The Oregonians

We're officially Oregonians...

Brian and I have been biking and taking short but pleasant hiking/adventure trips. Because of the fires in Northern California, we get stuck with lots of their smoke. It's not very healthy to be outside right now, so on Sunday, after our visit to the local theatre to see "The Dark Knight" (woohoo!!) we took a trip up to Crater Lake to attempt to escape the smokey air down here in the basin. To our dismay, the smoke was still pretty thick, even up at 7,000 something feet. Brian took his bike, rode UP Up Up the volcano and around and back up and down to better prepare for the Crater Lake Centure Ride in August! CRAZY. I, on the other hand, sat outside and in the visitor's center... relaxing, doing some work.

Zooming by

The number of bugs and mosquitoes were INSANE!

My view from the visitor's center

Moore Park is the closest and nicest park in town. we walk down to hang out every so often. It's one of the few places in this high desert town that is actually pretty lush and green! Which reminds me.... It actually rained for the second time since we've been here. (although the first barely counts- about 5 minutes off and on and immediate evaporation) This time, it actually rained quite a bit and for a whole 10 minutes! we even had puddles! I really miss the rain!

Brian took this beautiful shot on Upper Klamath Lake... practically our backyard

Brian's really enjoying the camera..... so I decided to wait

At the top of the "hill". We live over to the right

Brian? A&F model?

Last night, Brian got back from his first fire "outing"! Got home pretty late, but with exciting stories. A warm meal and straight to bed for another day at work... maybe another fire today? We had a lightning storm a couple of days ago, so they're keeping watch for smoldering. Since our official "lighting" season has begun, I'm sure he'll be out on his hopefull fire detail soon. (2 weeks straight)

This weekend we're going on a canoe/kayak trip with another couple and their son. Pretty excited about it.

Finally, Here are pictures of our home !

Cute little wreath I made

Our living room

coffee table

Dining area... with our temporary table and chairs (we couldn't fit our old dining table on the trip!)

Kitchen

Office/guest room

Mr. Smokejumper

Hall from one bedroom to other. Bathroom is on left.

Our Master bedroom

My vegetable and herb garden

Could these be the critters nibbling at my tomato and pepper leaves?! backyard/deck
We thouroughly enjoy our grill... and it's never too hot up here to eat outside!
Our pretty crammed garage... mostly outdoor gear. And we want more?! HECK YEA!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our home. We really hope you all get to come up at some point! Until then, keep in touch!

It all started on a cool, windy morning where the dust clouds could be traced for miles. We set off into what sounded like a war zone!.......perhaps this is a little too dramatic. Starting over...
We had a blast at the Klamath Falls Air Show the other weekend. It was the first time we've seen rain since we moved here, but even that was a drizzle. We didn't even run for cover when it did rain, and what got wet dried in a matter of minutes.

(Jill is standing directly under the nose of the plane. It was huge! The tail was 5 stories high!)

We thought the show would be just a few hours, so we didn't even pack a lunch, but they had so much action, it lasted past 4pm. Though the stunt pilots, historic planes, and display planes/helicopters were great, our favorites were the modern jets. No matter how many times we saw it, there's nothing that gives you a rush like watching an F-15 go tearing through the skies so fast that you have to wait a few seconds to hear the sound of its jets trailing behind.


The F-16 Thunderbirds were pretty exciting, too!

Our most recent adventure was chasing Captain Jack down the lava tubes to the Modoc Indians stronghold against the American Calvary and settlers.


The story goes that the Modocs were relocated to the Klamath Reservation (the same Indian Reservation as their rivals, the Klamaths...the the same reservation that was sold to the US Forest Service that became part of my ranger district). So the a group of the Modocs ran down to "The Stronghold", which is a series of collapsed lava tubes. From these hidden caves and natural trenches, this group of ~50 Modocs held off over 400 calvary troops.

At the Lava Beds National Monument, we were able to camp out under the California wildlfire smoke, and enjoy the fresh air of the high desert! Only a little bit of sarcasm there, for we did have a great time chasing jack rabbits and defending our tent from a mischievious squirrel that was trying to invade our tent. Like the Modoc, he was determined, but we triumphed!

Just kidding, that's not really us, but you almost believed it didn't you!
Camping and learning the history of our area were great, but the main attraction was the Lava Tubes! Originally, this area was incredibly volcanic...it still is in some ways. So the magma would build up and shoot through the weak ground. These ancient flows created lava tubes, which are great places for amateur spelunkers like us!


There were dozens open for exploration, but we had to limit ourselves to the Golden Dome, Chocolate Cave, Skull Cave, the Mushpot, and a few natural bridges where parts of some caves collapsed and left free standing bridges. With hardhats and headlamps, some caves were so small we had to get on our stomachs and inch our way along. If we go back, we're bringing knee pads and strapping pillows to our backs. Course lava rock and tall people don't mix.


As for normal life, we're getting well settled. Jill's done a fantastic job decorating the house with many new sewing projects brightening up the place. And occasionally I get home in time to help with a few easy projects, which she's convinced I do on purpose. Haha Work is going well, but working 10-12 hour days do take their toll. Hopefully, now that a few deadlines are almost here, those days will start going away, but then again, our fire season has arrived...as I'm sure you've seen on the news. Luckily, it doesn't get dark 'til about 9:30, so it leaves plenty of time to have a few adventures after work.

Laissez le bon temps rouler! We miss you all, and hope to hear from you soon!