Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

It's the weekend, and time for more eye candy! Back at the very end of August I joined my brother-in-law and his nephew in a 4-night, 5-day backpack on the Timberline Trail around Mt. Hood in Oregon. At about 42 miles, with around 10,000' of up and down (if you think a trail that draws a circle around a mountain stays at the same elevation, think again!), we chose to take our time. We met a startling number of people with a different approach: trail runners doing the whole thing in one day. I admire them and envy them, but my days of imagining I can emulate them are definitely over. Since we started with a four-hour drive down from Seattle, we didn't hit the trail until 2 p.m. the first day. That meant hiking until dinner time to get to a particularly scenic campsite in Paradise Park. The first photo is by my brother-in-law, photographer Tom Dempsey, whose amazing work can be found at Photoseek.com . At the risk of making you lose all interest in my post, his take on the tr...

Since some of you may be wondering where the Wallowas are: they are a small range in the far NE corner of Oregon, in part at least renowned for having a bit of a feel of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains--without so much altitude! Back in September I did a road trip with my brother- and sister-in-law, beginning with several days around the Wallowa Mountains and three scenic dayhikes, mostly within the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Hike #1 was a 7 1/2-mile round trip to Bonney Lake. The road to the trailhead was a little rough, but passable with my Prius. YMMV. After a short stretch of pleasant valley bottom and a stream crossing, a big chunk of the middle of the hike to the lake was through an area that had burned in a fire within the last year or two--very fresh still. Nothing like finding your trail signs well-blackened. We eventually climbed above the burn and into the sub-alpine meadows. This part felt more like the Rockies than the Sierra. Pretty sure that was volcanic, though, so...

Last month I enjoyed a girls' weekend on the Oregon coast before heading to the Grand Canyon (and yes, I had to pack for 4 seasons. I experienced them all in 3 weeks). We had scenic weather--rain showers and sun, wind and waves. Here are a few of the scenic highlights. We stayed two nights at the adorable and literary-themed Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport, OR. Every room is named for and decorated in keeping with a writer. Our group used the Ken Kesey room--think bunkroom at the asylum only with comfy beds--and Oscar Wilde. The hotel is named for Sylvia Beach, who opened the Shakespeare & Co bookstore in Paris in 1919. The hotel sits on a bluff overlooking the beach. The view from breakfast. Unfortunately, they weren't serving dinner while we were there. It was too cold, wet, and windy for us to sit out, but I'll bet it's wonderful in summer! We enjoyed the usual things--great meals out, walks on the beach, and a massage. Rain just made new magic. My artist friend P...