Lost Lake 2023

 

Lost Lake is one of the most popular lake in Oregon.  It attracts hundred of people from Pacific Northwest every weekend.  The lake itself is quite large and the resort at Lost Lake offers boat rental for visitors to have fun at the lake.  Lost Lake also offers various overnight options for people such as camp site, cabins, and resort like hotel rooms.  However, since Lost Lake is privately owned, there is a $15 day use fee.

During this summer weekend, we decided to head over to Lost Lake to get a chance to spot Perseid Meteor Shower.  This weekend of August 12 is supposed to have Perseid Meteor Shower at its peak.

We headed over to Lost Lake right after work and got to Lost Lake around 8:30PM.  The sun has just gone below the horizon but it was still bright enough.  We brought our gears and lawn chairs to the lake side and settled down our stuff.  The weather was hot but the breeze coming across the lake felt amazing.

At 10PM, it was completely dark and we could even see the milky way with our naked eye.  As we were taking photos, we saw many satellites moving across the sky.  There were just so many of them and unfortunately these satellites did create undesired effects on the photos.  We also saw many shooting stars but not as many as we have hoped.

Lost Lake is a great spot for star gazing, but unfortunately the amount of satellites moving across the sky did ruin the fun a bit.  Hopefully the satellites will become less reflective at night in the future.

Tumalo Falls

 

Tumalo Falls is one of the most popular hiking trail near Bend, Oregon.  It is a very large waterfalls that people can see directly from the viewpoint.  Through out the trail, there are even more waterfalls to see.  The Tumalo Falls trail itself is about 4 miles long and goes all the way to Happy Valley.  Most people hike to the Double Falls, which is about 1 mile from the parking lot.

We got to Tumalo Falls around 8AM in the morning.  There were only 3 other cars there.  The trail requires permit which can be purchased with $5.  Northwest Forest pass is valid as well.  When we got off the car, it was actually snowing from the sky in June!  It was crazy!  After about 5 minutes, the snow stopped and we walked to the viewpoint to see the waterfall.  The viewpoint was at the top of the cliff, but the view was obstructed by the trees.  So we walked down and found a small trail that goes to the river side and we could see the waterfall from below.  It was a much better view here.

We then decided to do the Tumalo Falls hike to Happy Valley.  We first got to Double Falls.  This waterfall is not as tall as Tumalo Falls, but we had a great view of it from the top of the rock.  We then proceed further and got to Middle Tumalo Falls.

When we hiked further and crossed the wooden bridge, it started to snow again.  It was snowing so hard this time.  The snow fake was huge!  It did not feel very cold and the forest was beautiful with snow falling off the sky.

We continued on and got to see even more waterfalls.  When we got to the last waterfall at North Fork Tumalo Falls, the snow was just getting too heavy and we were getting wet.  We were about 0.5 miles away from Happy Valley but we decided to turn back.

When we got back to the parking lot, there was so many people.  It was so crowded.  Tumalo Falls was definitely an amazing place to visit and the hike did not disappoint.  Since it is a popular place, it is recommended to get there as early as possible.

Kanji Ramen Noodle & Izakaya

 

Kanji Ramen Noodle & Izakaya is a Japanese Ramen restaurant located in Bend.  The restaurant specializes in Tonkatsu Ramen, which includes pork bone broth soup.  It also offers variety of Japanese alcohol drink options.

After a long day of hike, we went to Kanji Ramen for a good lunch.  We got to the restaurant right around noon and we were the second table of customer.  There was only 1 server at the restaurant at that time.

We placed the order very quickly since we were very hungry.  We got a Tonkatsu Ramen and a Kanji Ramen, since it was the restaurant's signature dish.  As we were waiting for our food, there were 2 large group of people came in.  The total number of people among these 2 groups are almost 20 people, we were quite shocked.

After about 5 minutes, our food is here.  The Tonkatsu Ramen was the classic with pork, bamboo shoot, green onion, soft boiled egg and corn on top of the noodle.  We liked the soup broth since it was fresh and not too salty.  The soft boiled egg seemed to be marinated with soy sauce and had good taste to it.

The Kanji Ramen did not come with pork but came with Japanese Fry Chicken.  There were 4 pieces of fry chicken nuggets served on a separate plate.  The chicken was ok but a bit on the dry side.  We would prefer to have the pork instead.

Overall, Kanji Ramen was ok but the price of Ramen was on the high side.  The cheapest bowl of ramen cost $17.  We would probably look for other options in the future.

