A slight detour.........

......from the trip - since I haven't been too good at getting it all on here :( We decided to take one last camping trip, since the weather is going to be turning.
One of our very favorite places to camp and kayak is Hosmer Lake - up in the Cascade range south of the Three Sisters and just west of Mt Bachelor. The lake itself is kind of hour-glass shaped with a boat launch on the south end. The two large portions of the lake are connected by a narrow channel which winds through the reeds. There are 2 campgrounds - very primitive - no water, vault toilets, but they have large wonderful sites and nice people camp there because Hosmer is #1-electric motors only (and there are very few), #2-fly fishing only, #3-catch and release for the Atlantic Salmon (the only place in Oregon), #4-prime kayaking territory.
We got there Monday morning and found our favorite site open - next to the trail that leads to a small dock on the canal portion of the lake. We unloaded and set up the tent - yes, tent! We are really roughing it for this trip.
Then we headed out for an afternoon paddle. That is South Sister in the background.
And Mt Bachelor without snow. This is the primo skiing area in the state. Dry snow and lots of it. I used to ski here - before too many knee injuries made me give it up :(The next morning, we went out early to check out the birds and fish - and dragon flies - making whoopee?The weather was beginning to change - more clouds, but still warm. I took a (walking) trail which goes north along the channel. Beautiful view of South Sister. The trail was about 1 1/2 miles, cut up through the forest among a large amount of blow down. Abby enjoyed the walk.
And, speaking of Abby - she sure did get dirty! She loved chasing the chipmonks through the trees. We never have to worry about her catching one - they are MUCH faster than she is!As I mentioned above, the campground is rather primitive. The picnic tables and fire pits are the only amenities. This site has 2 site # signs, though. Curious. The only one that had 2. And # 13, too. Hmmmm.........During the summer prime time, there is a campground host on duty. His name is Max Peel and he has been there for as long as I can remember. Seems like I once read an article about him stating that he has been there every summer for something like 20 some years. (I looked, but couldn't find any info on him) He brings up a bunch of canoes when the lake is accessible in the late spring/early summer and rents them out, donating the $ to his church. He has quite a neat campsite - across from ours. This is his built up campfire pit. This is a structure he has built - covers it with tarps.
And, another paddle as the sun was going down............
Up early on Wednesday - very cold! Dean built a fire and we sat around to warm up for a while. Abby stayed where it was warm - on Dean's bed! We took our down comforter in case it got REALLY cold.
I paddled down the outlet channel to see if I could spot some otters - no luck. Mt Bachelor, again, in the background. This part of the lake is pretty sterile - no fish and only the grasses and reeds along the shore. The north end of the lake is similar - very shallow and warmer water. There is very limited access to the lake because of the grasses and reeds, so a canoe or kayak is the way to see it. Paddling through the channel, the water is so clear that you can see hundreds of fish. Also common are bald eagles, osprey, lots and lots of birds, deer, and elk.
This is the gate controlling the flow out of the lake. The lava rock dams the lake and the water flows through the rocks to the area shown below, then disappears into the lava rocks until it reappears at Lava Lake, several miles to the south. This is the beginning of the Deschutes River, I believe.
This is Broken Top, which is to the SE of South Sister
Abby is waiting on the dock for Dean to come back from fishing.
Here he comes paddling up the narrow channel to the dock.
While there, we located a Geocache. For those who don't know about geocaching, it is a fun "sport" Using a handheld GPS, you find specific locations by longitude and latitude. The sites are listed on the website. After you locate your target, you log in and report it on the website. People leave various things in the container at the site, depending on it's size. This one was large - an ammo box. Some are very small, like a film cannister (remember those? before digital.....), and some even smaller - micro. Dean found this one hidden in the lava rocks. In the photo on the right is what the location looked like.












So, we had a good time, I read a long book, even got sunburned through the clouds. We came home so we would have time to unpack and clean up so we could watch the debate on Thursday night. I was surprised (disappointed.....) at how well Palin did. I still won't vote for her and it still scares me to think that she could be a heartbeat away (literally) from the presidency. She is probably more qualified than I am, but that's not saying much! Can you really imagine her negotiating with another world leader? I sure can't. Scary thought!

