Pic-of-the-Month for Summer 2023

 Hello, Friends!

Remember us?  We're your snowbird Baja friends who are in Oregon for a few more weeks!  We have been so busy coming and going here and there, that we didn't take the time to send out an update.  Now, at the end of our summer here in Oregon, we are going to be sitting in the same place for a couple weeks (Bend), so I thought I'd catch you up on our busy summer.  

June - We arrived in Fort Rock, Oregon (where our trailer is stored) on June 22.  After a few days there getting things organized, we headed to Harrisburg to deal with my brother Rich's RV.  It was a BIG job getting everything cleaned out, and cleaning the rig, then hauling stuff to St. Vincent and Goodwill.  I advertised it on Facebook, Craig's List, and parked it out front and put a sign on it!  It did sell after not too long for a decent price.  Phew!  During this time, I also delivered my latest quilt to my friends who run a quilting shop (finishing the quilts), so that I could display it in the Sister's Quilt Show at my friend Janet's shop in Sisters.  Friend June did a great job on it, as usual, in my limited time frame.  

June photos, which include our trip north, are located at June 2023. 

 

July -  After getting the RV cleaned up, we headed to Salem and our friends the Sackingers, who have a place to park our trailer.  It was time for some relaxing and visiting friends in the area.  We spent a few days there, then returned over the mountains to Bend, as we had our annual doctor appointments scheduled.   We didn't let the dust settle when we headed back to Fort Rock to go on a little camping / fishing trip with Katie and Mel to Deadhorse Lake, west of Paisley.  They had caught their limit there a little while before, and were sure there were more fish to be caught...and they were right!  We went out in Mel's drift boat, and got a nice bunch of Rainbow Trout that first afternoon.  The next day we caught a bunch more, so the guys had their work cut out for them filleting all that fish and packing it for the freezer.  Delicious!

Ben had another medical appointment in Bend, and then we went back over to the the farm at Harrisburg to welcome our daughter Rebecca and our 3 grand-kids.  We also held a Memorial Service and potluck for brother Rich that Sunday, and had a nice turn out of friends and family.  Rebecca is working remotely full time now as an architect, so she had signed the kids up for summer activities in Eugene.  Ben and I were the bus service, taking them and picking them up for 5 days!  They did have fun....mostly! Especially when they could use the family swimming pool!  They are becoming good little swimmers.  It was great spending time with them, hiking, picking blackberries and making desserts, and playing games.  They are growing up so quickly! We hauled them and their ton of luggage to the Portland airport on July 31.  (Good thing we have a big pickup!) Pictures are here for July 2023. 

August - Now it was time to head to southern Oregon!  Our old Salem neighbors had just moved to Grants Pass, and they had space for our trailer, so we found them and spent several days touring around the area.They took us to an Animal Rescue place near there that had some very interesting birds and animals.  We also visited a winery or two in the area and enjoyed some tastings.  We went on from there to Eagle Point to visit our friend Pat and her pup Button.  As usual, it was a very relaxing time.  We camped again this year at an RV park in Shady Cove, right on the Rogue River.  Beautiful!  We went to most of our favorite shopping places; Harry & David, Rogue Creamery, and a vineyard.  We ate well!!  When that visit was done, we drove from Shady Cove to Crooked River RV Park northwest of Terrebonne to meet our friends the Telecks.  We did a bit of touring around the area, and took them to see the Balancing Rocks near Lake Billy Chinook.  Amazing place! 

After that fun trip, we went back to home base (Ken & Bea's home near Sisters), and parked the trailer.  The next trip was without our summer suitcase (the trailer)!  We drove to Cathlamet, Washington to visit friends Debi and Sandy.  They live on a slough on a large island in the Columbia River.  Fun!  They have a boat dock, a boat and know how to show you a good time on the river!  Hwy 409 ends at a ferry terminal on the south end to take you to Westport, Oregon.  We used that to get to our next destination in Astoria, Oregon.

Our Baja neighbors, Brian and Hope, are in Astoria this summer as Hope is working for the hospital there.  We spent a couple days with them exploring Astoria, riding the trolley, shopping, and eating well (always!) and visiting.  We then went to Ilwaco, Washington, just across the Astoria Bridge, to visit friends Ray and Karen Hunt.  Karen did a great job of showing us around the Long Beach area.  We took a nice hike through the forest and onto the beach one day, and another day we did a boardwalk hike.  She took us to an ice cream shop.  I ordered a single scoop in a waffle cone.  He must have put at least a pint of ice cream in there!  Whoa!  I got to play some music with Ray...we've played together for a lot of years in Baja, so that was very enjoyable.  

We left there and headed back to Bend via the Oregon coast and Salem, since I had an appointment with my dermatologist scheduled to remove a Basel cell cancer from my cheek. 

Next destination: Fort Rock, again, to help Mel with the deck project they were doing.

September - We hung out at Fort Rock, helping with projects and running to town (Bend) for various doctor appointments.  My eye doctor says my cataracts are ready to remove...I told him next summer!  

We left Fort Rock and headed for a couple of our favorite places to camp in Oregon.  First stop was Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge at the Hot Springs campground.  We got our usual camping spot, but they've changed it up a bit this year.  It was a lovely, quiet time.  We were surprised there weren't more campers there (especially hunters this time of year).  We took a tour one day, and saw only 3 antelope!  The next day on the way out, we saw many, many more in large groups. 

 Next stop was the Steens Mountains RV park near Frenchglen, where we met up with the Telecks again, and a few days later the Sackingers joined us.  We drove up to the top of the Steens and oohed and aahed over the gorgeous gorges.  One of the neat things we saw near the top was two stock trucks full of sheep, and they were in the process of unloading them to pasture up there in the meadows.  Based on how many sheep would fit in one of those trucks, we were guessing 700 to 800 sheep!  We also toured the Round Barn, and I found a neat new wide brim hat at the Museum/gift shop there. 

From the Steens, we continued north up Highway 395 to the Pendleton Roundup!  "Let 'er buck!"  The Sackingers joined us for that adventure for one day.  Our nephew Mike had gotten us some box seat tickets, and for the first time since 2008, we were at ground level in some pretty cool box seats.  The next day, we used cousin Tom's tickets in the North Grandstand, right above the chutes.  Let me tell you, those bulls are HUGE!  Wow.  All in all, it was another great Round Up, and we'll be back.

Now we're back in Bend for just over a week, getting ready to head south with cousins Tom & Karan on October 4.  I had one more Mohs surgery, this time on my nose tip.  Lucky me, I get to wear a bandage for three weeks.  Right now, I kind of look like a clown, what with the extra padding.  You'll have to dig deep in my picture albums to find that picture!

Pics are here for September 2023.  I've tried to caption most of the pics in the albums.  Just click on the i in the circle.

I'll be posting pictures of our travels south in Facebook if you want to follow along.  And if we didn't see you this summer, come see us in Baja!  

Your Baja amigos,

Harriet, Ben & Zoey