Day in the High Desert

We left Bend this morning and stopped in La Pine to see Heaven, Makalah, and Aden. Their grandmother did not tell them we were coming, so they were so surprised when they saw us driving up! It was great. They were very happy to see us. We spent a few hours at a lake with them.

Ben Likes the Water

Benjamin played in the water a little bit (he was so cute in his little swim trunks!) and Kevin swam for a while with Aden, diving for rocks and playing on a floating log. Makalah wasn't allowed to swim because she had a cold, so she stayed on shore hanging out with me and taking some pictures with the camera. Heaven found a baby toad, which was neat (I had never seen a frog like it).

Heaven's Toad

The lake was beautiful - looked like very clean water, and not too cold. Wendy (grandmother) says there are over 150 of them in the area, some only accessible by hike. We said our goodbyes, and headed out. While trying to find our way out of the BLM lands, the GPS kept telling us to turn this way and that when there were no roads to turn on - very confusing, but we managed. There were mountains of lava rock which was neat. I got out to take a picture and there were a ton of these moths swarming around. We got Subway and found a campground at Williamson River (aka Mosquito Haven!) Mosquitos were eating us up, but we had already paid for the site when we learned of them (lesson learned). We set up camp and walked to the river - only to be swarmed by 100 X as many mosquitos. Kevin carried some wood back to the site to start a fire (we heard that mosquitos don't like smoke). We were still getting bitten, but it seemed to help some. The night was cold and the ground was hard, but we managed to get some rest anyway. It was Benjamin's first night camping and he did great - he really enjoyed it despite the bugs.

Day in the High Desert

La Pine, United States