On the road in Oregon: day 15

It's cold and rainy so we're eating breakfast in our tent at Diamond Lake. We're going to go to Crater Lake soon and then we'll cross back into California — we don't know exactly where we're going to end up tonight. We're sad this wonderful vacation is almost over.

(It may appear from our sporadic blog posts that it rained the whole trip. In fact, the weather was fantastic - we were just much more inclined to write blog posts when hiding in the tent than when out enjoying the sun.)

- Ben

On the road in Oregon: day 11

We rented a sailboat to sail on the Columbia River today. It's a Hobiecat catamaran (the first time we've sailed a catamaran). We sailed together for a bit then I got cold, so I'm enjoying the beach while Ben "sees how fast this thing will go." I think he's capsized... 

Watch as Ben heads out from shore:

- Steph

On the road in Oregon: day 7

We're sitting in a park in Portland after sharing a pint of ice cream (@ $6.50, it was much more economical than two regulars), capping off two days of eating and drinking, and eating and drinking some more. We've been to one brewery, one distillery, two food trucks, one bar, one cafe and two restaurants (and one museum and one bookstore). Needless to say, Portland has lots of good food. 

Tonight we're listening to some live music at Mcmenamins (a throwback to Ben's 2006 motorcycle trip) then tomorrow we're riding through the Columbia River Gorge.

- Steph

On the road in Oregon: day 4

Ben and I are huddled inside our tent at Tillicum Beach campground. He's slicing an onion as we hide from the rain.

Today was the first day we didn't try to cover many miles on the bike. We walked the endless sand dunes near our campground, lunched in the cute town of Florence, then hiked the so-called "Hobbit Trail" to a beautiful empty beach, before ending with some Tillamook ice cream in Yachats. Now we're hoping the rain subsides so we can cook dinner. Tomorrow we head for Portland.

And our running tally of (mostly) Oregon beers we've tried:

Widmer Hefeweizen

Rogue Hefeweizen

Pyramid Hefeweizen

Gilgamesh citrus ale

And a bunch of CA beers at North Coast brewing in Fort Bragg

- Steph

On the road to Oregon: day 3

We're eating breakfast at the Good Harvest Cafe in Crescent City, CA, almost at the Oregon border. We camped last night at Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, after 220 miles from Russian Gulch SP where we camped the first night.

Last night we enjoyed warm showers, a campfire, and our signature camping dinner of pasta-sausage-onions. I also did some laundry with our new Scrubba. Steph insisted that nothing would dry, and she was right or course, so it's hanging on the bike in the parking lot now:

- Ben

All packed and off to Oregon

We leave soon for our first long motorcycle trip this year: 16 days through Oregon. We had originally planned to do this trip a year ago, but scrapped it in favor of LA/San Diego/Joshua Tree. Our initial plan was a 2,000-mile circle around all of Oregon, but we decided that was too ambitious, so we'll be sticking to the western half of the state.

First, we'll head up the coast, through the redwood forests.

We'll camp at the Oregon dunes and explore the central coast.

Then we'll hop off the bike for a few days in Portland.

We follow that up with a few days of hiking, kayaking, waterfalls, orchards and breweries in the Columbia River Gorge and at Mt. Hood.

In Bend, we plan to float down a river before stopping at Crater Lake on our way back to California.

Milky Way over Crater Lake

- Steph

Photos by Ulrich Burkhalter, Gregory Pruden, Christopher Michel, Ben and Joe Parks.

My mom visits California

It could be a series: "My mom visits ________." First Argentina, now California. Next, we'll have to move somewhere crazy. Third installment: "My mom visits Siberia." That's obviously not happening, but my mom did visit us in San Francisco in March. We spent a night in Napa, where she was attending a conference, and then drove down to Carmel together. After the Boston winter, she was pretty excited to see the California sun. All photos taken with my iPhone.

Coffee in Santa Cruz, sitting next to a lemon tree.

Pebble Beach

We walked down the beach every morning.

Lounging by the pool

My mom loves flowers.

17-Mile Drive. I had never done this because motorcycles are prohibited.

The lone cypress

- Steph