Sunriver, Oregon

We moved just about 20 miles from where we were in Bend. We were just a little further south at a place called Sunriver. It is a purpose built community and we really enjoyed it. We even got to ride our bikes. There are about 26 miles of bike paths. We spent time just relaxing, doing more cross stitch and sewing. I finished another Christmas present.

We worshiped at a small church in Bend and spent some time with the pastor and his wife over lunch. We had to get our winter clothes out because it turned quite cold. There was a heavy frost on one morning and then Friday morning there was snow covering the ground. It was just a dusting but was neat to see. We took a walk in the afternoon with snow flurries in the air.

On our way to California on Saturday we marveled at the increase of snow on the mountains. We took a side detour to Crater Lake National Park. It was breathtaking. The roads had snow on them and the trees had snow on the branches. Then there was the lake. Again the majesty of God’s creation was awe-inspiring. We stopped at the visitor’s center and learned how the lake was formed from the volcanic eruption. We found it interesting that the eruption caused the decrease of magma below and the mountain (Mt. Mazuma) sunk and formed the crater. Then over time the crater filled with water. It almost never freezes entirely over in the winter. The last time was in 1949. There is an average snowfall of 44 feet per year. And it was cold and windy with a temperature of 22 degrees.

Central Oregon - Bend

Where has the week gone? It seems as time has just flown by this week. I have been staring at the computer and trying to figure out what to write so I'll just write about a little of the geography. The area that we are in is called the high desert area in central Oregon. We are in the Cascade mountain range and are surrounded by the Deschutes National Forest. Instead of one major mountain we can see Mt. Bachelor, the Three Sisters and Mt. Washington, all to the west of us. It is drier because we are on the east side of the mountains. The pine trees are wonderful and the deciduous trees are beginning to turn color. The weather was quite warm at the beginning of the week and then it turned a little cooler, cloudy and rainy.

We learned that there has been volcanic activity here as little as 1200 years ago. We walked through part of a lava tube cave, carrying our own lantern.

It got to be too rocky for me to navigate without falling and with just a lantern we really couldn’t see much of the lava formation so we didn’t walk too great of a distance but we enjoyed what we did do. We walked a trail through an obsidian flow. It was just amazing to see the differences of the lava and to watch the black glass sparkle in the sunlight.

We again are seeing wildlife. This week we saw an owl, a chipmunk (he wasn’t scared at all), a bird that I have to look up, more deer and very large gray squirrels.

We also got to add another stamp to our National Passport book.

We did some looking in the stores and made a few purchases. We found a Bath and Body store, which I dearly love. We had a “spa” evening and had a great time. We did a body scrub, facial mask, cucumber pads on our eyes, foot soak and scrub and simple back massage (rub). We plan to have one each week. The only thing that we are really missing is our Thai massage.

Bob finished the cross-stitch and I completed the backing for 16 more bookmarks to send to our friends overseas. I did some sewing and cutting work for Christmas. It is October and we can hardly believe it. We have been traveling for six months now and most of the time we are quite comfortable. I still love to spend time reading and relaxing and I definitely get tired of riding on some days. But all in all we are doing well and having a great time.

Washington Shore

We love to take pictures of flowers and I couldn't resist posting this one.

We left the Mt. Baker area on Friday, September 19 and drove southwest toward the ocean. We crossed onto Fidalgo Island where we went when we took the ferry except that this time we went south down to the tip of the island. It is farming area. At the south tip we crossed over the bridge at Deception Pass. We learned that the water actually “boils” when the tide goes in or out. We could see it when we stopped. The bridge itself was high and beautiful as we crossed onto Whidbey Island. Whidbey Island is the longest of the islands and the second longest in the U.S. We spent some time in Coupeville, enjoyed some delicious clams and cod and explored the shops. We went to the lighthouse at Fort Casey and enjoyed watching the deer eat berries.

We have been going to National Parks and getting passport stamps in our book since 1986. We found out that there is a passport book for lighthouses. Well, we started one of those also and now have three stamps in it.

We drove to the south end of Whidbey Island and at Clinton took the ferry to Mukilteo where we stayed two nights and went to the Mukilteo lighthouse.

