Returns and Reunions

We finished our Campground Host job on August 31 and spent 2 weeks on a return trip to Yellowstone.  The week before our trip I had a wonderful reunion with my niece, Leann and her family.  Leann has been living in Japan for 7 years.  She married there and now has 2 children.  I got to meet her husband and children at long last during her visit with my sister, Jane in Tualatin, OR.

Hywel, her husband, came from England to teach in Japan and is now working in a Japanese university.  Their oldest child, Emrys, is a busy, joyful 3 year old.  He's full of questions and a sponge for new information!

Lilliwen, is 15 months old.  She was just taking a few steps behind a push toy the first day we met.  By their departure 3 weeks later, she was hustling across the backyard grass to get the ball Emrys tossed.  How amazing!!!

My older sister, Ann, came with her son and his wife to enjoy time with Leann and her family too!  We took a waterfall hike at Silver Falls.

We had a perfect day to visit the Vista House on the Columbia River Gorge.  The view was really spectacular as the clouds lifted after a rainy morning.  Chris and Kirby were happy to be there.

I do think the Gorge is such a special, beautiful place.  We only saw a little evidence of last years' wildfires there.  I'm so glad I had family with me for a return visit.

Silver Falls State Park, OR- Year 2

The quiet of late fall and winter at Silver Falls is entirely different from the buzz of summer vacationers, hikers and bikers in the Park. In our 3 winter months last year we learned a little of the Park without the crowds, but it is amazing to be in the middle of the busy campgound in July.  Our job, as relief campground hosts, is really different too.  Our campsite in the tent loop is right on Silver Creek just beyond the covered bridge that leads to the cabin area.  The huge Douglas firs surrounding it add to the beauty.

We are on one end of a 50 site loop nearly full every nite with families and children.  This week a family reunion of babies, toddlers and preschool kids has invaded the area around us, but the weeks before were very pleasant.  On a particularly warm afternoon when Terry was outside resting, a neighbor brought over an ice cold beer to thank him for such a clean, well kept campground.  How nice is that?!!

The sites under huge fir trees are large and well shaded.  The photo below shows the road to our site past 23 other sites.

There are lots of beautiful ferns everywhere too.  Here's the entrance and the covered bridge near our site.

I might have mentioned last year that this park is called the 'crown jewel' of the state park system and it is truly special!

Our job in the campground is cleaning sites on the days that the 2 other hosts have off.  So on Mon. and Tues. we clean the RV sites and on Weds. and Thurs. the tent sites in the second loop.  We have had as little as 6 sites one day and 40 on another.  On Sun. Terry works as park mechanic like he did  last year and I have been a trail guide at the North Falls trailhead.  Of course, I was assigned to the one trail I hadn't been on, but my trainer helped me remedy that right away.

We are staying busy and learning more about the park and the Salem and Silverton area each day!

Our New Neighborhood-North Ranch

Our trip across country to Wickenburg, AZ was a real challenge for me.  Driving about 400 miles a day for 5 days taught me lots of new hand jive moves to Linda Ronstadt blasting on the CD player.  But I did it!  Just should have made my first trip about 40 years ago.  We unloaded our trailer into storage on a day that it was 107 degrees.  But it's a dry heat!  LOL.  We enjoyed the comfort of a motel for 2 days to recover!

The Escapee RV Park, North Ranch, where we purchased a lot is about 10 miles away.  We spent over a week there- glad to be back in our trailer home.  The  picture above is the Club House, with a Library, laundry and 2 activity rooms.  During our stay I enjoyed 4 Line Dance classes, 2 Beading Groups, giving and getting items at the Share Table, checking out books and magazines and we both attended the Ice Cream Social.  The classes go on year round but are much bigger in the winter.

The Park includes a campground next to the Club House and an RV village.  Here's a street view from my sunset walk.

Some owners have just a storage shed and gravel parking area on the smaller lots.

Our neighbors on both sides have nice homes on larger lots.

Someday we will add an RV storage port and tiny house combo to our lot.  For now we will grade and gravel it and get electric sewer and water hookups installed in the winter.  We will be happy to call it home until we can get a builder.  In the meantime Terry is having fun drawing tiny house plans and I'm learning about native desert wildflowers and shrubs.  It is nice to have 3 trees on the lot.  Here's a photo.  Our Oregon host friends who introduced us to Escapee Parks live right behind us.  We are so excited to be neighbors!!!

The mountain views all around the village are really nice as you can see below.  We especially enjoyed our coffee and tea watching the sunrise over the mountains in the cool breezes.  I had to wear long sleeves most mornings.

