Catching Up, Part 5- "Down Under"

No, I don't mean Australia. What summer in Central Oregon would be complete without a trip to a cave. Off China Hat Road, right where the pavement ends is the entrance to Boyd Cave.
Of course, Tilley is pretty much where she always is, by my side.

Marc and "Tilley the radioactive dog" at the end of the cave.

Not to be out done, Matt also makes it to the end.

Catching Up, Part 4, "A fishing trip to remember"

Fishing at Paulina Lake became second nature by July and many of the trips' memories blend together. But this trip was special. Kerry came fishing with Marc and I and became our "photo journalist". While I won't post all the pictures from the trip, I need to point out that the subject of most of the pictures was "Tilley the fishing dog". Not fishing, not her husband, but Tilley who can be seen here in both her relaxed and alert positions.

Marcus with Paulina Peak in the background. Seems to be enjoying himself.

Fisherman hard at work. Marcus showing great form keeping his "tip up" while I net.

You can tell we're having a "horrible" time!

And finally, if great weather, catching fish and special time with family weren't enough, the Master Himself puts his personal stamp on the day as we're coming home.

Good,

better,

amazing!

Catching Up Part 3 "Stuck in a rut!"

On the way back from Summer Lake we took a little detour...several miles of gravel road, seemingly on the way to nowhere! However, we found what we were looking for, unmarked except for a little parking lot, "Crack in the Ground". After a short 1/4 mile hike we were in.

At some points more narrow...

at some points more out in the open...

sometimes having to climb...

sometimes having to "think small" or narrowly escaping disaster...

and sometimes simply incredible.

We walked back along the top of the "crack" and encountered these Prairie Falcons perched on the top of this Juniper tree. Check back for "Catching Up, Part 4 "A fishing trip to remember."

Catching Up Part 2 "Anniversary in the Outback"

Marc and Kerry were with us for several weeks this summer and were gracious enough to invite us to share their anniversary with a trip to Summer Lake in Oregon's Outback. On the way stopped, explored, hiked, climbed and had lunch at Fort Rock State Park.

Wild flowers were in bloom.

This next picture of Kerry gives you an idea of how large a formation Fort Rock is. You can see trails on the far side and farm land reclaimed from the desert on the prairie below.

"Tilley the mountain dog" and I much prefered the shade on this hot day.

"Marc the mountain man" with me below.

Marc and Kerry, and ("oops, must have slipped") Marc driving his mother crazy.

On to Summer Lake...Various views of the Summer Lake Inn, cabins we stayed in and lounging on the deck.

Looking...Summer Lake at Winter Ridge...Winter Ridge at Summer Lake from Fremont Point...

...and of course the "cute couple" still married after a year.

The evening before we left for home we were gifted with this gorgeous sunset over the lake.

Catching Up Part 1 "Spring Fishing"

Opening weekend of fishing season at Paulina Lake with Paulina Peak in the background. What an amazing place. Our next door neighbor from Eastern Idaho who spends the summer fly fishing the upper reaches of the Snake River with a view of the Grand Tetons commented that he couldn't believe how beautiful it is at Paulina. Many hours of the spring and early summer were spent catching fish here as many of the following pictures will show.

This will be the first of many blogs, Catching Up Part 1 "Spring Fishing".

This picture was taken from a point on the hike to Little Crater overlooking the southeast corner of Paulina Lake. The area at the top of the picture on the far shore is where we usually fish. Jane like this picture so much she put it on her screen saver at work.

The rewards of the hike? A couple hours of fishing and fresh fish for dinner. Even Lexy got into the action on this trip. She caught this one.

Stay tuned....