Day Trip to Fort Stevens State Park, OR

The summer heat has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest.  We headed to the coast in order to enjoy some cooler temperatures today.  We didn't have time to get away in the motorhome, so this was a day trip in the car.  Fort Stevens State Park near Astoria, Oregon is about two hours away from where we live.  After loading our bicycles into and onto the car, we left home at 9:30.  We drove west on Highway 26, which is always a nice drive once we get past Portland. 

Our lunch-time view at Seaside

We ate our picnic lunch at the south part of the beach in Seaside.  The weather was cool, windy, and still overcast, so we ate the car, but we enjoyed the beach scenery while we ate.  This part of the beach is rocky, but the beach to the north is sandy.

Another view of the Seaside coast.

From Hammond Basin, looking across Young's Bay north to Washington

As we drove a few miles north on Highway 101 to Fort Stevens, the sun began to peek out and by the time we began our bike ride, the sky was entirely sunny.  We first stopped at the Hammond Basin which is a very big marina with a good view of the Columbia River and all the ships heading in and out of Astoria as well as many seasonal fishing boats.  We discovered that there's a 5-mile paved bike path along the river from Hammond to Warrenton.

The Warrenton bike path along the Columbia River

While the sky was still clearing, we drove to the south jetty at Fort Stevens and climbed up the viewing tower.  It's always cold and windy there, but the good view of the ocean is worth putting on a jacket.

South Jetty viewing tower

View from South Jetty looking north

View from South Jetty looking south

Finally we drove on to our destination, Battery Russell, where we parked the car (for free) and went on a ten mile bike ride on the paths at Fort Stevens and through the campground.  It's a wonderful place to camp and some of the sites even have full hookups. 

Battery Russell

After the bike ride we stopped in Astoria to have an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Stephanie's Cabin.  It's located along the Columbia River.  We didn't see any big ships, but we saw a couple of pilot boats coming back to town. 

The wreck of the Peter Iredale ship at Fort Stevens

We arrived back home around 6:30, tired from our long drive and long bike ride, but happy that we had experienced an exhilarating day of sights and activities!

A Week's Worth of Travels

Dave and I have been gone for almost a week, but I haven't had a chance to post a blog.  Well, I've had chances but I chose not to do it--procrastinating again.

Last Thursday we visited our son Jonathan in Bothell.  We stayed at Lake Pleasant RV Park again.  This time we had reservations and needed them because the park was quite full.  Jonathan bought a new-to-him car the day we arrived, so he took us for a ride.

Lynden is a Dutch-themed town.

Friday morning we drove north to Lynden, WA and stayed at Hidden Village RV Park for two nights.  This campground was okay.   The sites are fairly close together are are arranged with two sites facing each other.  That's good since it means we don't have to look at our neighbor's sewer hose, but it's bad if you are friends with the people you are facing.  We happened to be placed next to a large group with one site, four cars, one trailer, one large tent, three dogs, six adults, and numerous children and teenagers.  Even if they were trying to be quiet (they were not) there's no way that the noise couldn't have spilled over to our site.  We tried to change sites, but the park was full.   The reason we chose that park is that we attended a wedding near in nearby Everson.  Jonathan's best friend of eighteen years, our former neighbor, Ryan, married Malorie in a beautiful outdoor wedding at the home of friends on Saturday.  Jonathan was the best man and gave a touching toast to the bride and groom.  Both Ryan's mother and I were moved to tears as Jonathan recounted a few of the adventures that he and Ryan experienced together, as well as meaningful times he spent with both Ryan and Malorie.

Jonathan returning down the aisle after seating the groom's grandmother.

Ryan and Malorie were both German majors and said their vows in German.

While we were in Lynden, I visited the quaint downtown and was again impressed with how clean and neat the town was.  I visited my favorite store there, the Homespun General Store and found out that the store will be moving to a new location across the street.  Flowers were blooming everywhere along the streets.

One of Lynden's spacious, clean streets. 

Sunday morning we had planned to spend a few days in Hoquiam, but on our way south on I-5, we discovered a leak from our toilet.  Added to a computer hardware problem that was waiting for Dave at home, we decided to come on home.  The two problems turned out to be easy to fix (that's my talented husband who's good at fixing things).  On Monday afternoon we were able to head north again, this time only 80 miles north to Centralia.  We are staying at Midway RV Park, but once again it will be time to leave for home on Wednesday morning.  As Dave's football-officiating season gears up, our RV travels will diminish.  We've had a lot of fun times this summer!

Flowers in Lynden 

Rodeo

Last Wednesday night, Dave and I went to the Deschutes County Fair in Redmond, Oregon.  The main event that we attended was the rodeo.  Since the price of the fair ticket ($10 for me, free for Dave since seniors were free on opening day) included the rodeo, we couldn't pass up the chance to go to our first rodeo.  We were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed the rodeo.

The event started promptly at 6:30 pm with the entrance of a limousine containing the emcee, rodeo queens, and some of the better known rodeo participants.

The emcee was a great announcer.  He explained what was happening in each event so that we weren't totally in the dark about the competitions.  This announcer, making no apologies, opened with a prayer in Jesus' name.  Before he prayed, he said, "this is how we do things around here."

