Day 5: Portland to La Pine

Woke up in Portland (very early!) to a beautiful warm day. Took a tour of the city in the morning before exploring a little bit on my own. Portland has a Ned Flanders bridge! No wonder - Matt Groening is a local Portlander 😀 Also visited the biggest independently owned bookstore on Mother Earth (Powell’s).

Then started driving towards La Pine in the afternoon, approx. 4h south of Portland. This was supposed to be an overnight stop to visit crater lake the next day (today). However, due to wildfires, crater lake is covered in smoke (I can track the developments through the national park webcams and the app MyRadar, which was recommended by the Airbnb host in La Pine). Also, Ashland (what would have been my next overnight stay) is in a red smoke zone, and the Redwoods are kind of circled by wildfires. Hence, I am going to change my plans and drive down to Sacramento as a next step. Good thing I didn’t book far ahead and can spontaneously adapt my route 😁👍🏼 I am also closely monitoring the hurricane situation further south in California, and will adapt my plans again, if necessary. 🔥🌀😮‍💨

Looks like I’m in for a full west coast experience, incl. natural disasters and all 😀Read more