Wildlife and Caves!

This week was a busy one!  I (Kristin) had tons to do at work including lots of field work!  We did some flow measuring on canals that went through farms and I found that the phrase "curiosity kills a cat" could also work for cows...they were definitely interested in what we were doing and kept inching closer and closer to us!  I did have to chase a few of them away but they didn't go very far...

 
On Thursday, Ed wanted to go out for a nice dinner on the river...in Ashland!  It's about an hour away but we wanted to test out the Subaru on the mountain curves, so we went for Thai!  On the way out we were reminded that we are definitely in Oregon...where the deer keep wondering when we're going to leave...

On Saturday we decided to ambitiously climb Mt McLaughlin in the Sky Lakes Wilderness Area!  It's about a 9,500 ft peak with a base around 4,500 so around 5,000 feet of climbing!  We hiked a little less than a mile in and were just swarmed by mosquitoes!  I have been warned by co-workers that the Cascade Mountains are really bad for bugs in July...but I didn't realize just HOW bad!  Needless to say, we decided to try this one again in September...

After a disappointing time at Mt McLaughlin, we decided to check out the TuleLake Wildlife Refuge - about 30 minutes south of Klamath Falls.  This refuge is a part of the Klamath Basin project that I work on so I had been there before, but never got the chance to stop and look and Ed had never seen it.  We saw more birds that one can imagine!  Tons of different diving ducks and geese and loons!  We were there around 6pm and I definitely want to try and come back one day closer to 6am when all the activity happens!  They say the Bald Eagles are plentiful here in the winter too.  This was also our new Subaru's first time off-roading - it seemed to do very well!

Sunday we headed out to do some caving at Lava Beds National Monument (45 minutes to the south).  Lava Beds National Monument is a very unique and cool place but we won't say too much about it (or show too many pictures) since we'll be taking our summer time visitors there!  There are just TONS and TONS of caves there -some are super easy with clear head height and others are very complex with maps required and belly crawling a must!  One of the coolest things about this park is that you can go backpacking in the back country there and there are tons of unmapped, unnamed, undiscovered caves out there!  How cool!

 

After Lava Beds, we decided to check out Medicine Lake in the Modoc National Forest - a high elevation lake that some people had told us was a cool place to spend a weekend.  It's about 15 miles from Lava Beds down a dirt road.  It was very pleasant and we decided we definitely want to come back with a canoe and do some canoeing and camping!

After a short peek at the Lake, we wanted to head home to make some dinner BUT our GPS had other intentions.  The road (pictured below) it took us down to get "home" ended up going up to the top of a mountain (to an old fire lookout) for the best view of OR/CA that we have ever seen!!!  Thank you Garmin!  I'm putting the lookout picture here, but it doesn't really do it justice.  The sun was so bright that you can't even see the awesome view of Mt Shasta in this pic - but it was there and it was awesome!

Finally, after an hour of a confused Garmin on dirt roads, we got on the main road to get home.  What a fun weekend!

Weekend in Portland

This weekend Ed and I headed to the "Big City" of Portland! We went to see Matt Insley in "The Last Five Years" at the Miracle Theater - it was an AWESOME show! Basically, the story was of the last 5 years of a relationship between a couple that met, married and then separated. Matt LITERALLY played piano for 90 minutes STRAIGHT!!! No Stopping!!! It was very impressive! Friday night we enjoyed some delicious Oregon wine with Matt and AJ and then got some sleep to prepare for Portland exploring on Saturday.

Saturday we (Matt, Ed and I) climbed Mt Multnomah, the 2nd tallest waterfall in the US - 2nd only to Yosemite. It was only a mile up, so we went after it like an easy hike. By the time we got to the top, our butts were burning and the lactic acid was flowing! The views at the top were gorgeous though!



Saturday night we got to have a delicious dinner at a brewery with Matt, Terri, Josh and Josh's mom (Terri) and her husband Rob. I ate way too much food, but the beers were very delicious! After a long, still unfinished game of trivial pursuit we headed to bed to prepare for more exploring on Sunday!

Sunday we headed to the International Rose Garden and the Japanese Gardens in Portland. The scenery was gorgeous and provided the perfect setting for many silly pictures. Afterwards, we headed to a completely empty Chinese restaurant for and early dinner.


After all of that fun, we headed home for a relaxing (and very lazy) day off.

Klamath Kinetic Challenge 2010

So Ed and I wanted to spend the weekend in Klamath Falls and check out downtown a little. We had planned to just visit the farmer's market and get some lunch, but we ended up stumbling upon the annual Klamath Kinetic Challege! The Farmer's Market was small, but very cute. They had actual farmers there that were selling actual plants! Of course there were organic veggies and handmade soaps, but there were also tons of strawberry, pepper, onion, etc plants. It really made us miss our garden in Houston!

