Frosty Mornings

The Park meadows are covered in frost nearly every morning now and it is as thick as snow.  It covers the browning ferns and sparkles on the young firs.  As the sun catches the crystals, we have a land of a million twinkles.  It's lovely, but too chilly for me.  Arizona is definitely calling!

It is hard to believe that November is here and we will leave  for Arizona on Dec. 1.  Jane, my sister, came to spend Halloween night in the Park and we stayed at one of the old Girls Camp Cabins.  The cabins are one of my favorite spots.  They are dotted up a fern and fir covered hillside and seem to be part of a hobbit land.  It was wonderful to wake in this mysterious place!

The morning fog you see here is freezing now and adds a layer of ice to all the trees tall and short.

Since Terry's military service was honored by the Park with a day off yesterday, we went to the Coast for lunch (only 2 and 1/4 hours).  The weather was perfect and the trip across the coastal mountain range was beautiful.  We ate at our favorite restaurant in Yachats, the LUNA.  The sea captain owner was there and he gave Terry a free meal in appreciation of his service.  What a kind gesture!!  Yachats was warm , sunny and gorgeous as usual!!

Our sunny daylong adventure seemed like a 2 or 3 day get-away and I got warm enough to enjoy the evening campfire on our return.  The fire was blazing, toasty warm and a fitting goodbye for our host friends leaving today.  We continued our plans for the Host Thanksgiving Potluck at the end of the month.    Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

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.