It has been a while since my last post. During that time we enjoyed our first extended vacation between work assignments. We saw some amazing places and spent close to three weeks back home, enjoying the company of our family and friends. It was great to see everyone. It is our hope to maintain these cherished relationships we have. It is the hardest part of our new lifestyle; being so far away from the people we love so much. We are now back in Oregon and have settled into our new home, a 5th wheel! We are loving it so far. It is cozy and comfortable. We will be leaving the Rogue Valley next week and heading to the central coast for the next chapter of our adventure. I will begin an assignment in the town of Florence, though we plan to park the 5th wheel inland in the town of Mapleton. I expect it to take some time to get caught up with photos and posts, but will do my best to share our adventure in a timely manner.

Our first stop on the road was in central Oregon, southeast of Bend at Newberry Volcanic National Monument. You may remember this place from a previous post. The Monument has three sections, with one we have still yet to explore. We tent camped 2 nights at Paulina Lake inside the monument. We just so happened to be here during a lunar eclipse/super-moon, which we had the privilege to experience from Paulina peek (elevation7,984 ft). The view of the 4×5 mile wide Newberry Caldera is breathtaking. Within the Caldera lies two lakes; Paulina Lake and East Lake, which are separated by a central pumice cone. Big Obsidian Flow, the youngest lava flow in Oregon, lies within the caldera as well. It was cold here, with water freezing overnight. The pro to this: we had the campground almost entirely to ourselves, which allows you to enjoy the serenity of the environment.