After a fantastic lunch at the Daily Bagel (on hazelnut-poppy seed bread) we headed down to Veterans Memorial Park to see the Klamath Kinetic Challenge! Basically, this is a competition with "Kinetic Sculptures."  Here's how they describe it on the website: Kinetic Sculptures are home made, human powered vehicles able to travel (hopefully) over land, sand, muck, rocks and, oh ya, water. They carry one, two, four or more people. The race is to see if these fantastic creations are able to negotiate the course. Awards are given for engineering/construction, art, speed and many other frivolous achievements. 
It was really a ton of fun to watch everyone and we even met some pretty awesome people!  Here are some of the competitors:

From Klamath Kinetic Challenge 2010 - Videos

BLACK TIE AFFAIR - made it through the mud with ease!

From Klamath Kinetic Challenge 2010 - Videos

This guy made it after a while...a long while!

From Klamath Kinetic Challenge 2010 - Videos

This guy had a creative idea, but he needed people on either side to prevent him from tipping in the mud!  It worked well in the water though!

Shasta Dam and Waterfalls!

This week was kind of quiet at work - much us the USBR staff was away at a conference, so we made the most of the evenings. We got about half way around our 3 mile (very hilly) loop without stopping and then we ran some of the second half with some short breaks. It was definitely a sign that we are acclimating to the elevation and building our hill muscles!

On Thursday, Kristin had to go to the Shasta Dam to pick up her official ID card. The Shasta Dam is absolutely HUGE and has a unique spillway in the middle of the dam. We didn't get to go on the tour of the Dam, but we definitely will next time we're down there. And of course the drive to the dam gives an awesome view of Mt. Shasta.



Saturday we headed out for some camping in the Umpqua Forest (1.5 hours away). We didn't realize until we were on our way, but the Umpqua forest has TONS of waterfalls! We only got to see 4 of them, but there are 21 in all! They range from 20-300 feet tall! Apparently they are much larger in the spring, so we will have to go back next April...



After the waterfalls, we went car-camping and had a wonderful dinner of pasta and wine.



It's so beautiful out here and we saw so much more that we want to do!

Crater Lake and Scenic Driving!

We are getting settled in here in Klamath and last weekend we finally got to go to Crater Lake National Park!  It is so gorgeous up there, but it is COLD with LOTS of snow!  Crater Lake NP gets 40-70 FEET of snow a year on AVERAGE!  It was created by Mt. Mazama (a 12,000 ft volcano) erupting 7,700 years ago.  After the eruption, the lake slowly filled with rainfall and snowmelt and is now one of the deepest natural lakes in the world!  There is a road all around the lake, but only half of the road is open due to high amounts of snow.  The entire road is usually open August-September but you can cross-country ski it when it's closed!



After Crater Lake, we did some scenic driving up to Diamond Lake and south down to Ashland before heading back to Klamath Falls. About 30 minutes outside of Crater Lake the temps went up to the 80s and we saw a water fall on the side of the road. There are pull-off points everywhere on the roads here because there is so much to see! So we got pics of our first of many Oregon waterfalls! We passed over a couple other lakes as well although I'm not sure which ones they were. On our way into Ashland, we stopped at a winery, Agate Vineyards, and did a tasting of Oregon wine! We weren't that impressed, but we were excited to learn about the Oregon grapes and different varieties.

This weekend we are planning some waterfall-side camping and maybe visiting some of the Roseburg wineries. We have learned that the "Rogue Valley" (southwest Oregon) area is known for Syrah and Willamette Valley (central-western Oregon) is known for Pinot Noir.

First Week in Klamath

Well, we survived our first week in Klamath Falls and we have to admit - it's GORGEOUS here! We haven't really explored too much around Klamath but we have investigated the neighborhood which we could spend all weekend at and have a blast! There is a 3 mile paved running trail in the neighborhood and then a larger 7 mile paved trail that goes around the outer edge of the neighborhood and even connects to a bike lane that leads into town. The upper edge of the neighborhood also has a dirt trail that leads to a gorgeous lake view, but we ran out of time when we were exploring this trail, so we haven't seen the view yet. Here are some pics from our running/biking/hiking in the neighborhood:

The running trail

Ed and I taking a short break on our very hilly run
Photo Op on Sunday's bike trip around the neighborhoodA "friend" that was sharing the trail with us
Klamath Falls doesn't have normal squirrels - they have tiny "squeaks" that bury in the ground
Ed taking a bike break

One big change from Houston is the ride to work - we car pool since we only have one car, so I decided to take a couple pics of my drive (which has ZERO traffic and only take 15 minutes!)

