Kicking off the "Fall Plan"

I'd love to say things have slowed down a bit now that we are back near Austin TX for the fall, but so far that isn't true!  We arrived back with just a few days to rest and pack up before leaving Max and flying to Washington State to visit my parents. We have learned that August in Texas is a great time to go somewhere cooler and they have graciously given us a perfect destination.  That said, the NW was having its own version of a heat wave, but to us "high 80s" is not a big deal when it is over 100 at home!

We spent most of our visit enjoying their WorldMark location near Bend, Oregon with my parents and aunt Pat.  Her middle name is Maren, so we are kindred spirits :-) Bend was a real surprise as it was a combination of lush and desert conditions, with dormant volcanic activity very close by.  One of our favorite day trips was to Crater Lake National Park.  I used my new cell phone camera to get some fantastic pictures of this place.

Closer to Bend, we checked out a candy factory (and boy were the samples delicious!), the quaint downtown area, the Old Mills district, and nearby High Desert Museum.  We also got out to the Observatory in Sunriver and, thanks to a moonless evening, got some great views of the night sky through an impressive set of telescopes.

Barn Owl at High Desert Museum

His otter neighbor

On the drive back to my parent's home in Burlington, WA, we passed a privately-built version of Stonehenge in Maryhill, Oregon. Needless to say, it is a bit more complete than the real one.  The owner had dedicated it to the area's war veterans and it was quite impressive.

As we were heading back to the airport to fly home, we took an amazing tour of the Chihuly museum near the Seattle space needle. Truly amazing what that man does with glass.  I felt like every picture I took was good enough to be a postcard.

Now that we are back at our RV park "home" in Georgetown TX for the fall, life will be our fall season routine of Gator football game parties, annual visits to our doctors, trying to connect with all of our local friends, weekly "attempts" at playing golf, and getting our fill of our favorite local Tex-Mex and BBQ. This is all very exciting for us, but probably a bit dull for our blog readers, so unless something unexpected happens, we'll give you all a break for a few months! Enjoy the fall!

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