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August 31, 2007

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Last weekend, our friends Stan and Terrie were down for an over-nighter. Stan came down on Saturday morning and we all drove to Seaside to pick up Terrie who had walked the Portland-to-Coast relay. It's all part of the famous Hood-to-Coast run, and we anticipated a huge traffic jam, but it wasn't bad at all. We watched some of the teams cross the finish line and after Terrie's team came in, we headed back to our place. It was really funny to hear some of the names of the teams. One that really struck me funny was a team of six walkers called "Five Ding Dongs and a Ho-Ho". They really use their imaginations. After Terrie took a nice nap (we all seemed to have dozed off) we went out to dinner.

The next day after they left, we packed up the motorhome. We drove three hours up to Cascade Locks in the Columbia Gorge where we had a date with Leslie's family for a few days of camping. They had been camping at the KOA since Saturday and were going to stay until Wednesday. This KOA camp is located on the Columbia River and of course that means it's also right next to a very busy train tracks! Trains went whizzing by at all times of the day and night. Of course they had to blow their whistles at every crossing and there were a lot of them too! Some of those trains went by so fast during the middle of the night that it felt like they were coming right into camp. After a couple of nights, we sort of got used to them and were able to go right back to sleep after they came by. I felt sorry for the people who were in tents because they were located in the part of the campground that was right next to the tracks!

On Monday, we decided to do go down to Multnomah Falls and hike to the top. The falls is only the second highest in the U.S. and it is a pretty steep switchback trail. I had hurt my hip a few days before, but decided to be a good sport and give it a try. I huffed and puffed up to the first bench we came to and decided that I would wait for them when they returned. It was a pretty steep climb. They did it all right and made it back to our bench in about 45 minutes. The view from the top is spectacular as you can see 50 miles up and down the Columbia River.

Leslie wanted to show her girls where she had camped when she was a kid, so on Tuesday we drove across the Columbia River to the Washington side and up to Mt. Adams and Smokey Creek Campground. We used to belong to a recreation club and we had an agreement with the Forest Service to use this camp. The girls had fond memories of many summers camping there. It had been a few years since we had been up there and Dave had gotten a map to familiarize ourselves with the area. It is mostly wilderness area and some of the roads haven't been maintained very well. After a few "oops, we missed our turn", we made it to camp. The cabins were still there and so was the horse barn and corral. We wandered around a bit and picked a few of the remaining huckleberries and explored a lava cave. After our trip through memory lane was over, we headed down to Trout Lake and Gilmore Valley where Dave's cousin Pat lives. They have this huge cattle ranch. Pat was in the process of making salsa from some of her peppers and tomatoes in the garden. After several "tastings" she finally came up with quite a "spicy" dish.

Next, we headed down to Pat's sister Connie's place. Connie has horses and the girls had a great time getting acquainted with Frosty, Mouse, Sunday and Pee Wee. We visited with them for a while and found out that more cousins were coming up on Wednesday so we were invited back the next day. We stopped at the Char Burger and we all ate burgers (another family tradition back in the day when we were headed for Smokey Creek) before we headed back to our camp. We were all pretty tired and we could hardly wait for it to get dark so we could go to bed.

The next morning, I fixed some huckleberry pancakes with the berries that we had picked and after breakfast we sang "Happy Birthday" to Ashtin who turned eight that day. She opened up her present from us, which was mostly clothes for school and some toy she requested called "My Little Pet Shop". She already has about 62 of these little pet shop characters but she needed more! They all packed up and left for home after that since both Les and Jay had to work on Thursday.

We decided since we had some time to kill before we headed back up to Connie's for dinner, that we would do the "Fruit Loop" in Hood River. Hood River is world famous for it's apples and pears and the Hood River farmers have this great marketing idea. They have made a map to guide you to all the local farm stands and they call it the "Fruit Loop". The map starts in Hood River and circles approximately 35 miles from start to finish. The scenic drive leads you through the valley's orchards, forests and farmlands. The view in the picturesque valley with the two towering snow-capped peaks of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams is breathtaking.

One of the stops on the tour was the Gorge White House Farm Stand. The house has been restored to its original structure dating back to the 1900's. After stopping at the fruit stand by the house, the clerk invited us to go inside to check out the wine tasting room. Low and behold, as we entered the house we were surprised to see another of Dave's cousins, Joanne behind the counter, pouring wine! She was just as surprised to see us! She works there a couple of times a week. We hadn't seen her for a couple of years and it was great to visit with her. We bought pears, apples and peaches and some huckleberry jam.

We went up to Connie's later that evening and enjoyed a nice meal of pork ribs, fresh green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and corn on the cob from the garden. Plus being able to visit with a few of the cousins made it a wonderful evening. We didn't get back to our motorhome until after 10:00.

Thursday we packed up everything and headed for home. After washing a few loads of clothes, getting caught up with the mail and getting a nice warm shower, it feels goods to be back. The weather was perfect and we had such a great time on our trip. We are already looking forward to our trip for next year.

Lara and her family are still vacationing in Canada. They have a cabin up there that they have to hike in to. Of course this trip was planned long before she found out she was pregnant, so I'm anxious to hear how the trip went. They'll be home on Sunday.

My sister is going to be here for a few days, visiting from Phoenix. Judy will pick Jeanne up at the airport, and then they will both be down here on Sunday and stay for the first part of next week.