It was hard to leave our friends and  new neighborhood behind today, but Carlie is waiting for us at Silver Falls State Park.  We think she will keep us busy there.  It will be great to see our OR and WA family too!

Looking Back and Moving On

I think it was a second summer in Montana that finally convinced me that it was time to' hitch up our wagons' and move West.  Terry has wanted to return West since his retirement and I've held on to NC and my heritage here with a firm grip.  At last I've "Let Go".  So-- the  last months at the Cabin have flown by and we will head West in 19 days.  This time we will leave the Cabin behind in the care of it's new owners, Stan and Jean McGraw.  We are so happy that they found us through our faithful neighbor, John Carriker.  It feels like keeping the cabin in the family.

Once we finalized the cabin sale, saying "Good-bye" to NC became real.  We began to look back at  what makes NC so 'special' and decided to return to our favorite NC vacation place; the Blue Heron Motel in Nags Head for a quick get-away.  We have celebrated Thanksgivings, 2 Christmases,  many anniversaries and Birthdays here over the 32 years of our marriage.  It stays remarkably the same- -you have to mail a check to confirm your reservation and you get a key on a plastic room number tag on arrival.  Each oceanfront room has a balcony with a fine ocean view.

We always eat at Sam and Omie's Restaurant.  I had fantastic fishcakes and grits for breakfast.  Terry had a huge seafood platter for lunch and we ordered take-out clam strips for supper.  Oh, so fine!  We love NC seafood.

Watching the sunrise, walks on the beach, a trip to Ben Franklin Beach Stuff store and a few long naps filled the rest of our day.

Don't miss a trip to Nags Head if you are in NC- a long way to go- but so worth it!

When we leave the cabin on June 15, we will head for Congress, AZ.  Our new home base will be North Ranch SKP RV Park, a residential RV Park near Wickenburg, AZ.  We will get a post office box there.  Look for our new address in the next blog.  We will be living full time in our Travel Trailer.  Here's a photo of the Activity Center at North Ranch.

Needless to say, it is very hard to leave NC family and friends.  I've promised to return each year.  We will, however, be much closer to Terry's family, many of our 'camp host' friends and the places we love "out West".  So "Westward Ho" it will soon be.

Christmas at Silver Falls

The yellow leaves of fall have left behind an amazing evergreen forest of Douglas fir and hemlocks.  The trail photo you see here is now a tunnel of Christmas green.  The annual Christmas Craft Festival here on Dec. 9 welcomed 4000 visitors.  I helped with the crafts and Terry tended the fires in the Lodge.  It was an exciting, very busy day.

There were Ranger led hikes, a Country music band (I loved that!) and free Hot Chocolate and cookies.  The Lodge area was covered in Christmas lights and 11 trees were lit.  A Grand Fir in the center of the Lodge nearly touched the ceiling and was decorated with crafts made by the Rangers, hosts and volunteers.

Behind the scenes the 10 waterfalls rolled on.  Did I mention that you can walk behind 4 of them.
Here are some photos from my hike in the fall.

Winter Falls and my host friend, Barb from 2 seasons at Yellowstone and at Silver Falls.

Middle North Falls--a huge curtain of water--you can walk behind!

Totally enchanting little cove with Double Falls-- a short walk from the main trail!

Our Christmas wishes to you are Advice from Silver Falls--

     Let Your Cares Fall Away

     Spend Time in the Woods

     Feel the Energy of the Forest

     Free Fall into Nature

     Live in Harmony with All Creatures

     Make a Splash!!!

Have a wonder full Christmas and best wishes for 2018!!!

Tall Trees and Ten Waterfalls

For over a month now we have lived in an enchanted forest at Silver Falls State Park near Silverton, Oregon.  The vine maple trees are covered in layers of green moss and drape over the shield ferns that are 4 feet tall.  The evening sun spotlights the tall trees just before it sets.

Our work in the park includes clean up of the picnic and visitor day use areas, greeting in the Lodge, maintenance of equipment and cleaning cabins.  The Lodge was built by the CCC in the 1930's and early 40's.

I work in the Lodge on Sundays and Mondays.  My favorite parts of the job are tending the fire and helping visitors plan their hikes.  (That's my desk chair.)  There's a take out cafe in the building.

The park is known for it's 7 mile trail that includes 10 waterfalls.  You can actually walk under 4 of them in an eroded section of the cliff wall.  The South Falls is only about 1/4 mile from the Lodge.

You can see the trail in the dark area behind the Falls.  It is cave like in one spot and you have to bend under to get through.  This was a late afternoon photo at the end of our 7 Waterfall Hike.  Stay tuned for other photos of the hike.

Yes, we are having a great time in spite of the cold and the rain.  Put this Park on your list, only an hour from Portland.

