Sunday, October 4, 2009

Oregon Trail


We have had a wonderful stay in Oregon this past week! We arrived on Monday after another ‘tour’ on the ferry to get us back to the ‘mainland’. You would think after the last ride, we would be old pros - but this was a MUCH smaller, older ferry that gave us another new experience loading and unloading. But, we made it to Port Angeles, WA just fine after more whale sightings!


Tucked in the ferry hold en route to Port Angeles, Washington

A beautiful drive took us to our interim stop at another wonderful RV park in Kelso, WA, where we washed Magic so the bus was all ‘spiffy’ to meet our old friends in Oregon. On the drive we passed this place called Marathon Coach ----(www.marathoncoach.com ) . If you want to be ‘trailer trash’ you might check this out!!


Boy, did we give Priscilla & Steve a ‘fright’/laugh when we pulled up in front of their house with our 36’ house on wheels!! It was fantastic to see them again - and to see all that they have done to their farm in the last couple of years. There is a new beautiful home surrounded by many additions to the herd (150 sheep now!) and the ‘facilities‘ for the sheep. They have even recruited help from Shawn (and his dog Sam). After getting ‘the tour’ we had a good old fashioned ‘chat’ with cocktails and dinner - and a late night as we had several years to catch up on!


Due to our late night, we took it easy Tuesday morning before driving to Crater Lake (a 2 1/2 drive in each direction), which everyone but me had seen. Crater Lake was formed after the collapse of volcano Mount Mazama over 7,000 years ago and is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943 feet (592 meters), and the seventh deepest lake in the world. It is also the fifth oldest national park, founded in 1902. The extreme depth and pure water combine to create a blue gem that stuns many first-time visitors into silence - if only one can see it. As mentioned in previous postings, we have had absolutely beautiful weather - which I was bragging about to our friends. So - it rained and SNOWED all the way to Crater Lake!! When we got to the lake - it was in a cloud, not to be seen. So - what else - we ate! After lunch, as we walked out on the patio of the Lodge, the clouds broke and we had 2 minutes of sun and I actually got to see the lake!!


On the road to Crater Lake


We can almost see the lake


Priscilla & Elizabeth

A beautiful rainbow over the Salt Marsh Ranch awaited our return.


A rainbow at the Saltmarsh Ranch

Our stay at the Salt Marsh Ranch would not be complete without a ‘walk around’ the farm to meet all the sheep, the guard Llamas - Lucy and Hank, the guard dogs - TJ, Chewy, Jacob and Isaac, and the herding dog - Molly.


Hank the Llama lookin for some lovin


Isaac needed a scratch


Molly - keeping on herding


Molly is somewhere behind this group


A view of the barn from one of the grazing areas



TJ (the dog) and Llucy Llama watching us closely


Wednesday afternoon we moved Magic to an RV park just outside of Ashland and had company for dinner - Brian Campbell, our friend and former neighbor who is attending Southern Oregon University in Ashland. Again, we had a delightful evening just chatting and catching up. Our last day in Oregon was another wonderful day of lunching, shopping, dining and going to the Shakespeare Theater. What more could anyone ask for??


More later - E&G


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