Great Adventures with Eric & Kathy
Dillon called me this morning to tell me that Eric and Kathy were at Alan and Ani's place and I reallized that I was falling behind in my posts.
Eric, Kathy and their grandkids, Brittany (pictured left),
Jenna and Cortney
(pictured below, left to right)
arrived in Weiser late at night on on June 17. It was about 11:30 p.m. when they finally pulled into my driveway that Saturday.
You all know how much I love visits from family and this was the first time Eric and his bunch have been to see me in Weiser. What a treat! We visited a little that first night but due to the late hour thought it was best to get to bed (at 1:30 a.m.).
Sunday became adventure day. Eric had wanted to go see Devil's Canyon but when we googled it we discovered that it was a 5+ hour drive. So, instead we decided to drive up to McCall. McCall is a small town built up around Payette Lake, much like Lake Tahoe used to be. It is a beautiful drive and a neat place to visit. We got as far as Cambridge when we saw a sign proclaiming Cambridge to be "the gateway to Hell's Canyon". Eric stopped and visited with some folks in the gas station after which the decision was made by all to head toward Hell's Canyon.
(or so we were told).
We reached Brownlee Dam in no time, (picture of the business end of the dam above) and continued on toward Oxbow Dam. What a beautiful drive that was.
Now, some helpful gas station attendant had told Eric that once he got to Oxbow that he shouldn't go any farther because the road got pretty steep and rocky. He also told Eric that he didn't have to come back the same way. He could go back through Oregon and follow "The Highway" along the snake river. Sure enough, the map that we had showed a highway which followed the snake river on the Oregon side back to Weiser. Sooo...off we went! We soon met the junction which was to lead us to "The Highway". It first took us through a little town called Richland. The road began to narrow as we went through town but we thought nothing of it. I guess we expected it to turn back into a normal highway as we left town. BOY WERE WE WRONG! Instead of a regular highway, we were met with a dirt and gravel road not much bigger than one lane! Just let me show you...
NO JOKE! This is why I have been referring to it as "The Highway". To add to this, we had gone about 6 miles and there was a sign on the right side of the road that said "Caution - Trucks Entering Highway". If you do not think that was funny you should have been there. Sure enough, just past the sign off to the left of the road were two big trucks.
Well, to make a much longer story a little shorter, it took us 3 hours to go 42 miles! We saw some interesting things and some beauiful scenery. But, like the kids said,
"You only need so much river"!
Boy were we glad to see that dirt road end! In unison we let out one grand cheer as we saw the gravel give way to pavement.
Even though for the most part we had a good day, we all heaved a deep sigh of relief once back in civilization.
But stay tuned...THERE'S MORE :)
Eric, Kathy and their grandkids, Brittany (pictured left),
Jenna and Cortney
(pictured below, left to right)
arrived in Weiser late at night on on June 17. It was about 11:30 p.m. when they finally pulled into my driveway that Saturday.
You all know how much I love visits from family and this was the first time Eric and his bunch have been to see me in Weiser. What a treat! We visited a little that first night but due to the late hour thought it was best to get to bed (at 1:30 a.m.).
Sunday became adventure day. Eric had wanted to go see Devil's Canyon but when we googled it we discovered that it was a 5+ hour drive. So, instead we decided to drive up to McCall. McCall is a small town built up around Payette Lake, much like Lake Tahoe used to be. It is a beautiful drive and a neat place to visit. We got as far as Cambridge when we saw a sign proclaiming Cambridge to be "the gateway to Hell's Canyon". Eric stopped and visited with some folks in the gas station after which the decision was made by all to head toward Hell's Canyon.
the road to Brownlee Dam
Our new plan was to go up past Brownlee Dam to Oxbow Dam, the half way point to Hell's Canyon Recreation Site,(or so we were told).
We reached Brownlee Dam in no time, (picture of the business end of the dam above) and continued on toward Oxbow Dam. What a beautiful drive that was.
Now, some helpful gas station attendant had told Eric that once he got to Oxbow that he shouldn't go any farther because the road got pretty steep and rocky. He also told Eric that he didn't have to come back the same way. He could go back through Oregon and follow "The Highway" along the snake river. Sure enough, the map that we had showed a highway which followed the snake river on the Oregon side back to Weiser. Sooo...off we went! We soon met the junction which was to lead us to "The Highway". It first took us through a little town called Richland. The road began to narrow as we went through town but we thought nothing of it. I guess we expected it to turn back into a normal highway as we left town. BOY WERE WE WRONG! Instead of a regular highway, we were met with a dirt and gravel road not much bigger than one lane! Just let me show you...
NO JOKE! This is why I have been referring to it as "The Highway". To add to this, we had gone about 6 miles and there was a sign on the right side of the road that said "Caution - Trucks Entering Highway". If you do not think that was funny you should have been there. Sure enough, just past the sign off to the left of the road were two big trucks.Well, to make a much longer story a little shorter, it took us 3 hours to go 42 miles! We saw some interesting things and some beauiful scenery. But, like the kids said,
"You only need so much river"!
Boy were we glad to see that dirt road end! In unison we let out one grand cheer as we saw the gravel give way to pavement.
Even though for the most part we had a good day, we all heaved a deep sigh of relief once back in civilization.But stay tuned...THERE'S MORE :)
posted by Kathleen Hawkins at 3:55 PM
6 Comments:
The landscape is so beautiful. I miss it. Sounds like a good day. Did you ever make it to McCall?
No McCall. We made a left turn at Cambridge which took us toward Brownlee and away from McCall. Thus, our great adventure :)
Would you do another post already. I get the urge to poke my own eye out everytime I log on and see "Great adventures. . . " It was nice to read A MONTH AGO but, really, I think we're all ready for something new! Love you and hope you can find some time to tell about some new adventures.
I'm dyin' here. Its been more than two months. Can't wait to hear more m'dear! Love you.
You know, you can blog with dial-up...
I'm begging. . . please tell me something, anything. . . I want to hear my momma's voice in writing and see some new pictures. I've stayed tuned as you requested, but I'm losing steam and really want to hear about the rest of your time with Eric and Kathy. Actually I want to hear about anything at all. I love you. . .
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