Vocano Country . . .

Views of Mt. Shasta, Pine forests, ranch land, ancient Lava flows and the bluest lake I have ever seen was the scenery for our vacation this last week! Our trip down Hwy 97 through Central Oregon, past Klamath Falls down Hwy 39 and 139 all the way into North-eastern California was incredible. Not only was the scenery amazing, the company was great! We started our trip on Saturday (August 29th) by visiting our friends Brooke and Troy Whittle and their family (we knew them in Sunnyside), who had moved to Big Valley California. They live near this little (and I mean little) tiny town called Adin in a beautiful valley near Mt. Shasta. We had so much fun seeing them with their country living and beautiful mountain view! We stayed up late talking, laughing and playing games - - and of course the kids had an absolute blast. Marcus is BEST friends with Devon and Cameron- and they had so much fun sleeping out in the tent trailer. Our time with them felt entirely too short!



All of the kids at church:


Brooke and me- - it was funny how many people in her ward thought we were sisters! I remember people would get us confused all the time in Sunnyside. I miss Brooke- I am so glad to have a friend like her, where our spirits touch even when we live far apart. It was a great visit.


Sunday afternoon, we all enjoyed a visit to Burney Falls State Park. It was incredible! It was so fun to see something we NEVER would have seen- what would have brought us to that part of the country? Thanks to the Whittles for showing us some amazing scenery! The forest and falls were so beautiful.


After leaving the Whittles house Monday (August 31), we went up to Klamath Falls to enjoy a stay at the Worldmark at Running Y Ranch. Again, we had fun sight seeing, swimming, relaxing . . .

We went to the Lava Beds National Monument on the way up to Klamath Falls. Although not "pretty" scenery- it was fascninating. The park is filled with Lava Tube caves (we just went in a few EASY ones), Lava flows, and other volcanic formations.






Tuesday we headed up north of Klamath Falls to Crater Lake National Park. Can I say Wow! Again- Wow! I haven't seen the lake since I was a kid. Last year (April 2008)when we did our big California trip, we weren't able to actually see the lake because of all the snow (see the post here). It was AMAZING to see the lake- I haven never seen such an amazing color. The forest scenery and geological history was also amazing.