Portland and Mountains and Bike Wrecks, Oh My!

It's been awhile since we've had a chance to write. I wrote a short entry in the Boise public library the other day, but time ran out and I was kicked off before I could finish it. Quite a lot has happened since we left California more than a week ago.

So here we are now.... "relaxing" in Victor, Idaho and the lovely home of my friends' brother (and brother-in-law). This is my first visit to this side of the Tetons, and it is awesome. Victor is a town of 840 people. Hiking, biking, climbing and fishing abound. The house we're staying in has views of the Tetons off of the back porch and you can even see the very top of the Grand Teton. Yesterday, after we settled into the house a little, Patti and borrowed the mountain bikes in the garage and headed downt he bike path into town. Our first and only stop was the town market, which is very similar to the market in Greenport, NY. You can do some shopping, get a great sandwhich or a smoothie... all of your small town needs in one place. The ride to town was uneventful. The ride back was a little more exciting.

After finishing our smoothies in the Victor "City" Park, Patti and I switched bikes and headed back to the house. The one I was now riding had clipless pedals that made for a small platform to pedal on, and it had disc brakes that didn't exactly work. None of this should have been a problem since the path is completely flat, but I managed to find a way to combine those things into a nice wreck.

WARNING! Gory details to follow! Faint of heart, please skip to the next paragraph. While riding, I picked up a little speed and stood up on the pedals to give it some gusto when the chain suddenly decided to change gears without my prompting. This caused my chaco wearing right foot to slip off the pedal and begin grinding on the pavement. I simultaneously fell onto the crossbar narrowly avoiding serious injury. All the while I am trying to slam on the non existent brakes. Eventually I slip off the path and do a header over the handlbars and into the brush and gravel. The first thing I notice when I pop up to survey the damage is the significant amout of blood streaming out of my right foot. Other than that there were only a few bumps and bruises, but the amount of blood was a little alarming. I initially thought that I saw some bone when I pulled aside what was left of my sandal strap to see the wound. Without many other options, Patti and finished the ride home debating whether or not this was worth a trip to the hospital with our current minimalist health insurance. Once at the house, I went inside to resurvey and decided that though gruesome, I did not need professional medical attention. The pavement had basically burned three holes into the top of my foot and worn away the middle portion of the toenail on my big toe. The fact was that there wasn't anything left to be stitched up. I set to work cleaning and dressing it while Patti graciously cleaned what was left of my chaco. Kids, this is why your mom always tells you never to wear sandals while riding your bike.

The bike wreck has put a little damper on our plans. Instead of enjoying all of the wilderness that the Teton Valley has to offer we're at the house resting and watching movies. The injury to my toenail has made it difficult to wear shoes, so I'm not sure what this means for my plans to climb the Grand in a week. It's frustrating to be shut down by a relatively minor scrape.

Let's back up for a bit...

Patti last wrote about our time in California, and since then, most our time has been spent in Oregon. After driving up the California coast we stopped for the night just inside the Oregon border at a state park on the Chetco river. Apparently, the Chetco is one of the 25 best fishing rivers in the country according to a sign at the park. The river itself had beautifully clear water with a rock bottom. Perhaps someday we'll be back when the salmon are running. From there, we drove north along the coast until turning inland towards Portland. Again camping at a state park, we met a guy from Ohio who was in Oregon with his wife interviewing for positions with Young Life. They had visited the area last summer and decided that they wanted to relocate.

The next day was spent in Portland. It is an awesome city that we were only able to see a tiny part of. We toured a few local universities picking up info for grad school and then caught a free lunchtime concert at Pioneer Courthose Square. The concerts happen every Tuesday and Thursday at noon and are just one of the many things that Portland offers its residents for free. I loved Portland, but the truth is, I just didn't see enough of it to decide for sure that I want to live and go to school here. I did decide though, that I definitely want to attend a larger school when I do go to grad school. We visited George Fox University, a Quaker school just outside the city, and I realized two things: 1) Messiah College is actually a really great school for its size, and 2) I don't want to go to grad school at a small Christian college.

Heading out of Portland we got some great views of Oregon landmarks like Multnomah Falls and Mt. Hood. We drove around a few sides of Mt. Hood as the road wrapped around towards Bend. Bend is not what we expected. It has a reputation as "the" outdoor enthusiast's place to live, and it certainly is that. But, it is also where the chic and retired Oregonians live as well. The main street was more upscale shopping and dining than outdoor town. It was also a lot larger than I knew - 75,000 people. Our one real stop was at REI to get some maps and info about hiking in the Three Sisters Wilderness (The Three Sisters are three 10,000 ft volcanic peaks just outside of town). It took a little time to find someone at REI who actually used the equipment they sold, but eventually we talked to Tom who gave us some great advice. Word on the street was that the Sisters were still under 7 or 8 feet of snow (in July!) and indescribably bug infested. He steered us to a mountain range a little lower in elevation and further east called the Ochocos. It turned out to be a great recommendation.

Patti and I spent 3 days hiking Lookout Mountain in the Ochocos. There were some great views from the top and an impressively few number of mosquitos. I think Patti will write more about how the hiking went. Thanks to a very nice family from Bend, we got a ride back to our car saving us several miles of extra hiking. This allowed us to get on the road earlier and on our way towards Idaho. Our last night in Oregon was spent on the Snake River at Farewell Bend State Park. We decided to attend the ranger program that night called Owls of Farewell Bend. It was actually really interesting, and we even got to see the park's resident great horned owl.

Leaving the next morning we headed into Idaho for what has been the most pleasant surprise of the trip so far. Idaho is an awesome state (don't tell anyone....). Thanks to Subaru guy from Bend who gave us a ride, we took a great scenic route through some really beautiful country. We stopped for lunch in Boise, which is currently sitting in the top spot as best city we've visited so far. We walked around the clean streets and through the farmers market/art fest that happens every Saturday. We saw more people on bikes there than in the supposedly most bike friendly city in the US, Portland. There were so many bikers that there were not enough bike racks in town for everyone. Every single tree and lightpost had a collection of at least 10 bikes chained to it. Boise is one of those cities for "people in the know" because everyone else says exactly what you're thinking right now and what I used to think - "Idaho?! Why would anyone ever want to move to Idaho?"

Idaho is also tied with the salt flats for the most surreal landscape so far. On the way to Victor we camped in Craters of the Moon National Preserve. It's a 52 mile long stretch of hardened lava created by a huge fissure. The park has all kinds of crazy volcanic landscape features that go on as far as the eye can see. For all of you conspiracy theorists out there, "they" definitely could have staged the moon landing here. The one campground in the park is made out of crushed volcanic boulders. You camp surrounded by craters and black sand. The pictures only begin to give you an idea.

That about brings you up to speed on the last week or so. We're meeting some friends in Jackson in a couple days to head into the Tetons. I'll let you know how that goes or doesn't go with my foot injury. Pictures coming soon...