Silver Falls state park

Well, we just got back from a trip to Silver Falls. It definitely has a few things going for it. One, it's very close to Portland, less than an hour and a half towing a trailer. Heck, I can't hardly drive across Portland in an hour and a half during rush hour. Two, you can get there without ever going on the main highways. We took 213 to to Silverton, then 214 to Silver Falls. Beautiful farming land, lots of interesting scenery. Three, very nice accomodations. We had spot #6, and it was comfortable, good shade and near the entrance. Water and electric, but no sewer, unfortunately. We found out our grey water tank is good for about 3 showers and some dishwashing. :-). Four, great hiking. The falls have some amazing scenery around them. Not a great amount of water running through in the summer, but the rock cutouts and trails under them are worth the trip. Be prepared for some elevation changes, you had better be in shape to walk 5 miles, sometimes up some serious inclines. The trails were generally wide and well manicured. We arrived around 5 PM and set up camp, which took about ten minutes with the trailer, totally awesome. Broiled some steak on the stove (eh), napped, kicked back and read books. The next morning, Phil and his son Jules (2 yr old) showed up for an afternoon visit. We took off on the short trail to see some falls around Noon, got back around 4 with some aching legs. Ate some PB&J, had some watermelon from our garden, mmm. Rested and read more books, finally got to see Napoleon Dynamite. Grilled some steak on the campfire (yum) and stayed up and watched the night sky for an hour, saw 3 shooting stars! Grilled marshmallows between chocolate cookies for desert. Slept in the next morning, ran back home by Noon. Woohoo! School starts tomorrow. Summer is over!


Silver Falls state park web page

Swift Shore Park, West Linn, OR

A few days ago we went to the local Swiftshore Park in West Linn. It's a tiny little trail that starts between two houses and goes down to one of the rivers. There is a great little swimming hole, with some scary rope swings for the really brave.
Swift Shore park google map

Lake Cushman - Hoodsport, WA

Our good friends Tim & Shannyn live year-round at Lake Cushman in Hoodsport, WA. We spent a couple of days there and got to see the Saturday fireworks show. They were a little short handed, so Tim asked me to help setup for the Hoodsport fireworks show. I said yes, and got to get closeup and dirty with some scary looking boxes of fireworks. The show was really well done, and the finale was quite spectacular. The next day we went tubing on the lake for a bit, and then made S'Mores by the campfire. Mmmm...

Fort Columbia

While driving around, we stopped at Fort Columbia on the Washington side of the mouth of the Columbia River. Very impressive for a 100 year old fort.

Independance Day!

Wow, what a day. We went out and did some shopping for a couple of books to read, stopped at a few parks in the area, then waited until sunset to wander down to the beach and enjoy the festivities. What a zoo! It was more than we expected. Hundreds if not thousands of cars and trucks on the beach for miles, and practically everyone was lighting off fireworks. We finally left 2 hours after sunset, and the show was only then starting to wind down. Wow. Best show we've seen in years.

Long Beach, WA

Wow, what a trip. We towed the trailer 175 miles the long way from West Linn to Long Beach. No problems, the Argosy tows like a dream. The Blazer is doing fairly well. I was a little worried about how it would handle with the 35" tires while towing, but it seems to do fine. The tires are definitely worth it on the sand, you just motor along, no problems.