"Bend sucks! Don't move here."

The first day in Oregon, we stopped in Bend and discovered Spork for lunch.  "Vibrant restaurant featuring Mexican eats, Asian fusion plates & craft cocktails in a stylish venue."    We fell for it and it was delicious.

Also spotted a bumper sticker:  "Bend Sucks! Don't move here."  Might as well say, "Oregon sucks! Don't move here." Clever ploy, but not working-we're moving here anyway.


We were driving south around Mt. Hood and other pointy peaks and saw bizarre black rubble along the road side. Not knowing what it was or why nothing was growing there, we spontaneously pulled over at the next right.  Around the curve, we stumbled upon another national monument and stopped in for some education and a walk:  Newbury Volcano National Monument contains several volcanic wonders. Lava Butte is a 500 foot cinder cone formed from an eruption covering 6000 acres over 7000 years ago.  We did not have correct hiking boots or head lamps with which to hike the mile long lava caves so we took the trolley to the top of the butte and ask the Ranger questions about how the cone was formed and why some areas grew vegetation and some didn't. When the volcano blew, it dropped, in some areas, 50 feet of rubble. Not much grows there.  When a nearby volcano blew, it sent ash as far as Lava Butte and beyond.  Ash can hold enough moisture that moss and molds start to grow and then trees etc. It makes for a very varied landscape.

photograph by Daniel Woodrum on the blog, Take my Trip

Crater Lake is just amazing.  It's deep (1946') and wide and azure and ringed by snow-covered mountains. I mean big mountains--just about as big as a Mt Washington sitting on top of a Mt. Kathadin:
11,250 Mt. Hood
6289 Mt. Washington + 5269  Mt. Kathadin = 11,558
In the distance Mt. Ranier -- even bigger  14,111.

That white dash in front of "The Phantom Ship" is the 37 passenger tour boat

We walked around some of the park and then drove as far as they would allow us around the eastern rim.  Roads are still closed due to snow.  The funniest sight (to us) were the markers along either side of the road for the snow plows.  In Maine we put up 4 foot poles.  At Crater Lake they put
up 30 foot poles!!!

<------- Judd here, admiring his senior national park card: good for free entrance to any national park for life !  At $10 it's a bargain but you over-62-year-old's better get yours soon--the price goes up to $80 next month. You can order them on line.

Changes to the Senior Pass (U.S. National Park Service)

https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/senior-pass-changes.htm

Jul 11, 2017 - On August 28, 2017, the price of the America the Beautiful – The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Senior Pass will increase for ...