June 12-14,2007
(s/w of Portland, OR
We spent a night at Champoeg SP along the Willamette. Only 1 1/2 hrs from Silver Falls.
Janice has headed to Portland for a meeting with her publisher.I will be moving the rig to the von Tagen 'park' shortly."
Final notes from Silver Falls (along with many photos of falls)
Cloudy with Sun Breaks
June 10-12, 2007
Silver Falls State Park
After gassing up in Salem at Costco en route ($2.99 a gallon!) we cruised through the countryside, rolling farmland, vineyards and soon, Christmas tree farms as the road steepened. A curving, two-lane road. No logging trucks on Sundays!
Entering Silver Falls State Park, we headed for ‘our spot’, space 72, which we enjoyed last year. Nestled along a bubbling creek, it’s relatively distant from other campers. The only negative: No internet. Tried to put up the antenna and search for a signal, but the dish just kept spinning around. Too many trees. There are spaces where a signal would be possible, and they will be duly noted for any future visits.
Later in the afternoon we headed to Silverton, 15 miles away, for an early dinner at the Silver Grille. We toured the town for about an hour. Many nice older houses and some sprawling new ones. (“This must be where the doctors live.”) This is a town that caught our fancy last year when we visited it on a mild July day, catching the middle of their antique festival. Our ardor dimmed during last winter when daily weather reports for Silverton were “45 degrees, rain.” This at a time when Sacramento was enjoying a very long Indian summer into November. (Better make that “Native American summer!”)
Carly was ‘housed’ in the back of the CRV, so we stopped at the city park for a ‘walk’ prior to our 5:30 dinner reservation. We were hoping that Carly would leave a donation to the park, but she moved cautiously after seeing a sign warning of mountain lions.
Once at the Silver Grille, we first noted that our reservations were overkill. For the first 45 minutes, we had the place to ourselves---a window table facing the sidewalk. We were ‘shills’ to attract pedestrian interest. Their carrot soup was fabulous, but the entrees were only average. Janice’s salmon (with mini potatoes the size of grapes) was served in an aluminum foil package with oven-proof saran wrap on top that required a bowie knife to cut through. I had mussels, which were pretty good, except I think the chef slipped me a few empty shells to make it look like I had hit a mollusk jackpot. Lurking in the back of my head was why we were the only ones there? Had there been a recent ptomaine episode that we were unaware of? Towards the end of our dinner, another couple entered. They were in their 50s, and the snippets of conversation and nervous giggles led us to conclude it was a ‘first date.’ Possibly from the personals: “Male seeks female for cold, wet Silverton winters.”
Monday found us in he hiking mood, ready to do the whole Silver Falls canyon hike. (We omitted the 2 mile loop to North Falls last year.) How would our weather be??? The weatherman from the Portland station we received on our batwing antenna reported enthusiastically: “ Cloudy with sun breaks.” Yep, sun breaks. That’s what they call it in Oregon when the sun peeks through. Little children run into the street when there’s a sun break. Bikinis suddenly appear from beneath heavy wool coats. “Better slap on some SPF 50 today, I hear we’re gonna have sun breaks. “
Our hike was great, and the weather man was right on. Possibly 3 or 4 sun breaks during our 3 ½ hour walk. No rain though. Ideal 60 degree temperature.
The canyon hike (5-7 miles, depending on whether you do the whole enchilada) is, foot by foot, taking into consideration relative ease, lack of crowds, and scenic vistas, one of the best hikes we have ever taken. Ten or so waterfalls are visible as you walk through a non-tropical rain forest. Ferns, trees, flowers. Just great! No dogs allowed on this trail though. We did have to keep moving to stay ahead of a school bus full of 3rd graders who were on a field trip. These were Spanish speaking kids and it is likely that they had never seen anything like this. I quizzed them whether they had seen mountain lions in the canyon. “ El gato grande? Caramba!!Vamanos amigos.!!”
