Too much. . .

fun, candy, cuteness, and pictures!

The boys had an awesome Halloween and I took way too many pictures to share tonight. This one should tide you over, though, til I get to the rest!

Crater Lake, take 1

I know, I know, I'm always saying how busy I am lately. I'm kind of in disbelief about it myself, but it is what it is. . .

I'm sitting here with a preschool full of smiling faces that I preserved on memory cards this morning (still in need of editing), at least 300 images from our trip that haven't even been touched, and a disaster of a house (with my mom arriving tomorrow!).

Even if it takes me the next year, posting just 1 picture a day from our trip, I will get through them all! Here's one of my favorites from the next stop on our journey, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon.

We hiked down to the shoreline to see the crystal clear water up close, and even though the skies were gray, the water was still a deep blue. I loved looking up and seeing my guys silhouetted against the scenic backdrop!

Bend

After stopping at Craters of the Moon in Idaho, our next destination was Crater Lake in Oregon. There really isn't a direct way to Crater Lake, so our journey took us through the town of Bend, Oregon. We only stopped for a few hours, but it was long enough to enjoy the colorful scenery downtown and get some dinner and a beer at the Deschutes Brewery.

After cruising through downtown, we walked down to the lovely waterfront park.

We enjoyed the ducks. . .

. . . and blew off some steam!

We knew that the only way to tackle a 2200 mile roadtrip was in little bits, with plenty of stops and no more than about 8 hours of in-car/road time per day. Thankfully, we had some nice pit stops!

Ten on Tuesday: The travel edition

1. We're on "Shertzer Road Trip 2010" and it's been quite the journey. Traveling with two small kids is not an easy feat, but these two have done fairly well. Hayden is a little more adaptable than Benjamin, but after a few days they both got into the groove of being on the road. They certainly enjoy getting to watch shows as we tick away the miles!

2. First, we drove out of Montana and into Idaho.

3. I have to say that my impression of Idaho is "brown." As far as the eye could see, there was just brown, brown, and more brown. Oh, there were mountains in the distance, but everything between us and them was brown. Even the mountains looked brown.

4. Idaho does win the prize for best signs, though. Shortly after passing through Rexburg, I spotted a sign for "Beaver Dick Park" and not long after a political sign for a man named "Crapo" was encouraging us to vote for him.

5. After Idaho, we crossed into Oregon.

6. Oregon is apparently very busy protecting its citizens from themselves, with no shortage of rules and regulations posted everywhere. The maximum speed limit on state highways was 55 mph. And as soon as we crossed the state line, a sign announced that helmets are required while on motorcycles. The picnic area/rest stop we had our lunch at prominently posted signs about where you could park, where you could eat, and where you could (and couldn't) have your pets. The restroom doors had a permanent sign of rest stop regulations, no less than 17 items long, right alongside a sign on the door indicating that although it was the women's restroom, someone of the opposite sex who is providing assistance to a disabled person may enter (provided they announce themselves first). Signs posted along the river in Bend declared that you should not feed the ducks because it's bad for them and that it's also against the city law. Oregon seems to pretty much be the antithesis of Montana!

7. Speaking of Bend, we stopped off there for a few hours and enjoyed a nice park along the Deschutes River (but we didn't dare feed the ducks!) .

Rich and I were last in Bend in 2005 and loved it--nice downtown, cool shops, amazing running and biking trails, skiing just down the road. We added it to our short list of "dream towns" where we might someday like to live. When we pulled into town this time, my first remark was that it seemed to big for me (population ~80,000)--never thought I'd say that! Then as we strolled along the beautiful river and into downtown on a nice Friday afternoon, just about the only people we saw were pot-smoking, punk-looking, brooding, early-20-somethings. Bend has a nice, happening downtown--where were all the normal people?!? We weren't too crushed, though, because while our visions of Bend were shattered, we're now even more sure that Bozeman is our perfect spot.

8. After a stop at Crater Lake (more on that in another post), we headed into California.

9. And I have to admit that although I do love Montana, I think California might just be the most beautiful state. I guess when you have so much land mass, you have lots of room for scenery (although Texas can't really claim that!). Anyhow, every single mile of road we've covered in northern California has been jaw-dropping. We watched Mt Shasta for hours, looming larger and larger as we approached and then receding again as we headed into Redding, only to head up toward Mt Lassen and then down to the Sierra Nevada range and Lake Tahoe. All just breathtaking! (this is Mt Shasta, below)

10. I overheard the narrator on the Planet Earth episode Hayden was watching this morning (he loves that Discovery series!) remark that there are over 6 billion people crowding onto planet Earth. And I thought it kind of amazing that most of the four days we spent driving (and well over 1200 miles covered) passed through barely inhabited terrain, with miles of quiet nothingness (some more beautiful than others) in every direction you looked.

Craters of the Moon

We're on "Shertzer Roadtrip 2010" and kicked off our journey last week. Rich has a conference in Lake Tahoe and last fall (while on our Colorado road trip) we hatched the idea of combining a trip to the conference with a tour of some national parks of the northwest. So, off we went, minivan loaded. . .

First up was Idaho!

As soon as you crest this small hill and cross the state line, you are greeted with a view of the Tetons way in the distance. Yes, they are in Wyoming, but they are right along the Idaho border, so the residents of eastern Idaho get to soak in all their glory. So did we on our blue sky day!

Our first National "Park" was actually a "Monument"--Craters of the Moon National Monument. It's an enormous area, covering a dormant volcanic area, covered in lava rock that is barren and stark, but beautiful in its own way.

Most of the National Monument is undeveloped, but a loop road runs through the north end and several short trails were built for exploring the area.

You can hike up and into this cinder cone, and basically see a whole lot of rock.

The coolest part of the stop, though, was a hike across a lava field to lava tunnel, which you could explore like a cave. In fact, there are 3 tunnels in the same area to explore, but only 1 was suitable for the littlest members of our group, Indian Tunnel. The 1/2 mile hike to get there was impressive, too, and both of my little explorers insisted on hiking it by themselves.

This is the norm for hiker Hayden lately, but Benjamin now insists that he's a big kid, too, and must hike all on his own.

After a slow 1/2 mile, we descended into the lava tube.

Hayden was prepared with his Buzz Lightyear head lamp!

And loved playing the role of cave explorer. . .

Just like his little brother. . .

It was a great couple-hour break from the car, exploring a very unique landscape!