Donaldson Crew Adventures

Kelly is gone on a girls weekend in Boise, so I took Friday off and we went up to Newberry Crater for the day.  We rented a small motor boat at Paulina Lake Resort for 2 hours.  A good deal at only $30.  We traveled across the lake to the north side where the Paulina hot springs are located on the shore.  We had the area to ourselves.  The hot springs bubble out of the beach.  

After the lake I wanted to take the kids from the water level to the top of Paulina Peak at just under 8000 ft which is accessible by road.  The kids enjoyed seeing where we had just boated across.  Notice the 'big obsidian flow' a massive lava flow in the greater crater area.  

We ended the day off with a bbq in the back yard.

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:

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