An Instagram Jaunt Through Southern Oregon + $100 Gift Card Giveaway.

When I think about Southern Oregon, the first word that comes to mind is P-A-S-S-I-O-N — a passion for community, a passion for the outdoors, a passion for creation and, most importantly, a passion for life. We met a lot of incredible people during our journey through Jackson and Klamath counties, and we’ll be introducing a lot of them, along with their passions, to you in future stories. For now, though, we thought the best way to introduce you to this gorgeous section of the Pacific Northwest is through a two-part Instagram series, in which we’ll take you along on our journey.

Beth and I traveled to Oregon for the state’s The Seven Wonders of Oregon campaign; our wonder being the mystical Crater Lake. Along the way to the national park, though, we got to know the people and towns and back roads; we saw their enthusiasm and respect for the Oregon wilderness and learned what Crater Lake meant to them. So, by the time we finally made it to the ancient lake and peered into its piercing cobalt blue waters, all was understood…Crater Lake is truly a wonder!

During our trip, we took over Travel Oregon’s Instagram account, so we thought showcasing these photos first on our blog would be the perfect introduction to our trip. Plus, it fits perfectly with our giveaway. We know you guys love travel gear as much as we do, so we’re super excited to offer one of our readers a $100 gift card to Portland, Oregon’s own, The Clymb. For those not familiar with the brand (don’t worry I wasn’t either until this trip), The Clymb is an awesome online retailer with insider pricing on outdoor gear, clothing, and adventure packages. You can find all the details below, after the photos, about how you can enter the giveaway. So, without further ado, here’s southern Oregon!

Hello Oregon! Nice to meet you! We’re @beersandbeans and we’re the next guest Instagram photographers sharing our photos of the 7 wonders in Oregon. All this week we’ll be exploring the Crater Lake region. Today we discovers the peaceful waters of The Lake Of The Woods. A stunning scene with Mt. McLoughlin standing guard in the background.

Today was an epic day and one of our favorite parts of the day was meeting the folks at Klamath Basin Brewing and Holly from the local paper. Go get their Vanilla Porter – it’s out of this world!

If you like birds you owe it to yourself to visit Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge – it’s a beautiful, peaceful place and I saw my first Bald Eagle!

Chachy is channeling Edward Hopper at the Running Y Ranch in Klamath Falls. This hotel is awesome for dogs – they’re allowed everywhere on the property and even given doggie treats! If you’re traveling with your four legged pal (or another pet) make sure you spend a night here. Bonus: Their Spinach/Kale artichoke dip is the best we’ve ever had.

A quick stop in the old gold rush town of Jacksonville led us to lunch at Bella Union where we discovered this yummy ice cream mud pie – so good! Do you have a favorite desert in Oregon? If so, please share in the comments!!

Today was the day I was hoping for – big blue skies and puffy white clouds. The perfect backdrop for beautiful Oregon.

Talk about an awesome spot for lunch! The Rouge River Lodge is set perfectly against the Rouge River and has an incredible patio. They also rent a one bedroom cottage that is literally right on the water and all done in a vintage style. Insider tip: they have a secret and intimate wine cellar and if you ask in advance you might be able to make a reservation to dine in it.

I hope this rain calls it quit soon – we’re on our way to Crater Lake and I want my big blue skies back!

The weather was very finicky today. We came all the way to Crater Lake but all we saw this awesome patch. Or did we???

We waited a couple hours for the weather to break but it never did so we decided to head back to the Prospect Historic Hotel (I’ll post more on that later because that place is awesome. Halfway through our drive home we noticed the sun peeking put the trees. We drove back up and we were rewarded with this amazing view! It only lasted a few minutes so we felt so lucky to see such a beautiful view of the lake!!! It’s no surprise that Crater Lake is one of the 7 wonders of Oregon!

Prospect Historic Hotel. It’s the closest hotel to Crater Lake and has housed some American greats from Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir to Jack London. But what really makes it stand out are the owners – Karen & Fred. Such lovely people with many stories to tell and their available to help you with anything you might need. Did I mention they also allow pets? We LOVED this place and highly recommend it!

A great shot of Oregon from above – such a beautiful landscape!

Still can’t believe we went snowshoeing in May! Gotta love Crater Lake! Better yet, every winter/spring park rangers lead free guides tours (free snowshoe rentals included) around the national park, which averages 45 feet of snow a year.

Chachy is loving his ride down the river with Marshall from Lonesome Duck Lodge. A great way to spend the day!

How about a fresh beer right off the line? One of the highlights of our time in Oregon was all of the fantastic beer and this IPA from Caldera was one of the best! They also have the best vegetarian food – seriously they have a killer menu with all sorts if inventive food. Worth the drive for the beer alone but the amazing food makes it a complete destination. Have you been to Caldera?

Thank you all so much! This is Beers And Beans signing off! We loved posting photos here and chatting with you all. We’ll be posting more Oregon images on our Instagram page, @beersandbeans so stay tuned and remember: Go get lost in Oregon #traveloregon

The Clymb $100 Gift Card Giveaway

Each completed task that you do below will earn you entries into this giveaway for the $100 gift card. The contest will end at 11:59 p.m. (EST) June. 6, 2014 and is open everyone.. You can earn an additional 10 entries each day by tweeting this post through the Rafflecopter widget below! For those of you who already like our Instagram and Twitter accounts (thank you!), make sure to still collect your entries through Rafflecopter, and then let us know that you were already a fan in your comment below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: We were invited by Travel Oregon to explore Crater Lake and the surrounding region. As always, though, our thoughts and opinions are entirely our own.