Paradise Found

Diamond Lake, OR

We only had about an hour or so between campgrounds today so we decided to take a scenic drive through the mountains on the Cascade Highway. Good decision. We drove along a two way highway thick with trees and when we reached a high point in the road there were even more trees as far as the eye could see. Occasionally a snowy mountain pinnacle peaked through.
We arrived at Diamond Lake, just a bit north of Crater Lake, about noonish. Last year my buddy, Neise, and I camped on this lake and we really enjoyed the 12 mile bike path that circumvented the entire lake. (Of course the annual square dancing hoe down at the resort was a hoot too!) I vowed to come back with Ned and I can't think of anything that makes me happier than having Ned with me, healthy and up for the ride.
This lake has the largest USFS campground I've ever seen and it takes up one complete side of the lake. There are also several smaller USFS campgrounds on the south and west side. Knowing that it's a holiday week we didn't have our hopes up for getting a campsite, let alone a primo one. Voila! We were in luck and scored a campsite right on the water.
If you've been following us the last 6 weeks it'll come as little surprise to you that the first thing we did was jump on our bikes. We rode to the resort, sat on the patio and had lunch, and then took off for the bike ride around the lake. Spectacular!! This ride is simply amazing and one of my faves. On a paved path you ride alongside the lake, through meadows, groves of ponderosas, through marsh land and near wildflowers. It's a nice up and down mix, with an occasional bridge or stream to cross. It really is one of the best bike rides.
After that fun adventure and working up a sweat, we couldn't wait to pull on our suits, blow up the floaties and test out the water. Yeah! It was heaven. We swam and goofed around in the water forever. At one point the wind was blowing us down from our campsite so Ned, Mr. Engineer, rigged up this entire system. It consisted of a large branch lashed to a fallen tree then a rope tied to it. We then tied the rope around Ned's ankle. So, all I had to do was hold on to Ned, who would then pull us upstream with the rope. We were laughing so hard at our goofiness that I thought I would drown. The only reason we got out of the water was to go for another bike ride. This time our mission was to scope out each and every campsite on the lake (The loops go from A thru M) to find the perfect one. Ned would dictate into his iphone as we drove by the sites such things as "This one would be great with kayaks" or "This would be perfect for Little Ricky and Winnie".
There is a resort here, but I definitely use that term loosely. It hasn't been touched since 1957 and it shows. There's a well worn lodge, some very dated cabins, a tackle & bait shop and general store that basically specializes in campfire food (s'mores anyone?) and a boat rental shop. If Banff and Lake Louise were the epitome of upscale this is the other end of the spectrum. But you know what? I love this place all the better for it. Nothing makes me happier than seeing families bike together, kids playing in the water, and people fishing. One of the best things about this lake is that a wake over 10 mph is not permitted. As a result, there are no speed boats or jet skis. It makes for such a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere. At one point late this afternoon, we sat at our campsite and watched a group of people float by in their rafts. It was hysterical watching them with to stay together as a group while balancing their beer as they sat more in the water than out on half filled air mattresses.
This evening while sitting at our campsite we watched the sun slowly sink over the lake and behind the mountain. Ah, summer you can't beat these good times.
This is our last night on the road. Tomorrow we head home and I can't think of a better place to stay to celebrate our last evening traveling. This place has all my favorite things: a paved bike path, great swimming, a beautiful view of the lake and great people watching. (Of course the flush toilets and showers ain't too bad either). I feel incredibly blessed.

A little of this...a little of that

La Pine State Park, near Bend, OR

The winds picked up again on the Columbian River Gorge this morning, which was much appreciated. It was so strange and unusual yesterday to see the Columbian River so still. I'm sure all the windsurfers in the campground were relieved too! Knowing that it was going to be another scorcher we headed for Mt. Hood, with a side trip through the Hood River Valley fruit loop. We stopped at the different farms and sampled every kind of cherry available! My favorite stop was the lavender farm. The brilliant display of flowers next to the lavender field with Mt. Hood in the background was spectacular. Loaded down with Rainer, Bing and Santa Rosa cherries we headed for the mountain.
The biggest surprise when we entered the parking area of Timberline Lodge was how jammed packed it was, including about 50 buses. There was even someone directing traffic. Turns out that Mt. Hood is open for summer skiing - who knew?! It didn't look like great skiing, but every middle school, high school, and summer camp ski team was there. According to the staff at the lodge this ski resort is open through August and September, only shutting down a few weeks for maintenance. It was funny seeing people in tank tops, shorts & flip flops walking next to snowboarders and skiers with jackets, powder pants and helmets on.
To continue with our tradition of eating at all the great lodges of the Northwest, after taking a tour of Timberline we stayed for awhile and enjoyed a nice lunch. Surprisingly, it was pretty low key given how many skiers and summer vacationers were wandering around and the plethora of buses in the parking lot. (I'd definitely recommend the apple and hazelnut salad and Ned said his Cubano Panini was delish).
As we drove off the mountain and into Eastern Oregon the temperature was edging towards 103. Our goal for the night was to find a campground where we could swim, soak or just cool off. We drove by Cove Palisades campground, but it looked too darn hot in the desert-like terrain with the heat baking everything in sight. Next stop Tumalo State Park that had campsites right on the river. Unfortunately, the campground was full. We continued south and finally found an awesome campground a bit south of Bend. It's called LaPine and true to its name is located in a nice pine forest. In fact, Oregon's biggest tree, a 500 year old Ponderosa Pine, resides here. We found a great camp spot in a wooded area and couldn't wait to jump on our bikes to explore this rather expansive state park. We found a dirt trail in the woods and decided to follow it. As luck would have it the trail took us along the Deschutes River. The river looked picture perfect and so inviting!! We rode along the trail for awhile then decided to head back to camp, pull on our bathing suits, grab our floaties and go for a swim. We located a perfect spot along the river, were delighted that we had it all to ourselves, blew up our floaties and ventured into the water. HOLY SMOKE - DANG - $%^&@# - this was the coldest water ever!!! We were on tippy toes, holding onto our floaties for dear life and could barely tolerate getting wet up to our knees. I'm talking brain freeze. This water makes Lake Tahoe seem like a warm bath. So, here we are so darn hot and we can't even get cooled off in the water. We tried sprinkling it over us, but even that was just too darn cold. Time for Plan B. When we were riding on the bike trail we noticed the day use area across the river. Little kids were swimming in there. We thought perhaps the water was warmer there and came up with all kinds of scientific theories - there's a wide spot in the bend, it's shallower, etc. We convinced ourselves that the day use area was nirvana and we were just going to have to join the public. We had a bit of a bike ride to get there and our floaties were now blown up. We looked like complete idiots in our bathing suits with floaties around our neck riding through the park. We laughed so hard that I almost fell off my bike. (That and I couldn't turn my head to see anything). After a bit of a bike ride, and even hotter yet, we eventually made our way there. Again, floaties in hand we entered the water. AGH. Too cold for me! We watched little kids run in and out of the water and a few brave souls float down the river in big inner tubes, but no one was really swimming in the water. It sure made me miss the South Fork of the Yuba River back home. Nothing, I mean nothing beats swimming in that!
Since we failed miserably at getting wet in the river, we decided to take a spin through the park and check out all the attractions. We saw the biggest tree and made our way to MacGregor's Viewpoint. Both pretty impressive. We finally got cooled off back at the campground with some nice cold beers.