scored an insurance goal right in front of us before Newcastle scored a couple spectacular goals themselves. So much fun. A 4-3 game and a very enthusiastic crowd.

Today will be our last day in Oregon before we start heading up the Washington coast. We will do a little Goonie Movie tour in Astoria today. I look forward to exploring more of the outdoors and sleeping in some beautiful spots but until then I will remain ever so grateful to our friends who have graciously opened up their homes to us.