It was nice spending some time with Bonnie and Butch as we haven't seen them since we left Sacramento around the first of May. We took them to the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge on Sunday afternoon but all it did was rain; not too much wildlife to see. We stopped for pasta/pizza and had leftovers for another day. On our way home, we spotted Osprey, Red Tail Hawks, and some smaller hawks all sunning themselves as the sun had finally come out. Now that was a great sight!On Monday, we took a drive out to the Columbia River Gorge. We saw some waterfalls, the largest of all was the Multnomah Falls pictured below. The falls were beautiful and we took the trail up to the bridge. There were no takers to take the trail higher up to the top of the falls.
Here is a picture of Butch, John, and Bonnie in front of the falls. Such a good looking threesome, don't you think?
We stopped for lunch in Hood River at a place called Charburger Country. Wow! The food was very good (all four of us had burgers) and the staff was very friendly. If we are ever in the area again, we would definitely stop there.
After lunch, we checked out an RV park in Salmon, WA. The RV park was nice and clean and wouldn't be a bad place to spend a few days to be able to take in all of the Gorge's sights. Maybe the next time we are in the area. We then stopped at the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery. The fish hatchery is an interesting place and first rate operation. Much larger than the Nimbus Fish Hatchery in Rancho Cordova. They have some huge rainbow trout and sturgeon that can viewed. We had fun feeding the rainbow trout as it got them quite worked up. Here is a picture of Herman the Sturgeon. He was something like 10 feet long and weighed around 600 pounds. The picture does not do him justice - he is magnificent.
After the hatchery, we took the short drive over to the dam. It was very interesting watching a few fish come up the ladder. We watched a couple of movies on the dam and the locks. We were talking to the volunteers and got ran out of the facility because it was closing time. Boy, the time just got away from us. We must have been enjoying ourselves. Once home, we settled in for some left over pizza, salad, and TV.
Come Tuesday morning, Bonnie and Butch were back on the road and were going to stop at Northwest Trek a wildlife park. We heard back from them and they said they really enjoyed it and was glad we had recommended it to them. We think the place is fabulous.
On Wednesday, we moved down to Newport, OR to stay the week at South Beach State Park. The spot we chose was long enough for us but proved to be a bit of a challenge to get backed in. As this is only the second state park we have stayed in, we have learned to be a bit more picky about site location than just being concerned with site length. Live and learn!
On Thursday, John and I both got a haircut. I went back to a short cut. I've been growing the hair out over the past year and a half. The cut was a bob which was suppose to be easy to take care of and something hair stylists couldn't mess up too much. Well, neither was true. I've come to realize that I don't like having hair in my face and with thick straight hair, I was really feeling weighed down by my hair. Now, I feel pretty ... oh, so pretty.... Well, maybe that is a stretch but I do enjoy having short hair again.
Over the weekend, we took a drive up the coast and were delighted with the viewing of gray whales in their migration south. We were able to watch about three whales in the same general vicinity feeding. Just blowing water and backs visible for a while was our treat. A picture of one is below. You can see the spray and part of its back.
Old eagle eye (John) asked me to check out something near the ocean's horizon through the binoculars as he wasn't sure what he was seeing. Sure enough, there were two whales that were breaching. I must have seen them breach three times each. John said he had been watching them for about five minutes before he said anything. That man's vision is amazing.
As we are so close to the beach, a quarter mile hike, we have often walked down there to enjoy a walk on the beach. We also took advantage of a beautiful day to fly a kite. I had purchased John a better quality kite almost two years ago. It has proven to be a challenge to him to get it up in the air for any length of time. Well, he is finally getting the knack of it. I have to keep reminding him to keep his arms down because every time he brings his arms up, the kite nose dives into the sand. John is starting to see the cause and effect not keeping his arms by his side. Soon, he will have it mastered.
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