The Crystal Ballroom and Henry Hagg Lake

Urban adventure vs. nature adventure. Why not both? Saturday night at The Crystal Ballroom is 90's night downtown. But wait- wasn't it just the 90s? Isn't that recent enough that there's not much difference between then and now? That's what I thought, but apparently there is. Showing up to 90s night with three new girlfriends, I thought we were appropriately dressed for the evening when, in fact, we were quite outdone compared to those who decked themselves out with full on neon jumpsuits and faded high-wasted jeans. We checked our coats at the coat check, grabbed beers from the bar, and headed upstairs to get a look at the dance floor from above. What a venue! Such fun chandeliers and music video set-up!

We soon headed out onto the dance floor for our flashback to the 90's. From what I've heard, The Crystal Ballroom is infamous for its springy floor. Sure enough, when the music started poppin', the floor started springin'. When hundreds of club-goers jumped to the beat of a song at the same time, it was almost scary how much the floor undulated. The 90's songs and music videos continued so far into the night and, after shouting Britney Spears and 'N Sync to the video screens for hours on end, I think we were all ready to call it a night. *** Sunday started off as a somewhat lazy day, given how late the night before had gone. Once Charlie and I were awake and finished with breakfast, we set out to explore Henry Hagg Lake. It was a relatively spontaneous outing, as our initial plans to drive three hours away, go for a two hour hike, and then return, ended up seeming too ambitions. Henry Hagg Lake is under 45 minutes away, which made our decision pretty simple. Thirty minutes into our beautiful drive, we entered Henry Hagg Lake Recreation Area. The weather was not as sunny you'd want it to be at a lake, but this is Oregon!

The road looped around inside the park on an ~13 mile loop.We stopped at one of the first parking areas to look out over this man-made creation.

Continuing around the lake by car, we found a hiking trail that we assumed would eventually parallel the lake. We decided to hike for around half an hour, or until the rain began turning the trail into mud. I'm not sure which happened first but, just as we made it to the edge of the lake, past a grassy field, the trail became too muddy to continue and we turned around.

It was the perfect afternoon hike. Not too long, not too short. A little chilly, but that was expected.

As usual, the weekend went by too quickly. Between outdoor exploring, 90's night dancing, furniture shopping, and errand-running, we could have done with a day between Saturday and Sunday. All in all, we were glad to experience a new place and add some adventure to our weekend!