Wow!! Second blog of the day...

OK..so, on with our vacation...

Well, Kent and I went to the little lodge store at Lake of the Woods to inquire about some coffee. They didn't have any, so we went over to the restaurant and could smell some mighty fine smells coming from there. Mmmm...breakfast is what we were thinking!! So we asked the gal who was carrying plates if we could sit outside, and her reply was, "yeah, if you want." I suppose she wasn't really one for words so early on a Sunday morning. We perused the menu and sat there, and sat there and sat there. Finally, a new gal came out and in the same, bored tone, asked us what we wanted. Kent and I both looked at each other and said..Umm..No, I think we will just go. So, we did.

We got into White City about 11am..located a Dutch Bros. and placed our order. YUM!! We then drove over to the gas station as we were pretty much on fumes..told them 10 bucks for us please, and then drove on into Grants Pass where we filled up at Fred Meyer and got out 10 cent discount on gas. (Thanks Freddies!!)

We then made our way out to the Illinois River where we had gone a few years back to swim with the kids. Nothing had changed...the little island that we played on was still there...however, there were a lot of people there. One would think that a little itty bitty car couldn't get up and down those jeep roads, but there were plenty of them on that road...thus, the people. We set up our camp site on a small place of sand...jumped into our swim suits, and AHHH!! Cool water...Hot day!! RELIEF!! Twas wonderful...really. Finally, about 5pm, all of the people that were there left...which left Kent and I all to ourselves. We walked around a little bit, dove into the water from a high rock, and then decided that our "spot" wasn't very big and that there was lots of glass and litter everywhere. So, for the 2nd time that day, packed up the tent and our stuff, and went back up the jeep road to a spot that had lots of sand. So, we settled in for the night, eating some BBQ chicken from pouches and some cold Uncle Bens rice. We also had some Shiraz...some of us had a little too many swigs out of the Nalgene bottle...but we won't mention which one of us it was. Suffice it to say, after the sun came up..Kent felt better after he slept a few more hours. :)

We got up Monday morning...and, well, since we were into moving camp...we decided that we would go and see how the Rogue River was...but, before we totally went away from the Illinois River, we walked about a mile down to this little place called appropriately, "Little Falls" and we did a skinny dip. That's always nice after a mile hike. It really was probably a half a mile, but the water felt good nonetheless!! After our little swim near the little falls, we went back to the car, and drove on over to the Rogue River. We drove around for a while looking for a decent camping spot...and finally found one. It was a little small, but pretty private, and we could see the people coming down on their rafts and boats. And..it was hot..and the water again felt wonderful. Kent and I read, laid in the sun, he made the "ocean front property" bigger by cutting away some branches...and then he proceeded to make a little table and benches for us to sit on so that we could have a place for our stove and our stuff. Now, when I say stove, I mean this thing is no bigger than a soda pop can...so, you can imagine how big the "table" was...yeah, it was a nice rock to put the stove on. But, I digress.

We then went up to the little porta potty that they had (Thank Goodness!!) and saw that there was an even larger, nicer "beach front property" just up from us. So, can you guess what we did? Again? This time, Kent just carried the tent over to the new spot. The next morning, after breakfast, Kent built a little lean-to so that when the sun was directly over us, we would have a little bit of shade. Then, we decided to go into town (we left our stuff there) and we picked up some blow up inner tubes...I tell you...THAT was the BEST $4.26 that I have EVER spent. We went back down to the Rogue..put our swim suits back on...and made our way up river so that we could float down through the riffle. All in all, I think we must have "floated" up and down the river about 15 times!! It was SUCH a blast!! I will post some pics of Kent...They are a riot!!

Ok..condensed version time..

We then moved...Nah!! Just kidding!! We stayed there another night (I'll be darned!!) but decided that we were missing the kids wayyyy toooo much, so the next morning, which was Wednesday, we packed everything up...and went down to Redding (we were originally supposed to meet Mom and Don on Friday in Medford) to surprise the kids. We showed up at Mom and Dons, and they were not home. So, I called Ashlyn, and asked where they were at? She said they were out at Grandpa Charlies...so, we went out there...had lunch with Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Leona, then went to Costco for an alcohol run (gotta love Costco in California for their prices on alcohol!!) We then took the kids back to Mom and Dons house...super surprising them. The next day, we left Redding and went back up to Grants Pass and stayed the night with our friends Ray and Kathie. Had a nice time just chatting and visiting with them..while the kids swam and played on the trampoline. Kathie REALLY wants me to tell you about the "WIZZENATOR) but I will have to do that in another post. :P

We then left Friday morning to go over to the family reunion over in Gold Beach. We got there at Irelands Rustic Lodges (after stopping at the cool liquor store before you get to Oregon on Hwy 101) (Really sounds like we are alcoholics, but we just go for the cool bottles..really!! Well, maybe a little for what's inside, but the bottles are cool regardless!!)We checked in..then went and said hi to the family, then went down to the beach where the wind was blowing SO HARD that you felt like your legs were being in a sand blaster!! It was like that both Friday, and Saturday!! Sunday, before we left, we all went down for a beach walk..and wouldn't you know it...the wind wasn't blowing..and it was a great time on the beach. If only it could have been like that at least one of the days we were there and not leaving that day!! GRR!! Anyways, the reunion was a success...I believe anyways!! I do think that everyone had a great time...if they didn't, well, bring your complaints to one of the elders. :)

OK..time to get off of this computer!! Till next time..maybe I will tell you about the Wiz...enator!!