Into Washington, the hard way

We left Salem this morning and connected back up with the I-5 towards Portland.  Lot's of Father's Day traffic until we reached the I-84 where we drove along the Columbia River for many miles. The scenery was awesome, tall cliffs and huge pines everywhere we looked.  We drove past the spectacular Bridal Vail and Multnomah Falls, but we were going too fast to get a good picture.  Just another beautiful place we will have to come back and see on another trip.




The scary part of the ride came just before we reached our destination, the Bridge RV  Park campground in White Salmon, WA .  We had to cross the Columbia River on a narrow two lane bridge with barely enough room for our big fat motor home.  Kathe was hanging on to the sissy-bar for dear life all the way across.  We only had inches to spare on either side of our rear view mirrors.  Quite a ride.  Needless to say we won't be going back that way! EVER!

I am enjoying the RV park, but haven't see any wildlife yet except for the 3 Yorkies in site #30. 

We have a better site than they do with a peek-a-boo view of the river.  We planned to stay here for four days until we saw the train track which runs right past the park between our site and the river.  I've counted about 10 trains so far tonight. 

Oh well, "On the Road Again", as the song goes!

Silver Falls State Park

After a quick trip to the doggie park Kathe and Jim left me for the day to go to Silver Falls State Park, the "gem" of the Oregon State Park System.  The park is in Silverton, about 25 miles from where we are staying in West Salem.   To get to the park you have to drive past an area where Christmas trees are grown.  There were thousands of them in varying sizes, all very green and beautiful.

Silver Falls Park has over 9,000 acres of spectacular scenery.  The park's most famous feature is the Trail of Ten Falls, an eight mile hiking trail which passes by and under the waterfalls of the north and south forks of Silver Creek.  The old folks didn't hike the eight mile trail, but they did two shorter hikes to the most popular falls, North Falls and Souths Fall.
They bought the T-shirts to prove it.

After the hike they drove 10 miles in the other direction to the Left Coast winery for a little tasting of the famous Willamette Valley Pinot Nois and Pinot Gris.  Hiking apparently makes you thirsty.



I think Kathe felt sorry for leaving me home alone all day.  When she got back she took me for a hike on the trail in the wooded area around the perimeter of the park.  Lots of good rabbit and gopher sniffs back there.  Then she took me to the big grassy dog run where I ran around in circles till my tongue was hanging out.

Tomorrow we leave for Washington and the Hood River.

Down by the Old Mill Stream

I like to wake Kathe up at 5 AM every morning  just to keep her on her toes.  I get her up, make her get dressed, take her outside for 5 minutes and then after I'm sure she's wide awake and can't possibly go back to sleep, that's when I go back inside, curl up in her bed and go back to sleep!  It works every time.  This morning I felt sorry for her and I let her sleep till 6:30.

Today they left me behind ( I wonder why) and went into Salem to the Willamette Heritage Center at the Mill.  They have buildings dating back to the early mission settlement of Salem in 1834.  Methodist ministers were sent here to bring Christianity to the Native American people of Oregon.   A docent  in period costume took them on a historical tour of 4 buildings including a church built  in 1858.  Here she is showing us a picture of her late husband Jason Lee, one of the missionaries.





These buildings were all placed in a park-like setting on the grounds of the Thomas Kay Woolen  Mill.  This mill produced woolen fabric and blankets from l889 until it closed in 1962.  Exhibits inside the mill include all of the original machinery used to card, dye and spin wool into the finished goods.  Jim  was really interested in all the machinery and Kathe enjoyed learning about the process of making wool into fabric.

A little rain must fall

Well, it can't all be sunshine and roses can it?  It rained most of today.  It was a traveling day and we went through some pretty intense showers for most of the trip.  Passed a lot of small farms and ranches along the way.  Even the cows were huddled under the trees to stay dry.  As we got closer to Salem we began to see some sunshine and the famous Willamette Valley vineyards.  There are over 126 wineries in this area.  Wonder how many Jim and Kathe can visit in three days!

Not much exciting happening today.  I watched Jim clean the mud off the motor home as soon as we arrived and it stopped raining.  Kathe did the laundry and grocery shopping.  Guess, just because it's called a vacation you still have some work to do.


We are camped in a really pretty resort right along the Willamette River.  Lots of beautiful trees all around us.  Think I'm going to like it here!  

A relaxing day

It was nice this morning just to sleep in and not have to pack up and move again.  I know we are on our way to Washington and can't stay here forever, but it sure is a beautiful place.  I'm glad that we stayed two nights.  I heard them talking about extending our stay, but I think we are moving to Salem tomorrow as planned.

It was really cool this morning, I curled up in front of the fireplace and took a nap while they went out exploring in the little town of Canyonville. 

They found a very large antique store in town. Kathe picked up a treasure and Jim found a Louis L'Amour paperback that he hadn't read.  After that  they drove to the Pyrenees winery in the town of Myrtle Creek and stopped for a tasting and purchased some local Umpqua Valley wine.  That's where they found the covered bridge and took this picture.

Seventh Heaven at Seven Feathers

It took us about 4 hours today to drive from Mount Shasta, California to Canyonville, Oregon.  Our trip took us past miles cattle ranches in California before entering the green forests of Oregon.  There were several steep grades to go up and down and up and down again before we reached our destination.  We arrived at the beautiful Seven Feathers Resort in the late afternoon, and I think it is one of the best places we have ever stayed.  The sites are large and beautifully landscaped and there are walking paths and features all through the park.  It is rated a 10-10-10 Superior by Trailer Life and we definitely agree!  Even the dog park is beautiful, with nice fresh redwood bark and no weeds.




The casino and RV park was built by seven families of the Umpqua tribe, thus the name, Seven Feathers.  The casino has a beautiful sculpture of an eagle at the entrance that must stand 30 or 40 feet tall. After cocktails and barbecuing steaks Kathe and Jim tried their luck at the slot machines.  They came back early so I guess we didn't strike it rich.  There's always tomorrow.

Where's the lake?

Tonight is our second night here at Abrams Lake RV resort.  We didn't get to explore much yesterday because we got here so late.  The tiny lake was very disappointing, I've seen bigger puddles if you know what I mean.  We are camped between cedar trees that are at least sixty feet high.  The good news is that there are plenty of ducks and squirrels here to chase, if they would only let me.  I spent an hour in my lounge chair this morning watching and wishing.

Kathe and Jim found out that there are six lakes in the area with great hiking trails.  They went for a couple of short hikes to warm up.  They haven't been hiking in a while and their hiking legs are a little rusty.  As you can see from the pictures the views were beautiful at both lakes.

Castle Lake was seven miles away from our camp and at a higher elevation.  They hiked for a while until the rocky terrain made it too difficult to continue.  Not a great choice for the first hike of the trip, so they went to Lake Siskiyou where the hiking trail was flat and a lot more fun.

Tomorrow we head towards Oregon and the Seven Feathers Casino!