Oregon

This past school year, Max came across a story in his spelling book about some playful otters at the High Desert Museum in Bend, OR. When he realized we were going to be in Oregon this summer, he requested we put the museum on our travel agenda. It was one of very few specific requests he made, so we were happy to accommodate him. And, today was the big day! The museum staff told us we were the first people to ever visit on the recommendation of a spelling book. It was a delightful little museum, and we all had a wonderful time.

Shadow puppet theater at HDM

Little eagle in its nest

Watching an otter play

Looking for the otters in the water

Max was enamored with the otters
 and snapped a pic of this one having a snack.

Playing in the pioneer village

From there, we headed over to Silver Falls State Park to hike on a trail we had read meandered through the forest and allowed hikers to pass behind a couple of waterfalls along the way. It was spectacular and was the favorite part of the day for most of us.

Waterfall #1

Behind the waterfall

A throne for the little prince

King of the stump

Waterfall #2

It's sort of magical to walk behind a waterfall!

Finally, we passed through Boring, OR, which is the sister city of Dull, Scotland, a village we visited a couple of years ago. Shortly after that brief stop, we crossed into Washington and checked another state off our list.

Our Boring stop

Playing with the trees and other fun things

We left Napa around 5:30 this morning and headed northwest. We stopped for breakfast in Garberville, before pushing on to the Redwood Forest, which was some combination of  lovely, amazing, and awe-inspiring. We got out to examine some of the trees more closely and to snap some photos, and when it was time to move on down the road, Clay whined, "But I want to stay and play with the trees!"

Not even close to filling up the stump

Peek-a-boo

 My gang and me in a cool hideout

Majestic Monsters

Even our monkey couldn't climb the redwoods

Out on a limb

He just wants to play with the trees.
Is that too much to ask?

As we continued our journey, we came across Elk Meadow, which was actually a meadow filled with elk and not just a clever name for a wide spot in the road.

So many elk!

Many hours later, we arrived at Crater Lake in Oregon, only to find it almost completely obscured by fog. But the bigger adventure may have been tromping around in the substantial amount of snow, dressed for 90° Napa. We were quite a sight!

Inappropriate weather for mid-June, if you ask me!

Foggy Crater Lake

The boys loved the huge snow drifts
 and wanted to stay and play for a while.
It should be noted that they never once talked
 of putting on pants; they only wanted their gloves.

We finally made it to our campground in Crescent, OR, around 9:00 tonight, thrilled to have checked another state off our list but tired from the long day on the road.