Berkeley/Albany, Klamath Falls, Bend, Silver Creek: My Drive Back North

After an overnight visit to the potential new farm gig, I began my drive to the Albany/Berkeley area to meet up with my dad, who was catsitting. On my way out I saw a bunch of turkeys on a hill.

Dad and I then went and had a sushi dinner, which was delectable.

The cat in question was not a huge fan of Birdie, whereas Birdie was very much fascinated by the cat and wanted to be best friends (spoiler alert, never happened).

Dad had scoped out a really wonderful dog park on the bay. Acres and acres of fenced in land for dogs to run off-leash. Birdie enjoyed it thoroughly and we went almost every day of my visit.

Another lovely meal. I had chile relenos and a michelada.

We wouldn't be living our lives correctly if we didn't have dim sum. So we had dim sum.

Dad was up for trying a pedicure for the first time. The lady who did his feet seemed to be a little concerned for his feet and called me a very good daughter, I think because I was willing to have a pedicure with him?

Dad put together a lovely little spread at some point.

Another meal at a French cafe. This was after another lengthy dog park experience. Birdie was so pooped she couldn't even bring herself to get up when I offered her a tiny piece of beef.

These were some handsome matching dogs with very swank collars.

This dog was very weird looking.

Then we had a fancy French meal with champagne.

And then we played some darts and Dad hit his out shot.

Last dog park day before I hit the road to go back north.

I honestly forget what mountain in the background. Hood maybe? This was either in Northern California or Southern Oregon.

I stayed in Klamath Falls for the night and watched the last game of the World Series. I was entertained by the fact that the people in the motel room next to me were clearly rooting for not Chicago (while I was rooting for Chicago) as every time I exclaimed enthusiastically, I'd hear them groan, and vice versa. What an exciting game.

The next day Birdie and I took a walk along one of the trails in Klamath Falls. It was pretty.

Then I made my way north with the end destination of Bend, Oregon for the night. I made the detour to Crater Lake to see it and just the drive up was impressive.

Already snow even in October.

Crater Lake is very pretty.

This was Birdie's first snow experience, and thankfully she liked it, given we ultimately did not go to California and this past winter was just snow on top of snow on top of snow.

Another mountain whose name I don't quite remember, though it was be something close to Tiffany Amber Thiessen, because that is the joke I made about it in my head at the time.

In Bend I went to one of its many brewpubs and had a sampler and a pizza while sitting by an outdoor fire on the patio.

Exhausted.

Then more driving. I stopped at Smith Rock State Park and we took a pretty solid and strenuous hike. Clearly a great place for rock climbing, but even if you want your feet solidly on the ground, it's a good spot.

Monkey Head.

On top of the world.

For the last few nights before actually getting back to the farm, I stayed in a funny little "hobbit dome" in Silver Creek, WA.

The view of the space from outside its main window. It was nicely tucked in the woods and I was allowed to use the wood stove and just enjoy the space, funnily decorated as it was.

I went out for a drive/hike and was struck by just how pretty the Pacific Northwest is. This was in Ranier country.

Bath tubs with views are the best.

Entrance to hobbit house.

The hike I took wended up and in and through some gorgeous forests with a number of streams and at least one waterfall. It wasn't quite the season for the waters to be totally rushing, but it was still wonderful. As usual I was on high alert for murderers, but saw none.

And that's basically a wrap on my fall driving adventures. I am so lucky to have been able to do this kind of thing. There are times when it's all I ever want to do, but alas one cannot make money just driving around and hiking and doing whatever they want all the time. A shame.