Just a quick picture-less update (Molly's camera is on the fritz. Yikes, we need an address soon!):

Since the last post, we've covered a lot of ground! We spent the night before arriving in Arcata camping about forty miles south in a big river-cut sandstone canyon. It was beautiful and DRY. The stars and moon shined all night and the sun rose early and bright. Other than Molly's unfounded, yet profound fear of mountain lions, we had a thoroughly wonderful camping trip.

Arcata was lots of fun! Miraculously, the weather cleared up for the majority of our visit to northern California and it was warm and sunny for several days. We spent most of them basking in the sun and soaking up a little vitamin D before we head back north to Portland. Cate, Kevin and Amanda (Molly's friends), took us to several very pretty beaches just north and south of the city and the two of us spent a few afternoons disc golfing and wandering around town. Every evening, we cooked something for the housemates in lieu of rent and hung around watching movies and wasting time.

Yesterday, we packed up the car and headed out and back up north towards Portland. Instead of going back on 101 or making a straight shot up I-5, we decided to maximize our time and sight-seeing in Oregon and take a detour up route 97. Our initial plan was to visit Crater Lake National Park, but the north entrance was closed, and to get to the south entrance would have taken thirty extra miles south and some snow. That's right, as we drove up into the Cascades, it started snowing on us at around 3500 feet! As a next-best, this afternoon, we stopped at The High Desert Museum and got a chance to stretch our legs and look at some cool history of the area. The exhibits included some wildlife in captivity and lots of information about the Native Americans and early American settlers of the area. Molly's grandmother was actually born in the high desert of Oregon in a homestead much like one we saw at the museum!

In other news, we made it to Bend this evening and plan on taking it easy and getting a hotel on the river for a really good night's sleep. Molly is sick, but Ben is holding strong and still healthy as ever. We leave for Hawaii on the 10th and are both getting excited! More news soon.

Molly and Ben