Catching up

After spending all day Saturday riding and fishing, we decided to do a little sight-seeing today. We chose to drive up to McKenzie Pass - one of my favourite places in Oregon. At the top of the pass is the Dee Wright Obervatory, a little castle-like structure built out of lava rocks. Inside are a bunch of slots you can look through which identify all the Cascade volcanoes that can be seen from here (there are a bunch).

Dee Wright Observatory

On Monday I drove Stan and Hilairy back to Portland so they could catch their flight the next morning. On the way up we stopped at the Willamette Valley Vinyards for a bit lunch and wine tasting. WVV is home to some very tasty Pinots, both of the Gris and Noir variety.
Tuesday I spent the day in Scio and Albany hanging out with my brother and his family. It has really warmed up again (35+ degrees yesterday) so we spent the day eating lunch, shopping, eating ice cream and playing board games.

It is hot again today and Dad has the truck so I am just hanging out, having a day to myself to get things organised and start thinking about heading home. It has been about month since we left New Zealand now and I am starting to miss it.

Helen left two weeks ago so that she could go on her expedition to the Kermdecs, so I am missing her too. We both get back to Wellington on Sunday the 19th.