Photos and more

It was a dark and stormy day............
This was taken a week ago or so - I tried to get a lightening shot with my point and shoot, but no luck. The clouds were pretty impressive, though.And then it started to hail - and it really came down for a while. With all the storms, we got about .6" of rain. Enough for the garden for a day.......
We decided to take a day off Monday and take the kayaks out for a spin - since we still hadn't taken them down from on top of the car from the last time we went out...............
We drove to Perry South Campground on the Metolius arm of Lake Billy Chinook. A relatively quiet little spot, but full of boaters. We put in and paddled up river - there are quite a few "cabins" on what I assume is lease land from the forest service. The places range from shed type cabins to ones probably worth 1/2 mil.
There is no power to the area, so most of the nicer ones have solar panels - and a cistern for water.
The gooses have found a home. I imagine the folks feed them when they're around.
This is one of the nicest homes we saw. Lots of great big windows, nice deck, several nice boats... Oh, the life! If you can see them.... there are a couple of Great Blue Herons along the shore. Right after I took this photo, they both flew off making quite a racket.
The river starts to narrow here and there are no more ski boats, only fishermen. Really, really pretty.Someone's nest high in a snag - eagle? osprey? heron?So, I'm traveling along, getting a lot of exercise paddling against the current (Dean was fishing)
and I come upon this sign
Presumably - it means motor boats, but I could see rapids right ahead, so I turned around and the wind started blowing - against me - erasing the benefit of the current. Oh, darn!

So, I mentioned that Dean was fishing - he had his pole in the water, anyway. There were fish jumping all around us, a hatch going on. He tried everything he had and couldn't catch one. I was hoping one would jump in the boat so he could "get a fish", but that didn't happen. It was pretty amazing, though, watching the fish come out of the water. And when I say "all around us" - I mean it!

This next series of photos need some explanation. The juvenile eagle in the first photo flew over my head and landed in this tree. He just sat there for a while and I took a few photos, getting a little close (in my kayak) for each one. Then another big bird (no, not THAT big bird....) came along and chased it out of the tree. In the middle photo, I thought I got both of them, but didn't - the lag time in digital cameras is too long for action photos......... The final photo shows the big one who came back and hung around for photos for quite a while. I don't think it was an eagle, but I'm really not sure. It was BIG!

















Thought for the day..........

Dance like no one is watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like no one is listening,
Live like it's heaven on earth.

-William Purkey

The 2nd Summer Vacation..........

I'm back again......... Been a long, but good week (OK - more than a week, Becki......) Jim and Janet arrived on Sunday, the 13th and we were lucky that Gary was on a layover in Redmond, so he and Nikki came out for dinner. So, I had (wanted....) to take a 3 generation picture. Nikki is almost 16 and is a pretty neat girl! We're sorry that Teresa couldn't join us because of a previous commitment, but looking forward to their next trip through town. Monday morning, we packed up and went up to Elk Lake. Found a good campsite at a small campground and pretty much had the place to ourselves. Except for Tuesday night when a band of partiers decided to invade. They showed up around 11 and had a good time till about 3 AM. Dean was so tired he slept through it all, but the rest of us were trying everything including covering our heads with pillows and stuffing cotton in our ears. Nothing helped! The next morning, the campground people came through and filled 2 large trash bags with cans and bottles. Arrrggghhhh!! But that was the only "rain on our parade", thank goodness. The mosquitoes were not even that bad.
Roasting peppers on the campfire - veggie packets on the coals. Yummmm!
Little Miss "I'm afraid of water" Abby had a pretty good time, too. She likes to wade and try to drink the lake dry, but anything past her belly is a no-no. Dean coaxed her into his kayak and, though he has some scars from her nails, she was pretty proud of herself!
Way out there in the lake!
She is smiling
Janet and I kayaked every day. In the background (Neecer) is South Sister. Janet is paddling toward the Elk Lake Resort where we tied up next to the sailboats and read for a while, then went "ashore" and got an ice cream cone. Ahhh, the life!Stretching out and getting the feet tanned.
The guys spent their time fishing, but the results were not too encouraging. They did take a pretty good sized fish home for their neighbors. All in all, a VERY relaxing trip. More in the next post.

Whoops -

I got called on it - no Bushism yesterday, so I better start out with it:
BUSHISM
"Laura is out campaigning along with out girls. And she speaks English a lot better than I do. I think people understand what she's saying."
Third presidential debate, Tempe, Arizona, 2004

On to less important things - like the weather is beautiful - cold, crisp, and clear. Nice long walk this morning. Only exciting thing was watching a raven on top of a power pole munching on a small bird. We could see the feathers floating down........ Didn't know they ate their own kind.

I'm feeling a bit political after the Obama victories this last Tuesday, so thought I would share a couple of things. Here is another site that matches your opinions with those of the candidates - it is a little more comprehensive, I think. And this (link is no longer good - I have copy/pasted the article at the bottom of this post) is an interesting article that examines the Obama drawing power. And this one is about his speech writer - just a young kid who "channels" Obama when he writes.... I'm finding myself far more interested in the campaign that I had thought I would be.

Yesterday was our "town day". Yep, the BIG city of Bend. Took Abby in for her twice yearly grooming - her hair was soooo long and now that it is (was) warming up, she needed to have some of it removed. We have tried a couple of places in Redmond (trying to keep the $$$ closer to home) but they have been pretty bad. So, we dropped off the dog, went to Costco, then Food 4 Less, Best Buy for a new wireless router (which I haven' been able to get to work yet, but that's another story), then to Sleep Country to "look" at mattresses. But we found a deal and it will be delivered on Friday! We picked up Abby then went to Deschutes for lunch and I tell you, it was the most amazing meal either of us have had in a very long time. Empanadas with a sausage and scallop filling and a verde cream sauce. WOW! Then we filled up the growler for Dimitri and headed home.

