Back in May, we did a little scouting on the hardly used Chico Trail down in Joseph Creek Canyon in the Wallowa Whitman National Forest and created a loop trip that had all the makings of the perfect backpacking trip–no crowds, views, wildflowers, wildlife, good water source and challenging terrain. That trip was a little…
J’s mom came to visit last week. Our visitors have been perfectly timed during our slower weeks, so again, we got to spend a good bit of time showing her around! We went down roads we’ve never been down and roads few people travel down. My favorite quote from her was, “I like reading about…
Back when babies were allowed to sleep with blankets, I was born. I’m at the age that when people ask me how old I am, it takes me a minute to remember. There are some years that ask questions and some years that give answers, and this has certainly been a year that is asking…
My sister and mom came to visit this past weekend and it was of course nice to have all the girls together! I took them to all the hot spots in the area, including up the Tramway to the top of Mount Howard on a very frigid and rainy day and on a boat ride…
We haven’t been able to take a backpacking trip in awhile since we’ve been so busy, but I realized I never posted a recap from our last one in mid-July! So a few things about Aneroid Lake. 1) It is glorious. My favorite so far. 2) The sign at the trailhead said 6 miles to…
RR has been open for more than 2 months and it’s time for reflective thoughts. Of lately, I bombard you with pictures, but I don’t often say much. Sometimes I don’t write because our life is fluid and things change by the minute. Plus, I like to let my thoughts to fester in my head…
Current mood: Tired. We had a long, busy weekend Currently thankful for: Google Translate. We have had several guests from foreign countries who don’t speak good English. How do you say “tipi” in French? Currently worried about: Our future Currently excited about: Our future and our new baby niece or nephew to be born any…
We ventured back into the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and Eagle Cap Wilderness again and this time, we weren’t stopped by snow. We’ve had some really warm temps these past few weeks and got a good ranger report, so into the wild we went. This time, our destination was Ice Lake. The trailhead starts at 4,600…
Back in the day when gluten was not an allergy and J and I lived in one place for more than 6 months, we would get tons of visitors wherever we were living. People would plan their vacations around us. From July through August, there were few days we were without visitors. But now, we…
I’ve been taking lots and lots of pictures of our time here, but few are shared. Until now. First, I thought I’d share the wild in our life: We have not seen an alive bear. But, a few weeks ago, a motorcyclist hit a bear 1/4 mile away from us. Fortunately, the motorcyclist walked away…
I am not going on a blog hiatus. I promise. Between hosting a wedding at RR and major satellite Internet problemas, I am just going with the plain old excuse of being busy. But I’m back with the latest edition of what we’ve been up to. Get excited now. Last week (which feels like forever…
On Monday, we squeezed away from RR for a half day and took out ‘yaks out for a spin around Wallowa Lake. It ended up being about 7 miles of paddling in 3 hours or so. Wallowa Lake is literally where a major road ends. Sitting at just over 4,300 feet, the lake was created…
This past weekend, J & I ventured to the mitten state for Jason (Hoss) and Adrienne’s (theAccessory’s) wedding. If you can remember, we can’t get anywhere from where we live, so it took us exactly the same travel time as we spent in Michigan. And because this makes tons of sense, we flew from the…
The trails around these parts seem to have a common theme … steep, unmarked and no people, but lots of cows. The Chico Trail fit perfectly into this mold. We tried to research it, but there was very little info on the Internet. We have the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest map, but it is from the…
Current mood: Slowly getting in a groove here Currently thankful for: J making it off Mount Hood safely, especially after the news that 6 climbers died on Rainier this week! Currently worried about: 1) Succeeding as a waitress this summer and 2) flooding our kitchen with our dishwasher (happened again Saturday night during dinner service, but…
This blog post is brought to you by my awesome and crazy husband, J. The above title is one of my favorite Blues Traveler songs and for this post it stands true for my latest adventure. In the pursuit to climb the highest peak in every state, my latest adventure brought me to Mt. Hood, Oregon’s…
Well, this week has been going much better than last week in terms of breathing a lot easier and having things under control. I felt like I was at the bottom of a pile of something (laundry? diced tomatoes? tipi liners?) and kept trying to stay afloat. But the thing about the hospitality business is…
Well, RR opened for business this weekend! Let me tell you, we were putting finishing touches on everything up until the minute guests walked in on Friday at 3pm. The stress of last week was probably far worse for my health than a bloomin’ onion from Outback, but we had happy guests this weekend…
My family seems to have this trend going on in that wedding anniversaries should be spent in the hospital. First, J & I spent our 7th anniversary in the hospital this past October due to my blood clot. Now my mom & dad celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary in the hospital, as my dad had…
We open in 10 days and our to do list seems to be growing instead of shrinking! Our have projects varied, of course. Aside from the whole business of hiring a new chef (DONE!), we had to clean the whole lodge from top to bottom and perform care on the grounds as well. This is…