Day 4-Portland to Crater Lake and Bend

It sure is nice having family to recommend routes. Taylor told us the most scenic way to get to Crater Lake and which breweries to try in Bend.
It was a pretty drive with snow capped mountains and we even saw some lava rocks.

Two Mountains

Lava Rocks

Changing Terrain

We stopped in Bend on the way down to get some coffee at a little shop and checked out the area a little bit while looking for a gas station.

Coffee Sleeves by Autism Speaks

View out the back door

Then we stopped at Zig Zag Cafe for breakfast.

Then it was on to Crater Lake. Getting in was quick since Kira bought a year pass for the national parks, which is such a good deal, when she hit the first park on her trip. I was surprised at how narrow the road was with no shoulder in places. It made for a heart stopping moment when a motor home decided to pass a bicycle while we were coming towards it. Luckily our car is small and Kira hugged the edge of the road and made it safely by.

We stopped at a spot that gave us a nice view. A short hike up to a fire tower for another look and more pictures was up next.

Then we headed back to Bend for dinner. We ate dinner at Deschute's Brewery then wandered around looking for another brewery. The ones in the area were really busy, I'm sure part of it was the holiday weekend and a Friday night art walk that was just getting started with musicians setting up on the street. We decided to head to the campground.

Beers were too hoppy for a flight!

Pizza!

On our way out we drove by Cascade  Lake Brewery and it didn't look so busy so stopped there for a tasty flight.

Then it was on the campground. It was a beautiful drive through mountains and by lakes. It was a little tricky to find but we finally found it. The road leading to it was like a washboard.  We could only 10-15 mph and near end they actually had speed bumps!

Pretty Sunset

We liked the sandy site at first despite the huge ants because it was easy to set up the tent. However, the next morning with the tent covered in dirt inside and out we changed our view about that. I used quite a few wipes to clean some of the dirt off my legs. When we got to our first stop we looked a bit like the cartoon character Pigpen with dust clouds billowing from our shoes.

Our site had trees, a meadow and mountains in the distance. Very beautiful and peaceful.

You can see all of today's pictures here.
You can see all our travel pictures here.