Bye CA, Hello OR

We arrived in California last December 21st and left on May 21st — five months in the state. Although it was all fun and loved being with family and seeing the sights, I sure don’t miss the traffic and the smog and the crowds. Oregon reminds me of the way it was last August when we were in Maine. Lots of nature to enjoy. So let me get you up-to-date. We took several days to drive north at our usual slow pace. Lots of mountain driving so much care was taken, especially when I am sitting in the passenger seat holding on for dear life. But I do have to tell you, Kean is an excellent driver and we arrived safely every afternoon.

Our first extended stay was in Canyonville at the Seven Feathers Resort. This was an excellent place to hang out. Thank you Scott Moran for the recommendation. Here was home. We were there during a rally which got us over to the casino a couple of times. Now I have to tell you, we are not gamblers, but when the resort gives you some free money you just have to go for it. So cheapskates that we are, we played the penny slots. And guess what, Kean actually won $70 on penny slots. I was laughing all the way back to the motorhome. While here we took a day to drive out to the coast which was beautiful. We have driven the Oregon coast before but I had forgotten how beautiful it really is.   Those are seals and sea lions on that rock out in the water.  Hundreds of them.  Then on a super hot day we drove up the mountain and into the snow to cool off.   We played lots of golf at a nearby course that I loved, loved, loved.  Lots of rolling terrain made it challenging but fun.  And it was never busy so we got to do some practicing as we were playing.  Roland Smith check out the guy behind Kean in the photo.  There was obviously no dress code at this course.  I just had to take the photo for you.   And there were covered bridges all around this area so I snapped this one on the way to the golf course.    But the real highlight of our stay in Canyonville was the day trip to Crater Lake.  All I can tell you is that it is absolutely amazing.  The water is so blue.  Unfortunately it was still too early in the season to hike as all the trails were still closed.  And only the west rim road was open but we were able to hike about 2.5 miles up the east rim road (until we hit the snow plow working to get the rest of the road open).    It amazes me that this far into the year there is still so much snow.  It really is hard to capture the beauty of this place but here are some photos (the panorama at the top of the post is Crater Lake) that I hope will give you an idea of how amazing it is. 

So now we are in Bend (after an overnight in Eugene).  Nice quiet place.  This is where we are living for 10 days.    Not bad, huh?  It is hot, mid nineties, so all the trees help.  We took a drive up to Newberry National Volcanic Monument yesterday to try to escape some of the heat but not much help there.  This is high desert so much hotter than you would think this far north.  Anyway, we stopped at the Lava Butte and actually walked along the rim of the volcano.  After that we walked the trails through the lava flow area — well a small portion of it.  The flow goes on for 9 square miles.  Check it out.    And yes, I had to stop to pet a caterpillar.

We are here until the 13th with so much more to see.  Oh and I can’t neglect to tell you that we had our 1 year anniversary of living in our mobile mansion on May 30th.  I can’t believe it has been a year already.  Time flies by and we are loving every minute of it.  I don’t miss the house at all and I have finally gotten over missing the kitchen.  I have adapted well.

Until next time.