Vacation!! First the playmate cooler needed to be refreshed!
On the road to the Oregon outback. Paisley Oregon here we come.
Donner pass still has snow!
First night is in Reno. We found a brewery at happy hour. We were very happy!
The Shoe Tree!!! We had no idea there was a shoe tree along the highway but Jerry came to a skidding halt when we saw it. There are hundreds of shoes hanging from it. So the next time we are coming this way I am coming prepared with a pair of painted shoes with our names on them to toss up into the tree!
Look who we found!! We got to meet up with Randy (Jerry's twin brother) and his wife Cathy and spend our vacation with them! These two are such fun to hang out with.
Our first night was at Silver Lake Hotsprings where each of us had a cabin. As you can see it is really hard relaxing here.
We went into town - ok actually it isn't a town it is just a road that happens to have a restaurant on it - for dinner. Randy became obsessed with the fact that they had soup on the menu but in actuality didn't have any soup at all. I thought the waiter was going to ask him to leave.
Then we all got into the hot springs and watched the sunset which was glorious.
The inside of our cabin at Silver Lake Hot Springs.
Breakfast the next morning. They we were off to the town of Christmas to go to the Paisley Caves.
On our way to the caves!
They tell me we are going to hike up over rocks - giant rocks - to the top of this where we will see the caves. I do not hike up over rocks but I am not going to stay behind so off I went to hike up over rocks and I did it! I didn't even fall which was remarkable in itself.
We did it!!! Jerry found an arrowhead in between two rocks and I found a skull - animal of some sort.
my skull!
very cool caves!
That night we went to the Cowboy Dinner Tree for dinner and we had reserved two of their cabins for the night. Yes, this is the restaurant and believe me if Randy and Cathy hadn't already been there before and raved about the dinner we never would have stopped there.
This is the gift shop.
This is our cabin for the night.
Randy and Cathy's cabin had the added benefit of having the potty right near the bed - just in case you really needed it quickly.
The outside of our cabin.
Awaiting our dinner.
No, he is not mad at me and I am not dissing him. Cathy just took the picture at the right time when both of us looked like this. Pretty funny tho.
Dinner time!
The dinner is awesome. They bring out a giant bowl of salad as soon as you sit down and a pan of sweet yeast rolls. This is followed by a giant bowl of beans to share - the bread was wonderful dipped into the beans. Then the main meal is served. They have either steak or chicken and you have to order it when you make your reservations and yes you HAVE to have reservations. I ordered the chicken and everyone else got the steak.
yes, you get an entire chicken and a baked potato.
and the steak which is sirloin is the size of your head and it was cooked perfectly.
I will now cut into my giant bird.
YES!! cooked the way we like it - RARE!!!
Later that night we sat out at the cabin and this is the way we got rid of the mosquitoes. If someone had come upon us sitting outside they would have thought we were some sort of a cult. All of us had knit scarves around our heads and wrapped in blankets.
Randy and Cathy's cabin.
We nearly wrecked the car when we drove past this in someone's front yard. It is a giant metal dragon. You can see that under the right front foot is the head of the slayer. The dragon won. How I would love to have many many of these in the field.
The next day we drove to the Crack in the Ground which is a two mile long 78 foot deep crevasse caused by an earthquake. When you first start into the crack it is 90 degrees outside but by the time you are mid way into it the temperature had dropped almost 20 degrees. The walls along the way are beautiful.
This wall especially enchanted me.
yes, once again I was climbing up and over rocks.
This wall was also intriguing.
we must have been in the cool part of the walk here because I am not sweating.
We decided that this rock looked like a bear and that each of us should have our pictures taken being scared of it.
I have never seen my bil unshaven. I think he rather enjoyed being scruffy for a few days.
My beautiful sil Cathy. She is beautiful inside and out.
Apparently randy isn't afraid of the bear rock and wants to kiss it.
Randy really should wear sandles more often and take off those socks.
Our last night was spent at Harris Cabin. This is where the mosquitoes got ridiculous. when we pulled up and I opened the car door the car was filled with them. We took turns spraying each other with Off. It got so bad that at one point I thought we were all going to be dead in the morning because of the Off being on our skin and our inhalation of the stuff.
This is a very cute cabin with a pull our futon bed and a bedroom. Full kitchen and bathroom.
what we did when we weren't spraying each other with Off.
Dinner of left overs from Cowboy Dinner Tree.
The comparason of the twins legs.
We had to stop here on our way home. Bass Pro - Jerry was in heaven.
Home again! Dorothy is right. There is no place like home.
