Maggie's Buns

Oh, Maggie.

Maggie, Maggie, Maggie.



Thank goodness we do not live in Forest Grove, OR.  We would likely not have the fortitude to order the veggie egg white omelet, no cheese.  Joe's sister Claire can do this.

No, not us.

We cannot -- would not-- imagine saying no to something as voluptuously decadent as a Maggie's Bun:

One bun to feed them all.

Maggie's is cheerful and funky and colorful.  Yes, it's the kind of eclectic coffee shop you find in most hip neighborhoods, but  also much more.  The food is incredible. There's always something to look at, even if the wait is getting to you.

We're so hungry and *yawn* we don't DRINK coffee

A moment on the lips, forever on the hips.

A quick check of #Maggie's Buns on Twitter confirmed what we already suspected.  The place is like a happy, delicious, viral addiction.  Some need the coffee, some need the groove, and some just need the buns, but everyone in Forest Grove, it seems, needs Maggie.

Overcome by our feeding frenzy, we forgot to document the enormity of the bun as compared to a 5-year-old's head.  Note: this is only HALF of a Maggie's Bun!

Oregon Trail

What does Oregon look like?  Most people think of forest-covered mountains, or maybe even a majestic rocky coastline. That's only half the story. East of the Cascades, this is Oregon:

Coming off of the Blue Mountains, into Pendleton

Ontario to Forest Grove Oregon is "just" 402 miles, and Interstate 84 follows the Oregon Trail path almost the entire way.  Before you get the the arid plains pictured above, you need to cross the Blue Mountains.  Make sure to stop and drink in the view at Deadman Pass.  By the way, when the Pioneers came through here, this was just known as Crawford Hill.  It took speed, modernity, and stupidity to cause the kind of tragedies that gave this area it's new name.

The view from Deadman Pass, formerly Crawford Hill.

And then, suddenly, you're at the Columbia river.  Wide and flat, it seems to just wander along the Oregon/Washington border forever.  There are a few cool sights along the way:

Groovy railroad bridge that raises up to allow shipping traffic.

A fish truck.  Really.

We were gaining on our target.  Closer, closer....  The river became faster, and the landscape had changed what we usually think of: green and mountainous.  Suddenly we were in Hood River, and Mount Hood leaped up to great us!

So, in Hood River there's this lovely little bridge right across to Washington state.  We'd come this far, why not add another state to our roll call of greatness?

One problem, that lovely little bridge is indeed little--very narrow.  And it's not concrete or asphalt--it's steel grating.  How people navigate this during a typically cold, wet winter, makes one wonder.

Joe did an excellent job navigating the bridge BOTH directions, and we were back on the road to Forest Grove...

Our Own Private Idaho

So there we were, in Idaho Falls.   We eked every last bit of value from our short stay which included free breakfast, an early morning romp in the pool, and "Pirates of the Caribbean" on TV.

It seemed a shame to blow through without paying any attention to the town, so we headed to the actual falls  (Idaho Falls, remember?) for a picnic lunch before hitting the road.

Lovely table manners.  Perhaps we've been on the road a bit too long?

The Snake River winds through most of southern Idaho.  The falls in Idaho Falls are actually man-made,  but have been modified over time to appear more natural.  The park that borders the falls on both sides of the river is quite lovely.  For the record, we saw not a single snake along the Snake River.

Idaho Falls, Idaho

Idaho has lots of mountains, several Native American Reservation lands, and a good deal of desert.  That means that to travel across Idaho means to follow a large arc along the southern half of the state, following the river for most of the route.  In many cases the interstate follows the same path as that of Lewis & Clark's Discovery Expedition, and later pioneers along the Oregon Trail.

Three Island Crossing, Idaho

We approached Three Island Crossing and Kelly insisted we stop. This was a major stop on the Oregon Trail (OT). We had even worked it into a Camp Del Ray pioneer activity.  At this point on the OT, pioneers had to decide whether to brave the crossing here, for immediate access to better grazing land for their cattle, to to continue on, perhaps another 2 weeks, to an easier crossing.  The Snake River at Three Islands is deep and swift, with unpredictable currents.