A Wonderful Late August Visit!

One of the highlights of our summer was a visit from Ann, my sister and Frank, her husband.  They had a great train trip from Charleston, West Virginia to Salt Lake City where they rented a car.  With a stop over to explore some of Idaho, they arrived to spend 5 days in West Yellowstone.  It was so much fun to share some of the Park with them.

We did the sights at Midway Geyser Basin without the crowds of July- such a treat!

The wind turned just in time to clear a view of Grand Prismatic and there was a Bison at the tree line beyond Opal Pool.

This is the top of the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River with an incredible roar of river power.

You can see the River racing to the Falls here- an awesome spot!

Late in the day we got to the famous Lower Falls.  It was also a little smoky from the MT fires to the north of YNP.

On the way back to the Campground we saw a crowd at Elk Park and there was a wolf tossing his supper around in the meadow.  A great close up view!  We were tired and hungry too so we didn't stay too long, but our timing was perfect for an unusual view in that area!

The next day we headed South past Kepler Falls for a great Scenic Boat Ride on Yellowstone Lake.  Ann had planned the trip and invited us to join them.  What a great time we had!  We learned so much about an area we knew nothing about and had a lovely lunch at the Lake Hotel.  Visits are such a great time to share other's joys and make them your own!!

On the last morning of their visit Ann and I got to walk along the Madison River at the Campground before we waved a sad good-bye as they headed for the Grand Tetons.  What FUN we had!  Just not enough time!

Cabin Creek, Ruby Valley and More of YNP

Our next adventure took us into southwest Montana to visit a family connection of my cousin, Olga, in Northern Ireland.  Olga helped set up our meeting since she visited them last year and thought we would love their corner of Montana.  She was so right!  Frank and Chris have a beautiful 3 room cabin at the base of the Ruby Mountains--gorgeous views, lovely veggie garden, perfect landscaping including a traditional white picket fence!  We want to move in next door.  Our visit included a tour of the Ruby Valley.

And a ramble through an old homestead.  The huge old barn was first to grab our attention!

Frank shared his favorite fishing spots and birding knowledge and Chris took us to her wool spinning cabin in a historical Nevada City cabin restoration.  We also spent a delightful evening at the Virginia City Players Theater production.  My Irish family has added two wonderful new friends and a beautiful Montana valley to my roving life.  Thanks Olga and Neville!

On our next days off our camp host friends, Ken and Missie, joined us for a hike up Cabin Creek after we stuffed ourselves at a Campfire Lodge breakfast.  Their friends, Dana and Scott, joined us too!  The narrow creek canyon is filled with stately Douglas fir, a nice change from the Lodgepole Pine of Yellowstone.

After much planning and anticipation on both our parts,  Ann and Frank, my sister and husband came to visit on Aug. 25-29.  It was so much fun being together that the days flew by and we didn't get to do all we had planned.  The weather was perfect and Frank proved himself a magnet for great parking spots in crowded lots.  So we didn't waste much time and got to all Ann's trip picks and a few more.

The Midway Geyser Basin River Bridge.

Grand Prismatic Spring.

The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River.

Ann also stretched our knowledge of the park by suggesting a Yellowstone Lake Scenic Tour.  We all were totally entertained by a great crew as they shared local history of the Lake area.

Ann and Frank's visit was a wonderful way to top off our summer here.

With only 9 days left, we are excited about our trip to Oregon and seeing our Oregon family and friends again.  It is sad to leave friends behind here, but our co-hosts Dave and Barb will work with us at Silver Falls State Park in Oregon. 

Backcountry Cabin Anniversary

We stepped out of the comfort zone for this celebration and hiked 3 miles-- with clothes, food and Terry's radio equipment on our backs--to a patrol cabin in the northwest corner of Yellowstone.  It was a wonderful experience!  Here are lots of pictures.

A chilly 7:30 am start.

The cabin is about a mile from the base of Black Butte, the far distant peak.

 Daley Creek twists through this valley beside the trail.

After a 550 ' climb we reached the cabin in a small meadow above a creek.

The approach trail crosses the creek, our water source.

There were plenty of basins, kettles and fry plans for cooking and cleaning.

I did lots of reading, writing and listening to the creek babble on the front porch bench.

Terry got on the radio at last contacting, the Hawaii net (group), Prince George, BC, Denver, Idaho Falls and California on a little wire antennae and 5 watts of power.  How exciting!!

On the hike out the wildflowers and views were even better.  That's Terry waiting for me on the aspen log bench.

Here's a happy hiker at the end of a fantastic 3 day backcountry escape.  It was such a privilege to use the National Park cabin as a part of our job here!!!!  Thanks YNP!