Bend Trip, Clear Lake, Part 1

Be sure to scroll through all 4 Parts of our Bend trip.  You may need to click on "older posts" to see them all.

A month or so ago, Phil was invited to go to a conference in Bend.  He had a general stipend to pay for food and lodging so we decided to make a family trip of it.  We looked into hotel rooms but we exceeded most of the room limits and rented homes/condos were too expensive.  I asked on social media for suggestion and was pointed in the direction of La Pine State Park cabins.  They seemed like a good fit so we made our reservations for Sunday and Monday night and invited my parents to join us and rent the cabin next door.    

So this trip ended up being...interesting.  

It all started with Sawyer's ear ache Saturday night.  This is not uncommon.  He is prone to ear aches and I have successfully been able to knock them out with garlic oil.  I made up an oil mix, applied the drops, and added ibuprofen, cotton balls, medical tape, and the drops to our toiletries kit.  

Then the long night began...my throat was so sore that I had trouble sleeping.  Sawyer was up needing ibuprofen, both the littlest two were up and Jubilee had an ongoing stomach ache.  Phil was up and helping fussy tired children non stop throughout the night and we were exhausted by morning.

But the morning came...and we got our sick crew packed up and in the car. 

I did the last minute cooler packing and when I set the milk down on the counter it blew out the bottom of the jar sending a full gallon of milk cascading all over the kitchen.  I mean we are talking counter tops, floors, the side bookshelf, drawers....Phil even had to remove the bottom drawer of the cupboard to clean behind them.  The vacuum just happened to be right under foot and had to be washed off in the bathtub.  I had to load up the content of the drawers into the dishwasher and launder the milk soiled towels as well.  The children waited patiently in the car while we spent the next 30 minutes cleaning up.  Was this a bad omen?....perhaps....

My camera (AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH) erased the glorious pictures of the mess leaving only this little snapshot of the silverware drawer.  

And finally, we were on our way...about 2 hours later than we had planned.  The drive up and over the mountains was breathtaking!  Yellow (maples?) dotted the dense evergreen forest and it was stunning.  

Our first stop was Clear Lake.  I have wanted to hike Clear Lake in Autumn for the past two years.  I wasn't so sure we were going to be able to make it with such a late start and with all 5 children feeling punky, particularly the older two.  The plan was made that I would walk around the lake with just my parents and Phil would stay with the children at the car.  There was no way that Sawyer was going to be able to make the hike and by this time Jubilee had started...what would become...the worst fussing and whining epidemic since she was two.  Glorielle was asleep and only Brighton and Evi, who were on the tale end of the cold with residual coughing would have even had a fighting chance.  

So off we went.  My parents quickly tired of my stopping to take pictures and continued on without me.  My camera was on the fritz again which was quite frustrating because the scenery was spectacular!  I so enjoyed the first half of the walk.  The cool of the woods, the illumination of the yellow leaves by the filtering sunlight, the amazing tropical hues of the lake.  It was lovely and I reveled in the quiet and the peacefulness except I wanted to experience this with Phil.  I day dreamed of walking hand in hand and spending our retirement years traveling in a little trailer and hiking all over America.  

I cropped this picture from the one above and enhanced the shadow and highlight of the picture to give a little more contrast.  I loved the clinging red leaves with the beautiful tropical  colors in the background. The water color is a true likeness!

I cropped this one from the picture above as well.

I love the little starburst coming through the tree bark.

About half way through the walk (it is a 4.5 mile loop), I ran out of steam.  I had tried to brush off being on day one of a full blown cold, not sleeping well, and not eating a good breakfast but clearly after 2 miles of brisk walking, I had to concede - I was sick and had no energy!  But, there was not much I could do but power on.  I ate some snacks that I had packed in my backpack and finished out the last 2 miles.  The good photography had been at the beginning of the walk so I just slowed my pace and kept it steady.

Meanwhile, my parents had made it back to camp and had taken Brighton, Evi, and Jubilee back along the trail to meet me.  Oh my....Evi was in the lead and ran ahead when she saw me which was the catalyst to a total meltdown by Brighton who had wanted to be first.  The last leg of the journey was dealing with an angry, yelling, and crying tantruming 4 year old, oh my!

We arrived in Bend in time for a late dinner and ordered pizza from a woodfire pizza place.  We had wanted to sit down and eat right there at the restaurant but with the amount of coughing and sniffling, I didn't feel right about infecting the entire restaurant with our germs.  There was quite a fiasco as the cashier was unable to figure out how to split up the bill and my ordinarily calm and patient husband was at his wits end by the time we had pizza in hand and were driving off to the campsite.

We made a quick pit stop for an emergency potty break with a child by the side of the road and arrived exhausted around 7:30.  We unloaded, ate dinner, and went to bed.

The night was not much better than the one previous.  It was like being in a barking seal cave only the seals kept getting up and crying.  One seal was sleep walking and had on shoes and was ready to head out the door wondering, "How did I get here?".  In the meantime, I tossed and turned all night with toilet paper stuffed up my nose because it was running so badly.

And thus ends, Part 1 of the Bend Trip.