Wednesday, July 4th, 2007
On the evening of the 4th, we cruised up to the base of Pilot Butte in Bend and had a great time watching the amazing fireworks display. We parked in a church parking lot at the base of Pilot Butte and literally had the fireworks show right above our heads. We may be making this a family tradition! Below is a clip of the kids and the fireworks grand finale.
Thursday, July 5th, 2007
Today was Ro's birthday! We drove up to Mt. Bachelor to take the chairlift up to the summit. We were disappointed when we arrived as they weren't running visitors to the top, just up the first chairlift (about 2/3 the way up). It was beautiful nonetheless.
After Bachelor, we went to dinner at a place called Anthony's in Bend. It was ridiculously overpriced and we weren't overly impressed with our meals. I guess our idea of dinner with the kids is more enjoyable when it costs less than a Benjamin. All in all, I think Ro had a great 29th birthday. Hee Hee!
Friday, July 6th, 2007
One of the highlights today was our trip out to the Lava Cast Forest. The brochure describes The Lava Cast Forest as "a fascinating living museum of volcanic landscapes. Lava Cast Forest Geologic Area, established in 1942 by USDA Forest Service, envelops an area of approximately five square miles...Newberry Volcano, located to the southeast, erupted [6,000 years ago] along a series of fissures...sending smooth-textured pahoehoe lava onto the surfae through many vents located along the fissures."
Put more simply, the volcano erupted, the lava flowed around the trees and left holes, or casts of where the bases of the trees once stood. The one mile walking trail covers just a small portion of this geologic area. This was a very interesting area.
Watch the Video:
Saturday, July 7th, 2007
We had a pretty full day on Saturday. We started out the day by driving 12 miles down Road 21 to Paulina Creek Falls & Paulina Lake. Paulina Creek Falls is set of double 60 foot tandem waterfalls. There's a nice trail before and after the falls which made it an enjoyable little day hike with the kids. Watch the Paulina Creek Falls Video:
After exploring Paulina Falls and the adjacent big lake with the same name, we pushed on further down the road until we ran across Big Obsidian Flow. Big Obsidian is another geologic wonder that is part of the Newberry Caldera Area. At 1300 years old, it is the youngest lava flow in Oregon.
It was quite a hike to the top (for Rochelle and I that is). It was worth the work...the view was amazing. The kids have been doing great on these hikes. We think we might be ready for our first overnight backpacking trip as a family. Watch the Obsidian Video:
Sunday, July 8th, 2007
We headed home at around noon on Sunday and were home late afternoon. We're heading back to the cabin the week of August 13th...we're very much looking forward to 'unplugging' again!