The rodeo was patriotic and family oriented.

The rodeo queens were impressive, especially when they rode their horses around the arena.  Look quick, because they go fast!

One of the queens opened the rodeo by singing the national anthem.

A drill team performed...

...and then it was time for the events.  We saw bucking bronco riding, both with saddles and without, calf roping, breakaway calf roping (done by women), and steer wrestling. 

All events happened very quickly and it was hard to snap a picture before the event was over!  We didn't stay for the whole rodeo because we wanted to have some time to see the rest of the fair, but we now have a new sport to follow--rodeo!

The midway rides were run by Funtastic, the carnival that our blogger friends, Ali and Ron, worked for last spring and summer.

This ride looked fun and different:

This fair was a lot of fun, especially since we were camped next door at the RV park and could walk back and forth. 

From Smith Rock to Juniper Golf

Yesterday was a full day--no time to write a blog.  After our early morning eight-mile bike ride around the fairgrounds, we made another trip to Cove Palisades State Park.  It was nice to see the lake again and even more boats were out enjoying the warm weather.  We drove through Deschutes Campground and even though it has full hookups, it didn't "float our boat"--sorry for the bad pun.

We drove on to Smith Rock State Park, located only three miles north of Redmond.  What a great park!  The rock formations reminded of the "rocks" we saw last year in Utah.  This is a climber's paradise, but we didn't bring binoculars, so we didn't witness any climbing.  And, of course, we didn't do any climbing ourselves, except for climbing in and out of the car to take pictures.  

After touring the state park, we came back to the RV for lunch and a break, and then Dave went next door to play golf at the championship Juniper Golf Course.  I did some errands and then joined Dave at the golf course to ride around with him on the cart for his last nine holes.  By then the usual afternoon breeze had come up and the temperature was pleasant at the golf course.  

About 7 pm we finished up at the golf course and decided to head to McMenamins Old Francis School restaurant in Bend.  We had a delightful meal while enjoying the ambience of one of their patio areas. 

Each of the McMenamins restaurants is different in style and theme. The Old St. Francis School has undergone a transformation from a 1936 Catholic schoolhouse to a hotel complete with classrooms-turned-lodging rooms, a pub, brewery and bakery, a movie theater, private meeting and event space and a soaking pool.

This morning we drove up to Sisters, Oregon, had breakfast, window-shopped, went to a couple of bookstores, and drove through the city park campground to make sure that we could fit our motorhome into one of their spots.  It's a go for a future RV trip to Sisters!

Tonight is the opening night of the Deschutes County Fair, and we'll walk over there from the RV park.  Tomorrow--we head for home!  Despite the hot temps it's been a great week here in Redmond, Oregon!

Lake Billy Chinook and the Crooked River

This has been another hot day, but right now, at 6 pm, we are getting rain, thunder, and lightning.  Maybe the weather will cool down a bit.

Due to the heat, we went for another early morning bike ride.  We rode at Dry Canyon again, but this time we only rode eight miles.  Once the ride is accomplished, we feel like we've gotten our exercise for the day.

Lake Billy Chinook

We packed a picnic lunch and headed north and west on Highway 97 to Lake Billy Chinook and Cove Palisades State Parks.  The lake was a busy place today, but we snagged a picnic table near the swimming area.  We didn't swim, but I waded in the water for a little while.  The water was cold, but not as cold as I expected.  Lots of people were swimming and floating on rafts.   

Lake Billy Chinook State Park rents boats, included patio boats and houseboats. 

Houseboats awaiting rentalA large houseboat tied up at the dock 

Views of Lake Billy Chinook from above the marina 

A fine view of Mt. Jefferson from the lake

Cove Palisades State Park contains two campgrounds.  We visited Crooked River Park and found it to be a very nice oasis of green near Lake Billy Chinook.  The park is open year-round and contains 91 sites with water and electric hookups.  Deschutes Campground, which we didn't visit, is open only in the summer and has 82 full hookup sites.

After leaving the lake, we drove back to Redmond on Highway 97 and stopped at the Peter Skene Ogden Rest Area, which besides being a rest area, has a good view of the vertical basalt cliffs that are on each side of Crooked River.  As you can see in the pictures below, there wasn't much water in the river.

Peter Skene Ogden, born in 1790, was a fur trapper and explorer of the western USA and Canada.  Many places have been named after him, including the city of Ogden, Utah.

Portrait of Peter Skene Ogden 

Crooked River is part of the Columbia River basin, being a tributary of the Deschutes River, which is tributary to the Columbia River.  It, along with some other tributaries, helped form Lake Billy Chinook (and Prineville Reservoir, which we visited last Friday).

The Crooked River High Bridge is a steel arch bridge that was completed in 1926. The bridge was eventually unable to keep up with the growing traffic demands of U.S. Highway 97 and a new bridge was built.   The old bridge is open to pedestrians.

In the other direction, a railroad bridge crosses the river.

We ended our adventure with a drive to Crooked River Ranch, checked out the two RV parks there, and admired the green (and the greens) at the golf course there.  The Ranch properties have a scenic view of the Crooked River Gorge.

'Twas another fine day in hot Central Oregon!