Adventure news with EZ

Out west we go!

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Explorations with EZ... join the ride!

Tumblr has been a lot of fun to use but we're switching over to our standalone site Adventure News in order to have a bit more control over the content -- and to post a lot more of it! For future posts, please check out www.adventurene.ws :)

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Hong Kong! Bamboo, dim sum, soaring skyscrapers, Youde Aviary, feet massage, climbing the Peak and surfing Sai Wan.

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Taipei!

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To make amends for the all-night packing marathon, I conked out promptly on the flight to LA while Liz took a little longer to fall asleep. Our flight connected through PHX and was pushed back an hour or so: a welcome delay that allowed us to feast on breakfast sandwiches and get in touch with our fantastic friend Ben who we'd be staying with (along with a couple other awesome friends, Ashley and Alex). 

After arriving to LAX we took a convenient express bus downtown for $7 and Ben and Ashley met us at LA's Union Station (the startlingly elegant waiting hall is pictured above, along with its almost entirely occupied plush leather chairs). A quick Red Line metro took us to the Hollywood and Highland stop, then a swift walk west along Hollywood Boulevard (yes, that Hollywood Boulevard) and a brief jaunt south led us to Chez Ben, also dubbed our personal Air Ben-nb. 

Friday evening saw us head out for tasty Thai to Toi (our final American Thai meal?!), followed by drinks at Chateau Marmont's lounge bar, then wrapped up the festivities with splendid beers at the Surly Goat.

Much of Saturday morning was spent recuperating from the previous evening's revelry: apparently moderate drinking, sleep deprivation and jet lag don't mix well. Eventually we all collected enough energy to drag ourselves to Ben's car and he drove us west along Sunset to Will Rogers Beach... where we promptly collapsed again, happy to have fended off motion sickness in the car. A few hours and lots of Vitamin D later, group consensus settled on plans for the night: tacos and a movie! Ben had the taco stand picked out -- Cactus Tacos #6 -- and after some discussion we agreed to see the newly opened Gravity. 

All of the late showings at our first choice of theaters, the Arclight Hollywood, were almost completely booked, so we opted for Ben's historic alternative suggestion: the Vista Theatre in Los Feliz. On our way back from the beach we picked up tickets for the 9:40pm showing, then made a beeline for Cactus Tacos. Lured in by the $1.50 price and my famished stomach, I made an ill-fated decision to order practically two of everything: chorizo, pastor, and carnitas, though in a moment of sanity of I opted for just a single fish taco. I've never felt so sated yet concerned about OD'ing on tacos. Luckily Liz and I split a medium horchata, a sweet milky icy beverage, and it helped comfort my stomach in its gluttonous agony. Fortunately we had a couple hours before the movie, so my food happily digested and my friends and fellow movie-goers were spared any further intestinal carnage. As for the movie... it was awesome. Certain scenes were overwrought (ahem Ms. Bullock) and it was occasionally tough to sympathize with some of her perplexing goofs, but on the whole it was a riveting ride with amazing special effects. The Vista Theater itself was great as well: decked out with Egyptian art deco splendor, yet it featured a gorgeous 4K screen seats and mega wide aisles roomy enough to stretch your legs and still allow people to pass by unimpeded.

Sunday's activity was urban, athletic, scenic, and delicious all at once: the semi-annual CicLAvia, a massive collective bike ride through downtown LA and into nearby neighborhoods, with practically every part of the route lined with food trucks, food stands or local restaurants eager to welcome us in. We rented beach cruisers from the exceptionally friendly Downtown LA bike shop and hopped on Spring Street around 10:30am. After burning of a few calories on our way to the Boylan Heights event hub, I couldn't resist diving into a staple of the LA street food scene: a $3  bacon-wrapped hot dog piled high with caramelized onions, peppers, ketchup and mustard. Its luster faded about halfway through but I powered on in the interest of science. Then, having already forgotten my wanton consumption of them the night before, I opted for a single $1.50 pollo taco ("with everything" = cilantro, onions, radishes, cucumbers) from a food vendor in a netted tent and its deliciousness brought back delightful memories of El Chilango, our favorite food truck in Arlington. 

