Fish Creek Campground - Day 3: June 28th

Our last day camping. I managed to get up a little earlier and started cleaning up the site, packing up our stuff, and throwing our garbage away. All in all, it turned out to be a really nice weekend. We got to be out in nature, we got to relax, we escaped the heat in Portland, we didn't have to work, and we got to Barbecue. All it took was $16 a night, reserved on-line through Reserve America.

Fish Creek Campground - Day 2: June 28th

Today was our first morning at Fish Creek Campground. The previous night ended up being very relaxing just drinking next to the campfire. The grounds got really quiet after 10:00 P.M. to the point where we didn't hear or see anyone else around our area. Occasionally a car would drive by, but since the grounds only have 20 sites, there wasn't too much traffic at all. Today was one of the hottest days Oregon has seen for a long time. It actually got up into the triple digits. Luckily, we were on the mountain, and within the tall trees so we had plenty of shade. We took a walk down by the river and watched people raft, kayak, fish, and swim. Eventhough it was really hot, the water was still too cold to swim. We spent the rest of the day around the campsite reading and relaxing. We enjoyed another night of sitting around the fire. Earlier in the day I drove to Estacada and picked up some more firewood so we had plenty to last us the rest of the night.

Fish Creek Campground - Photos

These are some random photos I took on my iPhone of Fish Creek Campground and the surrounding areas.

Fish Creek Campground - Day 1: June 27th

I've been trying to find a campground around the Portland, Oregon area that is far enough out of the city to not be around cars, noise, and lot's of people. I came across the website Reserve America. It actually turned out to be really helpful site with finding campgrounds, information on what kind of facilities they have, and placing on-line reservations. After some research I came across a small campground called Fish Creek Campground. The camp actually turned out to be one of many small campgrounds in the Mt. Hood National Forest. The grounds held about 20 sites, all of which had plenty of privacy, a fire pit, picnic tables, individual site parking, and outhouse type bathrooms. The river nearby provides plenty of stuff to do including swimming, kayaking, rafting, and fishing. We arrived at the campground around 7:00 P.M. and checked in with the camp hosts. The rest of the night was spent setting up the campsite, and drinking around the campfire.

Trip #2 Fish Creek Campground - Estacada, Oregon

Puerto Rico - Day 16: May 13th

Today we leave Puerto Rico and head back home to Portland, Oregon.

Puerto Rico - Day 15: May 12th

For the last few days we have been at the Coqui Inn doing laundry, watching television, and swimming. It turns out, we don't have as much money left as we thought we did, so we decided to cut the trip a couple days early and leave tomorrow, the 13th. The plan for tonight is to get some food, take a swim, and get some rest. Not only is it my 27th birthday tomorrow, but it's also a full day of air travel. We take off for New York at noon, then from New York we head back to Portland. We should touchdown in Portland around 9:30, and hopefully be able to hit up the bar for a couple drinks to celebrate being older.

Puerto Rico - Photos

These are a couple photos I took on my camera phone walking on an overpass in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico of cars at night.

Puerto Rico - Day 12: May 9th

Our last morning on the island of Culebra, and the return to the mainland of Puerto Rico. Both islands, Vieques and Culebra provided a lot of relaxation, and fun for us. It really was worth it to visit them. But now, it was time to get back on the ferry for our last hour and a half ride to Fajardo, Puerto Rico. From Fajardo, we took a cab and headed back towards Isla Verde and checked in to the Coqui Inn. This would turn out to be the last hotel we would stay in on our trip, and the last area of Puerto Rico we would visit. The plan, is to check into the hotel and take some of their tours to the areas around Puerto Rico such as Ponce, and Aricebo to visit the Camuy Cave System and Aricebo Observatory. This never happened. Apparently, there was some sort of accident at the caves, so all tours had been shut down for the time being, and of course, the Aricebo Observatory was on the same tour as the Camuy Caves. The two things we looked forward to seeing the most on the trip, we would never see.

