July 25-27 Barlow Creek campsite

Well, we decided to go camping with some of our friends up around Timothy Lake, about 20 miles south of Mt. Hood, OR, and about an hour east of Portland. While it was a scenic drive, all of the campgrounds were full around the lake, and the surrounding areas. Leslie grew up camping in the area, so we followed her around until we found a beautiful spot next to Barlow Creek. We had a great time, and spent the next couple of days exploring Clear Lake and even made a tourist run up to Timberline Lodge. Sean & Sharon & family, Leslie & Jonathan & family, Aaron & Susan & family, Irene & family plus various other guest kids.



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4th of July at Longbeach WA (repeat!)

Well, here we are again at Longbeach again. Actually, we are in Ilwaco, which is about 5 minutes south of Longbeach, staying at the KOA. Things are going well, except for a few ants that decided to hitch a ride in our trailer. Our good friends Aaron and Susan have joined us, and are trying out their new (to them) classic 1973 Apache hard sided pop up trailer. Very cool unit. My sister and her husband Peter will be showing up shortly for some tent camping alongside. It should be a beautiful fireworks display on the beach tonight. Kyle tested out his new wetsuit a couple of times in the surf, said it worked pretty well!

Memorial Day 2008

Now this was a nice get away. We hooked up the trailer and headed for the coast. We had reserved a spot on the beach at the Cape Lookout state park. Mild weather, a huge beach to explore, and camping next to the muted rumble of the surf. We camped next to our friends, the Bauders. This was the first time towing with the truck, and it did very well. A little different to drive with the stick, and I think the mileage is a little worse, but overall it was fun. We even saw a huge California Barracuda (We think) laying on the beach, not to mention Bald Eagles, Osprey, etc.

Whirlwind tour of Tucson and San Diego!

Now this was a trip! We planned this last year, but airfare prices doubled in the meantime. The budget being what it was, we just threw everything in the ol' PT Cruiser and headed south. We drove for about 12 hours, stopped near Sacramento, then drove another 12 hours to Tucson. We took a quick break in Phoenix to visit with our friend Jeff Marcille and his lovely family. Yep, he's still a tech geek. Great dog too. Hopefully next time we can meet up with the rest of our old friends. We spent 3 days in Tucson visiting family, hiking the Sabino Canyon, and visiting the Desert Museum. While we were at it, we setup Carol with a Macbook so she could begin her big adventure on the web. Then, we hightailed it over to San Diego. That's a nice little trip, the scenery is nice around the dunes west of Yuma, and the rocky foothills going into California. Seaworld was cool, and the Electric Flyers of San Diego were showing off their planes at a nearby park. Very cool. Seaworld was seaworld, recommended, as was the San Diego Zoo. Next time we will plan an extra day to hit all the museums in the area around Balboa Park. So, here we are, back at home and recovering from our sunburns. Woo!

Thanksgiving 2007 in Azalea, OR

Well, it was sort of a last minute thing, but we were able to run down to visit our relatives in Azalea for Thanksgiving. I wish we could visit more often, but at least once a year isn't too bad. My aunt had some long lost relatives visiting from out of state, they hadn't seen them for over 50 years. I got to see some of my cousins, Kyle got to spend some time with his cousins, and Sharon got to visit and show off her famous cranberry sauce. The trailer towed great, but the door lock failed twice, causing some damage to the door when it opened on the highway. I was able to jam a piece of wood in the handle for the remainder of the trip. We had a comfortable night, but it was a little nippy the next morning, check out the frost!

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