Speaking of cool things, on Saturday Dave had a hike planned for us! We originally had another destination whose name escapes me (I was having a shockingly hard time with names of people and places while in Portland, maybe my brain is finally going into overload because of traveling?), but DK, Dave's friend at Next Adventure, suggested that we should check out Angel's Rest in Corbett instead. Dave is in amazing shape from biking across the country and continuing to bike to work and back, so I was grateful that he chose a moderate hike that was challenging but fun for both of us - 2.3 miles each way with about 1400 ft of elevation gain.
The trail was busy but not crowded - we crossed paths with folks a few times on our way up and down, and there were very few places where you were out of sight or hearing from another group. There were a few groups with kids of various ages (a sleeping newborn in the kangaroo carrier, eager 7 year olds posing their adults for photos, sullen pre-teens getting yelled at for lagging behind), and so many dogs! Dave and I were particularly taken with the Great Dane, but we also saw German Shepherds, a Pug, a Doberman, a Bernese Mountain Dog, a Collie, two Huskies, a handful of Labs and Lab mixes, a Golden, mutts of all sizes, something I didn't recognize that was maybe 40lbs of fuzz ball fluff with eyes and little legs sticking out ("It's so fluffy, I want to snuggle it!"), and - to our collective horror - a Chihuahua *in a baby carrier* on a woman's front.
We made it all the way to the top, overlooking the Colombia river with just a peek of Mt. Hood in the distance beyond closer mountains, took our "we were there" photos, and retreated quickly - the wind was so strong it almost knocked us both over! We had lunch a little further down, on a rocky slope that had become a resting perch for a number of folks doing the same. The hike down was significantly faster of course, back through the peaceful trees and over a little stream. Near the trailhead we saw some people stopped on the side of the trail looking downhill, and when we got closer we saw a little bundle of snakes! Apparently mating season is in the fall? They were very pretty - tiny and fast, not inclined to hang around but still kept popping out here and there just as you thought you'd lost sight of them.
On our drive back to town I got in touch with Kristi and we ended up meeting her on Mississippi for a mid afternoon snack of sorts. I met Kristi when I started taking Zumba classes in Tucson, she was one of the two instructors, and she moved out to Oregon a little before I left town to start this trip! Living way out on the coast a few hours away, it was a bit of a treat to catch her on a day she was in Portland, and Dave patiently let us catch up before we moved on to general Portland topics that we could all be involved with. We made plans to meet up again on Monday, and then Dave and I headed back to his house to help with The Beer Tasting night.
The backstory - apparently the brothers felt that the household budget would be improved if the money spent on beer was instead spent on homebrewing, so they gave their father a kit for Christmas. Fast forward to now - he has been quite successful in all of his various brewing experiments, so the family decided to hold a beer tasting night with the four ales he had on hand to share the deliciousness with friends and family! It was a great evening, with chili, cornbread, mulled cider, desserts galore, and a lot of good company. I particularly enjoyed spending more time with the trio of Senegal RPCVs who had been serving as Volunteers at the same time Dave and I were in Burkina - comparing and contrasting two countries in the same region led to some surprises at similarities (you called that drink "bissap" too?) and differences ("wait a minute, regional houses?"). It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about organizing and hosting a party for a large crowd!
On Sunday we both were pretty wiped out and decided to take it easy. I went for a jog in the morning but my knees were protesting pretty loudly after the hike, so it was a short one followed by a lot of stretching and a long shower. Dave's mom and I had been talking about baking since I'd arrived, so I took the raspberry port that I bought at the Ginkgo Forest Winery on my way to Seattle and tried to figure out how to turn it into a caramel to swirl into Susan's signature brownie recipe. Next time I'd use more of the wine, but for a first attempt I think it turned out really well! I reduced about a quarter cup until it was down to a thin layer on the bottom of a straight sided sauce pan, then added 1/3 cup of sugar and a little water (about 2T) and let it bubble away until the bubbles started to hold their shape and stopped popping readily. I added 3T of cream and stirred it in while the whole thing hissed and foamed, but after that I had a really nice caramel that thickened as it cooled - with a little more cream I bet you could cool it and roll or cut it into caramel candies. It did taste more like caramel than raspberry, but swirled into the top of the brownie and then doused in a layer of chocolate frosting - it was delicious!
It was clear enough that we saw Mt. Hood and Mt. Saint Helens on our drive out to Corbett
At the beginning of the climb
The Colombia river
Plants growing on plants growing on plants!
Fuzzy caterpillar!
Gnome, about halfway to the top
Angel's Rest
And the view from up there
It was a little windy!
Snakes
The trailhead sign
Morning crocuses, which I always thought of as spring flowers
Raspberry port caramel!
Swirling
And covered in frosting, just to be even more decadent!
That caramel will really work with my bread pudding! Love the morning crocuses and the views from that hike.
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