The covered wagon outside the beautiful, CLOSED
interpretive center.

There is a beautiful, modern Interpretive Center at Three Island Crossing, Idaho.  Unfortunately, it CLOSED 15 minutes before we arrived.  The family was reluctant to hike through Idaho sage brush in 100 degree heat, so we settled for a distant look a the river, and some self-guided exploration of the outdoor wagon exhibit.

Luckily, we had modernity and enough supplies on our side.  No attempts to cross the river here.  Westward again, we came to Boise right around dinner time.  Yelp identified the best restaurant for us as deep within the city.  We found the 13th Street Pub in the Hyde Park neighborhood.  More trees and  more bikes, but a definite funky Del Ray vibe.  In fact, our waitress, Megan, was lately of Del Ray!

After a delicious meal, we asked Megan if there was a place in Hyde Park comparable to the Dairy Godmother, where we could get some dessert.  She pointed us down the street to Goody's. Goody's is as good as it's name:  a cross between Dairy Godmother, Pop's of Old Town, and Purple Goose.  Awesome carmel corn!

Back into the car for a short drive, we spent our last night on the road in OREGON!

Abandon Ship!

The motorcade and the rest of us are all fine, but it was definitely a wet adventure.

All literature for Yellowstone warns that the weather can be "unpredictable."  We certainly discovered that to be the case.  After one evening of intermittent rain and showers, we awoke to a crystal clear morning.  The following day was picture-perfect, including the as-if-on-cue thunderstorm that rolled in right at 7:00.



We were on a "sunset cruise" of Yellowstone lake, secure in our belief that the storm would blow itself out before our return.  After all, we had 2 boxes of wood and a full load of s'mores fixings to work through.  Ah, but then there's that "unpredictability."  The rain continued to pound. And pound.  Three simultaneous lightning flashes are pretty awesome--unless you're watching them from the middle of a lake! We returned to a dripping tent and a couple of wet sleeping bags.  We hate to wimp out on any camping trip, but it seemed clear that bailing out and leaving, rather than bailing out the tent all night, was the best option.

Team Dresen swung into high gear.  Mom handled the tent; Joe handled the van; Julia stayed calm in the van and allowed us to carry on; and the boys showed their true mettle by jumping into the storm and helping to pack up in record time, and to document the process for the blog.


Dripping and muddy, we loaded into the van at 9:30 pm and made a run for the park border.  Driving through hours of nighttime rain that was yet to visit Yellowstone helped to confirm that we had chosen wisely.

Three-and-a-half hours later, we rolled into the Sleep Inn in Idaho Falls.  We love these motels. The rooms are really reasonable (especially if you don't reserve/check in until midnight!), beds very comfortable, and the substantial breakfast had several choices for every member of the family. Oh, yes...and the kids loved jumping in the pool the next morning and getting wet on purpose.

Three kids in one bed, two adults in another, and black-out shades. It may not sound like much, but compared to sleeping in a chilly tent-puddle? Aaahhh...

Yellowstone, part 2

Geysers, etc.



We finally trekked over to Old Faithful to get in some of Yellowstone's greatest hits.  While we waited for OF, we checked out the new Visitor Center.  It's in a beautiful, LEED Gold building, and the exhibits are captivating, interactive, and very educational.  The kids had plenty of fun in the regular exhibit hall, and there is a special hall for the young ones, complete with a spurting geyser of its own!

Joe was fighting off a cold, made worse by the damp cold night.  So we left him to explore the Old Faithful Inn and the kids and I started off in search of Morning Glory Pool.  A photo of this pool is on the cover of my guide book and it seemed a reasonable hike.

It wasn't unreasonable, but it was a bit long, and hot, and, well, there's a lot of sulfur in the air...

We finally made it, after a 90-minute trek through the lower geyser basin.  My photo doesn't really do it justice, but it really was pretty spectacular (and odor free).  The walk back was shorter and Joe had us set up with ice cream and awesome seats on the Old Faithful Inn balcony, so all was right with the world.

As we prepared dinner at camp later that afternoon, Ranger Sean pulled up to personally invite the kids to his talk that evening: "Scat and Tracks."  Scat and tracks!  Well, what could be better!  Especially right after dinner!