(Apologies for the lack of more tourist-y Hollywood/LA photos: Ben has graciously hosted us a few times and we've crossed most of those off on previous visits. But my bad for not snagging more pics of the tasty 'dog and tacos! Duly noted for the more exotic cuisine soon to feature in these pages.)

Before I could embark on a total taco bender, Liz pulled me aside and shared some of her mixed fruit salad she'd just picked up: freshly diced mango and pineapple with a perfect sprinkling of salt and chili powder. It was pleasantly refreshing enough to distract me from my taco quest and our group was able to resume our cyclical explorations. The weather was gorgeous but just so toasty that we realized we needed to quench our thirst quickly: Ben had the perfect suggestion of Wurstkuche, a gourmet sausage and beer garden in the Arts District. Alex and I started with modest half-liter pints but upgraded to one size up once we spotted gigantic liter mugs. For patiently waiting on us and our successively sillier antics: thanks, friends!

The rest of Sunday was spent reclining on Ben's couch hoping we hadn't gotten sunburned, helping Ashley pack for her redeye flight back to DC and alternatingly cheering/yelling at the TV in hopes that fantasy football players would respond appropriately. (It worked.)

Monday and Tuesday were fairly uneventful, and as jumbled as this list: delicious Mexican at the history-packed El Cholo, more packing and repacking, Fatburger decadence, errand running, noodles and rice at tasty Chibiscus, $5 yoga in Runyon Park, a painfully long but ultimately successful quest for cheap 2x2 passport photos (Kinkos: thank you; CVS on Hollywood: screw you).

Late Tuesday evening Ben earned yet another sterling rating for Air Ben-nb by kindly shuttling us to LAX. A few hugs later, Ben left and we rearranged our backpacks a bit more inside terminal B -- connecting buckles, tucking straps into assorted pockets, unfurling and attaching each bag's rainfly to protect little odds and ends from getting devoured by ruthless baggage handling equipment. We presented our shiny new passports to the EVA Air check-in desk and jumped through a couple easy hoops: providing the original credit card used to book the flights, along with proof of onward travel out of Hong Kong to Bangkok, next Monday, October 14. (Quick aside: this onward travel business may be a little tricky to manage at times but we think we've got it mostly figured out.) As we finished the check-in process, passed through security, wandered through the posh new Bradley International Terminal (imagine a joint Vegas-Beijing airport), waited at our gate and boarded the EVA plane, one thing became more and more clear: we're definitely minorities now.

We're actually on the EVA flight at the moment: a near eternal 14 hour flight (hence this voluminous post) that started off with some rather disconcerting turbulence over the Pacfic but has since settled into a comfy voyage with the best in-flight entertainment system I've experienced, entirely attentive flight attendants with near constant water and juice, and bathrooms stocked with several kinds of moisturizers and lotions. Perhaps the best part? On a whim I selected the seafood meal option when we purchased our flights: I received my meal ahead of time, and was offered a remarkably fresh and crip Taiwan beer.

Now, time to wrap up and settle on our brief 7-hour Taipei itinerary: Taipei 101, the Democracy Memorial, and at least a couple noodle shops. We land at 6am and our flight to Hong Kong leaves at 6pm. 

This post brought to you from the other side of the International Date Line.

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We flew from Anchorage to Indianapolis via Denver late September 16 and arrived back in the Midwest on the afternoon of September 17. It felt simply wonderful to have a fixed location for an extended period of time, particularly since that place happened to be home. We felt pretty spent from our time on the road (and all the roads in between) and spent the first several days lounging around home. (Surprisingly, it took a couple days to adjust back to Eastern time from Alaska's 4 hour time difference.)

Bursts of productivity punctuated the lazing about and Liz took the lead on knocking out wedding thank you notes as well as plenty of other items that had been lingering on our to do list. Highlights of the time home include: crashing Daniel's downtown hotel during his work training, target shooting with Paul (hint: Liz rocked everyone with the upper left grouping), lots of bike rides and walks with mom and dad, just a bit of GTA V, and glorious Sunday football.

