Fits on the Road: Exploring Oregon by Foot- Part 1

By Cool J in Minneapolis

Home sweet home! I love to travel, but it's always nice to settle back into home, especially when you have this sweet face to greet you. We sure missed this girl.

So now I'm settled in, catching up on the TiVo, and ready to share all the Fits on the Road we found in Oregon. Dustin said we covered planes, trains, and automobiles on this trip, but actually, I think we did the majority of our exploring by FOOT!

Newport!
First and foremost, we explored 26.2 miles of the coastal town of Newport. It was a beautiful foot tour- one that only took Dustin 3 hours and 17 minutes to complete. My husband is so speedy! Me? A little longer.

Cape Perpetua!

The day after the marathon, we departed Newport, and headed down the coast. We made a stop in the Siuslaw National Forest for some hiking. 

The hiking here was not very tough, but with our sore marathon legs, it definitely felt a little challenging! 

The guide at the visitor's center gave us a map, and pointed us in the direction of a few 1-2 mile hikes. The trails were clearly marked, and the scenery was very pretty. It actually felt great to stretch our legs out a bit.

A few of the sights, such as spouting horn, were not visible for us. Apparently, the coast wasn't windy and wild enough that day. I would still recommend making a quick stop at Cape Perpetua if you're ever in the area, though it's probably not worth a separate trip.

Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake National Park was the highlight of our trip. Upon our first view of the lake, the three of us seriously all said, "WOW" at the same time. It's that kind of a view. 

Well, let me clarify- it's always a beautiful view, but it's the most breathtaking in the summer, when you can approach it from the north entrance.

The north entrance had just opened a few days before we arrived. It's not plowed in the winter, and yes, there was still snow there in June! In fact, Crater Rim Drive (the 33 mile road around the crater) wasn't fully open yet, so we weren't able to do a few of the hikes, nor could we take a boat ride in the lake, but there were still plenty of hikes open to us.

Crater Lake Lodge:

There is only one place to stay within Crater Lake National Park, and that is Crater Lake Lodge.

This hotel was built in the 1920's, and the rooms are small and expensive. Be forewarned- you have to book a room several months in advance. Plan ahead, or you won't be able to stay in the park. Though it was pricey, it was well worth it to wake up to such gorgeous views of the lake, and we were at the trailhead of plenty of fun hikes.

Our favorite hike was definitely "Garfield", which took us about 2 miles up the mountain, providing stunning vistas of the mountains and the vivid blue lake.

This "Garfield" hike definitely gained some altitude, and we were all breathing heavily as we progressed. You wouldn't have guessed we were the same people who had just run a marathon two days before. We were struggling!

Hiking at altitude is tough!

Time for a quick breather!

The ground was covered in these strange icy mud crystals. They crunched loudly under our feet!

Rogue Gorge

After hiking around Crater Lake, we left the park to check out the Rogue River Valley. There, we took a short hike around Rogue Gorge. The Rogue Gorge is a very narrow passage way for the Rogue River.

There were longer hikes around this area, but we only briefly stopped for a few pictures.

Afterwards, we moved onwards to the "Natural Bridge." The Natural Bridge is a point where the Rogue River travels underground through volcanic tunnels, making a "natural bridge" across the water. 

There were lots of trails to check out in this area, so here we headed out for a brisk and steep three mile hike along the river. We weren't really sure what trail we were on, and we started to get a little lost, but it was easy to find our way back- we just followed the river!

Lunch Recommendation Outside Crater Lake National Park: Beckie's!

After all that hiking, we had worked up quite an appetite. There aren't a lot of options in this neck of the woods, but we had been advised to check out "Beckie's" for an Oregon tradition of some homemade pie.

Yay for Beckie's homemade pie!

Mill Creek Falls Scenic Area:

After a tasty lunch at Beckie's, we needed one last hike. We drove a little further to the tiny town of Prospect.

We had been informed that there were some pretty waterfalls here, and we weren't disappointed! A short hike led us to a sequence of beautiful falls.

The hiking here was easy, but we needed to keep moving to burn off that tasty pie at Beckie's.

The same scenic area included the Avenue of the Giant Boulders. 

We weren't sure what to expect but it was actually pretty cool.

But watch out for snakes!

Stay tuned for part 2 of Fits on the Road in Oregon!

Fresh New Fit: Snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park

By Cool J in Minneapolis

Hello readers, we're back! LL and I both returned to our respective cities today (Kansas City and Minneapolis) after a wonderful ski trip in Big Sky, Montana.

LL will be sharing with you all the joys and fitness from the slopes. We had three days of skiing (snowboarding for Dusters and me, skiing for LL and her husband) on the mountain, split up by a day touring Yellowstone National Park via snowmobile. Stay tuned for some great pics in LL's upcoming post!

