Hello Friends!
Where did the summer go? We woke up to freezing weather here in Fort Rock this morning, and Ben and I are very ready to head south to warmer climates. We are all packed and ready to leave tomorrow morning. If you follow me on Facebook, I usually post every day's travels, so you can experience what we see and do every day (sometimes it's pretty boring, but those are the good days!!)
We did get in quite a bit of traveling around Oregon this summer, in spite of a few extra doctor appointments. We did several camping trips with friends. The first was to Dead Horse Lake with Mel and Katie, Lonnie and Kathy. Mel brought his nice little drift boat with an electric trolling motor, and we all had a chance to do some fishing, AND, caught some nice trout. They also released a lot of them, so they'd hopefully grow up more! That lake is in the mountains west of Paisley, and it's a very pretty drive up there, as wild flowers were still blooming. In the photo below, you can see that floating devices of any type are popular.
The next camping trip was with George and Carolyn and John and Marilyn at the Steens Mountains. The weather was nice and the scenery beautiful, as usual. I didn't make it up to the top of the Steens, so no photos from there this time!
Ben and Carolyn wanted to go to Glass Butte and look for Obsidian, but with the rain we were having, we decided to camp at Chickohominy Campground just west of Riley. They all drove to Glass Butte from there. I stayed at the trailer and relaxed, and dog sat!
I took this photo of the reservoir when the dogs and I were doing a walk.
Next trip, we went up to Hood River to visit our friend Jerry Justus, whom we haven't seen for a while. It was great to catch up and see the Museum there again. We also took a day, since we were so close, to visit my sister Sharon and her husband Vincenzo in Vancouver, WA. It was great to see them, and again, catch up with what's going on in their lives. (Sharon and I also compared heart issues! Thanks Dad!)
Sharon, who's 5 years old then me, also told me that she walks about 4 or 5 miles every day!! I've been lucky to get 1 mile a day in this summer. Ugh!
Going back to Hood River that day, we decided to go on Highway 14 on the Washington side of the Columbia River. Ben wasn't too crazy about the road (freeway is on the Oregon side!) but it was a beautiful drive to Bridge of the Gods near Stevensen, Washington.
So, where did we go after Hood River? How about visiting our friends Paul and Carolyn, who live in Halfway, Oregon? Why not! (Think not too far from the Oregon/Idaho border and Snake River!) That was far enough away that we decided to take our time, and spent 2 nights at a sweet little RV park in Dayville. We did some shopping in John Day, ate at a very popular breakfast restaurant in Dayville, and enjoyed the grassy and shady RV park there.
On to Halfway the next day, through Baker City. This is an area of Oregon where we haven't been in quite a few years. There is a lot of beautiful country, many beautiful forests and vast plains. We must say, Halfway is very remote and little, but what a cute community! Paul and Carolyn are living in a small house that was moved there in the 1930's from a gold mining town further up in the hills. They have remodeled it beautifully, and it is a sweet little place. They had electricity and water for us, so we were very comfortable in our trailer in their driveway.
From Halfway, it was back to Baker City to get a jack stand on our trailer replaced by another mobile RV service while we were camped in an RV park there. This one wasn't quite as efficient as the first one this summer...they even needed to borrow a few tools from Ben. But the job got done and we didn't have to take the trailer to a shop.
We headed south, down one of our favorite roads, Hwy 395, and ended up a Crane Hot Springs. And dang it, we didn't get in! Should have, but maybe next time. Then it was on further south on the other side of the Steens Mountains to Mann Lake. Ben had tested our inflatable kayak, and it was good to go so he could fish. But, the wind was blowing and he didn't think he could maneuver the kayak and fish, too. Oh well... next time! Photo below is the east side of the Steens, and Mann Lake. We camped on the far side of the lake. Very pretty, and very isolated!
We also made it to Walla Walla for a few days, and to the Pendleton Roundup. At the parade on Friday, we had our normal seats...one row back from the edge of the sidewalk! They always start the parade with maybe 100 riders carrying US flags. Always impressive!
This year, we had seats that were donated to us by cousins Tom & Karan Malpass, who couldn't make it. We were right above the bucking chutes, so had a very close up view of the bronc and bull riding. Thanks Tom and Karan!
Lots of fun pictures of the parade and the Roundup in my September 2025 Album.
Since the Roundup, we've been packing up, cleaning the trailer out, and getting ready for our 2000 mile trip back to our home in Baja California Sur. We plan on taking 8 days this time. We always enjoy spending 2 nights at one of our favorite hotels in Baja, and eating at a nearby restaurant. And it gives Ben a chance to rest up a bit before the final 750 miles to home. There have been quite a few rainstorms in Baja in the last month, and they've dropped a lot of water. Hopefully, the roads will be in decent shape so we won't have trouble getting through. According to our house sitter Dalia, they've even repaired the road going down from Hwy 1 to our house. Good news!
Hope you enjoyed my newsy post. Come visit us in Baja!
Your friends,
Harriet, Ben, Gus and Pancho
PS. The "boys" have been getting better behaved all the time. They are good travelers, although I drew the line and said no more resting on the console in the front seat! They take it over and then some! We put up a screen so they can't get to the front. They grumble about it, but they have the whole back seat! In the photo below, Pancho is resting his chin on Ben's arm! Not good!!
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