We had heard rumors about the beauty awaiting us at Sue
& Rick’s farm in Northern Oregon, but we still were unprepared for the
delight of it all. They had invited us
to stop by on our way up, well, it was more like, “You better stop by” and when
Rick is part of a statement like that, you just listen. (Retired from the State Police with a dog
named Sniper, you see?)
We were unsure if the invitation included staying the night at the
farm and, knowing the maintenance quotient of our two terriers, we just decided
it would be best to assume we were camping nearby and arrive on Sunday for
dinner. So we dropped Salt at the
Champoeg State Park (lovely, rolling hills near the Willamette Valley [i.e.,
wine!] region) before heading up to the farm.
Driving down the windy driveway, I was ever so glad that
Salt was not in tow. However this decision was an immediate disappointment to Sue & Rick, followed shortly with more disappointment when they heard of our plans to sleep
down at Champoeg. Of course they had
prepared their lovely guest room (King size bed! Flannel sheets!) which were indeed tempting, but little did
they know that I was hooked the minute we walked into the living room and saw
the giant HD TV broadcasting a football game.
(Oh, and by the way, there is an awesome view of the valley and a cozy
fire in the wood stove in the corner.)
After a tour of the grounds in the Polaris (a short video
of this ride will be available on Movies! soon), they graciously invited both
dogs inside to meet their two dogs and two cats. Ours jumped out of the car and immediately
chased the turkeys before coming inside and messing on the floor (River) and
jumping the cat (Rosco.) I was back to
being glad we were staying at Champoeg.
It was lovely to visit with friends, enjoy good food and
drink and the feeling of your arms flying out to the side and hitting nothing,
nothing at all. We showed up the next
morning for breakfast, Salt in tow, but left the dogs in the car so we could
truly relax.
Had we not driven more than 50 miles the next day, we
surely would have been back at Sue & Rick’s to ride out the storm. The weathermen predicted 1-2” of rain and
they were not disappointed. However, we had
a goal if seeing Mt. Saint Helen's and stopped for the night in Castle Rock (Silver Lake RV Resort), hitting Mt. Saint Helen's the next
day—yes, right in the middle of the downpour.
We drove to the Johnston Ridge Observatory and observed
the low clouds, rain and fog hugging the mountains so close you could barely
see the snow piled at the edge of the road.
However, having woken up and weighed myself that morning, I was intent
on getting in a hike (despite the rain and my cold) so we dropped down to
Hummocks Trailhead and hiked 2.5 miles in the downpour. We were soaked and couldn’t see much, but
what we could see was spectacular:
Vistas of hillsides ripped of trees from the volcano now growing green
with moss and grass, huge dunes of ash and views down to the Toutle River. On a sunny day I could have spent hours on
these 2.5 miles, as it was, it was the fastest hike we have done yet.
A note here: The
trail is listed as 2.3 miles but we had a detour to chase after R&R who,
in turn, were chasing after two elk.
There is a $100 fine for having dogs on the trail, imagine what the fine
would be for setting two free? They
eventually returned (River first, if anyone is counting.)
We returned to Salt soaking wet with the rain still
coming down. The Pacific Northwest is
not an easy place to live in your trailer.
We have lots of good friends and family to visit in Seattle but I will
be ready for sunshine soon after that: Can
anyone say I-90 to Eastern Washington?
Cold for sure, but I’ll take snow and sun over rain any day!
-K
PS: There are no
pictures of Mt. Saint Helen’s, but what we could see hinted at grand, so it is
on our list for a re-visit. And yes,
that will be more like 2013. We have seven days left of our “three months
minimum” deal but neither one of us can find anything wrong with this
life. As a matter of fact, the Future
Farm of The Bryants is beginning to look just a little stationary.
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