I'm home......

 Three Sisters, Central Oregon

I am home!!!!   It was a pretty good trip in the end.  I had a lot of fun.  Here is another little known fact about Jeanine....growing up, I wanted to be a volcanologist.  Someone who studies volcanoes.  It stemmed from a camping trip in the 70's to Mount St. Helen's and Spirit Lake with my family and my uncle Stan.  During that camp trip I remember the adults indulging Mike and I's fascination with Bigfoot...we saw his footprint, so he must be real, we slid down the mountain on pieces of card board (this was in the summer)...and I fell in love with a mountain.  I have been curious about volcanoes ever since.

 Sculpture at the entrance to the High Desert Museum

This whole two weeks was filled with lots of movies...they do not have cable in Lapine.  I think I watched 50 movies while there...and side trips.  I must have looked like a nut, as I took pictures of rocks and trees.  Central Oregon is a volcano lovers dream, with Newberry Caldera State Park right in the middle.  I loved it!  I also fell in love with the area as a whole, it is beautiful.  We checked out the High Desert Museum...I really recommend it.  It has natural history exhibits...lots of Native American displays, many displays of desert animals and they do a great job of illustrating what it was like in the area when it was first settled.

 Part of Fort Rock...on the desert side of Central Oregon

I have to admit that the drive out to Fort Rock was food related!  When you first turn on to the highway that takes you east towards Fort Rock, there is a sign that says you are entering Oregon's Outback....the desert, and it came complete with a huge rock out in the middle of nowhere...just like Ayer's Rock in Australia.  We stopped at Fort Rock on our way to Cowboy Dinner Tree.  Cowboy Dinner Tree is a carnivores dream!  I love steak, and this was Heaven!!  You have to place your order when you reserve your spot..either steak or a whole chicken!  My steak was probably 28 ounces of  absolute top sirloin joy!!  Cooked just as I like it...nice and red in the middle...we took home about 20 ounces.  The whole meal, although simple was delicious...I cannot wait to take someone there!!

 Paulina Peak, seen from the top of the Big Obsidian Flow, at Newberry Caldera State Park 

 The rainy view from atop Lava Butte, that's highway 97 going north toward Bend, OR

 Benham Falls, on the Deschutes river

We did almost all of the things to see within 25 miles of the house!  I fell in love with the area, for its beauty and for the simplicity.  We did a couple hikes to see the Deschutes river do a tumble down Benham falls, and through the Big Obsidian Flow at Paulina Peak and the kids and I explored LaPine State Park.  Sunriver, while a pretty spendy little community, is hard not to become enamored with it! Sisters, a cute little town that made me want to decorate my home with pine log furniture and antler lighting fixtures.  I had fun with my neighbor and her kids...which is good because they live next door for the next two years!  One of the highlights was getting a chance to hook up with my buddy Cirrus and her kids...in a crazy twist of fate, Cirrus's sister lives just down the street from where I was staying.

Breathtaking Crater Lake National Park, it was simply amazing!

My Dad and Lee encouraged me to take a side trip on the way home.....I am so glad I did.  I drove the west rim of Crater Lake National Park.  I got there around 10:30am.  The lake was like a mirror...reflecting the rim of the lake, Wizard Island and even the clouds onto itself.  It was breathtaking! After a quick trip into the gift shop, where I found a geology book, so I can bore Lee with facts about all the things I saw the previous two weeks...I made my way the rest of the way home.  I was happy to be home.