It rained most of the time we were in Mukilteo. On Sunday we drove down through Seattle and were glad that they had an HOV lane because there was a Seahawk game and folks were all coming into town. We hunted another lighthouse close to Tacoma at Brown’s Point. We drove through Olympia and saw the capital from a distance. We are lunch at a restaurant called The Rusty Tractor. I couldn’t resist a picture and a special one of a Farm All for my dad.

We had a beautiful drive from there to Ocean Shores. If you look for it on a map you will see that Ocean Shores is way out on a long peninsula. It was a fun place and there was much more to do than we could accomplish. The first morning we took a walk and ended up walking over 3 miles including down to the ocean.

We saw four deer out getting their breakfast. The walk was more than I should have done as my ankle flared up again. We did go to Gray’s Harbor Lighthouse which is in Westport just across the peninsula. BUT we had to drive for 1 ½ hours because there was no ferry across at this time of year. We drove all away around Gray’s Harbor. I talked Bob into stopping at a roadside store for seafood. We went to Brady’s (right across a bridge) and bought some crab, scallops, shrimp, salmon and oysters. We learned that the oysters were grown right there in the ocean water under the bridge. They were the best oysters I have ever had. We had oyster stew two days. We didn’t take a trip on Tuesday and it rained Wednesday, Thursday and part of Friday. I worked on some Christmas projects and will post those pictures in January.

We decided to head to Oregon on Saturday. We stopped at Fort Vancouver National Park before we crossed the Columbia River into Oregon. The river is awesome. And we finally get to mark off Oregon. This is the first that either Bob or I have been in Oregon. We drove quickly through Portland and then headed southeast to Bend. We didn’t study the topography well before we left. We drove up into the mountains and close to Mt. Hood. We were surprised and even more surprised as we viewed the huge deep gorge cut by the Deschutes River. We may try to see more this week. We couldn’t get any pictures on the way.

We are so thankful for safe travel and good health. I am getting stronger each day, but not as fast as I would like. We have been especially remembering our friends in South Asia that are in areas with unrest. We trust in the Lord’s protection each day and pray for each of our friends.

Way Up North

More and more and more of God’s beautiful world.





















We left the Chelan area and drove north and then west following what is called the Cascade Loop Scenic Highway. We left the apple grove valleys and made our first stop at (old west) Winthrop for lunch. It is in the Methow Valley and is entirely done in western frontier era, complete with wooden sidewalks.




We then headed to the section called North Cascades Highway and discovered that it wasn’t until 1972 that the modern road Hwy 20 traversed the North Cascades. We stopped at many places for pictures and I will include some below. The color of Lake Diablo was just astounding.


We finally got to our destination close to Glacier, Washington. And it was true; there is no cell reception or TV. The mountains are too tall. We stayed at a timeshare right off of the highway that goes up to the Mt. Baker ski area. There is only one road up that direction. We journeyed up there one day and saw all of the different mountains and the snow.
We didn’t do much hiking because my ankle is really acting up. We did walk on the trails early each morning. The Nooksack River was right out our patio door and we could not only view it but hear it running at all times.

We did hike for a couple of hours one afternoon on a trail by the Nooksack River.
Coleen’s cousins grew up in Deming, Washington which is only 24 miles from where we stayed. We took a drive through there down to Bellingham, then north to Lynden, by Sumas and back to the resort. We were only 2 miles from Canada. Coleen had been to Deming when she was 12 but did not remember that it is basically all farming areas specifically dairy. They also have berries.

One morning we got up early (4am) to drive to Anacortes and take the car ferry to Friday Harbor.




It is one of the San Juan Islands and has a National Park on it. It really was a fun day. The ferry trip took just over an hour and we spent the day driving around the island (a total of 50 miles). We got our park stamp and also got to see two lighthouses. We had delicious clam chowder at a little restaurant for lunch. We ate dinner at Charlie’s which was immediately after we disembarked at Anacortes before we drove back to the resort. We saw the fog come in and thought we would be driving for 2 hours in the fog. It was actually just a large fog over part of the water not on the land or on the entire harbor.

We played some games, read books and enjoyed the fireplace. We didn’t even get to the pool. I did go to a quilt store in Lynden. We went through the shops in Friday Harbor but didn’t find anything that we really needed. Not hearing the news we will play some catch-up this weekend, especially the outcome of Ike. We have family and friends in the Houston area and are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers.