Leaving California was a little hard, because it meant that my trip was REALLY starting now. No turning back…
The morning after the wedding (see California Dreamin’) I had over 7 hours of driving in Black Beauty to get to my next stop, The Tallest Town in Oregon! Driving from Arnold I went Northeast towards Sacramento, then East towards Reno (I didn’t count Nevada as I barely drove into and out of it), and mainly North back into California and into Oregon. During this first drive, I decided that I was going to try and stop at most, if not all, Vista Points, Viewpoints, and Rest Stops, for two main reasons. One, it is good for me to get out and stretch my legs a bit every now and then. Second, most of these stops have very good views of something I normally wouldn’t see because they aren’t stops on my trip.
I stopped at least five times during this stretch of my trip. I stopped at a rest stop near Donner’s Pass, where there was still snow on the ground, then at the Donner Lake view point.
My third stop was a little different. Just outside of Reno I noticed a lot of smoke, I don’t know exactly what caught on fire, but below is a picture of what I saw which had some flames, lots of smoke and a helicopter helping to extinguish the fire. The last two stops were a rest stop and a Wildlife viewpoint.
Finally, I made it into Oregon and to the Tall Man!
About 15 miles into Oregon is a town called Lakeview. For many years, when my dad was younger, he lived in Lakeview. This is where he met his now best friend, which I am lucky enough to call my godfather, Randy Utley. I spent four nights with him, his wife Terry, his son Jude, and his granddaughter Haley. Although, most of my time was spent with the beautiful 5-year-old, Haley Lynn!
The second night I was in Lakeview, there was a summer storm that rolled through for about 15 minutes. One unusual thing about this storm was that it started to hail. Of course, we went out to watch. Since it was still warm out, it had been in the 90s all day, and Haley had just gotten back from dance recital practice, we told her to run around in the rain and hail.
On Wednesday (LOL like I know what day of the week it is), the 21st, I went to see Haley’s dance recital with Randy. She did wonderfully and told me that she liked the tap dance much better than her ballet one.
Last year my dad and I went up to Lakeview so I could see the new land that my family owns. We have 160 acres about 10 miles outside of the main town. Haley loved my cowboy boots, so we got her a pair when we got home!
Thursday morning after breakfast, Haley and I headed out to our land. I had forgotten that my dad has an agreement with the neighbor to graze his cattle on our land in exchange for helping maintain the property like fence lines and such. Once we drove onto the property and got down to the first flat part I realized the cows were there and went back to close the gate.
Haley and I crossed one of the creeks that runs through our property and of course took lots of pictures! She even caught a butterfly.
I then dropped Haley off at home and said my goodbyes to the Utleys. I am very happy that I got to spend so much time with the Utleys, not only together, but also individually.
From there I was headed on the road towards Crater Lake National Park!
Click here to see all pictures from Part 1 so far
FUN FACT: You can’t pump your own gas in Oregon.
I love the picture of you and Halley out at the Crooked Creek property.