Cascade Head

In July we decided to go to Cascade Head. There are many hikes to go on there. We wanted to go on the Cascade Head Upper Trail and it is closed Jan 1-July 15 to protect wildlife so we went after July 15th. It's closed to protect some plants and some butterflies. This trail is 4.2 miles out and back with a net elevation gain is about 1,200 feet. And while we were there we wanted to go to Hart's Cove, another hike that was close by. This trail was 5.4 miles out and back with and net elevation gain of 900 feet. Both trails sounded so good but we didn't want to do both of them in the same day. So that lead to our first bed and breakfast stay in Lincoln City. We arrived at the trailhead for Cascade Head Upper Trail and had a great hike. It was everything that I had read about. The views were great and it was a nice hike-not too hard. We did take our trekking poles and we were glad we did. It's not very often we use them but they came in handy the last mile of this hike.



Cascade Head Upper Trail Pictures

Tree roots become steps on this trail 

Beautiful ferns and tree moss everywhere 

   

One of the stops on the way to the top gives you this view 

 

We made it to the top 

A herd of elk 

At the top

At the top 

 

Herd of elk on the way back down 

Beach in Lincoln City the first night we were there

   Our bed and breakfast accommodations were great. The proprietor was so friendly, she made us feel very welcome. Our room was wonderful and we had an ocean view. The food was wonderful. Every day the leftovers from breakfast are fed to the seagulls. They perch on the nearby roofs waiting for their treat. As you are eating, they are watching you. She gathers up the plates, they start to get excited. Before she throws out the food from the second story balcony, she asks her breakfast guests to stand at the window to watch the spectacle. This is the gulls last clue that their breakfast is coming. They make lots of noise and fly so close to the proprietor you would think they'd snatch the food from her hand. She tosses the food to the ground and it's a free for all. The Disney movie, Nemo, comes to mind...as it really sounds like they are all saying "mine, mine, mine...".


Next day on the beach at 5:30 in the morning. Yes, I'm an early bird.

The waves were great

    

The arrow was where we were the day before

Hike to Hart's Cove

More fern lined trials 

 

The cove. You could hear sea lions but couldn't see all of them 

Yes there was a waterfall there. Not very big because it was later in the year.  We did see a sea lion swimming in the cove. 

Next day we checked out of our bed and breakfast and spent the day on the beach. It was a windy day. We stayed for most of the day, ate an early dinner then headed back home.

Interesting tee pee on the beach 

Certainly is enough wood here to build lots of things

 

Surf was down, tide pools were interesting 

Not sure why this was here but it was cool. 

   It was a nice get away. It's hard to call it a vacation when you're retired. A get away or road trip sounds good. Anyway, more adventures are coming up. I'm a bit behind in my blogging.

Kayaking on the Willamette

Last month we decided to expand our kayaking destinations and decided to try the Willamette-where the Tualatin River flows into the Willamette. We needed to go upstream as downstream leads to Willamette Falls.  The falls are the largest waterfall in the NW United States by volume, not a good idea to go over it.

Our destination 

I read some reviews of other kayakers that made the trip and it sounded like we could do it. We were eager to explore the areas around the islands in the Willamette.

Our trip started out calm. I stuck to the banks of the Willamette. It is a big river, much bigger that I was used to kayaking.

The islands are up ahead and the water looks calmer between the islands and the banks of the Willamette.

The water was great and the area was beautiful.

However on the way back the wind picked up and it made the trip back longer. To reach our destination we were paddling upstream and it wasn't too bad. But this trip back-we were paddling against the wind so even tho we were going downstream, the going was long and the paddling was continuous. We need to remember to check the weather to see if it's going to be windy.

Anyway we made it back. There was calmer water where the Tualatin River flowed into the Willamette.

It's a trip that I would do again, after checking the weather. I hear that there are more places to explore going in this direction. I also read up on many people with our skill level that kayak downstream from the Willamette Falls-some of them paddle up to the Falls themselves. I don't think I'll be doing that any time soon but it would be fun the kayak the other side. Maybe a post for later.

Tea party and science day

I was looking to start an activity with my two grandkids that they would enjoy. Something that would be a special once a year happening. 

