Family Time in Stayton

After Sisters, we drove west to daughter Season and SIL Lee’s home in Stayton, Oregon, which is near Salem. Season and Lee have a big yard, a creek, huge trees and plenty of room to park the rig and tow car.  Not to mention two of our grandsons. And then there are the chickens, rabbits, dogs, and reptiles. 

We “camped” in their yard for two nights, went out to dinner with them in Salem, and had a great enchilada dinner made by Season. We walked our dogs all over their property, Maddie took of after their bunnies, Arlo took off after a deer, and the  boys roamed between their house and our motor home. And none of their livestock was injured by our livestock.

Season and Lee have a big front yard with a forest and creek in the back yard. We parked in front of their big garden.

Grandson Owen is nine, in the fourth grade, and posing with Maddie in our sleeping loft .

Seven-year-old Connor in the sleeping loft with Maddie.  I think Connor explored every corner of our RV.

Chicken Hedda thinks she's a dog and always wants in the house.

One of two roosters.  This guy seemed like top rooster and is named Blue.

Season and Lee have a lizard and a snake.  Here she's feeding Mr. Lizard who -- if you look closely -- is in mid grab of a meal worm. Mr. Lizard has an actual name, but I had a hard enough time trying to remember the chicken names, let alone names for a lizard and a snake. :) 

Connor, Season, Owen, and Lee on Monday Night Football night.  Jim told Lee he had his "full Amish" on; Lee said we should have seen his beard earlier as he'd just done a major trim.

Bend and Sisters, Oregon

Next stops were Bend and Sisters, two great places in Oregon for the outdoorsy crowd. In Bend we did one of our favorite outdoorsy activities and another less outdoorsy one: visiting dog parks and brew pubs. We did two of each, and a good time was had by both humans and canines.  In Sisters --where Jim once fought a nearby forest fire -- we walked the dogs on two long trails and walked ourselves in and around the many tourist shops.  Jim bought a heavier long-sleeved shirt and Bev bought a sweater wrap. And we went to a brew pub. Of course.

In Bend we visited the Cascade Lakes and Sun River Breweries.   Above is  the sampler -- if you can call six 6-ounce glasses samples -- we got at Cascade Lakes.  Jim likes IPAs and I like stouts and porters, and we thought the beer at Sun River was better.

Bend is full of dog parks and people parks. This path of flowering sage was between the Deschutes River and one of Bend's 8 off-leash dog parks.

Riverbend Park in Bend, Oregon, with a view of Black Butte -- an extinct volcano -- in the background.

Arlo hanging out in the RV at Sister, Oregon.  We stayed at the Sisters/Bend Garden RV Resort.  It was pricey: $60 a night with an AAA discount -- if that's not the most we've ever paid, it's got to be near the top. But it was beautiful with lovely walking paths, lots of greenery and flowers, a long dog walking area, and access to a huge field for the dogs.

Tourism is a big part of the economy for both Bend and Sisters, and probably more so in Sisters.  Oregon State Route 20 goes through downtown Sisters; the street is full of shops like this garden ornament store.

A montage of license plates honoring Jim's favorite college team, as seen in a tourist shop in Sisters.  That's us outlined in the reflection of the store window.

Do Not Drink the Water

After one night each in Heyburn and Bruneau Dunes, we did two more one-nighters.

First stop was Bully Creek Reservoir Campground, a county-owned park about ten miles west of the tiny town of Vale. Vale was the first Oregon stop for pioneers on the Oregon Trail.

When we made reservations and again when we checked in, we were advised to NOT drink the water as it contains arsenic.  We were also told that it should take about 50 years of ingesting it before the water would probably cause any real damage.  But, added the camp host, "none of us drink it."  A flyer indicated that arsenic levels are nearly 30 times higher than what’s supposed to be safe.

So we didn’t drink the water. 

But we enjoyed walking around the tranquil, wooded campground, which has 40 campsites with electricity.

Next stop was Burns, Oregon, named for the Scottish poet Robert Burns, says the city website. Burns is the county seat of Harney County Oregon; the city website says Harney County is the seventh largest county (by area) in the US and bigger than some states.

Jim and I have driven through and near this area several times before, and decided that we would stay in as many new-to-us campgrounds/towns as possible.  So we looked for a place that had good reviews and chose the Burns RV Park. Only to realize when we pulled in that we had been there before. Oh well. 

Last time we didn't even unhook our tow car -- we just just hunkered in for the night. This time we needed groceries, so we found a nice Safeway and did some exploring.  But I didn't take a single photo in Burns. Sorry Burns.You are a very nice town.