So, now it's getting ready for LoriAnn and Dimitri's visit this weekend> Whoot! Whoot!

Just so you don't miss the photos, Sam, here are a few more from the archives
These are from the fishing trip in October with Jim and Janet and Larry and Zenna Schaffer from California. We met up at Hells Canyon on the Snake River, which you can see in the background. Here, the guys are cleaning part of the day's catch. We were able to eat fish every night and even came back home with some.
I hope that Janet will appreciate the humor in this one...............After a long day of fishing. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very cooperative. Mostly cloudy, cool, and rainy. But we had a good time anyway.
this is the article referenced above - the link no longer works and you would have to "sign in" to see it anyway, so am reproducing it here:

Salvation Show

The Emotion Behind Obama's Appeal

Sen. Barack Obama embraces supporters at a rally yesterday in East Rutherford, N.J. (By Chip Somodevilla -- Getty Images)
Buy Photo

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008; Page A19

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Democrats are divided this year not by the issues but by a feeling and a theory.

This helps explain why the preferences of voters in the Democratic presidential primaries so far have gyrated so wildly. In the absence of deep divisions on policy, Democrats have been cut loose from their ideological moorings. Philosophical unity has bred new forms of conflict.

Barack Obama has surged to rough parity with Hillary Clinton in the national polls not because Democrats reject her carefully thought-out solutions to the central public problems but because he has created in the party's rank and file a feeling of liberation -- from intimidation by Republicans, from old divisions, from history itself.

At a packed rally in a downtown square here on Sunday, emblematic of Obama's appearances around the country, the candidate drew the usual applause for the usual Democratic applause lines on the infamy of the Bush administration, the urgency of universal health care and the unfairness of Republican economic policies.

But he connected most when he spoke of his willingness to oppose the Iraq war when many, including Clinton, didn't. This marked his liberation from Republican bullying on national security. He spoke of the surge of young people into politics and the extraordinary levels of participation in the Democratic primaries. This spoke to his party's desire to be liberated from the old math of the Reagan era.

And on it went: He noted the multitude he drew to a rally in Boise, Idaho, of all places (liberation from the old electoral map); the support he has won from Republicans (liberation from divisiveness); and his determination to govern "not by the polls but by principle" (liberation from calculation and, to some, from Clintonism).

All this strikes Hillary Clinton's supporters as terribly unfair. Some liberals who support Obama acknowledge privately that many of her positions on domestic issues are more carefully crafted and in some respects more liberal than his.

Her steadfastness in supporting a requirement that all Americans buy health insurance is instructive. Clinton is right that universal coverage will require a mandate of some sort. Obama's political attacks on the mandate are not only wrong, they may set back the future prospects of health-care reform by feeding ammunition to its opponents.

One piece of Obama campaign literature looks suspiciously similar to the "Harry and Louise" ads run in the 1990s by the health insurance industry against the Clinton health plan. The Obama ad depicts a concerned young couple and charges: "Hillary's plan forces everyone to buy insurance, even if you can't afford it."

Gene Sperling, a Hillary Clinton economic adviser, says he's disappointed in Obama, whom he generally likes. "I'd rather be in the tradition of Harry Truman, who supported universal coverage," he said, "than in the tradition of Harry and Louise."

But even on this issue, Clinton's advantage is undercut by her repeated refusal -- on display Sunday on ABC's "This Week" -- to specify the penalty she'd impose on those who failed to buy health insurance. Her reticence underscores the political challenge of supporting mandates of any kind.

The larger difference between Clinton and Obama is in their respective theories of change. Implicit in the Clinton narrative, as she put it on the stump last weekend, is the idea that "making change is hard." Only someone with carefully laid plans and the toughness to go toe-to-toe with the Republicans in the daily and weekly Washington slog can hope to achieve reform.

Obama agrees to an extent. "I know how hard change is," he says. But he promises to transcend the old fights -- the liberation narrative again -- by building a "bottom-up" movement to create inexorable pressure for reform that would draw in even Republicans.

"Good intentions are not enough," he said in his Wilmington speech. They need to be "fortified with political will or political power." Obama marries a softer rhetorical line on Republicans with a more far-reaching and activist analysis of how change happens. He thus manages to go to Clinton's right and left at the same time.

That's why Obama is on the move in a way that worries Clinton's lieutenants. She promises toughness, competence, clarity and experience in a year when many Democrats are seeking something closer to salvation.

One of the politicians who spoke before Obama at the rally, Delaware state Treasurer Jack Markell, cited the New Testament letter to the Hebrews in which Saint Paul spoke of "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." It was a revealing moment: While Clinton wages a campaign, Obama is preaching a revival.