June 10-12, 2007
Silver Falls State Park
After gassing up in Salem at Costco en route ($2.99 a gallon!) we cruised through the countryside, rolling farmland, vineyards and soon, Christmas tree farms as the road steepened. A curving, two-lane road. No logging trucks on Sundays!
Entering Silver Falls State Park, we headed for ‘our spot’, space 72, which we enjoyed last year. Nestled along a bubbling creek, it’s relatively distant from other campers. The only negative: No internet. Tried to put up the antenna and search for a signal, but the dish just kept spinning around. Too many trees. There are spaces where a signal would be possible, and they will be duly noted for any future visits.Later in the afternoon we headed to Silverton, 15 miles away, for an early dinner at the Silver Grille. We toured the town for about an hour. Many nice older houses and some sprawling new ones. (“This must be where the doctors live.”) This is a town that caught our fancy last year when we visited it on a mild July day, catching the middle of their antique festival. Our ardor dimmed during last winter when daily weather reports for Silverton were “45 degrees, rain.” This at a time when Sacramento was enjoying a very long Indian summer into November. (Better make that “Native American summer!”)
Carly was ‘housed’ in the back of the CRV, so we stopped at the city park for a ‘walk’ prior to our 5:30 dinner reservation. We were hoping that Carly would leave a donation to the park, but she moved cautiously after seeing a sign warning of mountain lions.
Once at the Silver Grille, we first noted that our reservations were overkill. For the first 45 minutes, we had the place to ourselves---a window table facing the sidewalk. We were ‘shills’ to attract pedestrian interest. Their carrot soup was fabulous, but the entrees were only average. Janice’s salmon (with mini potatoes the size of grapes) was served in an aluminum foil package with oven-proof saran wrap on top that required a bowie knife to cut through. I had mussels, which were pretty good, except I think the chef slipped me a few empty shells to make it look like I had hit a mollusk jackpot. Lurking in the back of my head was why we were the only ones there? Had there been a recent ptomaine episode that we were unaware of? Towards the end of our dinner, another couple entered. They were in their 50s, and the snippets of conversation and nervous giggles led us to conclude it was a ‘first date.’ Possibly from the personals: “Male seeks female for cold, wet Silverton winters.”
Monday found us in he hiking mood, ready to do the whole Silver Falls canyon hike. (We omitted the 2 mile loop to North Falls last year.) How would our weather be??? The weatherman from the Portland station we received on our batwing antenna reported enthusiastically: “ Cloudy with sun breaks.” Yep, sun breaks. That’s what they call it in Oregon when the sun peeks through. Little children run into the street when there’s a sun break. Bikinis suddenly appear from beneath heavy wool coats. “Better slap on some SPF 50 today, I hear we’re gonna have sun breaks. “
Our hike was great, and the weather man was right on. Possibly 3 or 4 sun breaks during our 3 ½ hour walk. No rain though. Ideal 60 degree temperature.The canyon hike (5-7 miles, depending on whether you do the whole enchilada) is, foot by foot, taking into consideration relative ease, lack of crowds, and scenic vistas, one of the best hikes we have ever taken. Ten or so waterfalls are visible as you walk through a non-tropical rain forest. Ferns, trees, flowers. Just great! No dogs allowed on this trail though. We did have to keep moving to stay ahead of a school bus full of 3rd graders who were on a field trip. These were Spanish speaking kids and it is likely that they had never seen anything like this. I quizzed them whether they had seen mountain lions in the canyon. “ El gato grande? Caramba!!Vamanos amigos.!!”
Enjoyed a campfire with Bill and Reina Bohnbrecht, a couple of 'young' 74 year olds from Southern California.
posted by Jeff @ 10:11 AM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Your thoughts on unions,lefties, pooks and Wal-Mart are sympatico with many folks in ID; lookiing forward to seeing your rig in Stanley.
Wilbur and the posse.
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