River Rim and Redmond, Oregon

June 7, 2012
Today is going to be kind of iffy regarding weather so we decided to go into Redmond and check out the town. On the way we followed a sign to Steelhead Falls. At the trail head we hiked about .5 mile to the falls on the Deschutes River. The falls were pretty small but the hike was fun. Not far from a pioneer cemetery we saw two lone headstones by the side of the road. I wonder if these people were related.....


Redmond is nice but with a lot of empty buildings downtown. I guess the housing crunch and economy has really hit them hard. You can get some screaming deals on houses around town. Contractors overbuilt several years ago and we all know what happened with open lending. We went to a local brew pub for lunch and then drove to Smith Rock State Park closer to our park. This place is amazing. Climbers from around the world come to be challenged by the monoliths in the area. We saw a climber coming down the face of a huge rock. We are going to come back here in a few days when the weather is better and take a hike around the canyon and rock. Here is the rock just before sunset.


Back at camp I was greeted by one of the park dogs, Timone. He is a deer legged chihuahua. He was pretty timid when he first came by but I had him on my lap after a while. Now the rain has stopped and the sun is out with a little wind. This has been the weather since we hit the road this time. Sunday it is supposed to get into the 70's and warmer for next week.

River Rim and Redmond, Oregon

June 7, 2012
Today is going to be kind of iffy regarding weather so we decided to go into Redmond and check out the town. On the way we followed a sign to Steelhead Falls. At the trail head we hiked about .5 mile to the falls on the Deschutes River. The falls were pretty small but the hike was fun. Not far from a pioneer cemetery we saw two lone headstones by the side of the road. I wonder if these people were related.....


Redmond is nice but with a lot of empty buildings downtown. I guess the housing crunch and economy has really hit them hard. You can get some screaming deals on houses around town. Contractors overbuilt several years ago and we all know what happened with open lending. We went to a local brew pub for lunch and then drove to Smith Rock State Park closer to our park. This place is amazing. Climbers from around the world come to be challenged by the monoliths in the area. We saw a climber coming down the face of a huge rock. We are going to come back here in a few days when the weather is better and take a hike around the canyon and rock. Here is the rock just before sunset.


Back at camp I was greeted by one of the park dogs, Timone. He is a deer legged chihuahua. He was pretty timid when he first came by but I had him on my lap after a while. Now the rain has stopped and the sun is out with a little wind. This has been the weather since we hit the road this time. Sunday it is supposed to get into the 70's and warmer for next week.

Crooked River Ranch

June 6, 2012
We drove about 130 miles into Oregon to the River Rim RV Park at Crooked River Ranch. Our drive took us right by Mt Hood. What a spectacular site. It is larger in bulk but not as tall as Mt Rainier.

The drive down was nice but with a couple of passes at over 4000' we took it real easy. The RV park is small, 24 sites, and on the rim of the gorge above the Crooked River. Our site is on the edge with a view of the rim and part of the golf course at Crooked River Ranch. Real nice folks run the place. Went into Redmond, about 5 miles away to pick up supplies. We will visit here in a day or so. Back to camp after a stop at a local watering hole. Here is a shot of the rim and some visitors to the park.

Crooked River Ranch

June 6, 2012
We drove about 130 miles into Oregon to the River Rim RV Park at Crooked River Ranch. Our drive took us right by Mt Hood. What a spectacular site. It is larger in bulk but not as tall as Mt Rainier.

The drive down was nice but with a couple of passes at over 4000' we took it real easy. The RV park is small, 24 sites, and on the rim of the gorge above the Crooked River. Our site is on the edge with a view of the rim and part of the golf course at Crooked River Ranch. Real nice folks run the place. Went into Redmond, about 5 miles away to pick up supplies. We will visit here in a day or so. Back to camp after a stop at a local watering hole. Here is a shot of the rim and some visitors to the park.

