Steam train

Today we loaded up Sarah's parents and took them adventuring. All the way up to Sumpter OR. WE had planned this particular excursion prior to finding out they were coming so they got to come along. IT is an old steam train that runs between Mckewn and Sumpter. About a 40 minute trip with an hour layover or so. That gave us time to go see the Sumpter Dredge. This huge barge with a linked bucket dredge carved this valley up in search of gold. It left huge piles of gravel and rocks and a weird canal system you can see from google earth. It's crazy. If you want, go to Google maps and then go to Baker City OR and then scroll WSW to Sumpter and if you are zoomed in close enough you will see the trail this thing left all over the valley.

It was hot, not as hot as most of the country, but still hot. A good adventure day.

Big days

Today was a banner day. Big times for any young boy.



Yup, Michael rode his bike today without training wheels and didn't crash once. We are very proud of him. He has only tried a few times without the training wheels. Max zoomed along all around us on his new training wheel bike. Then everything stopped when we saw this...



Yep all action for two little boys stops when a garter snake crosses the path.

Michael called it the best day ever. Max did too. Of course 20 minutes later Max said it was the worst day ever because he didn't want to eat his sandwich. Ahhh, the fickle finger of Max.

Daily life

I can't recall if I mentioned it in any past posts and quite frankly, I'm too lazy to look. Sarah and I bought bicycles off of Craigslist and have been riding most days. With her parents here we have even been able to ride together, which has been nice. Now, two out of the four rides we have taken together have ended in flat tires. Plus another from a solo ride thrown in for good measure. They have each been caused by thorns. The thorns here mean business! Sarah stepped on one the other day and lost some blood over it.

We had a good time at the fair yesterday. There we turned one kid into a motorcycle racer.



And the other into a hamster.

Visitors

Sarah's parents are in town. We are keeping it pretty low key. Hanging out at the house, letting them soak up some grandkid time. We did make it out to the Peregrine Fund Birds of Prey center Just South of Boise. Birds of prey know they're cool.

The noisy fair is going on next door. Because of the fair, the RV park is full. We can hear the rides and the concerts from our bedroom. The tornado fans we bought in Poplar Bluff to white out the road noise continue to earn their keep. Might have to turn them off when Kool and the Gang or Cheap Trick plays though. Woohooo!

Crater Lake

Here we go.

WE left Cave Junction and headed back the way we came. Sarah is excellent at planning our trips and we rarely backtrack, but sometimes it is inevitable. About 30 miles of backtracking an we got again to new road. We climbed. This was also the last day we would have Interstate for a while. The Interstate is not usually as interesting, but interesting isn't always fun when you are near 60 feet long and almost 13 feet tall.

We wound our way through mountains for a few hours and drove to the campground like we lived there. It only took 30 minutes or so to set up, by this time we were pretty good at it. Then we went driving around to explore the town Prospect, OR. Less than five miles away and we found waterfalls and a gorge on the Rogue River.



Afterward we went up to Flounce Rock, a viewpoint that was mapped out on the back of a flyer the campground gave us. Great views. Hondo (That is what Michael named the Honda Civic.) lived up to his adventure car billing and carried us up 10% pot hole filled gravel road grades. We reached the top and explored for a while. At the official Flounce Rock viewpoint someone placed a memorial for a loved one lost in a helicopter crash during the Vietnam war. Pretty cool.







We made our way back to the campground, cooked some food and got some rest, the next day was Crater Lake. We had a drive of an hour or so up to the Lake. When we got there it became apparent that despite being July, many of the roads were closed due to snow. Less than half of the rim drive was open. We did get to drive around and look for a few hours and we sat and had a picnic lunch on a wall overlooking a 1000 foot drop to the lake. Beautiful spot. Then we drove home. It was a bit of a letdown that we couldn't see as much as we wanted, but that is life sometimes. It just gives us a good excuse to go back.

Boise and bicycles

I haven't been updating lately. We have settled into life here. Being this close to the Boise Green Belt, Sarah and I bought a couple of cheap mountain bikes off of Craigslist and now try to ride every day. It feels good to get out and get active.

I have been working a day on, day off schedule lately. Cramps the adventure style as the one day off seems too short to plan much. I sleep late because I get home late and I have to work the next day.

The real reason I haven't been updating much lately though is because I got started reading a new series of books. It is hard to pull away from a good book to write a blurb about what you did today when what I did today wasn't very interesting and that book sure is.

Oh well.

I will get back and finish the trip report. Still have to write about Crater Lake and the John Day fossil beds. And we may soon be doing things here worth writing about again.

The fun news is that Sarah's parents are coming up to visit for a few days. They started their drive this morning and will be here in a couple of days. We will try to avoid running them ragged while they are here. It will be good to see them again. I know they miss the boys.

Back to the book.

Cave Junction

We arrived in Cave Junction and set about to look at the town. It is a cute little touristy town with plenty to see and do for its population of slightly less than 2000. There is a place filled with whimsical and delightful wood carvings of all shapes and sizes. It was closed, but we stopped to take a look. There is also a big cat park, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Cats_World_Park We decided to stop in. It was too late for the full tour, but we got an abbreviated tour for an abbreviated price. Each cat or pair of cats has it's own 1-1.5 acre enclosure. The guide told us that many of the cats are used for movies and photo shoots so there is a lot of interaction. She would go up to the fence, call the cat and give commands. She carried around a fanny pack full of raw meat to reward the cats. Some was beef and some was what she was careful to call 'equine'. The kids would have been fascinated to think of horse meat, but it seemed weird to tell her to go ahead and call it horse.

It was a really cool visit. The cats would snarl and growl on command. It had a significant physical effect for a full grown male lion to growl at you from 2 feet away. If you are ever in Cave Junction, look it up. It's hard to miss.

The next day we got up and drove South into California. After about an hour and a half of driving we ended up in Jedidiah Smith Redwood forest. Our first stop was Stout Grove. It is a serene and amazing grove of large redwood trees and easy walk from a parking lot. Very picturesque. Lots of people, but still quiet.

We skipped past that to an obscure trail I heard about and hiked 2-3 miles back through more redwoods, passing no people. We weren't sure we would find it. Since we knew we would be hiking a while, I carried Max on my shoulders most of the way. Michael again walked. He is a trooper. Eventually we found it.

The Grove of the Titans.

These trees are so amazingly huge and majestic that I cannot adequately communicate it in words. I have pictures, but they don't really do it justice. We wandered about the grove through 6 foot tall sword ferns looking at the Titans. Sarah's phone battery was dead so we didn't get as many pictures as we wanted. I got turned around and missed the Lost Monarch. The kids were tired and started getting grumpy. Had it just been me, I could have stayed there for hours. Someday I hope to return and do just that.

Also reminds me that we should really buy a good camera. The phone does a good job, but it isn't a dedicated camera. Maybe someday. After we hiked back out, we got lost on one of the more public and crowded trails. There was a rather ambiguous sign. It added a mile or two to our hike. Easy peasy on the rarely used backwoods trail. Get us on the well trodden trail and we get lost. Awesome.

We drove a dusty dirt road through the forest and ended up in Crescent City. Then we headed South again to find one of the Drive Through trees. We drove the Civic through the tree. It was a good day and one I will remember for a good long time.

We drove home and got some rest. The next day was back North Northeast and on to Crater Lake.