Central Oregon Sites

This weekend was spent being a tourist in Central Oregon, hiking and seeing the sites with Ryan and Julie and grandkids, Lance, Liam and Shella May.  We went to Newberry National Monument and saw the Obsidian Flow, Paulina lake and Paulina Falls.  Then hiked through the Lava Cast forest and into the Lava River Cave.  The cave is over a mile long and we walked as far as the Forest Service would let us.  At one point we were 81 feet directly below Highway 97.  It was about 42 degrees in the cave.  After that we took another hike on some trails through the Lava Flow below Lava Butte.  The weather was great - overcast with clouds that kept it from getting too hot, but also it never rained on us until we were getting close to home.  It was a fun weekend.

Cascade mountains seen from lava flow below Lava Butte

Lava flow at Lava Cast Forest - it goes for 7 miles.

Side of Obsidian flow and lake created by snow and rain runoff

Twisted tree at Lava Cast Forest

Tree growing on the Obsidian flow

Obsidian rocks

Interesting design in the rock at the Obsidian flow

More Obsidian rocks

Paulina Falls

Paulina  Lake as seen from the top of the Obsidian flow with Mt. Bachelor in the distance

Tourist in Portland

A couple of weeks ago we spent the weekend in Portland hanging out with some of our kids and grandkids. We saw Shella May's softball game, took a short hike in Forest Park (the largest urban park in the country) and went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip festival.  It was fun seeing sites in Portland that we had never been to before.  Here are some pictures of the weekend:

Shella May at bat - she ended up coming in for a run

Lance and Liam sorta watching their sister's game

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm

More tulips

Flowers in Forest Park in Portland OR

Ryan and Liam looking for trolls under the bridge in Forest  Park

Trees in Forest Park