Time to catch everyone up on the last few days. We left Portland yesterday afternoon and headed west along the Columbia Gorge. We stopped at Multnomah Falls, and Bonneville Dam then headed south around Hood River. Had some great views of Mt. Hood along the way. We were surprised at one point when we rounded a curve and the dense forest gave way to an impressive gorge and desert. The landscape changes pretty dramatically as you travel to different locals in Oregon.
We arrived at our destination vacation rental home in Sunriver around 8pm, our "4 hour" drive having taken about twice that (sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination). The house is great; large common room, 3 bedrooms upstairs, several bunkbeds and futons downstairs as well as a large gameroom with pool table, ping pong, foos ball, and a dartboard with 1 and 1/2 working darts.
Today, after a leisurly 2-4 hour breakfast period (there are 12 of us here including some of Nate's friends and Casey, Riley and Brian and not everyone gets up at the same time), we headed out to the Cascade Lakes area which took us on a 2 hour loop with great views of pine forests, random lava piles, Mt Bachelor, The Sisters (mountains), and Broken Top (another mountain). A very beautiful ride with lots of stops. Now we're back at the house relaxing and waiting on some of Reuben's loaded spagetti (yum!).
Tomorrow we head back to California with a much anticipated stop at Crater Lake. It's been a great trip so far, and while it seems much longer than just a week ago that we flew into San Francisco, it's still much to short a trip to fully explore this awesome state!
It looks like a trip of a lifetime, with great family and friends -- you're all amazing!
ReplyDeleteJan Osborn