Jefferson Park hike

After about a month break from my hiking my roommates and I went near Mt. Jefferson, the second highest peak in Oregon.  Our goal was a place called Jefferson Park near the base of Mt. Jefferson.Since it has a beary high elevation some of the wild flowers are still out.  Let's hope all the mosquitoes are gone though.

We started off on a section of the Pacifc Crest Trail (PCT) which actually starts on the border with Mexico and goes all the way to the Canadian Border.  People hike all the way through it but us less adventurous types do sections and the sections are clearly marked.

The hike was about 12 miles round trip so we saw lots of different scenery.  We started off in this rocky area.  I liked it a lot since it's different than what I usually see on my hikes.  I may not be the smartest fox in the world but I bet that alpine lake is beary cold.   

The weather cooperated with us - do you see any shapes in the clouds?

Back on the trail and I still have lots of miles to travel and lots of elevation to gain.  I started to see my first glimpse of Mt. Jefferson in the distance. I usually only see it from my car window and the weather typically does not cooperate - not today. 

We reached the ledge easily but on this hike once you reach the ledge you have to go down into the "park" area where all of the flowers and lakes are.  I was a beary lucky fox and saw some fresh mountain huckleberries so I had to stop and eat quite a few of them.  Beary good.

 Just relaxing in the Indian paintbrush plants.  Beary comfortable.

 Aaaahhh here were are in Jefferson Park.  Apparently, when they surveyed the cascade mountains years ago they wanted to create a president range.  Hence the name Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Adams (in Washington).  But they realized there were not enough mountains for each president and oh yeah the mountains already had names so they scrapped that idea.

 Another view of yours truly enoying the lake and the mountain.  I wonder if my roommates brought a book for me to read?

 Well, now that I have descended to the park that means I have to ascend back to the car.  I guess I better start hiking.  Periodically, I stopped on the way up the trail to eat more Huckleberries and rest on occassion.  The stump looks peaceful.

Whew, still tired, better rest in this small tree.  

It was a great hike and at the trailhead someone was having a party with beer, bacon, and chips.  My roommates didn't join the partiers I guess they were too tired to join up.  

Kansas City Adventure

Hello Blog Pals......we made it safely to Kansas City.  The plane ride was great even though the pilots did not let me fly the plane but they got us there safely so that's OK too.

Our first day we explored the Alexander Major's house.  For those of you who didn't study Missouri history (which I assume is everyone) Mr. Major's was the founder of the Pony Express and gave Wild

Bill his first job ever.  Currently, I am sitting in a standard mail coach from the time and if I had my team of horses lined up I would be ready to deliver the mail.

His office and house was pretty cool.  He had a barn with an old fashioned mail coach.  I think I could have gotten a job as a mail carrier way back when.

This saddle is not my sized (that's for sure) but us foxes are beary good at staying on horses and working around animals so I don't even think I would need a saddle, especially as you can tell I am having a hard time staying on it.

Mr. Major's house was pretty impressive.  I am hanging out on the spice rack here.  I wonder if they have any chicken or fish seasoning?

The kitchen is primitive to say the least.  I guess it got the job done.  Hmm, now that I think about it I wonder where the bathrooms are?  Maybe I shouldn't think about that.

The guide at the Major's house let me take lots of pictures and he was beary knowledgeable.  He even gave me this cultural guide to KC and stamped it.  I have a few more stamps to get on my KC passport.

I got some snacks and treats at the Quik Trip.  Have you ever been there before?  They have all sorts of goodies like pizza, hot chocolate, muffins, coffee, slushy drinks, and all sorts of different sizes (perfect for a little fox).  It helped me gear up for my next days adventure.

Harry Truman, our 33rd president, was born and raised in Independence Missouri.  It was time to explore Independence to see what I could learn about Mr. Truman.  The first thing I noticed is that he is beary tall. 