Puerto Rico - Day 11: May 8th

This will be our first and only full day in Culebra. We started out by walking a few blocks away from our guest house to Carlos Jeep Rental to rent a jeep. It actually pays off to rent a vehicle on this island since there are so many beaches, and they are so spread apart. Our first trek was to Zoni beach. In order to get there, we had to take back roads, and sometimes dirt roads only wide enough to fit one car, but once we got there, it all paid off. Zoni Beach was amazing. The sand was warm, the water was crystal clear, and there were only about 6 people on the whole beach. We had it ALL to ourselves. After some swimming, and a little makeshift snorkeling, we got back in the jeep and headed towards Brava Beach. This, didn't turn out so well. Our guidebook "Let's Go: Puerto Rico" told us it would be a short drive, only a 20 minute hike to the beach, and there would be some great turtle watching. The drive was fine, but the hiking was horrible. We made it about 30 minutes in to the hike, before the tail got so bad and impassable that we had to turn around and head back to the jeep. From there, we head to Flamenco Beach. We arrived at the beach around five p.m. and because of that, no one was there. To be honest, I didn't find the beach that spectacular. I thought Zoni Beach was nicer. We spent a little while at the beach then headed back home to shower up, and then head over to Mamacita's for dinner.

Puerto Rico - Photos

Pictures From Top To Bottom: All of these pictures were taken on my camera phone except for the bottom two taken by Selena with the digital camera. Wall art in Culebra. Zoni Beach. Streets and waterways of Culebra. The jeep we rented at Carlos Jeep Rental. Me swimming at Zoni Beach. Me walking down a street in Culebra.

Puerto Rico - Day 10: May 7th

Another early morning! Up at five a.m. to catch the ferry back to Fajardo, then on to another ferry at nine a.m. towards the island of Culebra. Leaving the island of Vieques was sad, but we both looked forward to the new island that we would be exploring by the afternoon. The island of Culebra is even smaller than Vieques, but is supposed to have one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Flamenco Beach. The ferry ride was about the same as the ferry to Vieques, right around an hour and a half. As soon as we stepped off the ferry we were greeted by Terrie, one of the owners and operators of the Palmetto Guest House. Usually finding a place to stay for the night can be a bother, but this wasn't the case in Culebra. Our hosts Terrie and Mark Hayward were amazing. They had a wonderful guest house, and would take care of anything for us we were interested in doing. Snorkeling, renting bikes, renting a jeep, talking to us about the local beaches, and picking us up and dropping us back off at the ferry, they did it all. Our first night in Culebra we spent the day relaxing in bed, then stepping out to a local restaurant Dinghy Dock for a dinner right next to the water surrounded by tarpon.

Puerto Rico - Photos

Pictures From Top To Bottom: The two pictures were taken by Selena with the digital camera. Since there was no cable television in our guest house, we ended up doing a lot of reading. This picture is of me reading our Puerto Rican guidebook. Let's Go: Puerto Rico. The next picture is of some wild horses walking down the beach next to us at Sun Bay. The last pictures are ones I took on my camera phone of some of the beach at Sun Bay.

Puerto Rico - Day 8: May 5th

Even though the island of Vieques is small in size, it did actually offer a lot of stuff for us to do. Not only were there beautiful beaches, but there was kayaking, bars, good food, and wild horses running around the island. In total, we spent four days and three nights on the island, all of which were spent in the town of Esperanza. The main strip of Esperanza was lined with guest houses, restaurants, bars, water tour shops, and souvenir stores, which provided all we needed to comfortably stay in the very small area. The main attraction to Vieques for us though, was the Bioluminescent Bay. The Bioluminescent Bay is a bay off the coast of Vieques that is filled with Bioluminescent plankton. These plankton are special because of their natural defense mechanism. If something hits them, or moves around them they light up. Because of this, if you kayak, swim, or splash around in the water it all lights up around you. It was amazing. Our tour through Blue Caribe Kayak Tours brought us to the bay, provided us with the kayaks, had us kayak to the middle of the bay where the most action happens, and allowed us to get out of our kayaks and swim around with the plankton. This made the whole trip for us. The tour was around 2 hours long, and only cost us $45. The island of Vieques also brought me my first taste of real Puerto Rican food. Mofongo. In all, we made a great choice going out to Vieques. It had the perfect mixture of relaxation and fun for us.

Puerto Rico - Photos

Pictures From Top To Bottom: All pictures were taken on my camera phone of the ferry docks in Fajardo, and the on the ferry from Fajardo to the island of Vieques.