Back to the snowmobile tour. In the winter, regular cars are not allowed into Yellowstone National Park. You can only tour the park by foot, cross-country ski, snowmobile, or one of these Snow-coaches.

My sister and her daughter on the Snow Coach tour in 2010

I took the snow coach tour of Yellowstone 3 years ago with my sister and her daughter (who was 7 at the time). It was a nice way to see the park, but unfortunately, you were inside the bus for the majority of the tour. 

This year, with both of the Right Fits' better halves also participating, we decided to do the snowmobile tour. On a snowmobile, we could be outside in the fresh air!

And then we could be right up close with the bison. Seriously. 

So, the four of us signed up for a tour through Rendezvous Snowmobile Rentals. Rather than spend the extra money for each of us to have our own machine, LL and I both rode on the back of our husbands' machines. 

We had the option to rent clothing and equipment, but we all decided just to wear our ski/snowboarding clothes. We did, however, have to rent the snowmobile specific helmets.

Failed fit?

Snowmobiling in a national park, that doesn't sound very "green."

As my brother-in-law so kindly pointed out, snowmobiling through Yellowstone has been a "thorn in the side of conservationists for years," and I did feel a little guilty participating in this activity. Yet the number of machines allowed into the park each day is highly regulated, and only guided tours are allowed in the park, and these guided tours are only on the groomed trails. If you want to just drive your snowmobile "free-style" you can do so in the surrounding national forest, just not in the actual Yellowstone National Park. I was also very impressed by our tour guide. He was very knowledgeable about the wildlife, the history of the park, as well as very adamant about respecting nature and the park. Before we encountered the bison herds, we knew exactly how we were supposed to act, and everyone on the tour was respectful of the space between us and the wildlife.  In the summer, there are hundreds of thousands of cars in the park. In fact, our guide said the crowds at Old Faithful are 5 people deep, whereas when we were there, there were only a handful of tourists. I have to think that the emissions in the summer must be worse than the snowmobiles.

Approaching the bison with respect

The tour went from the west entrance to the park to Old Faithful and back. I have to admit, Old Faithful was actually a bit of a letdown. We waited 90 minutes for it to "go off", and due to the weather, it was just a big steam spray...I do find all the geothermal activity pretty fascinating, but I found some of the other sites within the park much more interesting. I guess the great thing about Old Faithful is that it goes off every 60-90 minutes (it's reliable..hence the name!), whereas most of the other geysers were more sporadic and unpredictable.

Old Faithful

I found the other geothermal sites to be much more fascinating.  The fountain paint pots were a highly acidic (basically, at the level of battery acid) pond that bubbled and burped. The picture doesn't do the pots justice, but our guide explained that a curious tourist hopped the fence and stuck his boot tip in the pots years ago, only to have to finish his snowmobile tour with no boot (it burned off). Read more about this area of Yellowstone here.

Silex Springs was a hot spring- measuring in around 202 degrees. 

For a heart-breaking story, read about Ronald Ratliffe, who jumped into Celestine Pool at this same spot in Yellowstone to save his dog. They both died.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/hotspring.asp

Silex Spring

Another geothermal feature in Yellowstone

So, this is supposed to be a fitness and fashion blog. Where is the fitness in a snowmobile tour?

I wondered the same thing. Is snowmobiling exercise? 

It definitely did not seem like exercise for LL and me, as we were merely riding on the back of the machines. However, we both had sore legs and backs from getting thrown around a lot throughout the six hour tour. But what about for the D-man and LL's husband?  As drivers, were they getting a workout?

They both claimed that even though it was fun to drive the machines, it was not a workout. Yet, as a Minnesotan, I have heard many others say that snowmobiling most definitely is a workout. I decided to do a bit of research, and found many sources that stated that snowmobiling is a workout. Really?

According to an article in "Wellness for Life",  snowmobiling can burn upwards of 300 calories an hour. I shared that statistic with Dusters, and he was very skeptical. Maybe the high calorie burn statistics are from when you're "free-riding", versus riding at 35/mph on groomed trails.

But still, he must have been burning some calories. According to the article, "even groomed trails are not straight and flat, so the driver has to maneuver the machine by leaning side-to-side around curves. And don’t forget—there’s no seat belt holding the driver or a rider in.  Both of these factors lend themselves to using a lot of abdominal and back muscles.  The arms and shoulders get a workout whether you’re the driver or a passenger hanging on.  Legs—especially the inner thigh muscles or adductors—are used in addition to the hands to stay on the machine."

Whether a calorie burn or not, I was glad that we did the tour. I am unsure if I'll ever be in Yellowstone in the summer, so it was cool to see it in the winter. And it was a great way to give our legs a break from skiing/snowboarding the previous two days! 

Thanks for stopping by readers

 from The Right Fits!

Fits on the Road: An Unexpected Workout....

