WARNING Oregon Road Trip. Hundreds of photos.

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herchenx
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WARNING Oregon Road Trip. Hundreds of photos.

Post by herchenx »

This is a cross-post from another rock forum I'm on. I Hope that is OK. Also, there are many photos, which I also hope is OK. I didn't see any kind of a trip report forum on here so I hope this is the right place to put this.

August 2014 Our family of 6 packed into our used minivan and headed out from Fort Collins, CO. We drove up through Laramie on HWY 287, then caught I-80 west and crossed Wyoming, dropping into Utah and around Salt Lake City.

We stayed in I-80 all the way through Utah. Great Salt Lake:

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Salt Mines:

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Salt flats headed west - had it not been raining these would be snow white

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After crossing the amazing salt flats including passing near Bonneville, we headed into Nevada. We made our way across Nevada, still on the first day of our drive. We looked at a map and decided to head north at Winnemucca, which is where we stopped the first night.

We got up the first morning of our trip and headed out:

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We made our way toward the Royal Peacock Opal Mine, hopeful to find some opal!

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We stopped at the Virgin Valley warm springs, the kids looked at the tadpoles but we wanted to get to the opal mine:

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When we got to the mine, it was very cloudy and a little rainy. The nice lady at the office said we'd be wasting time and money looking on that particular day, without the sun the opals are difficult to find.

We asked for any rock alternatives, and she suggested we head to Plush, Oregon to find sunstones. Off we went.

It was interesting, I'd always thought all of Oregon was a rainforest, but the East part, maybe half, is desert. Right near the border there was a large cliff face we headed over, and could see for miles as we descended the road cut down the side.

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As we neared Plush, the volcanic rock became more and more obvious

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About 30 minutes North of Plush we arrived at the public rock hounding area

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Immediately I was finding sunstones

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As I discovered last summer hounding Sunstone Knoll with Roland, the rain helped pop out the yellow stones. I showed the family what we were looking for and everyone went to work

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My youngest was struggling with his poncho

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He couldn't seem to find any, and kept fiddling with his poncho. I thought he'd end up finding something else to do then suddenly he shouted "Dad, is this one?"

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It turned out to be HUGE. It was unfortunate he found it so soon, because he only wanted to find the big ones, but this one was 5-6 times larger than the next biggest ones any of us found. It is a great spot if anyone ever gets a chance to head out there. The road is not bad, it had decent gravel, although it seemed a little sharp and I was worried for our tires. We didn't see any services once we left Plush so make sure you have enough gas and a spare tire if you go.

Everyone found a bunch of sunstones, mostly small, but had a great time.

We made our way toward Lakeview, Oregon to stay at Hunter's Hot Springs. Lakeview is an interesting place, very small, rural, not much to do, but they have *quail* running all over town

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This was the clearest photo I have, they are tiny, but would run right down the middle of the road.

There was also deer right in people's yards (look closely behind the bush)

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We got to Hunter's Hot Springs, and the rooms were clean but everything was decades outdated, we liked it

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The hot springs were OK, it was a swimming pool that had warm water in it, a concrete rectangle but it was nice to be in the warm water.

The second morning we headed out and started to get into forest pretty fast. We made our wall all the way to Klamath Falls, and saw a lot of the Upper Klamath Falls lake, the photos don't do it justice, it was beautiful.

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The weather broke a little as we drove, and I kept eyeing the roadcuts:

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Then a little sign told us we made it to California:

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The trees changed pretty dramatically, we were expecting redwoods but the forest was lush and green, but not redwoods

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Then the trees changed again, not yet the enormous ones we expected, but very cool, and old

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Then they got big, so we pulled over

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We spent a good 90 minutes exploring the area immediately around where we parked. It felt like we were Emoks on Endor

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Everything was huge, if felt primordial

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A passing stranger was kind enough to take a family photo

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It was getting late, and we were tired and hungry, so once the newness of the giant forest wore off, we headed toward Crescent City, and the Pacific

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We found the first Seafood Restaurant we could and ordered a fish dinner

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We had about 2 hours to get to the place we rented, so we finished dinner then headed north into Oregon again toward the rental house. The Pacific Coase in souther Oregon is unbelievable

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I took some photos on my big camera at sunset the third evening, but unfortunately don't have those handy.

That evening, we arrived at the house, which was along the Sixes River, just north of Port Orford, Oregon. In my imagination, the entire Left Coast was all people every inch of every mile, and this is absolutely not the case. There are long stretches of highway that have nothing but forest or coastline, so when you roll into a little town like Port Orford, you wonder how far the next town will be.