The townhouse we're staying in is nice but small - it has a great view though and sits in the middle of a forest, so we have TONS of birds that visit!

Here's the view from our back porch - as you can see I've already started my garden with basil and mint

In the beginning, we didn't have many birds visit our feeder...I'm really not sure why...

In my second week of work, I got to tour some of the US Bureau of Reclamation facilities that I will be monitoring. Some of this system was built in 1905 and other structures were built in the 1920's but the system is absolutely fascinating. There are canals that cross under each other and siphons that move water in multiple directions - very cool for an H&H dork!

Yes- this is a canal that is physically crossing another canal

Clear Lake - an irrigation reservoir

These are 3 siphons that go THREE different places! Built in 1921

VERY OLD USBR Dam

Pelicans downstream of a pump - they are looking for fish guts...

We have MOVED!

I know we've been lacking on the blogs lately, but it's only because we have been BUSY BUSY BUSY! In mid-April, after we returned from Vegas for Brett and Lisa's wedding, we made a very difficult decision to pack up and leave Houston for Klamath Falls, OR!! Kristin was offered a position as a hydrologist/project manager with the US Bureau of Reclamation at the Klamath Basin office. The position is a great opportunity for Kristin with great job security. Edward is still looking for a position but has several options that look to be promising. With so many federal agencies here in Klamath, there are many Federal engineering opportunities although not always open to the public.

Our last weekend in Houston was on the 22nd/23rd which we spent with great friends and family! Kristin did a Mary Kay make-over with Christina and Shannon and then Kristin and Ed both spent Saturday and Sunday night at Christy's since the bed was sold on Friday. Monday morning Shannon came to say goodbye with her two lovely girls Courtney and Jessica - we're going to miss them (and Ethan) so much! Here are some pics from our last weekend:


Our trip up here was interesting to say the least, we left Houston on Monday and only made it to San Antonio before we stopped for dinner. At dinner someone was nice enough to bust the lock out of Ed's truck trying to steal our GPS. The lock held and we think Buster scared off the thieves, so nothing was stolen thank goodness! Our view in the rearview mirror for a week...

Here was Buster's position for most of the trip...he was fine in the truck - slept almost the whole time, but was very active in the hotel rooms! He did not pee though thank goodness!

On that note, we headed out on Tuesday morning with the goal of getting out of TEXAS!!! We made it to Las Cruces, NM for the evening for a relaxing night in a small town.

From there, we left Wednesday morning to head to Phoenix, AZ to see Terri and Josh! (Terri is an old high school friend of Kristin's) We had a great time with Terri and Josh and as a great surprise, one of Ed's fraternity brothers came to meet us out at the rooftop bar in downtown Phoenix. Thursday morning we headed downtown to the Federal building in Phoenix to get Kristin's finger prints taken for her background check. A new rule was passed in mid-May requiring the background check for Reclamation employees to begin BEFORE their first day, so this was a little challenging to accomplish on the road!
Kristin and Terri:
Ed and Mike:

Thursday we headed out to Las Vegas for 2 fun nights out and a rest day from driving. Arizona was very mountainous but also very...empty so the driving was long and boring. Vegas was fun and we had some great food! The more we learn about Vegas, the more we like it - on this trip we conquered the bus system in Vegas - super efficient and cheap!

Saturday morning we headed from Vegas to Reno for 2 more nights on the road. We took Sunday as a rest day to give the truck and Buster a rest! We visited two massive casinos: the Grand Saharra Resort and the Peppermill Resort - really great places for a fun night. They had theaters, bowling allies, arcades, restaurants, pools, etc - all INSIDE!! Oh - and gambling and drinking of course...but that's standard for the casino! The Peppermill had a sushi restaurant with some very creative decor.

Ed and I in Downtown Reno:
Ed and I at the Riverwalk in downtown Reno - the Truckee River had a paddling course set up!
The Peppermill Sushi Restaurant:
We are now in Klamath Falls in our furnished townhouse for at least the next 4 months. After 4 months we will decide whether to buy a house or rent a larger house. We only took a 6X12 trailer here, but somehow it is just too much stuff for this townhouse! Our master bedroom view is wonderful and the temperatures here are very cool making it wonderful to have the windows open all night long. Running in the morning is something we can do all year long here since the mornings never get warmer than about 50 degrees! More to come as we explore this area - tons of outdoor activities, so we are excited for the weekends!