Oregon Trip- Silver Falls, Day 2

While the delays of yesterday set us back in seeing all we waned to see at this park we were still going to take advantage of what we could do in the morning time that we had. The park is beautiful with trails everywhere.There was some early morning exploring.

After breakfast it was off to see the various falls in this park. First it was Silver Falls. It is the easiest falls to get to but it was not crowded when we went before 9 in the morning. We could see the falls from the top...

the side....

Behind...


.

and from the bottom.




















We then drove a mile or so to a trail walk  that goes down into the canyon to see other falls. First it was Winter Falls. We then walked down the trail through a beautiful forest to meet up with another river and more falls. Some trees had fallen, snapped by a storm of some kind.

The next falls was Middle North Falls. It was also one of those falls you can walk behind.

Drake Falls was the next falls we came to which was more of a cascade.

After Drake were the Double Falls. There is a top falls and a bottom falls.

The final falls before we had to turn back to camp because we had to leave by one was Lower North Falls.

It was hard to believe that this park was reached going through farm land and you were not even in the mountains. It was a place we wished we had more time. It also is a place we wished Cindy's knee was better. She found out a week before that she has no ACL and will need a total knee replacement but she did the hikes and never complained. 

It was then off to the coast and our stay at Beverly Beach which was a couple of hours drive. Once there it was time to walk to the beach and relax. and watch Connor and Payton play in the water and sand.

We went back to camp for dinner and then back to the beach to watch the sunset on a wonderful day. 

Our Oregon Trip- Day 1

This year we decided to go to Oregon for a family trip, however Cameron and Cecilia could not come and of course Maddie was working in Alaska. The first time we went to Oregon was in 1993 when Maddie was a baby and Shannon was 5, just like Connor and Aubrey are this time. We again went in 1997 when Shannon was a year older than Payton is now. We stayed at some of the same places  this time as we did on both of those trips but our grandchildren are those ages instead of our children. We also went to southern Oregon in 2002. We returned in 2007 with Maddie and Kelsie to some of the same spots we visited this time and in our earlier trips though we had a series of adventures this time.

We left in the afternoon following Nate's farewell as he leaves on his mission. We hit a sever wind and rain storm at the Utah Idaho boarder. Once we got through it Nic told me to pull over as there was something dragging from the tent trailer. The light cable had come loose and was dragging on the freeway causing sparks. It wore off a side of it dragging on the road. So no trailer lights. The Durango then started to act up and it would not shift down as we got on the freeway. We traveled a couple of hours and it would not shift down. It also caused us to use gas at twice the rate of normal. We stopped west of Twin Falls and hitched the tent trailer to Nic and Shannon's vehicle to see if it would make a difference. It did not and we were wondering what to do. We continued on but rather than trying to reach a place in Oregon we decided to find a camp ground near Boise. We found a place outside of Caldwell and set up camp for the night. It had a pond which Connor and Payton were happy about and they could skip stones. It was not the normal camping experience that I had planned on though as everyone was next to each other and most trailers are peoples homes.

The next morning we decided to do two things, take the Durango to see what was wrong and also rent a car and have Nic and Shannon tow the trailer. We could let them work on the Durango all week as we would be coming back this way but we had to be at Silver Falls park this evening.We got those two things accomplished but decided to stop at WalMart and by a new trailer hitch for Nic's vehicle since it was taller and the trailer traveled tipped with the rear end near the ground. The ball of the hitch was not attached to the assembly so we had to put that one and asked in the repair shop at Wal Mart if they could do that. The said no as they did not have the tools. We didn't either but Wal Mart did have the tools, they were just selling them. We improvised and tested their tools to attach the ball.








It made a big difference and the trailer was now traveling level. We had also cleaned out the contacts on the light connection and there was enough that the tail lights on the trailer worked. We were off. Within 60 miles of Burns a tire on the tent trailer blew to shreds. Another setback. We put on the spare but it was not really good and worried about it.














We got to Burns and pulled in to create our own Les Shuab story. I had tried four places in Ogden looking to replace the tires before the trip because they were wearing uneven and no one had the tires and needed to special order them, but little Burns had two tires the right size and we had them replace the two tires on the trailer. Now we could travel feeling confident but another delay.
We pulled into Bend around 5:30 and the grand kids needed a break so we found a park for them to play in. It was near the river and a wonderful park and neighborhood.

 There was even an adult kick ball league going on.

Then it was on our way again but this time we were now crossing the Cascades with their snow covered peaks and volcano shapes.

We finally made it to camp around 9:30 that night as it was getting dark. Looking back we had several blessings happen. If we had not stayed in Caldwell we would not have been at a place to leave the Durango to get fixed and rented a car. If we had not got the new hitch the tire blowing could have damaged the tent trailer because the way it was tilted, had we not choose this route would there have been a tire place so close that had the tires. We really had been blessed that day.

Let's go to concerts

The 8th and 9th of July we went to two concerts. The first was with the Muellers. We went to Sandy and watched a duo that performed Elton John and Billy Joel songs. Even though they impersonated the two singers these two people's real talent was in their piano playing.

We watched the sunset at intermission and then it was back to the music. We sang along even though we did not know all the words. Near the end of the concert people went down to the stage to dance to the music. We chose to stay in our seats but others next to us got up and started to sway to the music even though they were older than us.

The next night was Amy Grant at the Layton Amphitheater. It was a wonderful concert and she was non stop. No intermission, just song after song. She was so personable and interacted well with the audience. It was really a fun time.