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Saturday, September 06, 2003

 
Updating from Eugene, Oregon:

I've been on the road now for nearly two weeks since I said good bye to Carine (who I met all too briefly) and Seattle....
I've driven about 1400 miles up around Washington's Olympic Penninsula, back East into volcano country, down into Oregon, along the coastline and a "quick" detour (3 days, 500miles) inland...

During this time I've crossed the Puget Sound on the ferry on a glorious sunny day, camped out in the car under giant douglas firs and hemlocks, climbed Hurricane Hill, seen black tail deer, cheeky cheeky chipmunks that actually ran up onto my boots, flocks of peeping grouse..

.. had an unfounded panic about the state of the Batmobile's coolant system but some advice from Don saved me from a $600 mistake...

.."penetrated" the Hoh River rainforest (ba-pssssch) and skimmed stones on the turbid glacial melt of the Hoh River.... drunk a beer and shot pool in Aberdeen - the town where Kurt Cobain was born...

..hiked up around the giant glaciated dormant volcano of Mnt Rainier (14,000+ feet) where I saw marmots and walked on a snow field in August!

..and a day later I was stomping the pumice trails around the active, tho sleepy Mnt St Helen's - sitting awesome in its own devastation....

..I've seen great lolling squads of smelly honking sealions in ports and coves...

..walked on sandy and rocky beaches of breathtaking beauty along the gorgeous Oregon coast with mist blowing in off the sea even tho' the sun is blazing down....

..got drunk, danced and was briefly and unexpectedly pounced by a grad student called Laura in Eugene :) ...

..and climbed Garfield Peak (on the crater rim) to look out over the deep blue, silent sea of Crater Lake, which sits majestic and undisturbed, 5 miles around, with the cinder cone of Wizard Island rising from it, in the vast hidden caldera of Mnt Mazama. Crater Lake is so breathtaking it was very, very hard to tear myself away.... and to think I could've lived my whole life and never seen it.... If you are ever anywhere near Oregon you must see Crater Lake... words fail to describe it... seriously....

And today I'm heading back to the Oregon coast and turning south again.... shoulders suffering a little from all the driving but otherwise sound... :)