Linda and I left Joanie and Robert’s farm and drove east into the Cascade Mountains and then north toward Crater Lake. The drive along the Umpqua River was beautiful.

I’m always looking for new places to go, and one of those places was Crater Lake National Park. I lived in Oregon for three years while going to college, but between classes, working, marriage, and raising a daughter, I never took the time to drive the three hours to drive from Monmouth to Crater Lake.

We made it to Crater Lake National Park in the late morning. Unfortunately, most of the park was closed due to heavy snowfall. We were able to enter the park in the south entrance, drive up to the lake, and hike along a closed section of the main road which travels around the lake.

We left the park and drove north toward Bend. The Cascade Mountains are beautiful, especially when they have snow. One of the peaks we drove by was Mount Thielsen, an extinct volcano in Southern in Oregon.

We arrived in Bend in the early afternoon. The next two days we spent checking out the city of Bend and the surrounding area.