Belknap Pictures
We climbed Iron Mountain. Here is is being all iron-ish.
Apparently when Dan was driving over the Santiam Pass with my dad, he got all excited about the lava fields because he had never seen them before? I suppose we're mostly up there in the winter. So we went to the lava fields along the McKenzie pass, because they are bigger and ever so much more exciting. Those are the Three Sisters in the background. Or two of them, anyway.
YES THAT IS CORRECT IT IS A CASTLE MADE OF LAVA ROCKS. A lava castle, if you will. Also known as the Dee Wright Observatory. SO AWESOME YOU GUYS.
So, yup. Lava fields.
Then we climbed Rebel Rock.
I am wearing my most rebellious hat in honor of the occasion.
...and went past Cougar Reservoir at some point...
...and then found the hot spring. Or the Pretty Warm Spring, at least. The Damn Cold McKenzie River is on the left, the spring is in the shadows on the right.
And we lounged around for a while along with some old dude reading his newspaper (judging by his hippie camper van, he probably lives here) and then we went home.
We've applied for two places in Baker City; a cute 2-bedroom house that is being remodeled and a 70s-tastic apartment which is our "safety" place in case the guy who owns the house doesn't like us. We might look at more places tomorrow but probably won't apply to any more unless there isn't a fee involved.