Not only is the whole COVID thing getting old but so am I. Mia and I were talking this week about the last time we ate out. It was just as all this crap was kicking off and we were in Cannon Beach for a few days while the last of the repairs were getting done to the house from the Great Laundry Flood. Other than going out to eat it would also be nice to host some family and/or friends here at the house. We’ve been here for just over two years now and my nephew Travis has been our most frequent visitor.

None of this is news to anybody. We know we are not the only people who feel this way. Wouldn’t it be nice to see this all in the rear view mirror though?

Starting off the week right

How does a good work week start? It’s nice when the work week starts off with a holiday and the office is closed! Mia had to work (damn private sector jobs) so Codi and I headed out for a dual purpose expedition. First and foremost we were headed for a hike. Secondly though the goal was to check out Sugar Vibe Donuts in Lebanon, OR. Codi and I were on the road just past 8am for the two-ish hour drive to the trailhead. Not an early start but not too late either.

I pulled up to Sugar Vibes just past 10AM and unfortunately they were already sold out for the day. They open at 6AM and I was hoping with the holiday that maybe business would be a bit slower for them. Nope.

The hike itself was about 20 more minutes down the road. We were headed for McDowell Creek Falls Park for a wicked epic 2 mile hike! My main goal was to just get outside on this nice day off. Most of the stuff along highway 20 east sits at lower elevation which means no worry about snow this time of they year.

The parking lot was somewhat busy and we ran into probably 10+ people on the loop itself. Nothing outrageous but, keep in mind that this hike is popular, if you decide to head down ,go on an off day (non-weekend) or as I always recommend go early if you can.

It doesn’t take long to see waterfalls. Less than 10 minutes from the car and we hit the first one, Royal Terrace. Codi and I opted to hike counterclockwise. The hike to the top of the falls is up a series of steep stone steps built into the side of the hill. Some of them are a big step up for little dog (or human) legs.

After a short walk you cross the paved road and continue on the trail to the top of Majestic Falls. There is a series of wooden steps and walkway to get to the bottom of these falls.

Since this hike was so short I opted to hit up another short one close by. Codi and I quickly made our way over to Waterloo County Park also just outside of Lebanon. This hike was a massive 1.5 miles!

There is a disc golf course, camping, dog play area and day use area at Waterloo County Park. I would never recommend anyone head down to hike just this one simple hike. However if you wanted to camp there and use it as a base for some of the other hikes in the area it would totally make sense.

Since it was still relatively early in the day I made it my mission to find Codi and I a donut. First I headed over to Corvallis for a place called Death by Donutz. They too were sold out for the day. At this point I was going for baseball rules. This was strike two. One more and we’d be out.

Next we headed back to I-5 north and a 24-hour donut shop just outside of Salem proper. Dude Donut City is just off highway 22 heading east towards Santiam Pass. It wasn’t too big of a deal to hit this one up and being a 24 hour shop you got to figure they wouldn’t be sold out.

Can’t say I’m a fan of the name, it is a little odd.Inside the shop had a very Dunkin Donuts feel to it. Plenty of donut varieties though and prices are good. I’ve had lots of better donuts but, don’t get me wrong, they weren’t bad. To keep comparisons equal between one shop to another my benchmarks is seeing how a shop does the classic Boston Cream. If they don’t do a Boston Cream I want to see how they do a good yeast donut. I prefer yeast based donuts over cake style (just so you know).

I picked up Mia an apple fritter that she had requested and Codi got some of an old fashioned.

In general I know the goal of tiring out the dog has been accomplished when he passes out in the car and sleeps the whole way home then additional confirmation is how perky he is when we get home. We only did a little more than 3 miles of hiking for the day but it was a full day of driving too. Codi decided that the couch was a good place to spend the rest of day.

That was pretty much all the excitement for the week. Work, working out and errands/chores defined the rest of it. I was able to ride outside on Saturday but stuck inside on Sunday.

Thanks for reading,

-Pete