Oregon Trip: Green Lakes Hike

One of the first dates my hubby and I went on was a beautiful hike in the mountains of Central Oregon. I decided it would be fun for the kids to go on that hike while we were visiting.




As we talked about it, we realized that it was almost exactly 15 years ago (to the day) that we hiked the Green Lakes trail. My mom and sister joined us.



Not five minutes into the hike, our youngest quickly learned the importance of watching were he was walking. I started to wonder if he was old enough, but he was a trooper and kept going.

The scenery was post-card perfect! (Just like I remembered)

We passed many hikers on the trail...and many horses too.

We found lots of resting spots. (We climbed 1100 feet in elevation).

We found several frogs too!

The spray from the falls felt great!

After a couple miles,

we reached snow!

We crossed several streams.

And took lots of pictures.

We stopped at many water falls along the way.

Eventually we reached the lava flows and followed them to the top.

We ate lunch at the top.

And then started back down. With four-year-old legs in our party, we found lots of logs to catch our breath on.

We found lots of treasures.

Towards the end our legs got weary, but we kept going!

After we crossed four streams we knew we were almost back down!

When we reached the bottom we drove five minutes to Sparks Lake and cooled off in the cold mountain water.

It felt great!

So did the mud!

What a fun day in the mountains!

Oregon Trip: Prineville

On our first day in Central Oregon we headed to my sister's house in Prineville. Prineville is a smaller community, but big on fun and adventure!


We got reacquainted with cute cousins...



that we hadn't seen since last summer.


And our big treat was getting to meet our newest Prineville cousin who was born just a few months ago. She is a cutie!

We spent the rest of the afternoon having fun with our Uncle's: dogs,

chickens,

cows,

and owls that live in their barn (look at the tree trunk on the right about halfway up).

We climbed all over their hay stacks;

the boys made it to the very top!

We got to meet Luna,

their gentle mare.

We started a cow stampede by chasing the cows!

We got to meet Luna's baby,

a handsome two-year old.

We thought all the farm equipment was pretty cool!

Thanks for the awesome time in Prineville! We can't wait to come again!

Oregon Trip: Crater Lake

The same day we left the coast we also headed north toward Central Oregon where my parents live. It was about a four hour drive through beautiful forests, along mountain streams, and through volcanic mountain ranges. It is just beautiful.




We decided to stop at one of the more famous volcanic attractions, Crater Lake. It is a pristine, gorgeous lake created over thousands of years in the caldera of Mt. Mazama. I tried to describe what it looked like to the kids, but some things you just have to see for yourself.



We were there only 10-20 minutes, but the view was just awesome!



It is amazing to imagine what it might have looked like before the volcano erupted...




and the water is just so blue.



We got eaten alive by mosquitoes, but it was worth it!




My kids will also remember standing in the snow in late July...






and having a snowball fight, of course!!

Oregon Trip Part V

While we had so much fun on our camping trip, the inevitable happened....it ended.

We loaded up and headed back to Roseburg...


but first we went to this yummy little fish market in Bandon...


where Uncle Brian treated us all to the best fish and chips ever!!



Oh, and I almost forgot the clam chowder! You can't come all the way to the Pacific Ocean and not have a taste of clam chowder! Delicious!



We all ate until we were full!

It was a really windy day, but beautiful nonetheless. We said goodbye to the ocean and headed inland.

It was sad to reach the end of our Oregon Coast adventure, but more adventures were on the road ahead of us!