His house is in beary good condition.  Apparently, they built the fence around his house so people could not disturb his family when he was visiting.  I could sneak in the fence but my roommates certainly would not be able to follow and take any pictures.

In the garage in the distance you can see his car.  It is on jacks so I am not sure if it gets driven much anymore (it is from ancient times....1972).

The next day I decided to take a tour at the coffee roasting factory (note: they do coffee only, no hot chocolate...sigh).  It's not Starbucks but I did learn lots about coffee and they gave a beary good tour.

They gave lots of free samples and let us explore their production floor.  I tried to see if they had any free samples for me to take back home, sadly you had to buy those samples on your own.

I did learn how to taste test coffee.  It involves lots of slurping and you can't add cream or sugar to it either.  Once you slurp your coffee then you get to write notes on it indicating your thoughts, dreams, and desires....no just kidding you write notes about the coffee.

Wow, who would have guessed that there was so much to do in Kansas City, MO (we didn't even explore Kansas City, KS).  I need a nap, hmmm this dog looks friendly.  Being that we are both part of the canine family I think we are going to be good friends.  I wonder if she likes to hike?

I woke up from my nap and my roommates had my bag packed and told me it was time to go home.  We had a good flight from KC to California and a 3 hour layover in San Francisco.  I think I will explore the Ghiradelli shop, since according to this sign it's beary close. I wonder if they have any hot chocolate for sale?

Plane trip part two...

I got excited to see this plane coming into the gate.....I wonder if we are going to Switzerland????

  The mystery was finally solved, my roommates pointed to this schedule and I found out we are going to Kansas City, MO!  Huh, Kansas City?  Really?

After I mentioned to my roommates that there were many other cities to visit (I have been to Kansas City once before my blogging days) I succumbed to the fact that I wasn't going to have a say in where we went (typical of my roommates) and settled myself into the plane for the flight to KC.

Leaving on a jet plane....don't know when I will be back again.

“Little Fox, wake up and get your bag ready.”  My roommates loudly said.  I didn’t really know what was happening (my roommates can be vague and mysterious).  I grabbed my knapsack and passport and we headed straight to the airport.  

My roommates had to check in with the gate agent.  There was a long line so I decided to try and figure out where we were traveling to.

Am I going to Canada to visit Sandy?

Am I visiting Beanie in London?

Guadalajara for some authentic Mexican food?

Calgary for the stampede?  Maybe Burbank, CA to be in a movie?

Could I be going to Minneapolis/ST. Paul to visit Jerry and Ben?

My roommates didn't give me any hints at all.  All they did was tell me that the plane we are going to take is smaller than this jet in the background and then they left me to get some coffee at Starbucks.  

Garden Time

No cool adventures like Sandy, Ajdin or Jerry and Ben for me this weekend, however, I have good news from the garden front!  My garden is really coming along this week.  We have had lots of hot weather the last month and it’s really paid off.

Reindeer (being a vegetarian) decided to come down and give me a hand harvesting.  It looks like the green zebra tomatoes we got at the farmers market month ago seem to be doing OK.

The real pride of our tomatoes this year are the heirlooms.  This was a new variety for us, I can’t believe how big they got, I will have to find a great tomato recipe to use with this one.  We had BLT’s yesterday and since our tomato haul is big we might be having them today for lunch as well……If you look above Reindeer's head you can see lots of early girl tomatoes that are almost ready to be picked.

How is everyones garden coming along?

Weekend Plans?

I was happily sitting at home today reading my blog pals blogs and I started thinking about the weekend. What should I do?  I know it's only Tuesday but I can't help but think about the weekend.  Perhaps a suggestion will come in today's mail.

What's this, a postcard from San Francisco.  That's it!  I am going to suggest to my roommates to take me to San Francisco this weekend.  It's only a 12 hour drive from home...hmm that might be a tough sell for my roommates.  By the way who could this card be from?

