Ahhh! Back in beautiful Oregon! Clean, clear air, cool weather, and absolutely beautiful scenery.
Crater Lake. 1943 feet deep and the purest water on earth. The ranger told us that this year they only had 22 feet of snow when the average is 44′. The Rim Road was still closed so we enjoyed lunch at the lodge and a stroll along the south rim.
After Crater Lake we went to Bend. The drive there is through high desert plateaus and lava fields. I was tut-tutted for disliking the Mojave and Death Valley, so I will say I can appreciate the vast desolateness of those two places but as far as deserts are concerned, I prefer these high deserts or the Southwestern red deserts. Anyway. We lived in Bend from 1979-1981 and although it has exploded in population, it is still one of our favorite places. The pic above is of the Three Sisters as seen from the Lava Lands park. Eileen is severely slowed down so we missed a lot of great things to see, but we still had fun.
Sunday we went to Sisters and I was totally enchanted by finding Cinderella’s coach there! Sisters is a fun little cowboy town and sadly we missed both the rodeo and quilt show. A reason to come back!
Continuing Sunday we went to spectacular Smith Rocks and watched climbers crawl up the face of the vertical lava tubes and also a group doing yoga on the summit as an homage to the Summer Solstice.
And finally, Mark has been on a beer binge since his heart surgery so we went to Deschutes Brewery for dinner and a few drinks. The picture is a clever way of pointing us tourists to the restrooms! Don’t you just love it? More Oregon to come!!
Mark and Kathie's Excellent Adventure 
Wish I was there with you all….what fun !!
What fun …. wish I were there !!
Thanks for letting us share this wunderbar experience. Hope to follow your roadmap some day! Time to come to VA for some ressler hospitality and local golf.
How about middle to end of September….I’ll keep the lite on…..
b
Oh Kathie I am so excited that you are going to land in Portland. The land of the strange but loveable. I will be able to visit you, Is the Dawn you visited with the
Dawn I met at your home so many years ago? if so let me know how she is doing and what she is doing. I really liked her. I love the picture of Jeff and family and you. I guess the boys look like his wife’s family because I do not see any resemblance to Kauffmans. Maybe they have mannerisms or voice or something. Where are you off to next?, I lost you for a few days, kind of worried Mark got a “old mans” ticket for his left turn signal on for most of Oregon. Sorry Mark just had to zing you just alittle. Brent got a ticket for no license plate on the front of the car. He fought it paid it and then took the policeman out to their parking lot and pointed out over half of the employee cars did not have license plates on the front of their cars.
Hi, I don’t see a lot,of resemblance in Jeff’s boys either although Gabe, the oldest sort of resembles Dad. Yes Dawn is the woman you met all those years ago. She is still going strong even after having a bout with cancer last year. We have been in so many places with no wifi so I haven’t been able to post as much. I’m trying to catch up so stay tuned! Love you!