What We Did on Christmas Break

Do you ever wonder what pastors do with their kids on Christmas break?  The kids and I have gone skiing every Christmas break since Adam gave Eve her fig bikini.  This Christmas the snow was rock hard and icy so we did the second best thing....

Climbing at Smith Rock.

Be sure to also watch each of the short video clips below.  And that's me behind the camera.  I'll climb with them next time...

Enjoy!

And here are the awesome videos.

2-3 minutes in length, and you'll love them!

Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway

Wow...what an amazing drive, right here in Central Oregon!

The Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway is a 60 mile scenic drive around the base of Mount Bachelor.  It's called one of the nation's most important byways by Scenic America.  It passes through the heart of Central Oregon, with multiple views of the towering Cascade Mountains as a backdrop.  Sparks Lake, Little Lava Lake, Elk Lake and many others are within a short hike of the byway. 

The mile-high area is punctuated by dark lava flows, pumice fields, lofty mountains, and deep chasms, which show the evidence of the volconac activity that formed it.  Enjoy the pics below!

Hart Lake @ Holden Village

Late in August a group of 16 from our church and 4 from a neighboring church went to Holden Village for a wonderful time together.  The food was excellent, the fellowship and conversations were excellent, the weather was beautiful, and it was an awesome time together.  Holden's programming left a bit to be desired, but everything else far exceeded our expectations. 

Below are some pics from a group of us who went to Hart Lake.  Wonderful hike.  The next blog entry has pics from my solo hike to Holden Lake and a video I made there.  Enjoy!

Holden Lake @ Holden Village

Below are pictures from my solo hike to Holden Lake.  Keep scrolling for the posted video...

In the far distance you can see the Holden mine tailings.  Holden Village is just to the left of there.  Yep.  Way left...

While I was up there I had this grand idea of making a Lutheranism 101 video.  Great idea.  Bad video.  The bugs were worse than the birds in Hitchcock's "The Birds."  Click on it for full screen and count the bugs on my head.  Here are some other highlights:
00:35--Zion Lutheran Sweepstakes announced.
12:00--Interrupted by a young couple hiking.
16:15--Inhaling a fly...
17:20--Young guy swimming in the frigid lake.
18:45--Bikini-clad young gal in the lower left hand corner...

Yeah, I think I'll do a re-do...

Benham Falls, Central Oregon

Benham Falls are rapids of the Deschutes River, located just south of Bend, and are about an hour from my house.  They are rated an unpassable Class VI rapids for watercraft and are the largest falls on the Deschutes.

Getting there on the dusty early morning road was beautiful (cough, cough...)  But when I got there I was awestruck at the relentless, powerful, ever gushing, never ending flow of relentless and constant water.

And I was reminded again of God's relentless and powerful and never ending love that constantly flows over us.  Unstopping.  Never ending.  Peaceful, but always flowing in a direction that invites us to remember the constancy of God's love.

Beautiful stuff.  Incredible Central Oregon.  Gotta love it.

Stein's Pillar, Ochoco National Forest

Stein's Pillar is a 350 foot ancient basalt volcanic plug just east of Prineville, OR, and is about 45 minutes from my house.  Named after the 1860's explorer, Major Enoch Steen, it has been misspelled so many times that they finally called it Stein's Pillar.

Formed from volcanic activity 44 million years ago, it has been shaped and molded from weather and erosion to shape this strange monolith pillar.

It was a gorgeous hike.  Lots of serenity and quiet.  Very good time to listen to that "still small voice" that is only there when we get away from the busy chaos of our lives and spend some quiet time in God's creation.  If you haven't been getting away, there's still time...

Enjoy!  I know I did.  Stay tuned for next week's adventure!

Adventure with Laura!

Last weekend Laura came over and we had an absolute blast.  We went white water rafting on Saturday...

 And this is called "Riding the Bull."  Class 3 and 4 rapids.  Great time and boatloads of fun. 

That night we went to the Deschuttes County Fair, had great junk food (including an amazing corn dog, of course), and went to a rodeo.  It was Laura's first rodeo.  She decided she didn't want to date a cowboy.  Fine with me.  The next day we went to church, where she said people "treated her like a rock star" because they were so nice to her (Thanks, Zion Friends!), and in the afternoon we went to Smith Rock.  Pics below:

It was a wonderful with with my incredible daughter.  I'm such a very lucky dad!