On our way to Bruneau Dunes we drove behind a double semi truck load of straw, which created a windstorm of bedding until the truck exited I-84 after about 50 miles.  Then we followed the above big load of onions most of the way to Bully Creek, and onions flew off the entire time.  Jim was going to pass it, but stayed way behind because he wasn't sure how much windshield damage could be caused by a flying onion. If you look closely you can see the truck was still losing onions as it took the exit ramp.

Our camping spot at the Bully Creek Reservoir near Vale, Oregon.  Bully Creek is a tributary to the Malheur River, which in turn is a 190-mile-long tributary to the Snake River.

That's our rig and Bully Creek campsite near the center of the photo, which was taken from land that was once under water.  Obviously the reservoir  is way down. The dam that created the crescent shaped reservoir was built in 1963.

A boat dock at Bully Creek Reservoir is yards away from the water.

Going north for now

After a five month hiatus, we are on the road.  We had a great summer and I’ll blog a bit about that later.  But now I want to write about now.

We headed north from our home in Salt Lake City, pulling our shiny new-to-us tow car. Whose battery died after 100 miles.    

So we pulled off the road, detached the brake on the toad, pulled the lifeless car to the Riverside RV Park in Heyburn, Idaho, and called Triple A.  After a successful jump we settled in at a very pretty RV park. Then we explored Heyburn and nearby Burley.  Burley was named for a railroad official and has a population of about 10,000 people.  Heyburn has about 3,000 residents and was named for a former senator. Per Wikipedia, the region got a big economic boost when In 2012 Chobani opened the world's largest yogurt processing plant in nearby Twin Falls.

The next day we drove the car and the RV separately to Bruneau Dunes State Park near tiny Hammett, Idaho.  It was another lovely stop. 

Both days Jim did some research on our towing situation. Although our 2013 Honda CRV towed just fine when we did a test trip last month, apparently a fancier car needs a fancier brake set up.  So we'll work on that.

View of the Snake River from a bridge on US 30 and right next to the Heyburn Riverside RV Park.  What a great place to stay.  

Jim and Arlo on a path next to the RV park and along the Snake River.

Part of the path consisted of the Heyburn Arboretum, created about 12 years ago by the city and filled with 200 trees from all over the world -- including exotic ones like rubber trees that you wouldn't think could survive in southern Idaho.

Across the Snake River from Heyburn is the larger city of Burley, which is the county seat of Cassia County, Idaho.  Above is their very pretty courthouse.  When I first moved to Utah I heard a story on the news about "a Burley woman" and I thought "how rude."  But Burley is a well kept town and Burley women -- and men -- should be proud. 

People play on the big dune at Bruneau Dunes State Park, near Mountain Home, Idaho, and where we stayed the second night of our trip.  The big attraction is sand sledding; the park rents slides so people can cruise down the tallest (470 feet) single structure sand dune in North America.  Single structure means the sand hills are connected to one another instead of spread out.  Maddie and I climbed to the top of this one. 

View of our campground from the top of the dune.  At the right is a star gazing  observatory which we didn't visit as there was a full cloud cover the night we were there.

The pink and coral colored plants around the dunes were stunning. They looked soft and fuzzy but were actually hard and prickly -- but still beautiful.

Cattail Cove State Park, Arizona

Cattail Cove is a great Arizona State Park just south of Lake Havasu City. We stayed there April 3 through April 7. 

We really like it and hope to go back. Besides being close to the lake (created by a dam on the Colorado River about ten miles downstream from the park), it has 61 camping spots, a white sand swimming beach, a boat dock, lots of hiking trails, a dog beach (the only one I've ever seen in the years we've camped near water), a big dog walk area, a really nice staff, and ice-cream for sale at the office. Can't beat that. A marina, restaurant, and 70 more camping spots are supposed to be added by next March.

Jim and Arlo on the dog walk path at Cattail Cove. Last fall the Arizona State Park system was named the best managed state park system in the nation.  Runners up were Washington, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

Cattail Cove swim beach.  They must have trucked in tons and tons of white sand.

Maddie at the dog beach. Throw a ball at a dog park and Maddie will most likely ignore it.  Throw a stick in the water however, and she's right there. 

The campground.  It has water, electricity and a dumpsite.

Front entrance to the well-cared for park.  We talked with a couple who have been camp workers there for ten years. They were about to head home to South Dakota after their latest six-month stint.

We spent one afternoon in Lake Havasu City picking up supplies, then went to a brewpub called Hangar 24. It had a lot to choose from in porters and stouts (that I like) and in IPAs (which Jim likes) so we got a flight of four of each kind.

Jim paddling into Lake Havasu from Cattail Cove's beach. Right after I took this photo the small wave you can see forming rolled water into the kayak.  

Maddie near blooming blue palo verde trees. Up close the blossoms look like yellow cherry blossoms.