Even though it was the last weekend in October and the forecast called for temps in the 20's at night, we decided to go camping in the Cascades. Heck, it would probably be our last chance for camping til spring. So, we crammed the Jeep and heading into the Three Sisters Wilderness.

Since we were camping in the "off season", we arrived at Suttle Lake (one of the many beautiful lakes of the High Cascades) to find the camp sites closed... no worries, they didn't have the gates locked so we just got away without paying the camping fee. Thanks to a roaring bonfire and a bottle of Jameson, we stayed warm as temperatures dropped. The next morning, we packed up camp and headed for the Sisters.
 

The Three Sisters- a stratovolcano cluster. From the left- South Sister ("Charity") 10,358 ft, Middle Sister ("Hope") 10,047, and North Sister ("Faith") 10,085. Feeling spirited, we choose the tallest sister, Charity, for our hike.  

As we climbed the steep Moraine Lake trail to South Sister, snow began to appear. This was Keizer's first snow experience, and he was loving it. He'd chase snowballs down banks and be completely befuddled when it would disappear into the drifts. He really enjoyed making a mad dash down the hill then come careening back, skidding into our legs. Here, he contemplates doing it yet again...
 

South Sister reflected in Moraine Lake. Since we had trouble finding the right trailhead and the climb had been more strenuous than we had anticipated, we knew we couldn't reach the peak and hike back to the Jeep before sunset. So instead, we took some time to enjoy this gorgeous alpine lake. A trail guide had called Moraine Lake an "overused area to be avoided if possible" but as you can tell, we had no such problem...
 

We hiked up the ridge surrounding Moraine Lake to further take in the vistas. The boys with South Sister.
 

Broken Top Mountain- 9,152 ft 

Mount Bachelor- 9,065 ft. Said to have great skiing, with 71 runs and a vertical drop of 3,365 ft. Hum, not quite the East Coast skiing I'm used to.... but I can't wait!
 

After checking out the ski town of Bend, we drove back to Suttle Lake to camp. Luckily we had packed up that morning as the site we had camped in was locked up. The last site we tried was unlocked, so we pitched our tent, started a fire, and settled in for another cold night. While it wasn't quite as cold as the night before, the wind picked up to where the tent felt like it might lift off and fly into the lake. The next day, we choose to take the Old McKenzie Highway back, a mountain pass that would be closing for the winter in a matter of weeks. This took us through the Belknap Lava Fields, gray desolation that stretched as far as the eye could see.
 

Later we came to the most unique place, the Dee Wright Observatory. Thru precisely placed peep holes in the walls, you could look out and view all the various mountain peaks of the area. That is assuming it was a clear day. Sadly, we just had to imagine how cool this would have been. 

These three would have shown from the left: Belknap Crater, Little Belknap Crater, and Mt Washington
 

 

Next, we stopped at the Leaburg Fish Hatchery. This hatchery along the McKenzie River raises salmon and steelhead. This is one of the show ponds which displays Rainbow Trout. 

This big boy (the dark spot in lower right) is a Sturgeon, a prehistoric species of fish. This one is about 8 1/2 ft long, 50 years old, and weights between 250 and 300 lbs. Sturgeon can live to be 100 years old and over 15 ft long!
 

Once again, I have to include a goofy post-camping puppy pic...
 

Back in Roseburg, here are some updated puppy pictures. At about 6 months, hes quite an arm full!
 

Keizer playing with another PBR case while guarding the camouflaged R2D2� actually its our homebrew. We're trying to keep it warm so it can ferment. 

Bottling our brew. We ended up with 43 bottles of great beer, we hope� It should be ready in another 2-4 weeks.
 

Hum, from the looks of him, someone couldn't wait 2-4 weeks.
 

While I was at the wedding in Phoenix, the supervisors at the Safari decided Lassymija, the Education Alligator needed a new home. Upon my return, I learned that my coworker Wayne and I were to transport her down to Six Flags Marine World outside of San Francisco CA. Eight hour drive in a crappy van.... sounds exciting.... Lucky for us one of my best friends from college, Diana, lives in San Fran and she promised to show us a goodtime...

Of course, on that long of a drive, we all needed to get out and stretch our legs at a rest area... Lassy didn't take this opportunity to use the facilities, however, choosing instead to urinate in the back of the van! And for those of you that have smelled Gator pee, you know how atrocious that is...
 

We dropped Lassy off and went to Diana's for a great dinner of fresh salmon that her Dad had caught in Alaska. The next day we got a behind the scenes tour of Six Flags. First we met Louie the sea lion. 

I'm not sure, but I don't think Louie liked Wayne.
 

We got to see the walruses, penguins, the Butterfly Gallery, the sea otters, and last but not least, the dolphins! Here, Cupid's givin' me some sugar!
 

This is Alligator Isle, which will be Lassy's new home after her 30 day quarantine. Much better than the large metal tub she had at the Safari. She'll share it with a 10ft male and a 7ft female. 

After we left Six Flags, Diana took us to the city. First stop, the Headlands to check out the famous bridge.
 

From the bay out to sea...