Before we knew it, our departure date to LA and beyond came rocketing towards us. A few frantic days of logistical preparation ensued: copying ID documents, ordering of finances, shopping for a few travel-suitable items of clothing (thanks mom!), purchasing a cheap netbook and not-so-smart phone (unlocked, at least), researching of appropriate backpacks and then final frenetic packing... which of course required us to pull an all-nighter before our 8am flight on Friday, October 4 to LAX. (The record should note that Liz was, as usual, ready far before I was.)

Last hugs, kisses and farewells were shared and then we hopped on the first of many one-way flights west.

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Alaska Part 6: As we puttered back to port, playful porpoises (dolphins?) swam alongside the boat -- almost as if on cue, though I didn't see the crew offer any snacks as bribes. After docking, we stretched our legs a bit and then drove to old town Seward to find some grub. Yelp didn't offer any immediate suggestions, so we went with serendipity and discovered an appealing looking establishment named Woody's that offered... Thai?! A quick Google search confirmed that the restaurant was a pretty reasonable find and we proceeded to enjoy a delicious meal which we took as carryout to our sleeping quarters, the Nauti Otter hostel. (The location was a few miles outside of Seward and essentially consisted of an eclectic collection of cobbled together drafty dwellings with wanton Alaska kitsch.) But it was fun, especially after we jury-rigged the tiny TV to pickup Sunday night football.

On Monday morning we feasted on a hearty breakfast from the Smokehouse restaurant in Seward, a tiny establishment squeezed into an old railroad car. Service was great and the mountain views couldn't be beat. After fueling up, we took a short drive out of town to Exit Glacier, trekked up to the glacier's edge and then into its washout basin, all the while nodding grimly at yet more bear warning signs. Exit Glacier has been receding rapidly: along the long drive up to the park, we noticed several signs with 20-25 year intervals that  marked where the glacier used to be. Despite its vanishing stature, Exit Glacier was still a remarkable sight to behold. We didn't have enough time or inclination to go on a slightly longer hike to the edge of the Harding Ice Field, though I love the name of that uniquely gigantic stretch of glacial ice! Something I loved less: our afternoon hike along Resurrection River trail, aborted just a few minutes after we started because Megan heard some suspicious rustling just off the trail. She couldn't say for certain what might've caused the noise but the likeliest culprit? Bear. At least this time I was wielding a fearsome spiked staff left by a previous thoughtful hiker at the trailhead. Next time, dear bear, next time (or not). 

After speeding back to Palmer, we packed, snacked, and wrote some final postcards home. Megan took us to the ANC airport, where we breathed a sigh of relief that we hadn't seen the gigantic stuffed snarling grizzly when we first landed. It was hard to say goodbye to our northern most friend, and hard to face the end of our domestic northwestern honeymoon. Yet it wasn't difficult to get excited about a couple weeks of restful downtime in Indiana...

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Alaska Part 5: While the captain discussed the difficulty of spotting whales so late in the season, I noticed that it was rather easy to spot the fabled New iPad User, mostly identified by their clumsy selfie-taking skills that screamed "PLEASE ROB ME." Two such specimens are documented above.

Even more entertaining were the cute puffins and other assorted avian creatures flying and whizzing around. The captain mentioned that concentrations of birds like that were actually a good indication of possible whale activity: the birds congregate around the same clumps of fish that also attract whales. Sweet. Suddenly the captain's whale-y sense kicked in and his voice dropped to a hush: we slowly coasted closer and then everyone exclaimed at once as we witnessed the burst of spray from a humpback whale's blowhole. The crew timed this particular whale at about 7 minutes per breath, so our boat loitered around for a few more breaths, expulsions and dives of its tail, or fluke. The technical term for the whale's behavior was "logging," like a giant floating log might do, though we'd hoped for a more visible "breach" or "crest." Perhaps next time!

Also, note how gigantic the Aialik glacier is -- the boat pictured above is the same size as ours and it's simply dwarfed by the ice.

