Fun Pit Stop

Yesterday we left our little southern Oregon home to drive to Prineville, Or to do some work related stuff for my husband. On the way home we took a scenic (read very narrow and winding) route from Sisters, Or to Eugene, Or. The little strip of road is the part of the McKenzie Highway that closes during the winter. It's very narrow and kind of treacherous in places, so they don't sand or plow it. You can't take a trailer or bus down it, so you are just left with motorcycles, cars and trucks. There were a ton of really cute camping places but what we loved was the Dee Wright Observatory. You can read more about it here.

It's an observatory built out of lava rocks, on a lava flow. It is amazing! There is a paved trail all through the lava flows with signs telling you what you are seeing, how the certain types of lava formations ended up where they are and a ton of other really interesting tidbits. The road that you drive up on was originally a wagon trail that they improved and paved at a much later date.

But the thing that gets you is coming around the corner and seeing this castle looking structure on the skyline. We had to stop, and it was a nice place to let the kids out and stretch their legs. Kevin and I both found it odd that we didn't know it even existed, but are we ever glad that we stopped to look.

The trail is an easy 1/2 mile loop and all of our kids did it with no problem. I would highly recommend stopping and taking a look around or making this stop part of your Eastern/Central Oregon vacation plans. We are already planning a trip back next summer to look at this again and to see a few of the other places between LaPine and Prineville that we had to drive by because of our time constraints.

The girls loved this stop and there was a ton of information about volcanoes, lava and the living history of the area to make it a really educational stop as well. It's worth the hour that you are going to be there!