Victorian Cafe

 

Victorian Cafe is a very popular brunch location in Bend, Oregon.  It is located not far from Old Town Bend and it is located right at the corner of a roundabout.  The parking space at Victorian Cafe is limited but there is street parking available around the restaurant.  Other than just offering brunch menu, it also offers a wide variety of alcohol drinks from its bar, which many people enjoy.

We got to Victorian Cafe around 11:30 in the morning and there was already a lot of people waiting outside.  We walked into the restaurant to put our name down on the wait list and we were told that the wait time is 1.5 hours.  We were quite shocked because we didn't see that many people outside.  We put our name down anyway since we really wanted to try this restaurant.  While waiting, we walked around the neighbourhood to explore other surrounding restaurants.

We came back and sat on the porch to wait for our table to be ready.  While waiting, we noticed that Victorian Cafe was slow at clearing tables and thus the wait time was longer than what we expected.  After about an hour and 10 minutes, our table was ready and we got a porch seat.

After we sat down, it took the server a while to come by to give us glasses of water and take our order.  We ordered a Strawberry Lemonade, Sandra Marie Omelet, and Caramel Apple French Toast.

The Strawberry Lemonade had a strong strawberry taste and was quite refreshing. We did really enjoy the drink.  The Sandra Marie Omelet comes with a scone.  The scone was extremely fresh and had a strong cinnamon taste to it.  We really like the scone!

The Sandra Marie Omelet used a lot of fresh ingredients such as mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, and squash.  It was so fresh that we thought we were eating salad.  On top of the omelet, it was covered with pesto sauce.  The Caramel Apple Fresh Toast was the best of the meal.  The fresh toast on the plate was a smaller size toast, but it was cooked perfectly.  The apple was served as thin slices placed in between the toast.  The fresh toast was probaby the best we have ever had.

We really enjoyed the food at Victorian Cafe.  It was definitely a great experience with its unique taste.  The biggest down side was the wait time at the restaurant.  Hopefully it will improve over time.

King Mountain

 

King Mountain is a very popular trail near Portland metro area.  It is known for its steepness and difficulty of the trail.  The trail is about 2.3 miles long with elevation gain of about 2500 feet, which is quite significant.  The King Mountain trail is also often associated with Elk Mountain trail due to the fact that these mountain trails are linked.  People can choose to do both King Mountain and Elk Mountain at the same time if time allows.

We got to King Mountain trail head around 7:30 AM in the morning.  There were only 2 other cars in the parking lot.  The parking space can hold around 15-20 cars in total.  The weather is a bit chilly in the morning but it gets hot when the sun comes out.

The trail is mostly covered under foliage with lot of ferns on the ground.  The trail started with some incline and we were making very good pace in the beginning.  The first half of the trail was not difficult at all and just with some elevation gain.  After 1 mile in, the trail started to climb steeply.

The steep climb of the trail was still not bad and we could handle.  However, after about 1.5 miles in, there was a lot of large rocks on the steep trail.  This really made the climb difficult and exhausting since we had to make large strides.  When we ere almost at the top of the summit there was a lot of lose gravels on the trail which made the hike a bit slippery.

After about 1.5 hours, we finally made it to the top of the King Mountain Summit.  The view was amazing and we could see the entire Tillamook forest below us.  At the summit, there was a tube in the box that contains a booklet where people signed their names after making to the top of the summit.  We signed our names of course!

Overall, it was a great work out for hiking King Mountain.  Going up to the summit was hard, but coming down was not easy either.  We had to make sure we don't slip due to the steepness of the trail.  We did not use any hiking poles but hiking poles are recommended if you have them.

Suncadia Trip

 

Suncadia is located in Central Washington State and about 4 hours away from Portland.  It is a very popular resort destination and the resort occupies huge estate in the area.  The resort has a main lodge for its guests and also has many other individual houses for people to buy and rent.  Within the resort, there are also golf courses and hiking trails for various recreation activities.  There are also few bon fires around the main lodge for people to enjoy the warmth and grill some marshmallows.

We decided to spend the weekend at Suncadia Resort since it was sending out a coupon to book 2 nights and get 1 night for free.  It was a good deal.

We left Portland around 6AM in the morning to drive to Suncadia.  Since Suncadia is close to Leavenworth, we actually drove to Leavenworth first.  We first went to Leavenworth Reindeer Farm to feed the reindeers. It was a great experience.