To come: the last installment of Alaska pics, including a few more shots from Seward, Exit Glacier and our speediest hike yet.

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Alaska Part 4: Early Sunday morning we hopped into the car and headed south to Seward, Alaska. From Palmer, it took us just a few hours to reach Seward, a popular docking location for Alaskan cruises and otherwise sleepy fishing town. We checked in with the friendly and efficient Kenai Fjords Tour staff and our boat left promptly at 11:15am. The first couple hours were spent cruising into Resurrection Bay, listening to the knowledgeable captain's whispered explanations of local geology and fauna, and marveling at the striking views all around us. We were eager to see marine wildlife but cognizant that the mid-September timeframe was relatively late in the season. The first signs of activity? A lonely harbor seal, followed by a dozen or so lazy sea lions sunning themselves on a rock, and then two ridiculously cute sea otters who seemed to be performing for everyone on the boat. The tour paused for an hour or so at Aialik Glacier, where the captain cut the motor and positioned the boat for maximum appreciation of the enormous glacier. Occasional calving shards sent ice crashing into the water - and booms audible to us from a quarter of a mile away!

To come: my Japanese tourist nonstop photography is upstaged by iPads, everyone oohs and ahhs at puffins, and a larger creature is spotted lurking in the depths...

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Alaska Part 3: After a leisurely Saturday morning breakfast of pour-over coffee, eggs, moose sausage and toast, we set out northwest for Peterson Road. I can't find much info about the road on Google, but essentially it's a dirt spur from the main George Parks Highway that takes a winding path up and down hills, around numerous curves and bends and eventually provides gorgeous views of the epic mountain known locally as Denali -- or Mount McKinley to those of us from the CONUS. We traipsed around soggy marshes, picked some more blueberries and posed for gobs of photos (some more awkwardly self-timed than others) before making our way to Talkeetna, the largest town near Denali. Megan used to spend a lot of time in the town and knew it quite well: which tasty spot to go to for lunch (hint: Denali Brewing Company), which cool art galleries to wander through, which wild tourist was going to fashion a hat out of paper napkins (see above!). Talkeetna was a nice oasis of art and tasty beer amidst the endless trees but we had to leave eventually so we could make our way back to Palmer and then Anchorage for an evening of tunes of dancing at Megan's favorite bar, Taproot. We thought the $10 cover was a bit steep initially but band after band kept taking turns on stage -- and they were all excellent! The Jack River Kings are pictured above, though the Young Fangs from Fairbanks were our collective favorite. Megan kindly drove us home; someone who shall not be named may have fallen asleep on the drive...

To come: we venture south to Seward, Alaska, and take a marvelous boat tour to the Kenai Fjords!

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Alaska Part 2: Friday saw us explore the lovely Matanuska Lake, where we hiked for a bit, retreated from a terrifying dog (especially because it initially appeared to be a stray, though we later spotted it with owners), tiptoed our way across floating boards to a marshy island, sipped Big Sky beers contentedly, and then erroneously decided to take the long way back to our car... which led us through huge tangled thickets and nearly onto a very large and surly fellow's property (we may have thought the first NO TRESSPASSING signs didn't apply to us, but it was difficult to continue feigning ignorance after the third or fourth one). Luckily Vicious Dog #1 was chained up and could only bark furiously at us, just like Vicious Dog #2. The Man himself revealed only a glimpse of his portly stature but his angry stance and arm waving convinced us that we were on the right path: away from his house as quickly as possible. On the long roundabout way along the highway back to the trail parking lot, we spotted the "ANTLERS WANTED" sign pointing to his property. If only I had tried to bribe him with an offer of antlers...

