A Mother's Perspective: J2D2's Family Vacation to Central OR.

Since Jeremy and I can no longer take our family vacations in October due to the kid's school schedule, we had our first summer family vacation this week. Jeremy took the last week of August off from work and we headed out Saturday morning for a 6 day trip into Central Oregon. Seven years ago, Jeremy and I had stumbled onto the Newberry Volcanic Monument while making our way home from an OR coast trip. So, we decided it was time to revisit the area. We camped at the Cinder hill Campground, located right in the middle of a gigantic caldera, complete with two lakes, a Big Obsidian Flow, and Lava Tube Caves nearby. We used the campground as home base and made a day trip south to visit Crater Lake. Jeremy had never seen it, so we spent the day there and drove the rim. The weather was amazing the whole week....we would wake to sunny skies every morning. Since we were staying in the high desert, it was COLD at night. I had planned for cool nights...but didn't realize we'd be sleeping in every warm piece of clothing we brought with us each night! However, we made the best of it and the sights around us were SO worth it!

It took us eight and half hours of time on the road to get from Renton to Newberry, with at least three or four stops along the way for food and potty breaks. We were treated to some pretty views of Mt. Hood on the drive down.

Bundled up for bed!

Warming up in the morning was needed....and we enjoyed using my parent's old backpacking 'stove' that they used on their honeymoon, 42 years ago! It still works great, with a little priming. Yay for Swedish technology.

Our first stop was one of Jeremy's favorite spots in the area, the Big Obsidian flow. It's like stepping onto another planet with three different kinds of pumice rock...some with LOTS of bubbles and some with none-the glass like obsidian.

After hiking all over the flow, we stopped at Paulina Falls for lunch and a ranger talk. It's a very pretty spot!

View of the central cone from East lake. We rented a canoe for an hour and fought some pretty windy conditions just to get out into the lake a ways for photos. Jeremy and I enjoyed it, but the kids were not as impressed.

Pretty sunset over East Lake. Still makes me sigh when I look at these.

After staying close to camp for the first day, we drove two hours south to visit Crater Lake for the day.

Jeremy had never been, so we took our time and drove the rim. It was so beautiful!

And BLUE!

We'd been to the gift shop and had to bring home some new friends. :)

Phantom Ship Island. And in this photo, you can see the rim of the mini caldera that makes up the 'ship.'

J2D2 at the Sand Castle overlook. Note the orange rock behind me.

Next fun stop was Lava Tube Cave exploring. It was cold down there and DARK! We each had a flash light to keep us from tripping over the rocks and dips along the cave. It was about one mile long and we made it all the way. Darla (our heat lover) was pretty unhappy on the way back, but we warmed up in the sunshine with a picnic lunch at the site.

After lunch we headed to the Visitor Center to explore. We watched a movie and then took a walk on the Trail of Molten Land. Again, once you step onto the path it's like being in a new world.

He will climb just about anything these days!

The Lava Butte cinder cone, created when chunks of pumice and lava burst out of the earth and just piled right up into a cone.

Foil Packet dinner chefs.

Our last night in camp before heading north to Yakima. We decided to brake up the long drive into two days and end our trip with a night in a hotel. It felt good to clean up, have someone else cook dinner, and play in the pool.