Jacqueline’s Jaunts

Ryan and Amanda's Steps –  4,479 Goofy Addison Amanda and Addison made breakfast/brunch: bacon, eggs (from her chickens), pancakes, potatoes, and strawberries. It was yummy. A lazy day for us. We did not do much. Tucker rode his bike on his pump track, Barry taught Tucker how to play frisbee, and I played with the dogs, Nalu and Lindy.  Ryan returned home from work, and we headed to Bend. Our destination was Deschutes Brewery—one of our favorite places to eat in this area. We were lucky enough to find close parking. Barry and I found tee shirts; our old ones are falling apart. Dinner was awesome.  Once home, we played UNO, a favorite of everyone. Playing with Tucker and Addison was so much fun. We ensured they did not sit by each other this time—no cheating in this game. We played two rounds, and Tucker won a game, and so did I.  Siri Questions - I'm sure there were more, but I can't remember 1. What is the sea level of Powell Butte? 2. What is the population of Powell Butt

Ryan and Amanda’s Steps – 2,532 Addison and Josey Today, the kids have guitar lessons in the morning. When they get home, we will visit the horses.  I did laundry, Barry paid bills, and we both caught up on email. We still have to keep up with home stuff when traveling.  The kids returned home, changed, and we walked to the horses. Their next-door neighbors, Chuck and Jan, are where the horses are kept. Chuck has a forty-year career with horses and rodeo. Chuck has taught Addison and Tucker how to ride and care for the horses. He loves the kids like grandkids. They are very lucky to have Chuck and Jan as neighbors. When Chuck started working with Addison, she tried riding Chuck’s other horse, Pistol. He was his namesake. He bucked off Jan and took off bucking with Addy. She only had one foot in the stirrup and pushed and jumped off before he got very far. After this incident, Ryan and Amanda partnered with Chuck and Jan and traded Pistol for another horse. Her name is Josey.   Josey ha

Crater Lake, Oregon, to Ryan and Amanda's Steps – 4,684 Drive Miles /Hours– 120/3 hours Travel day to Ryan and Amanda's. I was so excited to see them. While getting ready this morning, Barry left the garbage bag outside to add more, and one of the squirrels got into the bag. It grabbed the avocado seed, took it behind our Jeep, and ate a part of it. Gave us a good laugh! I wish I'd seen the squirrel carry it. The avocado seed might have been larger than the squirrel.  Even though this is a chewed-up avocado seed,  it looks like a chicken's head We packed up the RV and headed out around 10:30 AM. We did not hook up the Jeep because getting out of the RV park was a little narrow. I followed Barry out of the park. We stopped just outside the park, and I put the Jeep flashers on to be safe since we stuck out on the road a bit. Barry hooked up the Jeep, and we were off.  It was a good drive with minimal construction areas, something we always worry about. We arrived around 3

Crater Lake, Oregon Diamond Lake RV Park Jeeps - 2 Steps - 10,916 Today is hiking day. Again, we had beautiful weather. There is no cell signal throughout the park, so I could not ask Siri any questions today. I did have a lot I wanted to ask her.  We took the West Rim Drive to the East Rim Drive and stopped at Vidae Falls. This is right off the road. A small waterfall but very pretty. We met a couple that moved from Modesto to Colorado Springs. We talked to them for a while. We have considered moving to Colorado Springs, but we need to do more research.       We turned left off the East Rim Drive to The Pinnacles Overlook. At the end of the road, we parked and headed to the Pinnacles Trail. It was an easy hike, mostly flat, which my hips loved. The trail was gravel and marked with logs to the end. There were plenty of spots to stop and take photos of the pinnacles. Attractive how these were formed. We took so many photos in color and black and white. We stopped along the trail to adju

   Crater Lake, Oregon Diamond Lake RV Park Jeeps - 6 Steps - 8,015 W30 was the space we had. Great spot. We were surrounded  by a circle of pine trees.               Today was our first day to explore Crater Lake. Weather was in the 70's, and the sky was clear and bluer at 7,000 feet. It was a 20-minute drive to the North entrance. I wondered why the flag was at half-staff....duh, today is 9/11. Along the roadside were piles of brush and wood in a tee-pee shape. We asked the ranger at the gate, and she said they are small burn piles the rangers will burn when it snows.    Tee-Pee Burn Piles It was a six-mile drive to the lake, pretty pine trees, flat and rolling pumice meadows that were a different landscape than we had experienced before. We came in from the North entrance and took the West Rim Drive. Views of the lake are spectacular. We stopped at Watchman Lookout for our first good look at the lake. I was stunned at how gorgeous it was, and B I G. I was not sure what I was exp