Megan got off work a little early and drove us to Sheep Mountain Lodge in Sutton, one of her favorite spots. The drive from Palmer was lovely as the setting sun gradually illuminated the cloudy sky. We made it to the lodge in time to go for a quick loop hike that took us by patch after patch of wild blueberries. We'd joked about collecting enough to take home and make a pie but our spoils were devoured almost immediately after picking. The lodge's dinner service stopped at 9pm and we made it back with just a minute to spare. Liz ordered a first for both of us, salmon quesadilla, while I enjoyed a grilled cheese and homemade chili. Megan rocked a bacon cheeseburger that vanished almost as soon as it arrived. (My Alaskan Porter beer was tasty but a tad too cold when combined with a frosted mug: porters are best enjoyed at about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.)

To come: road tripping on the Peterson Road (hint: the Alaskan definition of a road is a little more flexible than in the lower 48), dazzling views of Denali, snacking and drinking in Talkeetna, and a music showcase in downtown Anchorage.

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Alaska Part 1: Our amazing friend Megan picked us up graciously at 10pm Wednesday from the Anchorage airport and we proceeded to head northeast for about 40 miles to her home in Palmer...which happens to be an awesome cabin! (The moose breakfast sausage pictured was indeed consumed a couple days later--it has a certain interesting heft and spice to it.) The next morning we enjoyed pour over coffee and fried eggs from a cast iron skillet while admiring the magnificent view from Megan's cozy breakfast nook. (She told us she had been enjoying it since she moved in a few years ago but that it still hadn't gotten old!) Our initial explorations on Thursday involved meandering to the oh-so bustling Alaska Street in Palmer, doing much needed laundry in the Genesis laundromat (while staring at its perplexing "Wash Day Too" sign), and meeting Megan for lunch at the great Vagabond Blues cafe. (I was still in an eggy breakfast mood and wolfed down a breakfast burrito--made with reindeer sausage! Sorry, Rudolph.) After fully fueling up, Liz and I set out northwest in Megan's 4Runner to the famed Hatcher Pass, a scenic mountain area with an abandoned mining settlement. Of course we had to put the 4x4 through its paces with some (mild) dirt off-roading on an existing trail up to Mirror Lake. The wind and chill had picked up considerably and we donned some warmer weather gear before hiking up to April Bowl (Liz earned mega creativity points by pulling on socks for gloves). I took several dozen photos and miraculously FaceTimed Sean for a few minutes when I had a glimmer of a 4G signal. While the area is quite likely well out of range of bears, I did spot the first official sign warning about "playing in bear country" -- uh oh. To come: a thrilling/terrifying stroll around Matanuska Lake, hiking and dining at Sheep Mountain lodge (with our first glimpses of a glacier!), and wild blueberry picking. P.S. Notice anything interesting about the airlines listed in the first pic? Spotted that sign in the Anchorage airport and quickly realized one of these is not like the other...

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Seattle at last! E and J kindly opened their awesome Capitol Hill hispter chic apartment to us just after midnight when we finally arrived from Portland. We were wary of the legendary Seattle drizzle but it failed to materialize and we enjoyed beautiful sunny skies all day Tuesday and Wednesday. 

On Tuesday we embarked on a grand bike tour of the surprisingly hilly city and its beautiful parks. First stop: Volunteer Park, just a mile or so north of the apartment. The enormous medeival-looking Water Tower was an easy climb and offered fantastic 360-degree views of the city and its surroundings. We hopped on convenient trails east to the next park, Interlaken, and wound our way downhill through soaring trees and lush jungle growth. After skimming the western edge of Washington Park, we took a narrow set of trails further north to Foster Island and paused to picnic at the lovely edge of Union Bay. Refueled and recharged, we proceeded back west along the Foster Island trail: a series of winding dirt and modern wooden paths through water lillies and other scenic marsh areas. Eventually we came to a steep staircase and schlepped the bikes up and onto Montlake Bridge, where we then proceeded north onto the University of Washington campus and into the University District. We enjoyed a tasty snack and beers at Big Time Brewery, then spent an hour getting lost in the excellent Magus Books. 

On our way back to the apartment we passed scores of lovely houses and spotted in front of one the neat free books box pictured above. (The trend is sweeping the nation, apparently: check out these NYT articles.) None of the books interested us at the time, but the concept is fantastic! J arrived back at the apartment shortly after we did and we proceeded to drinks at the superb Elysian brewpub. E met us a little bit later and we all headed to dinner at the tasty Artusi. After feasting there for a few hours, we ambled back to the apartment where J and I rallied for one last outing at Smith bar.