Ranger Sean really knows his stuff, so to speak.  In addition to specifics on a wide range of tracks, he showed off Gen-u-ine poop from bison (shown here) and a grizzly bear!

After the Tracks & Scat, we scampered down to the marina for our sunset cruise of Yellowstone Lake.

Joe had taken to humming/singing the theme from "Gilligan's Island" as we waited to make way.  Remember the words?  "... the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed..."  But that's another post.

Yellowstone, part 1

Yes, we knew from the beginning that two days in Yellowstone wouldn't be enough.  But it was sitting right there, in the middle of the road, so to speak, so we couldn't very well just ignore it.

Even our barnstorming tour was worth it.  We arrived through the Eastern entrance, which led us to Sylvan Lake as one of the first "Oh, wow!" moments.  Though the ride from Cody, WY had been quite short, it was still well worth a quick stop to stretch the legs and some big gulps of fresh Yellowstone air.





Yellowstone Post Fire

In 1988, 36% of Yellowstone forest burned.  Today, thirty years later, you can see both the burned forest remains, and the beginnings of new forest. The once-blackened trees have been bleached by 30 years of weather.  Driving through this recovering area now feels somewhat like driving through an area that is experiencing winter and summer simultaneously.

Steamboat Point, Yellowstone Lake

"Oh, wow!" moments abound, from thermal features to wildlife.  It's hard to keep track, since virtually every bend in the road brings another breathtaking scene.

Bison by the side of the road. Cool.

Bridge Bay campground is huge.  The campground was completely full, but our site at the end of loop D still retained a good bit of privacy.  The kids were quite ambitious about searching the woods just around our site for signs of wildlife.  Tree rubbings and scat were proud finds, indeed, and an excellent reminder to use the bear locker provided.  (Note: in Yosemite NP you must take everything out of car.  In Yellowstone, you can leave smelly stuff in the car.  Guess the Yosemite bears attended some kind of how-to-rip-open-a-car seminar.)

Immediately after we had our site set, a thunderstorm rolled in.  We weren't sure what to expect, so we headed over to the shelter of Fishing Bridge.  The diner at the back of the enormous gift shop was awesome.  And we were greated with a rainbow over Yellowstone lake on our way back home.  The rest of the night was dry, but COLD!

Wild Rides

Driving across Wyoming involved the expected: cattle, ranch land, small towns, and a great deal of the unexpected.

We pulled out of our South Dakota campsite around 8 a.m. with the goal of grabbing coffee and second breakfast on the road.  Miles and miles and MILES later, still no coffee.  The people of Wyoming seem to be kind, big-hearted folk, but apparently there's a THING about making your own coffee at home, not buying it like some slacker. 

Finally, after 82 MILES, Remy's cafe in Upton Wyoming came to the rescue.  Huge cups of coffee, very friendly waitress.  Oh, and Julia really enjoyed the special pancake.  She buttered it (liberally) and ate the whole thing!

Our drive continued along WY 16 amid considerable traffic--cyclists and pedestrians!  We probably passed 50+ cyclists along the route.  We never found out what event caused all the traffic, so if you know why cyclists stormed Wyoming on July 4, let us know!

It was a good thing we fueled up on a huge meal, because the Bighorn Mountains were coming up.  The research I had done on the Bighorns suggested that the area was beautiful, but didn't even scratch the surface.  Highway 16 parallels the mountains (south to north) for several miles, before turning west and tackling them head-on. The road snakes back and forth, up and up and up.  At the top of the first peak, the view is breathtaking.  The view point here is very large, with plenty of room for eastbound and westbound traffic.  There is also a hang-glider launch pad, and we were lucky enough to watch flyers prep and take off.

The landscape is striking. The eastern slopes are blanketed with wildflowers and forest.  The western slopes lead down to the Western Wyoming high desert.  We crossed through several thousand feet and 35 degrees of temperature within an hour.

