"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood... And sorry I could not travel both. I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference." --Robert Frost

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Last Days in OR before rushing to back to CA

Mt. Hood
Gone Creek NF


Our next couple of days were filled with a hike to Tamanawas Falls and a couple special adventures.
A sneak peak to where we are headed.  You'd think by now we'd be burned out on waterfalls.  Nah.  They are so pretty and usually the trails follow rivers or streams and you get to cool off in the mist at the end.  Besides, is there any such thing as a bad hike?  (Well I guess I can think of one)
 


I'd say it was an easy hike with a couple moderate rocky parts.
Cold Spring Creek
 
It's a nice trail because even on a hot day you're in the shade most of the time.  Hurley loved that he could cool off in the water most of the time.

 
You can't tell, but on the above boulder, on the top-middle, are two green handprints.  I'd like to know the story on those.



Here is the moderate rocky part.

The colors along this cliff side were so pretty.  The shale is constantly sliding down.  Careful.


And here we are after a short hike to Tamanawas Falls. One hundred feet tall.
Hurley's favorite part of hiking.  Plopping in the cold water.
Better perspective of the falls with some people in the picture.

There's always some nuts (usually the younger folks) who decide to go off-trail and walk on the mossy rocks.  Good thing no one got hurt.
Here was a cute Pika that seemed to be looking for it's momma or companion.  It kept popping out of the rocks and then back in.  It didn't seem to mind too much that we were there.  A Pika is a small mammal, with short limbs, very round body, big rounded ears, and no external tail.  They are usually found in alpine elevations.
 


And we're back at the trailhead.  We returned to camp and got ready for another awesome shared dinner with Lee and Trace.  We love taking turns cooking and trying out different recipes on each other.  We always have great meals!
And another great fire.

These kids were walking along the shallows of the lake looking for crawdads with their flashlights.  So cute to see kids out in nature just having a good time, laughing and playing together.

Monday was Lee's 50th Birthday and we all wanted to do something special.  This "50" sign was made by Trace and has traveled around the US with different RVers and used as we all turned 50.  Or in my case last year Trace altered it to 55.  I know have it and perhaps it will show up at some other birthdays!  We had picked up some Teagarita that we noticed he liked when he discovered it back in Pahrump, NV in April.  Knowing that Lee loves him some Apple Pie, when Steve spotted a bottle of Apple Pie Hole Canadian Whiskey, he grabbed one of those too.  We weren't sure what it would taste like but we all agreed it was good stuff!
So, what to do to celebrate?  Lee wanted to go to an Escape Room.  Trace found Hour to Midnight in Portland and Lee really wanted to do the Assassin's Deadly Game.  Usually there are 8 people in a room.  It could be a bunch of your friends or a mixture of people you don't' know.  We really wanted to do it with just the four of us even though we'd still have to pay for 8.  Steve called and told them we were celebrating a 50th birthday and could we get a discount?  They ended up being very generous and giving us a 25% room discount.  Nice.  Our task was:  Your team has entered the FBI's cadet program, and your first task is to enter the safe-house of one of the greatest assassins to date. You have been tasked to track down the assassin and help keep his next target alive.
Getting ready to enter our room.  Look up Lee!
 
Our task was:  Your team has entered the FBI's cadet program, and your first task is to enter the safe-house of one of the greatest assassins to date. You have been tasked to track down the assassin and help keep his next target alive. We had to find hints and clues to help us disarm 5 deadly bombs within one hour.  It took us 5 minutes over to finish.  It was a blast and we all discovered different parts to it.  It was our second time and we'd LOVE to do more of this.
Our Victory Picture, still alive at the end!
 
After all that sleuthing, we went to a Chinese Buffet and had a great dinner.  On the way home we drove through the tiny community of Viola outside of Estacada to look for the oldest geocache, the first ever placed back in 2003.
 It was very easy to find.  How cool is that?!
 

Our 8 days at Timothy Lake with Lee and Trace were a blast!  We would've had a few more here before heading up into Washington for the next couple of months but I got one of those phone calls the next day that you don't want to get.  I've already written about this a few blogposts back, but my Dad ended up in the ER undergoing emergency surgery.  The outcome wasn't the best with his health and age so we rushed off the next day to get back to Placerville, CA.  Of course we had a sudden brake problem that had to be fixed first.  This took many frantic phone calls from the 4 of us and Lee ended up saving the day by making a deal with a parts guy and then driving 3 hours round trip to get it on his only day off.  So while we departed under sad circumstances early, we are very grateful for these true friends.  As of today, Aug. 30, my Dad has made an amazing recovery and is doing very well. 
 
 

18 comments:

  1. Good to hear your dad is doing better. The waterfall hike looks very cool (literally). Our description of the Pika reminded me of a few friends of mine. As a matter of fact one is sitting next to me right now!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. Oh, I forgot who you were with. Tell "Tango" Hello!!

      Delete
  2. OM gosh we almost hiked to this waterfall but Moose is only good for about 1 miles RT these days. Bummer we missed it as it looks beautiful. We did see Umbrella Falls nearby that was nice. Glad your dad is doing great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a hot day but at least Hurley could cool off in the river most of the way. There was so much more hiking we didn't get a chance to do. Next time...

      Delete
  3. What a beautiful hike! The falls are spectacular. So glad your dad is much better!

    ReplyDelete
  4. We are so grateful for you also. So glad your dad was ok and very happy you were here for Lees 50th. Love you guys!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the shoulders and all the help. We loved being there for Lee's 50th! Happy for out time together.

      Delete
  5. Don't know if I could handle the room game. I hate to loose.

    I'd noticed on RVillage where you guys were already back in California. Way to go Lee and Trace - true friends to you guys for sure. I'm glad your Dad came out okay.

    Mark

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We consider it a win at the Escape Room. We did finish although we went over 5 minutes. That is usually allowed. And we did find and diffuse all bombs. With straight through driving it took us 12 hours to get back. We slept at a Pilot overnight. The smoke from all the fires hit us before we even crossed the border.

      Delete
  6. The hike is quite scenic with a great prize at the end. I love waterfalls :-) I've seen some type of dog coat that actually cools off the dog while they wear it. May be worth looking into at some point. Now that your dad is healed, time to move on. Enjoy your adventures. Knowing where you're going makes me just a tad jealous. But you already knew that *wink*.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll check into that coat. Sounds interesting. The more we take him out we see that less and less he just has a hard time with anything too steep, hot or long. He's more of a gentle hiker now. Having water all along the way really helps.

      Delete
  7. Another glorious waterfall hike - so pretty!! That pic of the fire at the water's edge just calls you to come sit a spell and enjoy good people. How fun to celebrate Lee's big day and do something so fun. Glad to see you all survived and saved the world :-) Those are the worst phone calls and even though all is well now, I know you can still remember how scary it was at the time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Joddee. It was a nice trip, lots of highs and lows.

      Delete
  8. What a beautiful lake. Very glad your father is doing well.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Never can have too many waterfalls. How cool to find the first cache placement. We know one day we'll get that phone call too, then you just do what you've got to do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We were looking forward to that first cache as well as visiting headquarters in WA, but we didn't make it to WA. Another time.

      Delete

I’d love to hear from you! It’s more fun when you leave a comment!