Wednesday was a bit more leisurely: slept in, explored Capitol Hill and downtown on foot, wandered through Pike Place Market, indulged ourselves in the awesome Metsker Maps store. Eventually, it was time to head to SEA for our evening flight to ANC, the final stop on our western tour!

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After leaving Crater Lake we headed northeast and stopped briefly at a winery for a pleasant tasting that nonetheless reminded us how much, apart from champagne and Pinot Noir, we prefer beer and the world of beer (along with its own occasional silly snobiness). Our destination for Sunday evening was Bend, Oregon, a pleasantly small city akin to Carmel, Clarendon and Aspen, but with at least a dozen breweries squeezed into just a few square miles. I drove only slightly recklessly to Boneyard Brewing and made it just a few minutes before their 6pm close. Like so many other great colorful breweries, Boneyard had a gritty industrial feel to it -- but eminently friendly staff and super tasty beers. From there we drove just a mile or so to downtown Bend and ate dinner at Brother John's Alehouse (source of the super cheesy bowl of deliciousness above), where we split an amazingly creamy English nitro stout (especially rare for its whopping 8%). Wandering (more like waddling) around downtown after the huge meal, we spotted plenty of cute shops and resisted them only by virtue of their early Sunday evening closing time. The sports bar Sidelines was wide open, though, so we hopped inside and indulged ourselves in a bit of fantasy football excitement as we cheered for the Giants, then Cowboys, then Giants again. We spent the night in a cute historic house just a few blocks from downtown, courtesy Airbnb. On Monday morning we commenced the drive back to Portland, taking the long but thoroughly scenic road past enormous Mount Hood, through The Dalles and into the remarkable Columbia River Gorge. We had some spare time once we got back to Portland, so we enjoyed a luxuriously long and delicious lunch at Roscoe's beer bar in Montavilla, where Liz happened to discover an entrancing Lord of the Rings pinball machine. Best $3 of the weekend? We cut things a bit too tight with the rental car return and missed our original 4:10pm Greyhound to Seattle, but Liz worked her magic at the ticket counter and we were rescheduled on the 6:50pm bus free of charge. The extra time gave us an opportunity to load up on decadent Voodoo donuts and plot out arrival strategy on the sidewalk patio of Pints. Our bus ended up delayed for a couple hours but once it arrived we had to share the bus with just five other passengers--an entirely manageable amount. We're on the plane in Denver back to Indy now, doors are closing and I'm getting angry looks from the flight attendants... more posts coming when we're 750 miles east!

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Crater Lake is dazzlingly beautiful. It's a huge freshwater lake that formed in an exploded volcanic cone (aka caldera) a few thousand years ago. The water came from rain and snow that collected in the caldera over the years; it doesn't drain out anywhere and no other sources provide water to the lake, so it's entirely pristine and crystal clear on its shore, and it looks like a giant sheet of amazing glass. At its deepest point, it's 1,949 feet deep--the deepest lake in the states. We drove up through the park to Rim Village, parked, snacked and hiked up nearby Garfield Peak, a "moderately strenuous" hike that really wasn't so bad at all. From the top we enjoyed even better views of the lake and, on its western edge, the small Wizard Island formed by another recent eruption of the volcano. There's another tiny island rock formation visible in one of the thumbnails above: the Phantom Ship, dubbed such because it looks like an old ship sailing away from the viewer. In another picture you can see a tiny white boat, one of the park's few daily trips around the lake and the only motorized activity allowed. After Garfield Peak we returned to the car and drove out the eastern portion of Rim Drive, a great drive that's occasionally harrowing but provides numerous pullouts and scenic overlooks. (We skipped the opportunity to hike down to Cleetwood Cove, the only legal spot to access the shore of the lake; park service brochures said you could even go swimming if you wanted, but most people could only brave a couple minutes of the extreme cold!) Verdict? Simply stunning. Go! (And until you can, click or tap these photos to enjoy them in a larger view.)

