Oregon

Oregon had always been a must go state, my son Andy and his wife Christina and of course our grandson William are there – not forgetting to mention my Aunt and Cousins and all of their significants….So Oregon was a must visit.  Even if it does rain alot.

We spent the first several nights at On the River Gold and RV Resort.  For you RV’ers out there – this is a Passport America park and is the perfect place to kill a month.  The location is ideal, our rig had a back lawn that was a stone’s throw (or a powerful spit) away from the Umpqua River.  The park is clean, has adult supervision (if you have been to some run down meth lab residential parks you know the difference) and the monthly rates are unbelievable!!  We only spent a few nights but this is on the return list.  The owner tells us that when he put in the park he decided to put a putting green in over the septic field, after all, the grass was so green.  Well, as he tells it his buddy was staying there and suggested why just a green, let’s build a course!  And so they did.  A 6 hole, wedge and putter course complete with sand traps and water hazards, this is not to be missed!  We spent a leisurely evening here with Dave and Kathy Haskins, sampling whiskeys and passing the time as retired folks do.  😉

From Douglas County (the conservative heart of Oregon) we headed north into hippie infested Salem and Portland.  (Did I say that right Dave Haskins?)

We stayed at the Silver Spur RV Park in Silverton as home base.  Nothing really special to say about this park, nice facilities and a high price to go along with it.  But, location, location, location.  It’s 20 minutes to Salem to see my aunt and cousins, and about 45 to Andy’s house.  It’s also not far from Silver Falls State Park.  We were introduced to this place by my cousin Ben and his wife Julie  who do 9 mile hikes up and down the hills of this park with their kids for family fun. We settled for a couple 1-2 mile walks – we walk, not hike – it’s a semantics game Jeanne and I play to keep from being intimidated by distance and elevation changes.

We returned a few days later with Andy and fam and had a great walk in the rain.  We also had a chance to see William perform in a recital with the music school he attends, Harmony Road.

I really loved our drives through rural Oregon and it reminded me quite a bit of much of the farming areas of Wisconsin.  I had no idea there many covered bridges still in use in Oregon and we wandered into several.  The Gallon House Bridge was our favorite, with an interesting history going back to prohibition and the sale of ‘gallon jugs’.

After a week in Silverton we drove up the scenic Columbia River and landed in Hermiston, Oregon.  A cowboy town that is the real deal.  We overnighted at another Passport America park there and met Greg and Jan of “Our RV Adventures“.  We had no idea we were meeting RV royalty, but more about them when we catch up with them again in South Dakota.