We left Diamond Lake on Wednesday the 18th. Our intended destination was Cascade Lake, only about an hour north. Cascade Lake campground was a madhouse with families, children, barking dogs, etc. Around here, school doesn't start until after Labor Day. Until then, the families will be taking full advantage, as they should, of the remaining few weeks before school starts. Looking forward to Labor Day.
We continued north on Forest Road 46, the Cascade Lakes Scenic Highway. Stopped at a campground on Davis Lake. There had been a fire not long ago and the place was really ugly. On the north end of Davis Lake is an area where lava flowed into the lake. There is a free campground on the lake. At another time, we may come back here. It's called Lava Flow Campground.
We drove through a few more campgrounds, including Cultus Lake but were not happy enough to want to stay. It was getting late, by our standards, so we decided we would stay at the next campground we came across. It turned out to be Little Lava Lake. a small campground with 15 sites. What a find!!. We got what is probably the best campsite in the campground. Site #11;a pull through directly on the lake. On one of our walks, I saw a mink. A lady camping next to us was kayaking and saw beaver. She said if you get up before sunrise, you may hear the coyotes.
When ever we talk about our all time favorites, Little Lava Lake will come up.
We're staying here through Saturday then heading into Bend on Sunday.
We left for Bend about 8:30 on Sunday. In Bend, we drove by a beautiful linear park running along the Deschutes River. Later in the day, we stopped at one of the parks to let Gopher run for a while. Went shopping at Wal-Mart, Fred Meyers, and Whole Foods. Got all stocked up for another week in the mountains. We drove to the Pilot View State Park. This is the core of an extinct volcano. From the top, there is a great view for miles in all directions. We parked in downtown Bend and Carol & I had lunch at the Bend Burger Company. Carol was good, she had the very tasty Central Oregon Green Bean salad topped with chicken. There was enough for lunch and dinner. We're both on diets; too many bakery's. Over the last two weeks, we have each lost five pounds. Five more to go.
We stayed the night at the Scandia RV Park. $37/night. It's just RV's stacked on top of each other but served our needs for today. We dumped the tanks, filled with water, did laundry for a bargain $1/load, and now Carol is watching 50 channels of cable TV. Tomorrow, it's back to the mountains. Actually, the city was a nice change. Stopped by Staples and mailed Mom some more of her meds. and another $100 in cash. Mailed the broken router back to Cradlepoint.