By Cool J

Last Wednesday, the D-man and I embarked on a week long adventure to Sweden. We came here primarily to pick up our new car as part of the European delivery program in Gothenburg, but added on 4 days in Stockholm and its surrounding archipelago, where we passed our time sight-seeing, kayaking, and running through this beautiful city. 

Ready to go!

Our flight itinerary took us from Minneapolis to Chicago, then Chicago to Copenhagen (Denmark), and  then a short flight from Copenhagen to Gothenburg, Sweden.

Though we left on Wednesday evening, it wasn't going to be until "Thursday" local time that we arrived at our final destination. Due to the time difference, I figured that Thursday was going to be a rest day in terms of running.

Little did I know, I would indeed be running that day- through the Copenhagen airport, that is!

It was our own fault- we listened to the flight attendant's instruction to catch our Gothenburg flight at gate A. Our flight from Copenhagen had been delayed, so we only had a few minutes to make it to the gate. We sprinted off in the direction of Gate A as fast as our jet-lagged legs could take us.

Zipping around crowds, we arrived breathless and a bit sweaty at Gate A. And of course Gate A was the incorrect gate for our flight. Had we merely checked the gate information, we would have known that our plane actually had been moved to Gate D, which was on the farthest possible other side of the Copenhagen airport...quite close to where we had just come from.

We could hear our flight being called- the flight was boarding, and the gates would be closing shortly.
We quickly debated what to do- could we possibly make it? We had already sprinted the entire airport to get to Gate A, and now we had to run to the other side. Honestly, it had to be over a mile away!

The decision was made. I took the D-man's bags, and sent him off through the crowds.

Sometimes it's frustrating that he is so much faster than me. As he mentioned in a past guest post, I sometimes get frustrated with myself when running with him (read about it here), but this was not one of those times. He sprinted back to Gate D, weaving through the massive crowds, as I slowly jogged behind him with our carry-on luggage.

Thanks to the D-man's speed, he was able to make it to the gate, and hold our flight until I came waddling up behind.  Sweating profusely at this point, we ran outside to the stairs to our tiny connecting plane, found our seats, and sat there catching our breath....

"Thank god you're a runner," I said.

But we made it to Gothenberg...

Time for a drink....

And some traditional Swedish salmon with dill...(lots of dill here)

Our meal at Sjo Baren was scrumptious...(notice my Swedish colored outfit?)

Featured Fit: Fit to Travel

By: Cool J
It's often difficult to determine what to wear when flying, especially if you are flying to a warm destination from a cold one. As LL mentioned here layers are a girl's best friend, and that is especially true for traveling from the Midwest to a Hawaiian island.

When heading from 10 degree temperatures to 80 degree temperatures, I needed to plan accordingly. I brought a pair of shorts in my carryon item, which were perfect for a quick change in the bathroom once we landed.

For the flight, I decided to go for black and white with a touch of red.

A pair of Tom's, skinny jeans, a Brooks jacket layered over a Lululemon "Hot'n'Sweaty tank" (here), and a  Target scarf (for covering up your nose on a smelly plane). I was comfortable, and able to peel off layers depending on the temperature at the time.

Pants: Anthropologie skinny with zippered ankle
Shoes: Tom's
Jacket: Brook's
Tank: Lululemon Hot'n'Sweaty tank
Scarf: Target
Headband: bic band (www.bicbands.com)

Featured Fit: Fit to Travel

By: LL
As I described here, I headed North for the holiday and had been trying to put together the right fit. When it comes to flying, layers are a girl's best friend. This is what I sported (true to the inspiration that I pulled from) for my travels:

(I apologize for the quality of the photos, but it is awkward taking photos at a busy airport!)

Sweater: Old Navy (similar in carbon)
Cambray: Levi's (similar)
Jeans: Gap (here)
Flats: Giani Bernini (similar)
Earrings: Pearl Studs (gifted)

One thing about flying in the winter - lugging a winter coat along at the airport. At least my other winter weather accessories (hat, mittens, scarves) can be easily packed into my carry-on until I needed them once we landed.

Featured Fit: Layered Casual

By: LL
As my trip home quickly approaches (and I have to start thinking about what laundry needs to be done this weekend so that it is ready to be packed), I have been looking for inspiration for the perfect casual ensemble to wear while traveling. My criteria: comfortable, polished, stylish, and consisting of layers (because it will be 70s when we take off and 30s when we land). I have looked to some of my favorite style blogs for inspiration, and this is the look that I attend to replicate - skinny jeans, a button-down layered under a sweater, with a distinguished pop of color.

Whereas I love the heels on Anna Jane and Kendie, I am drawn to wear flats like Kimberly, just because they are so much quicker in security. And I just picked up the perfect pair of Minnetonka Driving Moccasins for such an occasion. Now if only I could put off planning what to wear to my husband's class reunion.