Kelly wasn't feeling well, so I wanted to get the kids out of the house this afternoon. I decided to try Tumalo State Park. We have never been there before, and I was pleasantly surprised. Its a nice shallow river and its only about a 15 min drive from our house. We hung out for a while in the late afternoon and then headed over for some dinner at Taco Del Mar.
This weekend the weather was warm so we decided to head up to the Cascade lakes to cool off for a swim with our neighbors - the Rice family. Our destination was the beach at the south end of Elk lake about 38 miles from town. To get there you pass elk lake resort, pass the campground and look for the sign not far past the campground indicating the day use area on the left.
We stopped and picked up sandwiches at Subway and then we were off! We arrived around noon and we were not the only ones looking to enjoy the nice weather. The beach was full but due to limited parking (we got one of the last spots) it keeps it from getting too crowded.
Elk lake like many of the cascade lakes has the mountains as a backdrop. At this beach South Sister dominates the backdrop. The water was actually pretty warm as well considering it is still only mid-July.
Here is a short movie Kelly shot from the beach:
Hunters friend Jack Lovejoy turned 10 and for his birthday party his dad Mark rafted a few of them down a stretch of the Deschutes just south of Bend - how cool is that! Here are a few shots from the afternoon fun. There wasn't quite enough room in the boat so I sat this one out but got some great video of them going through a section of class 3 rapids near lava island!
Today I wanted to take the boys up on a mountain hike for some views without a lot of steep uphill mileage. I selected Triangulation peak. While it was about 1:45 drive from bend to the trailhead, it looked to be a hike with some great views of the massive Mt. Jefferson Volcano and a fun hidden cave. The hike was about 4.5 miles round trip with only some minor elevation gain to get to the summer with the amazing views you see in the photos. Also some great wildflowers along the trail
We also hunted and found Boca cave as well that allows for a very unique shot of Mt. Jeff framed in the cave entrance. The cave has been used for centuries by Indian hunting parties to get out of bad weather.
First family camp trip for Abbie and PJ. We went with some neighbor friends of ours (the Gillettes) to Rock Creek campground on Crane Prairie Reservoir in the Cascade Mountains. Just one night but a fun time even though it was a bit of a cold night. Here are a few pictures around camp.
On Saturday afternoon we did a hike to Lucky Lake. Preston gave it a good go but I ended up carrying him most of the way:)
A couple of panoramic shots from down at the lake below our camp site
Hunter is in the second lane. This is a race he won.
