I didn't exactly get an early start this morning, but since it was raining I decided not to do any more hikes around Mt. Hood and headed south back down towards the Bend area. But this time I went more up in the mountains to the Willamette National Forest. This area was primarily shaped by volcanic activity over the years. There are lava flows everywhere. It's pretty wild seeing piles and piles of dark volcanic rock and islands of trees that somehow escaped the lava's path.
It was still pretty cloudy but the rain had stopped. We went through a town called Sisters that looked nice, though a bit touristy, and it sure was packed with people. Luckily most of those people never make it passed the shops to go up into the mountains. Abbey and I stopped at a trailhead near a lake to try and take a short hike. Abbey was real anxious to get out of the RV after the ride. I left the door open for less than a minute and there must have been a dozen mosquitoes that came in. I should've decided to blow off that hike right then, but I ignored the warning and headed off down the path. 5 minutes later I gave up and we headed back to get away from the damn things. The next trail we stopped at had no mosquitoes and it was a short hike to a couple of waterfalls '? Lower and Upper Proxy Falls. When I was in Glacier NP last summer and it rained everyday, one thing I learned was that no matter how cloudy it is you can usually see waterfalls and the pictures don't come out too bad either.
So after that short hike we went for another that passed a couple of much bigger waterfalls '? Sahalie and Koosah Falls. It was a loop trail so we got to see each of them twice.
We found another nice campground this time on a lake. For dinner I attempted my first pizza in the RV. In San Jose I had picked up a few ready-made pizza doughs from Trader Joe's. I made one of my favorites '? eggplant with goat cheese, roasted red peppers and garlic. I also tried putting some dried basil on for something different and it worked out OK. I baked it in the oven and it actually turned out pretty good despite the fact that I didn't have any flour or rolling pin to roll out the dough with. I'm not much on making my own dough especially when you can buy one real cheap that is already made. Same with pie crusts. Here's the recipe for the pizza if anyone is interested. Almost forgot to mention that the pizza went great with some Moose Drool Brown Ale from Montana.
Pizza with Eggplant, Goat Cheese and Garlic
1 pre-made pizza dough (many grocery stores carry them now)
1 small eggplant (can use baby eggplant)
1 clove garlic (minced)
8 oz. shredded mozzarella (more if using larger pan)
3-4 oz. goat cheese
Toasted pine nuts
Roasted red peppers (drained and sliced)
Dried basil
Roll out the dough on a floured work surface. Oil a 12 to 16 inch pizza pan, or put a little corn meal on a pizza stone. Most pre-made crusts fit on a 16' pan, but it depends on how thin you like the crust. The Trader Joe's dough actually worked pretty well on a 12' pan, though it was a little thicker than I usually make it. Put the rolled out dough on the pizza pan. Cover with mozzarella. Peel and thinly slice eggplant. Place eggplant on top of the mozzarella, and then slice goat cheese and put on top of eggplant slices. Add pine nuts, roasted red peppers, garlic, basil (if desired), and black pepper (if desired). Turn oven on to 500 degrees and put pizza in right away. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the crust is crisp and everything is golden brown. Another way is to preheat the oven to 450 and put the pizza in once it reaches the temp.
More to come. I have a lot of pics but no words yet for 7/07.
Wildflowers near Lava Flow
Road through Lava Field