Follow Us In Our Travels

05/22/13:  Sitting at Ainsworth State Park, waiting for the weather to clear up before we move on again. We had planned on going to Mt. St. Helen’s yesterday and today, but with the rain coming here, it’s snowing there. Today is the 1 degree warmer than the coldest day ever for the month of May, with a high of 50 degrees. So since we have full hookups for $20 a night, we thought we’d just sit it out here. I’m been washing clothes and baking and watching One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest on TV right now, great old movie. Curt is trying to fix my passenger seat today.  The service tech had said we needed a part for it (I think it was a shaft and a screw) but he took it apart to see if maybe he could fix it. He cleaned the motor up and shaft and, guess what, it now works!  It took most of the day (it’s really hard to get in to), but he fixed it. Yesterday we took down the old TV and put up a new one, a Vizio. So we've got an old TV , the digital box and old Bose system to get rid of, again. Kids?

We went to see the waterfalls Monday – Horsetail, Multnomah, Wahkeena, Bridal Veil and Latourell. Multnomah is the largest waterfall in Oregon at 620 feet, two levels. There is a trail that goes to the first level, with a bridge, and then all the way to the top of the falls, 1-1/4 miles, 11 switchbacks. It was a long way up, and back down.  We took breaks on the way up; it didn’t help that we forgot to take water along.  Personally, I didn’t feel the trail was worth what we saw at the top. I was expecting to be able to see down the falls, but we couldn’t. We were further back so people can’t see us from the top. After that we went to other falls which, of course, had trails to go to up to them too. My shins and hips really hurt the next day, and even today, two days later.

this isn't exactly what you'd want to see on a trail!

After that we went to the Bonneville Locks and Dam and the fish hatchery there. The dam area had a fish ladder, larger than the one we had seen at Roseburg. The hatchery had rainbow trout which they say they don’t grow there, but bring them for viewing. (I don’t quite understand that.)  There is a huge sturgeon there, whose name is Herman. It is over 10 feet long, weights over 450 pounds and over 70 years old.

Rainbow trout

 Herman, the 70-year old sturgeon