Descending into western Wyoming, our next stop was Cody.  Named for Wild Bill Cody, it seemed a fitting roost for the Motorcade for Independence Day. We celebrated by attending the Cody Stampede Rodeo.  Rodeos move very quickly through several events and everyone had a fun time.  Just like I did when I was a kid, Jason cheered primarily for the livestock.

As you can see from the rodeo video, the weather in Cody was rather ominous. Mother Nature provided some nice fireworks, but the scheduled Cody pyrotechnics show was a bit of a bust.  Locals filled the gap with a wide variety of colorful bangs, pops, and zooms.

All in all, Independence Day 2013 was an amazing adventure and a chance to glimpse a side of the USA we often miss.

The Black Hills

We spent a couple of days camping in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  We arrived fairly late in the evening. The road to Horsethief Lake winds around Mount Rushmore, giving us a nice sneak peak of the monument for the next day.  We managed to set up camp just before dark-- a real accomplishment for us!

The Huge Tent at Horsethief Lake, SD

Mt. Rushmore on the Fourth of July is a rather busy place.  It can be difficult to take a picture of those four famous heads, plus any additional people you want to include.  Joe managed to find a way, though.

Things that surprised us about Mt. Rushmore:

1) The Orientation:  It looks very panoramic in many photos.  Though huge, it's not as "wide" as you might think.

2) Ice Cream:  The servings are HUGE!  Guess because one of the huge heads is given credit.

3) There are 250 steps on the Presidential Trail.  You go down almost as many as up, so you don't gain much in elevation, but you feel the climb nonetheless.

4) It's unfinished.  John thinks Lincoln appears to be talking on an old-fashioned cell phone.  The scale model in the artist's studio helps to underscore the differences from model to final product. 

After Rushmore, there was still a lot to see and do.  The town of Keystone seems to exist solely for the purpose of separating Rushmore viewers from their cash.  After spending the afternoon amid it all, I came to the realization that spending time in a tourist trap is like trying on swim suits under those bad lights at the store. Eventually you look up and think, "Yikes, is that me?"  Despite that ringing endorsement, we did find a couple of worthy adventures in town. The Alpine Slide was a blast,  both the trip up and the slide down. The food at the top was pretty good, too. And the men folk all yukked it up at the fake gun fight at the Scarlet Garter Saloon.

We washed off the dust of Keystone and consumerism with a dip in the lake. Brr! Uh, I mean refreshing!

The next morning, we managed a quick look at the Crazy Horse memorial, in progress.  

Model of Crazy Horse, and actual memorial in distance

The similarities and differences between the two works are striking.  Dynamite is a huge component of the story of both.  Rushmore was relatively fast (14 years) and Crazy Horse might never be completed. 

Where the Deer and the Antelope Play

South Dakota

On this trip, we are constantly reminded that this country is full of surprises.  For example, who knew that there were zombies in Iowa (see previous post) or fabulous beaches in South Dakota.  It's all true, my friend.  Just takes a bit of looking around.

Our hosts in Yankton, South Dakota were our wonderful friends Paul and Cora Van Olson and their family.  We picked up pizzas at Charlie's Pizza House and took them to Lewis and Clark lake.  A regular beach picnic, SD style.

John at Lewis & Clark Lake.  The bluffs on the opposite shore are Nebraska.

Joyce, Anders (aka Captain America), Cora and Paul Van Olson

But where do our feet go?

Once we hit the road, we had to prepare for days of camping ahead.  The Motorcade was a bit more crowded with full provisions on-board.

The South Dakota Corn Palace
(John! Look, John! Corn! Corn!)

I don't care how many miles you have to drive to get to the campsite in the Black Hills. There is no way you can miss the Corn Palace in SD. We will spare you the corny jokes.

Ladies of Crafty Night, this entire building is redone every year using corn and other grains.  I believe the gauntlet has been thrown...

Granted, we got to the campsite at Mt. Rushmore rather late, but the view was spectacular when we got there. We got the tent pitched and dinner cooked in the near-darkness. We also discovered that when you let the kids use the electric lantern for backyard camping (way back in Iowa), chances are that it will not be functioning when you drag it back out a couple states later...

Naturally, all was well with the world the next morning...

Sunrise over Horse Thief Lake, South Dakota

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