It's always difficult to say good-by to my mom. You know she's wondering if it will be the last time. Had a great visit with her, my sister, Carol, and her family. 

We left Tuesday morning and pointed south toward Bend, OR, with Fritz fighting fierce and unpredictable head- and side-winds the whole way. We finally arrived at the Fred Meyer in Bend and found a relatively quiet corner of their parking lot. To our delight, it is right next to an irrigation canal off the Deschutes River! What a pleasant place to dry camp! 

We met up with friends, Jim and Anna from Prineville, who graciously gave us a tour of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument areas (those that were open anyway. We discovered they keep reduced hours after Labor Day, and today wasn't one they were open!). Took a hair-raising 4-mile drive up to Paulina Peak which overlooks Paulina Lake. There were also obsidian flows from long-ago volcanoes that oozed out of the surrounding mountains. Otherworldly!

Paulina Lake on the right with Three Sisters in the distance

Paulina Lake to the left, East lake behind and obsidian flows to the right

Anna and Jim at the outflow waterfalls from the lakes

After a delightful lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Bend, we bid our friends farewell, but not for long! We plan to reconnect with them in Arizona.

Next stop Boise, where we'll see more sights and meet new friends.

Well, I am unsuccessful at uploading the route map. I have to figure out how to make it a .jpg file from a pdf. If anyone can tell me how to do that, I'd appreciate it! 

Til next time further down the road.....!