Bob DenOuden's Pacific Northwesterner: April 2015

The essence of a spring Bend weekend

Twin Bridges Loop, Deschutes River

Spent a long weekend in Bend. Started off Friday with a solo 50 mile ride through the countryside. Saturday William and I got one more day of skiing in at Bachelor - possibly the best day we had all season and a good way to cap off a tough ski year. Sunday morning was another road ride, this time a quick morning ride up China Hat road and back. Pretty much a perfect weekend.

William hikes up a little higher to squeeze out a little more powder fun

Riding out China Hat Road with William

Labels: out on China Hat Road

Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona

Natural Bridge

Ken and I grabbed a cheap flight down to Phoenix, picked up a rental car, loaded up with groceries, and headed to the Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona. It was a beautiful weekend, temps in the 70s and gorgeous skies. We spent two nights in the monument at the small campground there and hiked nearly all of the trails available to us. A 9:00am hiker shuttle to the top allows for a full day of exploring. Amazing rock formations. Great birds and plants. Truly a biological and geological wonderland. We also drove up and over the range and down to Cave Creek for some birding. A little late in the year for the big stuff, no trogons, but it was great nonetheless.

View out over the National Monument from Massai Point

Standing rocks - great fun!

View from Inspiration Point

Ken gazes out over the crazy rocks

Pucker Point

Balancing rocks

More views out to the west

Cave Creek

Picacho Peak State Park, our last night in Arizona

Spring Break 2015 in Eastern Oregon

Cottonwood State Park

William got an invitation to join a friend's family in Maui for spring break so Maria and I headed out for a week in Lowell, the Eurovan. Up until the day prior to our departure we did not know which direction to head, but when it looked like a pretty juicy storm was going to hit northern California we decided to head east. With the exception of I-5 to I-84 through the Gorge to The Dalles, we avoided interstate driving and roamed around the north central and northeast parts of Oregon. Stayed at the brand new Cottonwood State Park, on the John Day River, sheltered for a night in Pendleton to wait out a storm and explore that great little city, grabbed a night at Wallowa Lake State Park (an overused, tired campground that I need to remember to avoid in the future, checked out the Zumwalt Prairie, Explored the upper Grande Ronde River, and the John Day Fossil Beds. It was great not having any itinerary. Very quiet out in eastern Oregon this time of year. Perfect.