I turned the card over and recognized two little bears (and one waving) and knew immediately it was from Jerry and Ben.  They mentioned something about wine tasting, hmmm that might be a little more realistic option for my weekend.

 

Thanks for the card guys!  It seems like you are taking some cool trips this year.  

LF

Zookeeni Muffins

My neighbor was on vacation last week and being a good Little Fox I helped water his garden.  As payment he said I could have a zookeeni from his garden.  This one ought to feed an army of stuffies.

Jerry and Ben's muffins looked so good I decided to try my paw at Zookeeni muffins.  My sekrebearies are slowly re-earning their pay and were beary helpful in the kitchen.  The recipe Jerry and Ben used looked beary difficult (much too advanced for a amateur chef like me) so I decided to look online for a simpler recipe.

Hmm, this one looks good. It says it's for kids, maybe that would be a good recipe to start off with.  Let me run it by my friends to see if they think it's good.  Yep, it earned their approval so I think I am ready to bake. 

*****grumble****grumble****hmm it appears that some "baking action shots" disapeared from the camera. 

Just like a real cooking show you don't see all the work or cleanup just the final product.  

I am patiently waiting for them to cool to sample so I can make sure they are acceptable to feed my friends.  I wonder if I can send some in the mail to Jerry, Ben, and Jake so they can give me suggestions and tips on the next batch?

Grand Teton + Information on Potatoes

After spending a few days in Yellowstone my roommates and I headed south to Grand Teton National Park to meet up with some of my roommates family. 

Hey, what is this????   Why aren't I in this picture????

This is better.

 It’s hard to beat the scenery at Grand Teton.  The mountains don’t have any foothills for some reason, when I asked my roommate why he just stared at me blankly. I will have to find a ranger to find the answer to my question.  Another cool thing about Grand Teton is that they have all of these lakes in front of the mountains so it’s beary scenic.  I even saw patches of snow on the ground at places (I should have asked Sebastian to fly out and visit me).  

This area is called Mormon Row, apparently because Mormon settlers settled it around 1850.  They were some of the few homesteaders who had success farming this region.

Again, where am I?  I might have to go on strike and protest!!!

Excuse the short interuption in this blog as I gently remind my sekrebeary that this is MY blog.  Any stuffies have suggestions to deal with difficult sekrebearies who don't want to follow the rules?

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Ok after a long reminder of who is in charge I think my sekrebeary is back on the plan.

Not as much hiking as a little fox would prefer but there were other options out there.  I tried my hand at riding a bike it was beary difficult to focus on the trail and the scenery at the same time.  Of course if there was a bike that was my size it might have been easier.  

 I decided to hitch a ride in my roommates backpack.  The cool thing about biking was that I got to see more scenery than I would have normally seen on foot.  This might be a new avenue for me to explore…

We spent some time in Yellowstone as well as Grand Teton.  The parks share borders so an admission to one gets you in the other as well.  Here is a standard tourist shot of me handing out at Old Faithful.  

After watching the geyser I hit the bar for a drink and ironically the bar is called the “Bear Pit”.  It was a cool place I should have asked the bartender about holding the Stuffy convention there.

I was able to finagle a hike in.  This hike was not beary different.  I took a ski gondola up the mountain  (since foxes don’t really ski I am not sure of the proper name of the contraption) and hiked down.  This is the life!!!!  

 The flowers were out in full force.

It was time to start heading home.  I did one quick stop at the Idaho Potato Museum.  

Hanging around the scale at the museum.

My roommate worked in Eastern Washington and swears that the area he worked in Washington produces more potatoes than Idaho…..luckily he kept his comments to himself at the museum.  Besides the monster potato in front of the museum each guest got a free box of hash brown potatoes as part of their admission.  

****Note****I did some research and found out that Washington grows 21% of the potatoes for the US market while Idaho grows 28% of potatoes for the US.  Now that you know more about potato production than you probably ever wanted to know I promise not to have my roommate ever bring up this subject  again.