Fish, Trains, and Museums

Finally after being shutout in July,the fishing turned better in August.I caught these 2 beauties on the Columbia river. A 20lb Salmon and a 10lb Steel head. After buying an out of state fishing licence that cost $100, and catching nothing in July,Jeni was heckling me like a"Phillies baseball fan!"but Thanks to my fishing buddy Greg,with his knowledge of the Columbia the pressure is off.I have filled the freezer for the winter! All that's left is cleaning them.I enlisted the help of my better half for this job...SHE WAS ESTA TIC!

Before we left Deschutes,we had one last dinner with our good friends Stan,Diane,and their lovely daughter Jenny.And of course little Mikey.Stan is one proud Grandpa.Jeni and I will really miss them all.

This is a picture of Jenny's home in Washington. We spent many afternoons here this summer enjoying their hospitality.It is a beautiful place,Jeni and I just love it here.

Meet Pedro! He was a lost dog at the park that nobody claimed. The Rangers asked us if we could keep an eye on him til the owner comes.....Humm where have we heard this before.Back some 30 something years ago,my brother and his wife stopped in for the holidays from Portland.They had found this dog wandering the streets so they flew it down with them and asked us to keep it for us til they flew back home unaware to us that the dog had a one way ticket! Long story short,we had taffy for 17 years.....I still owe you one Gary and Martha! Needless to say,Pedro made himself at home....Until we found out Pedro wasn't housebroke.....OUT!
Needless to say,Pedro wore out his welcome.I am happy to report that Pedro did find a home.

One of the things Jeni and I wanted to do was visit the "Living history Museum" in the Dalles before we left. We saw some of the local Raptors,a Great horned owl,

And a Red tailed Hawk.

Jeni really liked this display of this little river boat that used to ply the Columbia back in the 1800"s

We also rode the Hood River Train to Parkdale one afternoon.

Jeni loved it!

A beautiful view of Mt. Hood and a plush setting on board.

Of course I had to give the engineer instructions on how to handle this "baby",I quickly exited the train after it was apparent the engineer was not going to take my advise!

Jeni really enjoyed herself.We have to do this again.

Well our time here at Deschutes is over and we embark on a new adventure at Collier Memorial state park down by Klamath Falls. We have really enjoyed this place and consider this place as our favorite camp hosting job so far . We will be back in the near future.A special thanks to Rangers Jim,Tom,Bruce,Connie,and David for their guidance,and friendship. You are the best!




Its on to Collier and our next assignment as Service Hosts for the month of September. New adventures await us,and maybe even a trip to Crater Lake(weather permitting). So we go from fish,trains,and museums to Ponderosa pines, saw mills,and national parks. The fun never ends for P&J in Oregon!

In our own backyard

Where the heck is jeni? Is she in some ancient ruins, or is this some construction project gone bad? No,she is in Washington's version of "Stonehenge"!

These Structures were built to honor the brave men and women from the state of Washington who fought and died for their country in WWI.It was named "Stonehenge". Have you ever heard the phrase "Where the Sam Hill are we",well Sam Hill was the creator of "Stonehenge" and became famous as a Washington resident. I took this picture standing at "Stonehenge"looking west. A beautiful view of the bridge at Biggs and the mighty Columbia river.Biggs is a small community east of the park about 4 miles.

The Internet here at Deschutes has been very slow and unreliable so we have not been able to put as many pics as we like to on the blog. Hopefully when we get to Collier the service will be better. Many people we meet ask us about what we do and why the heck we do it! Camp hosting.Basically it is volunteering our time in the state and federal parks in exchange for a place to park our home with utilities usually included. One of the great things about this concept is the many backyards we have.Think about it,you live in one place and you might have a nice view from your porch. But over time you notice that view less and less as it becomes common place. We have had views of beautiful snow capped mountains, the ocean with crashing waves thundering down just yards from where we sit.We have had coffee on our porch in the desert watching a blazing brilliant orange sunset. Cactus wrens perched on a saguaro cactus just a few feet from us.National parks, State parks, County parks, Recreation areas, Corp of engineer parks, we have been in all of them. There is always a nice view just waiting for us at our next job. Sitting at home, on our porch, at our next assignment,In our own back yard!