Continuing from yesterday's post, here is what we did while camping at the
Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Central Oregon.
On the way down the mountain we stopped at a viewpoint to admire Mt Bachelor (left) and the Three Sisters.
Sounds like if there's one Bachelor and Three Sisters, there's gonna be a girl fight in the future. Of course, one of the Three Sisters has a bulge and geologists are monitoring it for future volcanic activity...
Hwy 20, west of Bend, Oregon - from our "dash cam" at 55 mph.
Can you imagine living in this house? Oh, what an incredible view to have in your backyard!!
It's about a 2+ hour drive over the Cascade to get home and I want to show you something. This is Mt. Jefferson in the distance:
Heading west on Hwy 22 - heading downhill, riding the brakes, rounding a curve, and oh, what a view. It's hard to see in this photo, but the white bit above the trees in the center of the photo is snow-covered Mt. Jefferson. (In July.)
This photo is out of order from our road trip home, but I wanted to show you what the forests normally look like going over the Cascade mountain range - lush thick forests.
Now take a look at what we encountered near the mountain pass...
B&B Complex burn area
It's a shock to drive through mile after mile of lush forest, then go around a bend and see this. These trees were part of the B&B Complex burn that devastated the area a few years ago.
Since the fire, there has been some new growth, but it's still incredibly different from the rest of the forest. This pointy mountain (below) is Mt. Washington.
The B&B Complex was an extreme forest fire that raged through this area in 2003.
There is a pullout on the highway where you can park and walk to a viewpoint. There they also have signs that explain what happened. I'll let the signs do the talking:
Ahhh, at last.
No matter how much fun you have on vacation, it's always good to come home.
Highway 22 coming into Salem
I love zooming down this hill.
Shot at 55mph from the "Dash Cam" - this is usually one of the prettiest views of Salem. (Not so great when your windshield is dirty, but still very nice.)
We're sure the cats were glad we were home, too.
The cats babysat themselves.
Since we were only going to be gone for two nights, we just put out a huge bucket of water for the cats and filled up two pie plates with food. I guess we overestimated their appetites, but at least they didn't starve for anything more than attention.
So as I'm harassing the two, Frank tells me to be nice to his Baba.
Baba?
"Yes," he says. "That's what I call Ollie."
(Remember, Frank is the Deaf guy...)
"Why Baba?" I ask
"You know," he says with a twinkle in his eye. "Ollie Baba."
... I smacked my forehead as I walked away from the weirdo.