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Alas, the domestic honeymoon adventure is winding down and we're on the way to the Anchorage airport. I'm about a week behind on pictures (sorry!) but hope to catch up tomorrow morning during our six hour layover in Denver. To come: pics and stories from Crater Lake, Bend, Seattle, and so many amazing spots in Alaska. For now, here's just a teaser farewell shot of Eagle Bay from our amazing friend Megan's impromptu chauffeur service. If Montana is Big Sky, Alaska is Gigantic Sky.

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Our route to Crater Lake in south central Oregon took us through a couple of the state’s larger cities — Salem and Eugene — and we couldn’t resist stopping at at least one brewery, which Yelp suggested ought to be Santiam Brewery in Salem. That turned out to be a great choice; the brewery opened last year and has a heavy English pub influence (I suspect one of the head brewers to be English-American, or perhaps just a full-on Brit). I didn’t particularly care for their highly prized cask ales but most of the other samples were quite tasty. Another nice perk: we could bring in outside food, though I goofed by getting lured in by a less than stellar Thai restaurant that hustled me out of a couple dollars, grr. At Santiam I noticed also that some of their barrel-conditioning beers used a plastic fermentation lock, the same simple piece of homebrewing equipment that we used in our beer preparations — awesome.

Pleasantly plump from tasty beers and Thai, we jumped back on the road south and ventured into nearly uncharted territory. One of the roads we took actually had a flagging crew that consisted of perhaps the most memorable little construction vehicle ever, an ancient battered small pickup truck with this hilarious text emblazoned on back: “PILOT CAR. FOLLOW ME!” Follow meeeeeee became our rallying cry for the rest of the drive…

So where’d we plan on staying Saturday night? I looked at lodging facilities in Crater Lake National Park but the fancy lodge was $200+ and even Mazama Village cabins were $150 and up. Airbnb didn’t have any reasonable options in the area, so we turned to old faithful: Couchsurfing!

Liz and I had hosted several couchsurfers in Arlington over the past few years but had never tried surfing ourselves. I sent a last-minute request out that morning to a nice sounding woman who said she and her husband were interested in hosting and had recently moved to a town called Cheloquin, about 30 minutes away from the park. Even better news, the Couchsurfing search function told me that she had logged into the site just a couple days earlier — a great sign that suggested she was indeed interested and still engaged with the site’s mission. Within 20 minutes, Tina wrote back and accepted my request, adding that she and her husband Kris had arrived to their house a couple weeks before and were embarking on a homesteading adventure with dogs, chickens, ducks and goats. She gave me their address, cell phone numbers and said they were very excited to meet us, no matter how late we arrived: a very kind offer, since we underestimated our timing and didn’t get in until just after 10pm.

Kris helpfully met us out on the dark county road and guided us down their long winding driveway. We shared some of the Oregon beers we’d brought along and spent a couple hours in enthusiastic chatting with our two new friends: they were our age and had been married for about a year and a half, having met in the Chicago area, where Kris was from and Tina had been working. They’d lived in a renovated classic Airstream trailer on Tina’s parents’ property in Tennessee but had been itching to strike out on their own. Kris had spent several summers working in Alaska and had heard Oregon was “Alaska-lite, but with roads.” After doing some sleuthing, they found the Cheloquin property, sold their trailer and moved out west.

The four of us had a fantastic time chatting and Kris and Tina made a powerful informal Oregon Tourism Bureau pair. We were curious about their occupations and learned that Tina worked as a paralegal in Klamath Falls, a larger town about 30 miles south, and Kris was an overall jack of all trades: handyman, guide, burgeoning dairy farmer and just brimming with countless ideas.

We could’ve stayed up for hours talking but the roadtripping was catching up to me and I started nodding off. Before we crashed, Liz suggested we go outside to look at the stars—a brilliant idea because the stars themselves were incredibly brilliant. My iPhone couldn’t quite capture the splendor but it was plenty striking: a gorgeous expanse of dark sky, sparkling stars, a prominent swathe of the Milky Way and faint shooting meteors every few minutes. The best part, and what we couldn’t quite see until morning? Their property backed up to Agency Lake, a lovely shallow expanse. After soaking up the morning breeze off the lake, we bade farewell to Kris and Tina and continued our drive to Crater Lake.

A few miles inside the park, we stopped at Annie Creek, a scenic pull-off. We hopped out, snapped a few pictures and returned to the car… where I realized I’d made my worst mistake of the trip: leaving the keys on the seat, not knowing the car would bizarrely auto lock all the doors. “NOOOOOO,” echoed out of the park as we pulled on all of the door handles in vain. A kindly Swiss couple happened to be at the lookout at the same time and cheerfully drove us several miles to the Mazama campgrounds, where I embarked on an hourlong and ultimately futile attempt to arrange a locksmith through State Farm. A hostess at the Annie Creek restaurant recommended we talk to the general manager, who said a park ranger would probably be able to help and radioed in a request. The manager then drove us back down to the car and a ranger arrived within 10 minutes. After asking a couple quick questions to determine that it was indeed our car we were asking him to break into, he pulled out some impressive tools (including a five-foot thin piece of pliable metal called “Big Easy”), stuck a little pouch in the driver’s side door and slowly inflated it until he could wedge Big Easy into the car cabin. After a couple arduous minutes of wiggling Big Easy around, the ranger finally nudged the end of the metal piece against the unlock button on the car’s center console: jackpot unlocked!

We thanked him profusely and tried to give him some shekels for his trouble but he refused politely and asked we donate it to the park instead. He was an awesome example of a ranger, and the experience endeared us even more to our national parks and the stand-up men and women who maintain them.

Key security lesson learned, we jumped safely back in the car with most of the day ahead of us (and wallets intact, rescued from State Farm’s “reduced negotiated quote” of $125) and drove deeper into the park, a steeper and steeper incline winding ahead of us…

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We were tempted to keep driving south along the Oregon coast Friday night but our next destination, Coos Bay, was nearly three hours away so we decided to bunk in Lincoln City. Hunting for a decent place to sleep took slightly longer than expected but we eventually found the entirely respectable Captain Cook Inn off of 101. At just $70, it was about 50% less than comparable hotels -- sweet. We feasted on fresh seafood at J's Fish Shack, then Liz called it a night and I went out exploring. My first bar stop turned out to be my last: the Old Oregon pub had plenty of character, cheap drinks and reasonably friendly (to me) patrons. Within 15 minutes of my arrival, a fight broke out, people scurried for napkins to stop the victim's bleeding, local cops paid an unrelated visit "just to check in," guys on an adjacent barstool made a $5000 wager on the next day's Oregon Ducks game and then suddenly... the entire bar emptied out. Having witnessed enough bar excitement for one evening and not wanting to see what adventures the late shift might bring, I paid for my drinks and walked a little ways north to the wholesome Indian casino, Chinook Woods. A few hours of blackjack left me down $4, so I called it a night and trekked back to conk out at Captain Cook. After Liz did yoga in town, we fueled up at a local cafe and took an incredibly winding route (the very definition of "twisties") a dozen miles inland to Drift Creek Park. We might've missed a couple key turnoffs but the drive was a blast and our Focus rental handled the curves magnificently. Eventually we found the park, paid our $5 honor system usage fee, and began our hike... which went on and on and on, but eventually opened up onto this splendid suspension bridge stretched over a ravine and perfectly positioned to view these lovely Drift Creek Falls. (We hiked down to the base of the falls and clambered over big boulders, giant tree stumps and some asshole's smashed growler -- not pictured to prevent you from sharing our frustration!) Liz felt adventurous and suggested we take the Northern Loop, an alternative route back to the parking lot. That turned out to be a pleasantly long choice: plenty of solitude but perhaps twice as long as our initial route into the forest. Back in the Focus, we focused on our next destination and perhaps our most eagerly anticipated: Crater Lake National Park!