On the Road Again

This is moving day! We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here at Bend Thousand Trails and think it is one of the lovliest parks. So calm and piney... ha! Anyway, as much as we dislike leaving a place we always look forward to our next adventure. So, we are off to Crater Lake. Our last visit there was 6 years ago and we'll see what we missed from our last visit. We always miss something and that is what keeps us coming back to places. ha!

Meanwhile, this may be last time on computer for a while so wanted to get this last bit in...

Frogs at Bend, OR

This 1st frog was caught by our granddaughter. She was having the time of her life wading through the reeds along the lagoon here at this park in Bend, Or. He did manage to jump back into the safety of the water - while they were with us we found mostly polywogs but now those polywogs have turned into little frogs like this one barely hanging on to a reed spread eagle. He was adorable and we found hundreds just like him... so much fun to spot all their little eyes peeking out of the water - they all jump at once as you walk by.

Hanging out in Bend, Oregon

Our 1st week is behind us here at Bend Thousand Trails camp and we find we are enjoying every moment. Our granchildren are gone, our friends the Sullivans have left (they are heading east) and now it just the two of us. Back to wonderful weather and picture perfect days. This is the type of day that lured us into this nomad type lifestyle. ha! Life is good and all is well and quiet. Will take a trip into town tomorrow for shopping and misc errands and plan to enjoy another week here before moving on to Crater Lake. We were there in 2001 for a very short stay so want to spend a little more time exploring...

The Good Life

This is picture of Adult Lodge at TTN in Leavenworth. It is lovely but we are loving it here in Bend! We have never spent much time here before and this stay has been delightful. We had a huge covy of quail at our place today along with stellar jays, pigmy nuthatches, chickadees, woodpeckers, squirrels and chipmunks. We have seen deer tracks and I saw 2 river otters today! I am jazzed... love the wildlife. Don't have a picture yet of the Bend resort but will get some up here soon.

Great-Grands with GreatGrandparents

View of Columbia River & Earl at Lava lands nat'l Monument

Lava River Cave

Here is Rebekah, friend Carly and grandson Micah getting ready to explore the Lave River Cave. A lava tube formed from Newberry volcano - interesting lava tube that went 5000 ft under ground. At one point there was a marker indicating we were under the highway above. About 40 degrees inside and dark - good thing we all bundled up and even then the kids were asking for hot chocolate and remarking how cold their hands were from carrying their flashlights. A great experience. We had not noticed this place before but passed it a few times and decided what the heck - needed to go check it out. Once we hit sunlight again we couldn't get the extra clothes off fast enough. Turned out to be a very warm day. Fun fun fun

Golden Eagle

This wonderful bird resides at the High Desert Museum in Bend, OR. He has a dog kennel he goes into to get away from prying eyes such as ours. ha! He was fed something while we were there - I personally did not witness it but one of the children did and were enthralled! A big beautiful bird. They keep only wounded animals or domesticated wild animals that cannot survive in the wild. Not sure what was wrong with this bird but certainly nothing too obvious.

Lava Lands - Bend, OR

Granddaughter Rebekah on trail at Lava Lands National Monument. This was an interesting short 1/2 mile hike. Apparently all this lava was thrown over from Newberry volcano and they have made this trail through the acres of lava where trees and plant life are beginning to grow. After this short hike we trouped up to top of cinder cone where they have an active fire lookout station.

Rebekah and polywog

A stop over at Bend Thousand Trails park brought out the excitement of Rebekah when she found the lagoon swarming with polywogs - they were the largest ones we had ever seen. She did catch a few to show us besides catching a small frog and spotting a large bull frog! She loved wading through these reeds! It was fun to watch and although I used to like catching them when I was young; they were much smaller and black as I recall. A great place for the young and older...

Mount Hood

Nothing quite like a nice view of one of these mountains along the Pacific crest trail! Fortunate to catch this site of Mount Hood from the eastern side of the mountain. We have not camped around her or done any exploring around this mountain so will have to make plans for that another time.

Multnomah Falls

Here is picture of beautiful waterfalls. This is a neat place. Walked up to bridge. They do have a coffee stand here and restrooms. It was a very pretty spot. Packed with people though. The weather was so-so - not a beautiful clear bright blue sky which would have been nice for pictures but can't have everything. At least by this time Micah as doing better! Perhaps one day we will be able to spend more time here and hike around the falls a little more. Might be fun going up to the top. Didn't see anyone up there but did see trails around them.

Horseshoe Falls on Columbia River in Oregon

The water from these falls was lovely! The grandkids seemed to enjoy the falls and we found it a lovely spot for a picnic lunch. Shady enough with all the plant life - a few trails leading off from here but due to time and grandson Micah getting sick enroute we bypassed any hikes hoping to keep him well. It turned out to be a 24 hour bug but at the time we weren't sure...

Next stop was the beautiful Multnomah Falls!

Playing at Horseshoe Falls on Columbia River

While picnicing at Horseshoe Falls on the Columbia River the little ones found ways to amuse themselves. This was a pretty spot right along Highway 30 (scenic route). This was a pretty waterfall not too far east from the famous Multnomah Falls which we visited soon after...

Travelin 'Roos

Here it is August 14, 2007 and we are currently parked in a "choice" site at the Family Motor Coach Rally in Redmond, Oregon. The expected high is low 90's today and at 1:44pm it is 93 in shade! We do get a nice breeze in afternoon which helps a LOT! traveling along with us this time are our two youngest grandchildren, Bekah 7 and Micah 5. They are having the time of their lives which is wonderful for us too.

We are parked in a grassy lot directly behind/next to the Youth center with other rigs of "Families with Children" so these little ones are all in esctasy playing with each other.. all about the same ages and most traveling with grandparents although there are a few full-timers with their youngsters. Fun group and perfect set up!

Plans are to be here until early Friday morning when we will take rig down to Thousand Trails in Bend, OR about 35 miles south of here and then very early on Saturday drive kiddos back to their folks in Mossyrock, WA. Their folks are currently at a teen camp in Mossyrock for the church this week. So a little break sort of - or maybe a trade off - an idea of what these two younger ones will probably be like in a few years. ha!

Afterwards we plan on traveling down to Crater Lake, Lava Beds national monument in CA and over Lassen national park before going into Reno to visit with brother John. From there plans are to travel through Nevada over to Great Basin national park and into Utah to a few of their wonderful national parks we have not yet seen before going to Balloon fest in Albuquerque and on into Texas for the winter...