Oh Brother, part ll

It's been a whirlwind of a visit which is, sadly, drawing to an end.

We have had a great time with Utley and hope we didn't wear him out schlepping him from vista to view point to lava bed to mountain top and back! 

Here are some photos from this weeks activities.

We walked along the river trail, Deschutes River Canyon area

A lovely sky with the Sisters in the background

The canyon, a river runs through it...

The river looks tiny from way up here.

The guys, on the new First Street Rapids Bridge

On a calmer part of the river.

 We drove over McKenzie Pass, stopping at the Mt Washington view point, to the Dee Wright Observatory

Jim and Utley stand before the lava floes and Mt Washington

Looking thru the observatory's windows

A giant wall of lava

A trip to Benham Falls

and the top of Lava Butte on the way back....

We went to lunch on the top of Mt Bachelor

The view from the chairlift

High elevation photography

The chairlift seems so high up when there is no snow on the ground

Hey! No horseplay on the chair!!

A lovely walk along Todd Lake

Mt Bachelor in the distance

A visit to Sawyer Park

 

Drake Park

Music and food in the park

We have had a great time with Utley and hope he has enjoyed himself as well. It was fun to be a tourist in our own town too.

Oh Brother!

Jim's brother Utley is visiting us!

We have been showing him around our new town, and seeing some new sights ourselves.

We've been having a good time, here are some photos of where we have been so far.

Jim and Utley on Pilot Butte

On the footbridge over the Dechuttes

Utley at Tumalo Falls

The brothers along Tumalo Creek

On the bridge in Shevlin Park

In the covered bridge over Tumalo Creek in Shevlin Park

Jim and Dana

At the Obsidian Flow near Paulina Peak

The view from midway up the flow.

view from the top, Paulina Lake in distance

Paulina Lake and Obsidian Flow from the top of Paulina Peak

Paulina Falls

Jim and Utley at the falls.

We hope to get more adventures in before Utley leaves so check back for more pix!

Another SUP

Sparks Lake

Today we went for a SUP on another of the hundreds of Lakes that make up the Cascade Lakes.

This lake is very different than Hosmer. Sparks Lake is much more volcanic. Lots of rocks on the shoreline. Though still a clear lake we didn't see many fish.

Still, it was very pretty and we had a great time.

These two sweet girls were waiting for their person to load his kayak. They let us give them lots of pets!

South Sister in the distance from Sparks Lake

Broken Top behind the trees

About half of the lake is surrounded by lava rock

Jim looking pretty strong in the middle of the lake

a little floating....

Lunch break, PBJ and water.

Broken Top

This woman was training her little dog to ride on her SUP.

This big guy looks totally comfortable.

Jim working on his kneeling stroke

Paddling back to shore

South Sister and Broken Top, Sparks Lake, and our boards.

Stay tuned... lots more lakes to paddle on!

'SUP dude?

 SUP on Hosmer Lake

SUP is Stand Up Paddleboarding. It's hugely popular here. Dana has wanted to try it since she saw someone do it on Donner Lake... so we went out for the first time for her birthday a few weeks back. 

Rented boards and took a lesson. It was great fun and not that hard to pick up.

Our SUPing so far has all been on the Deschutes River. Today we tried it on one of the many high alpine lakes in the Cascades.

Mama and baby ducks

Jim with the backside of Mt Bachelor in the background

Jim showing his good form, South Sister in the distance

Me and my shadow

Amazingly clear and shallow water makes for great visibility.

Jim practicing his Plank (I think our Pilates classes are paying off!)

South Sister thru the reeds

In the deep weeds.

Arrggh!

Fishies!

Mt Bachelor

Stopped for a lunch break, a lovely vista!

There are over 150 lakes along the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. More beauty and fun in Bend!

You can read about the area here