White Salmon, Day 2

June 4, 2012
OMG did it rain hard today. It started during the night and was steady hard until after noon. We decided to go to Hood River to check the town out and have lunch. Hood River is a very trendy place for tourists and outdoor sports participants. We went to Big Horse Brew Pub for lunch. We had a couple of beers and shared a good sandwich. Then to the Full Sail Brewery and Pub. Very nice place overlooking the river. We each had a drink and I bought a hat. Went back to the RV park for the rest of the day. Maybe tomorrow we will be able to go see some waterfalls.

White Salmon, Day 2

June 4, 2012
OMG did it rain hard today. It started during the night and was steady hard until after noon. We decided to go to Hood River to check the town out and have lunch. Hood River is a very trendy place for tourists and outdoor sports participants. We went to Big Horse Brew Pub for lunch. We had a couple of beers and shared a good sandwich. Then to the Full Sail Brewery and Pub. Very nice place overlooking the river. We each had a drink and I bought a hat. Went back to the RV park for the rest of the day. Maybe tomorrow we will be able to go see some waterfalls.

White Salmon, WA

June 3, 2012
Once again I forgot to post an entry so here is more from White Salmon. We drove about 170 miles to Bridge RV Park in White Salmon. This is a real nice, clean park. Our site is right by the Columbia River on the Gorge. Oh yeah, there is a set of railroad tracks between the park and river. Quite a few trains go through with freight, coal or the Amtrak train. Not too disrupting. We drove here on Hwy 14 along the Washington side of the river. This is very scenic traveling along the Lewis and Clark Trail. This would be a cool trip to take and make stops to view the sites and hike the trails. White Salmon is a quaint town with and interesting history. The town of Bingen is next to White Salmon. In their day these towns were very busy with shipping wood products and manufacturing. I read that now there is quite a population of techies who work in a local business. The weather is not too great. Cloudy with some wind.
We drove down river a few miles and watched the wind surfers and para-surfers. These people really cruise across the water and jump probably 10' off the waves.

We enjoyed our fireplace through the evening. Early to bed for a day exploring waterfalls on the Oregon side of the river tomorrow.

White Salmon, WA

June 3, 2012
Once again I forgot to post an entry so here is more from White Salmon. We drove about 170 miles to Bridge RV Park in White Salmon. This is a real nice, clean park. Our site is right by the Columbia River on the Gorge. Oh yeah, there is a set of railroad tracks between the park and river. Quite a few trains go through with freight, coal or the Amtrak train. Not too disrupting. We drove here on Hwy 14 along the Washington side of the river. This is very scenic traveling along the Lewis and Clark Trail. This would be a cool trip to take and make stops to view the sites and hike the trails. White Salmon is a quaint town with and interesting history. The town of Bingen is next to White Salmon. In their day these towns were very busy with shipping wood products and manufacturing. I read that now there is quite a population of techies who work in a local business. The weather is not too great. Cloudy with some wind.
We drove down river a few miles and watched the wind surfers and para-surfers. These people really cruise across the water and jump probably 10' off the waves.

We enjoyed our fireplace through the evening. Early to bed for a day exploring waterfalls on the Oregon side of the river tomorrow.

Summer Kick off party

June 2, 2012
We joined about 20 others at Tracy and Erik's house for her Summer Kick-off bash. Was cloudy but we were able to chase the sun around her house and enjoy the day. Kids had squirt guns but it was a little chilly for that. In the afternoon we got out Erik's BB Gun and shot at beer cans. Kids and adults participated. Of course we always have to have a fire in the evening. We went back to the Olympia Campground for the night and set out the next day for the Columbia Gorge. Stay tuned.

Summer Kick off party

June 2, 2012
We joined about 20 others at Tracy and Erik's house for her Summer Kick-off bash. Was cloudy but we were able to chase the sun around her house and enjoy the day. Kids had squirt guns but it was a little chilly for that. In the afternoon we got out Erik's BB Gun and shot at beer cans. Kids and adults participated. Of course we always have to have a fire in the evening. We went back to the Olympia Campground for the night and set out the next day for the Columbia Gorge. Stay tuned.