Holiday weekend travels

I know that I said I couldn't top my camping/rafting trip, but I think I did. Congratulations and a big thank you to Matt, my first and only visitor to Oregon. I had so much fun! I will try to give you the abbreviated version of what we did Memorial Day weekend. That Saturday we went on a guided fishing trip down the Rogue River. We caught several fish (cut throat and steel head trout) but no Salmon. We did see them rolling in one section of rapids though. The scenery was great as we drifted down and we spotted wildlife and birds, including an eagle. After a quick nap to recover from our so very tough day of fishing (ha), we walked through Lithia Park in Ashland and threw the Frisbee a while. The trees and plants are absolutely gorgeous. This is no typical park. It is so manicured and so clean. We ate at a local brew pub and sampled the home brew. That was day one.

Day two gets better. We drove down to Northern California through the Redwood Forest and toured the "Trees of Mystery". Saw Paul Bunyan and his blue ox babe. We took a tram ride above the tree line. Absolutely fascinating. These trees are massive. The Brotherhood tree is 19 ft in diameter and almost 300 ft tall. I was a dot compared to that tree. I actually drove my car through one. We stopped at the harbor in Crescent City and watched the sea lions sun bathe while we ate a delicious lunch. We then followed hwy 101 up along the Pacific coast to Gold Beach. We stopped off at many view points along the way. I cannot truly describe how amazing and beautiful the coast line is. These large monoliths just shoot out of the water and the waves crash against the cliffs. Once Matt and I reached Gold Beach, we began to realize we had limited options for going straight across to the east to get back home and were going to have to back- track. But as luck would have it or not, we found a small pass that crossed the mountains led back home. Now there is a reason why parts of the line indicating a road on the map were dotted. For two solid hours, we climbed mountain after mountain on a one-way road that was washed out in many spots. Parts of the road were not paved. We passed a tree with about 20-30 pairs of trees thrown up in it...I have no clue?. There was evidence of rock slides everywhere. I was starting to get nervous and hearing that banjo song from Deliverance in my head. We came around a curve and there in the middle of the road was a huge black bear. My heart was pounding. I have never seen a bear in the wild. Luckily, he was just as scared of us and ran into the forest but not before stopping one last time and staring at us. We continued our meandering with no civilization in sight. At last we began to descend and finally reached a road and saw lights. Turns out, that is the same road that the Kim family was stranded on last year when they found the husband dead about four miles from the car.

Day three would not be lacking either. I had never heard of Crater Lake before I moved here, but wow!! It was formed after a volcano that erupted caved in. It is 2000 ft. deep and the water is sapphire blue. The snow outlined the edges and was reflected in the water. As we drove back down from Crater Lake, we searched and found several waterfalls. We also found the "Natural Bridge" which is were the river flows through the rock created by lava tubes. The water is hidden as it passes through.

There are so many spectacular things to see here and the sheer beauty is amazing. From clear, green rivers to lush, green rolling mountains, I am constantly amazed. I will be here until October now, so feel free to visit. Miss you all!!!!