Here I am at week 20. This picture seems misleading to me, because when I look in the mirror, I feel like I look a lot bigger than this...you can always check out our Flickr site for new belly pics. I might post there more frequently than here.
The oh-so sad news we got was that Keith's cousin, who just asked him to be in his wedding, passed away earlier this week. He's our age (which I like to think is still young) and died instantly from cardiac arrest. At 34. So unfair, shocking and sad. So hard to process. He was in our wedding, and although I never got to know him very well, he and Keith were very close in college - causing trouble together in their frat all four years. He was supposed to get married in just a couple weeks. Damn. You will be missed, Lee.
In other, more happy news, summer is here and we have managed to get ourselves out on a few outings.
Back in May we took a day hike up on the McKenzie River to Tamolitch Falls. Which isn't supposed to be a falls at all. It is more aptly known as the Blue Hole. It is a stretch of the river that has been diverted underground through lava tubes, and then suddenly reemerges at this blue hole. We went there hoping to see the famed Blue Hole, but it was late spring and we had such a heavy snow year, that the reservoir upstream couldn't handle all the water, so much of the river was going back over it's natural path and therefore, there was indeed a rather large waterfall at Tamolitch Falls. Now we have to go back and hike it again to see the Blue Hole in all it's glory. The hike was nice. We tried to go beyond to get up to the reservoir, but we hit too much snow and after a tumble on my part (which unfortunately led to a week laid out on my back - thanks loose pregnancy ligaments) we had to turn back early.
The falls in the background:
Scenery along the McKenzie trail:
The McKenzie at high flow:
Keith gazing at the blue hole that isn't so blue with all that water rushing into it:
Next up was a short outing to Jenn and John's beach house to visit with our friends from South Africa who were such good hosts while we were there. You may remember this thing that we had the privilege to drive around southern Africa. Well John and Ester are the "caretakers" for this automobile and were so kind to us while we were there - giving us the most amazing braii (BBQ) we've ever had, and stocking that Land Rover so well with every piece of camping gear and extras anyone would need. So they finally got a trip to the States to spend time mostly with John and Jenn but we were able to sneak a few days in with them as well. After a quick visit to the local lighthouse (which none of us locals has ever bothered to stop at), John and Jenn had to head back to Eugene early. We stayed behind with John and Ester to give them more time at the coast and gave them an Oregon style BBQ on the beach. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we got really lucky with the weather.
Heceta Head lighthouse:
The Oregon coast:
Setting up for a BBQ on the beach:
Drinks included:
And local seafood. Very local. From the rocks behind us. Well these are actually oysters that we bought at a store, but the mussels we ate later came from the rocks behind us.
And last week, I had a week off, so we went out and finally did some camping. The weather was perfect and it was mid-week, so we had campgrounds basically to ourselves. We ventured up the McKenzie River again and set up our first night camp at Olallie Campground. A very cool campground if you can get the prime spot. A corner site with a branch of the river practically running through your camp. We spent the day lounging and did another short section of the McKenzie River trail (this trail runs for about 25 miles along the McKenzie River).
Our campsite at Olallie:
From there, we headed over the pass and camped a night on the Metolius River, which is another river that starts from the depths of the lava tubes. We found a great little walk-in campground which was virtually empty and had probably our most relaxing day there napping, strolling along the river, and playing Bocce Ball, Scrabble, and Backgammon (does that make us sound old or what?).
Our campsite at the Metolius. Notice how stressed out Keith is.
The Metolius River.
Our main reason for heading over the pass was to check out Smith Rock. Smith Rock is the climbers' mecca of Oregon and we have heard it is a gorgeous place for even non-climbers to visit. It's a place we've both always wanted to see, so we took a day trip out there to do a little hiking. It is truly a beautiful place - not very big, but stunning. In the middle of the high desert plains sits all these massive, unique rock formations. It's like a little tiny piece of Utah sitting in the middle of Oregon. We did the standard 4 mile hike that takes you up to the top (ask me how fast I walked up that hill....the baby is not sharing the oxygen equally) and around the back side and finally along the Crooked River back to the start. A very nice hike with some amazing views of all the big volcanoes of the Cascades.
Me catching my breath among some very nice views.
At the top you get right next to the famous Monkey Face (you'll see later) where we can perch precariously over ledges looking for the crazy climbers who actually climb up this thing.
I am posting this picture mostly for my brother who has a bit of an issue with heights....even looking at others sitting on edges....he is also a kick ass rock climber....go figure.
There is the Monkey Face. You can see the little ledge where I was sitting just to the right of the monkey's mouth.
For our third night of camp, we headed back to the McKenzie River and checked out another campground (Ice Cap) which was right next to some waterfalls. Again, with all the snow melt, these falls are in fine form right now. Another pleasant, relaxing evening and a walk along the river that connected Koosah Falls with Sahalie Falls. Here is Keith in front of Sahalie Falls, apparently very excited by either the view or his coffee.
Some wild irises that I thought were quite pretty.
It wouldn't be a complete blog entry without an update on our house projects. I think I mentioned before that we were getting ready to paint the house. After all the destruction from leveling it, it was time to clean things up and make it look nice again. Once the rains stopped, Ketih's parents came up and helped get the thing painted. With the help of the sprayer, the three of them were able to get the main part done in a day (yay for small houses!).
Here is what it looked like before with the piecemeal siding work.
And a look at the final product (mostly). There is some trim work that lingers, but you can't tell from this picture. What you can see is that there is a big, broken trailer in the driveway. I wanted a nice clean after picture, but my dear husband tells me that the trailer is not going anywhere anytime soon. It had a little accident on I-5 (actually quite a scary incident and very lucky one as no one was hurt), and basically requires a rebuild which we are choosing not to afford right now. And the axles are off and it is big and heavy, so there it sits.
We also decided to get rid of the wood paneling in our dining area which involved a lot of drywall work on Keith's part. He did a great job.
And that's it for now. We are in the midst of a 90 degree humid heat wave and getting ready for our yearly 4th of July camping trip. The track and field Olympic Trials are taking place this week in Eugene, so the city is all abuzz and getting lots of national airtime. Keith was able to go to a bit of it today, and we spent some time milling around outside the stadium yesterday among the festivities. It's good for Eugene, and they seem to be doing a good job pulling the whole event off.