Last summer I started a science day with my grandson. He loves science. I go to the library, check out age appropriate science experiment books, he looks them over and chooses which experiments he wants to do. I get all the supplies together beforehand. We continued with science day this year, he still loves science. And this year one of the books was a magic science book, with experiments that would amaze the audience using science! Mr UAW, grandpa, was the audience and my grandson had a blast. With each experiment we stop and talk about why it works, what we are learning about the world around us. He loves this stuff. 

He made one egg sink and one egg float 

The jar put out the candle flame and in turn sucked up the water on the plate 

A balloon with pins in it!

          

He made a kaleidoscope 

Inside the kaleidoscope 

Who can resist cornstarch and water?

We made our own butter and buttermilk biscuits

                

Building with marshmallows and spaghetti 

This summer, my granddaughter was old enough to have a special day, something that she would appreciate. I remember having a special tea party with my daughters as they were growing up...so I chose a tea party. She loves to make things in the kitchen and loves to play with her dolls. And she loves my many flowers in the yard. Our goal was to make everything for our special tea (turned out to be juice), pick the flowers for it, use the special flowery tea cups, the special tea pot, dress up and to invite her dolls to join us. She helped me with all the preparations for the food

Our table all set and ready to have tea!

Tea with a special doll 

    

All dressed up 

Flowers that she chose from my yard 

    

Dolls and creatures from the fairy village have their own place setting 

And of course the special doll gets her own place setting 

Some of our foods, not a traditional tea but items that were of interest to her. 

     

Enjoying the "tea" and food 

These are activities that I think we can use for a few years. As the kids change their interests we can change up their special day. 

Camping at Trillium Lake 2019

Mr UAW and I went camping at Trillium Lake last year. This year we invited all of our Oregon family to come with us. It is such a beautiful place and we wanted to share it. We had a few things we wanted to do here...go kayaking, fishing, celebrate a birthday, and hiking. We wanted a specific weekend in July to do this and we wanted 2 camp sites together next to the lake for 2 nights on a Friday/Saturday. Reservations can be made up to 6 months in advance. So I had to troll the www.reservation.gov web site 6+ months ahead of time to get what I wanted. We ended up at sites 41 and 43-very nice sites. We were able to launch our kayaks from these sites, the hiking trail was close by, and we could even fish from these sites.

Mt Hood

sunset over the lake 

           

The fishing was great. Last year we didn’t have much luck fishing from the shore so we enjoyed fishing from the kayaks. This year we did better fishing from the shore. Fishing from the shore made it more of a family excursion and we could all help the little ones out with their poles. I lost track of how many fish we kept and how many we threw back. We did catch enough for one big meal for 6 people for breakfast and enough to take home for a dinner feast for all of us. We had 5 people fishing so there was plenty of lines in the water. We spent time fishing very early in the morning or in the evening. During the day there were other things to do.

proud fisherman and dad 

caught another one

       

Spending so much time standing on the shore fishing gave us plenty of opportunity to observe the birds in the area. There were bald eagles and ospreys fishing the lake. The eagles scope out the lake from a high tree, spot a fish, fly out over the fish, circle back down low to the water, grab the fish and fly off. Osprey scope out the lake from circling high over the lake, spot a fish and dive from whatever height they are at, splash straight down into the water, and come up with a fish. Two different techniques and they both work. There is another way the eagles get fish, stealing it from the osprey right after they catch it. In this case the osprey drops the fish while in the air and the eagle swoops down under the osprey, catches the fish and flys off. It is interesting to watch all of this.

Bald Eagle 

Kayaking on the lake was nice. We had good weather and it didn’t get too windy. My grandson had just learned to kayak so he really enjoyed getting around the lake. I kayaked with my grandson to see the beaver house across the lake.  My daughter and granddaughter enjoyed it too. Mr UAW and my son-in-law tried fishing from the kayaks and they got a few bites but didn’t pull in any fish.

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Beaver house as seen on our hike 

      

Hiking was easy here. There is a trail that goes around the lake that all of us could easily do.

This was a great place to camp if you are okay with campground camping. All campers were courteous and the facilities had the best pit toilets I've ever seen in a campground. During the day the lake gets busy with the "day use" people that come to enjoy it...the area around the dam can get crowded but it's not crowded anywhere else. Also there are more watercraft-NON motorized- on the lake during the day with the "day use" people but there is plenty of room...and it doesn't affect the fishing because the fishing is only good early in the day or in the evening-times that the extra boats are not on the lake.