Driving south - Portland / Medford Oregon

Hey everyone Jason here. For those who don't know me, I'm Justin's older brother and Jon's good friend and the third amigo that makes up the Hammock Brothers. We call ourselves the Hammock Brothers for a few reason's. The main reason is because we really beleive in the simplicity of what hammock's represent. Hammock's represent a way of life that is relaxing, enjoyable, and dedicated to travel. We beleive that life should be lived in the moment, and the hammock provides this in a huge way. Second, because when we first recieved our hammocks in the mail back in December we beleived it changed our way of thinking. All of a sudden, we were talking about all of the possibilities of what we could do with our new found passion of enjoying our hammocks. That day we decided we were going to create what we were going to call the "Hammock Hangout". A revolutionary idea about getting a cabin near a ski resort and letting snowboarders crash in the multitude of hammocks we could put all over the cabin (kind of like a hostel - but so much better). We actually went as far as finding a cabin up by Stevens Pass that we thought would make for a good location for our "Hammock Hangout." Long story short, we realized we'd be held to most of the same laws regulating hotels which would made it all but impossible, but we did create a vibe between us that has unfolded in an amazing way. We have now been extremely focused on traveling across the country at least until the end of 2010 spreading our hammock way of life.

 Now, here I am Sunday evening in Medford Oregon, at Dan's house (Jon's old navy buddy) relaxing in my hammock on the back porch by the fire he just built. Soon, we'll meet up with Justin, Sam, and "Buzz" as soon as they are done snowshoeing Crater Lake.

(View from City Grill)

John and I left home friday evening and hit the road headed toward Portland. Our intention was to couch surf, but we ended up sleeping in the back of John's Envoy in the heart of Portland and it was everything we wanted it to be. As we arrived into the city, all the fan's of the Trail Blazers were just leaving the Rose Garden most with the look of dissapointment engrained on their faces from their favorite basketball team losing. Our night was filled with crazy characters we met along the way - 'Lucky' showing us around the city, flirting with Cassidy while enjoying a black and blue special (shot of jack with a paps blue ribbon) and great talks with Jamie who let me ride her long board and recommended we see the  restaurant where she worked called the City Gril on the 30th floor of the Bancorp Tower in the center of Portland.  The view was amazing, giving us a new perspective of the city. It seemed as though we walked all over the city returning to crash in the Envoy in the wee hours of the morning...

We were parked by Portland State University - so we awoke to the typical morning buzz from the city... You can see Jon in the photo still in his sleeping bag as we woke up...

We had seen all of what we could seen of Portland in one night so it was time to move forward to Multnomah Falls. For you that have been, you know what a majestic place the falls are. We hung out there for a while and then on our way back toward Portland, John and I found a nice little bluff looking over the Columbia river that we stopped at and played some music for a while - Jon on the guitar and I was alternating between the harmonica and bongos. We were approached by a hiker named Dale who stoked our desires to see the mighty Redwoods.  

Continuing on we drove for about five hours straight to Dan's house in Eagle Point, just north of Medford. It was nice getting to a warm place to stay after our night in Portland. 

This morning we decided to go play some golf at the nicest golf course that I have ever played. I really enjoyed listening to the many varieties of birds chirping and singing around the ponds on the course. The sun was out, and it was very warm for a mid Febuary day. It was such a nice day we figured it would make for a perfect day for a hike to Table Rock. Lava flowed down The Rogue River Valley 9.6 million years ago and covered the valley. Since then, erosion has worn away the softer surrounding rock, leaving the hard andesite perched 800 feet above the plain. We hiked up to the lower Table Rock flats above the valley today which provided us with an understanding of the geographics of the area. Nice hike. And now here we are, sunday night gearing up to meet with Justin, Sam, and Buzz here in a little bit. Dan and Melissa made several wonderful pizzas from scratch and had some friends over that we visited with. We are headed off to the redwoods tommorow morning to continue on with our adventure.

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