Sunday was much to beautiful to spend inside cooking. We decided the coast of Oregon had seen too much of us lately, and eastern Oregon had places yet to be explored. I do love my rain foresty fifty shades of green forests, but sometimes I really miss the high desert. Fortunately, said desert is only a two hour drive away. Cross the Cascade Mountains, and voila! land of the rain shadow.
We went to Bend, Oregon- a place we have only driven through briefly in blizzards, and set up camp in at 2 am (we were pretty sure it was National forest. . . pretty sure. . . ). It turns out Bend is quite an attractive little town.
After a gorgeous drive up and over the mountains, we had a lovely lunch at Amalia's- a brand new Mexican restaurant with some very unusual twists on typical Mexican fare. I don't think I'll ever be satisfied with another salsa verde again. I must must must figure out their recipe!!!!! (Which of course meant consuming two bowls of the stuff with chips).
We made a brief stopover in a local used cd store, which James was very patient about, and then onto the main attraction The State's Largest Volcano Tube, also known as the Lava River Cave. It's about a mile long, 50 feet under ground, and very very dark.
It was a little difficult to find, we first went to a closed visitor center, then found a private lake, then finally after a highway detour, we found it! And it was closed! But we hadn't driven 130 miles to be stopped by a stupid sign. Seeing as how there wasn't a locked gate, barrier, or armed guards preventing us, we went exploring anyway armed with naught but our jackets, flashlights, and keen sense of adventure!
(Sorry, can't figure out how to flip these pics)
The Descent
James and his very own water bottle
The funnest thing about exploring with a small child is everything is so real. James was absolutely CONVINCED that this was the cave of Droofus the Dragon. Except he was at work, so no one was at home. He initially balked at entering a huge dark cavern, but once we got going he was fine. He actually walked the whole way in and back.
We finished off the day with a splurge at Trader Joe's and some birthday cake donuts. (I made James sing Happy Birthday to me before I would let him have one.)
Fun times had by all!
3 comments:
Happy Birthday, Friend!!! I'm glad you had a wonderful day!!! Love the pics...btw, in order to flip them you rotate them in your file on your computer first...at least that's what works for me. :)
P.S. I'm totally craving donuts now...thanks! :P
That sounds like quite the adventure! I love Trader Joe's, utah should have one!
Wish I were there!
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