A trip down south

 Hiya Gang,

Little Fox and crew (Navy and Cocoa Beanie) here as we take a short walk around the Willamette River ner Eugene Oregon on our trip south.  This is the Defazio Bridge, named after a long time representative.  It's for walking, scootters, bikes, and other non motorized (ie cars) wheeled transportation.

The Defazio Bridge is ok but the real part of this trip is hiking on the real PCT while working on the virtual PCT.

Cocoa is starting us out on the the PCT near Mt. Ashland ski resort.

This trail section of the PCT is pretty flat and our destination is Grouse Gap.

A ton of the state is on fire but the smoke was kind enough to 

The Flowers are out (albeit if we were here 3 weeks before the flower show would be amazing). 

The Grouse Gap shelter was a great place to have a snack. They have picnic tables, a fire pit (can't use now because of the aforementioned state being on fire) but in the winter they usually keep a little fire going on the weekends so the cross country skiers have a warm place to relax.

Where to next?

Working on the virtual PCT via the real PCT.

 Hiya Gang,
As you may know Sandy and I are working on our virtual PCT challenge.  We've been plugging away at the hiking yet we're still in California.  Last time I checked we are nearing Lake Tahoe.

Since it's such a nice summer day the gang and I (Navy, Cocoa, Sequoia) decided to do a little hiking on the real PCT.  Today's destination is Upper and Lower Twin Lakes near Mt. Hood.  The lakes are accessible off of a side trail from the PCT but we still get some PCT miles in so that's cool.

Too early for Huckleberries (a wild berry that has had no luck in being grown commercially- don't get the roommate started on Huckleberies or we'll never finish this post) so it's a nice treat when its found in the wild (also super expensive to buy...almost double of Copper River Salmon).

Bark, whoof, whoof (translation: enough chit chat, let's go).

The PCT is a pretty amazing trail.  This fox has hiked portions of it in Oregon, Washington and some near Lake Tahoe.  Any hike along the PCT almosts guarantees some amazing scenery.

Here's the turnoff.

Eventually made it to the lakes.  Upper Twin Lake was quieter (we were there earlier) but the hordes of people were arriving.

Luckily, we started early and missed most of the folks at Upper Twin Lake.  So pretty.

Off to Lower Twin Lake (an easier hike).  It was much busier and there were all types of hikers (people were carrying innertubes up the trail to Lower Twin Lake.  

Us animals didn't get any pictures at Lower Twin Lake.  Sequoia insisted on walking around the lake and when he puts his paws down there is no stopping him.  Of course, the human left lunch in the car so the roommate got hangry and no pictures for us.

Good news for us Mice and Fox (we snuck Tillamook Cheese with us as our lunch).

Summertime exploring

 Hiya Blog World,
Little Fox, Navy and Cocoa Beanie here.  Today, I decided take take my esteemed guests on a hike to one of Portland's most famous homes.  Pittock Mansion.  Built in 1914, 46 rooms, and sits on 46 acres of prime land.  The flowers on the property are amazing.  Sequoia is off to the left enjoying a well needed break from our hike on the grass. 

What a day and what a garden.

The house is pretty amazing too.  It took 5 years to build and has many luxuries.  Central vacuum system, elevator, intercoms, indirect lighting etc.  The house was owned by the family until they wanted to sell it in the 1950s and there were no interested buyers.  Severe damage from a storm and no interested buyers provided the City of Portland with a perfect opportunity to save the house.  In 1965 (after a 15 month renovation) the house opened back up as a museum and park. 

Hard to beat the weather today - of course you can drive up here and park but us stuffies are hardy and we decided to park for free and hike 2 miles up.

Off to our next adventure

Finally, a blog post

 Hiya Gang,

Little Fox, Navy and Cocoa Beanie here.  As the resident tour guide at the ranch, I decided to take my pals Navy and Cocoa out for an exploration.

First stop:  Saint Stephen Church.  This church was built when the neighborhood was being developed around 1907.  Back then the neighborhood was kind of affordable, now....not so much.

A nice old church (they have lots of good google reviews as well).  Anyway, time to explore.

Ooh, this could be fun.  Of course we missed it, but perhaps we can convince the roommates to make us nachos.  Us stuffies can be very convincing when we need to. 

We found an old fire station that they turned into a fire museum. Sadly, it was closed today and the humans didn't get a picture of us in front of it.  I was a tad worried since they have this notice about the unreinforced masonry being a potential problem in an earthquake but Navy was unphased.  His words exactly: "I survived the tsunami at Mouse Island, I can tour an old building."

On our exploration we found these cool murals. 

Every stuffie chose their favorite mural.

Cool stores up and down the streets in this part of town.  Found a vintage store that had the audacity to sell this lawn chair for $39.00.  The metal bar where the back and seat meet is almost rusted out.  

Still a lot to explore.  Cidery, Acai Bowl Restaurant or see a movie (while having a beer and eating tater tots) at the neighborhood theater.