Afterwards, we went to downtown Leavenworth and noticed that there was a parade for the May festival.  There was a lot of Bernese Mountain Dog at the parade and it was crazy.  The dog hairs were flying everywhere in the air.  At lunch time, we went to Louie's Cafe for brunch.  We also checked out the famous Christmas shop in town to all the Christmas ornament and decorations.  Then we went to Whistlepunk Ice Cream for dessert since it was a super hot day.

We got to Suncadia around 4PM and checked in.  We got the room facing the river and the view was beautiful from the balcony.  We could see the river, the mass forest, and the mountains on the far side.  It was amazing.

On the second day, we went for a short hike at Manashtash Ridge.  During the hike, we met few local hikers who recommended The Early Bird for brunch and it did not disappoint.

After we got back to Suncadia resort, we enjoyed our time at the resort's swimming pool and relaxed there.  In the evening, we got some marshmallows from the resort and grilled them at the bon fire.  It was amazing that Suncadia Resort provides marshmallows, Hershey's chocolate, and biscuit for us to grill and make smores.

On the third day, we went for scavenger hunt in the morning.  The scavenger hunt was a tough one.  We had to look for 8 different signs around the resort and it took us 2.5 hours to find them all.  After collecting them, we receives small prize such as cup for completing the scavenger hunt.

At noon we went to Sunset Cafe at Cle Elum for brunch.  When we came back to Suncadia Resort, the fire alarm just went off.  Everyone was standing outside of the lodge.  This was our first time experiencing a fire alarm at a hotel.

In the afternoon, we went to Nelson Farm for an archery session.  There weren't many people there and thus we were just having as much fun as we could.  We were given 3 different bows with different tension strength and we were staying there as long as we could.

Overall, we enjoyed Suncadia quite a lot.  It was a very relaxing vacation for us and it was not pricy either.  We would definitely return again in the future.

Sunset Cafe

 

Sunset Cafe is a fine dining restaurant located at the town of Cle Elum in Washington State.  It offers a wide range of meal selections on its menu from breakfast to dinner.  The breakfast is served till 2PM.  Other than regular menu items, Sunset Cafe also offers a variety of dessert selections such as pie and other baked items.

We got to Sunset Cafe around noon after a long hike in the morning.  There was a lot of parking spaces around the restaurant since Cle Elum is a small town.  The inside of the restaurant was actually quite spacious and it had this home feel to it.  We ordered a Denver Omelet with potato tots and a Bacon Omelet with French Toast.

We got our meal quite quickly after about 10 minutes.  When the meals were served to us, we were shocked at how big the omelet was.  It was unbelievably large.  Although the omelets were quite large, the taste of the omelet was okay.  The Bacon Omelet came with smoke bacon and it had a very strong smoky taste, which was not bad.  The Denver Omelet was more ordinary.  The best part of the meal was the French Toast.  The French Toast was very soft and sweet.  We were thinking that it was the best French Toast that we have ever had.

In general, Sunset Cafe is probably one of the best restaurant choice around the town of Cle Elum and it is also very close to Suncadia Resort.  We only tried the breakfast menu but its dinner menu looks amazing.  We will probably come back and try the juicy steak on its dinner menu next time.

The Early Bird

 

The Early Bird is a breakfast restaurant located at Ellensburg in Washington State.  It is one of the most popular restaurant in the town.  The sign of the restaurant has an unique sign with a bird getting the warm for its breakfast in the early morning.  The restaurant offer unique menus for its customers and serves freshly squeezed juice everyday.

We got to The Early Bird restaurant around noon after the morning hike.  Since Ellensburg is not a big town, parking was not difficult there.  When we entered the restaurant, the first thing to do is to find ourselves a seat.  We needed to find our own table.  It was a busy day on Mother's day but we managed to find a spot by the window.

We looked at the menu and decided to get a Morning Salad, a Big Bowl, and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.  We went to the counter and place our order there, then a number tag was given to use to be placed at our table.

The juice was served right away as we placed the order.  The orange juice was indeed freshly squeezed.  It had such as refreshing taste and probably the best orange juice we have ever had.

After about 10 minutes, our bowls were here.  They were huge bowls.  We have never seen scramble egg served in a bowl and here it was.  The Big Bowl had scramble eggs at the bottom and topped with ham, potatoes, and gravy.  The scramble egg was freshly hot and was so tender.  It was just amazing.  Similarly, the morning salad was incredible.  The vegetables were so fresh and the salad dressing was just the right amount.

We loved The Early Bird restaurant and was so tempted to go back again the next day.  We definitely recommend this restaurant when passing by Ellensburg.