The port has a crane that lifts the fishing boats out of the water each night, where they are stored on the large concrete dock on wheeled carts. The week we were there they were dredging out the harbor so we didn't get to see the boats come and go. Here is the barge with the dredge, you can see the boats on the dock, and the crane that lifts them.

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The Sixes River runs right into the Pacific, and our house was about 6 miles inland. We rent from VRBO.com and have had great success finding places all over.

Here was a photo of the outside of the place we stayed, this doesn't do it justice, it was larger than it looks, very nicely finished, and had all the comforts of home and lots of room for our family of six.

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During the week, we would just pick every day what sounded fun, based on what we heard and the weather, which was generally cold, but did vary between sunny and cold and foggy and cold.

First day, HUGE breakfast. We ate at the Paradise Cafe, which we thought was good and reasonable, however Google indicates that they are permanently closed. That is too bad because there aren't a lot of options in Port Orford and we did enjoy it.

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Next stop, the OCEAN!

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It didn't matter that the water was FREEZING, the kids got right in and we found a spot that was out of the wind.

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Our little collectors rent right to work

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There were large rocks everywhere, which allowed us to find cool sea-life.

Anemones

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Starfish

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The girls buried Corben

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The beaches stretch for miles, and if the sun shines you can walk in the warmth of the day and just avoid hypothermia.

By the end of the day, the kids wanted to (really) swim, so we thought we'd explore the nearby Elk River, which was supposed to be warmer and bigger than the Sixes River.

We found the first pull off, and the water looked so inviting, but was a 50 foot drop from the road

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We thought we might be able to make it down, there was a convenient rope.

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But wisdom became the better part of valor and we kept looking. I didn't capture the water very well, but it was UNBELIEVABLE. It was absolutely clear, and in the deepest spots took on a sapphire blue.

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We kept exploring, and finally found a spot we could get in

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Thanks to Google enhancement for making the photo look more like the actual scenery

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And the kids got in

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We also quickly discovered "Marion Berries" - they were like really large, very sweet blackberries, and they were in full effect (they were everywhere we went), and were delicious.

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Back at the dock in Port Orford, I really wanted some seafood. We hit Griffs, which was cool, and good.

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This was when we learned that all the boats were stuck for the week, and that very little of the seafood was fresh as a result. It was still great and I'd definitely recommend it.

The next day, we headed south to go see the Redwoods again. It started out very clear and beautiful.

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Then got foggy

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But was sunny by the time we reached the Redwoods

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We took a break during the walk to get back in the water, I think this was the Smith River in California

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And another stop along the coast

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And a glorious sunset

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The next day the kids wanted a full day in the water, so back up the Elk River

The color!

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That night, we headed to Sunset Cove, a park in Northern California, appropriately named:

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The next morning, we hit the beach again in Port Orford, I wanted to find some beach agates. They were there, but in the summer the sand covers the rocks, so the ones you find are pea-sized, but pretty:

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As usual, the beach was all but abandoned, we were the only ones there

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We headed up to the Lighthouse in Port Orford, a must-see

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We explored the grounds and nearby museum

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One of the days we also went to Bandon, Oregon, and my son and I caught dungeness crab on the dock. It was windy and predictably cold, but we caught 5 keepers and they cooked and cleaned them right by the dock for $0.75 each, which was great. We had them for dinner the next night with pasta and butter sauce.

Our time was up in Port Orford, and we needed to get headed back East. We followed the Umpqua River for a long way, I thought we might hit some hot springs along the way, but when we got there, it was a 3-ring circus so we kept moving. The view was amazing though, all the way along the river.

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We decided to head to Crater Lake

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It was very rainy as we went around the lake, we made it all the way and decided to try to get to Bend before it was too late. We made it to Bend, and before we arrived in town I saw a turn off for Newberry National Volcanic Monument, which I'd never heard of.

After a good night's sleep, we backtracked a bit and went to Newberry, and went up on a cinder cone.

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According to the guide, all the hills around the area, including some butte in the town of Bend, are all cinder cones on the long side of a giant volcano, some 70 miles south of Bend. The last photo above shows some of the cones. They form when the roof of a lava tube gives way, and a plume of hot lava shoots into the sky, cooling and condensing, and falling right back onto itself and forming the cone.

We also decided to descend into the lava tube, supposedly one of the longest un-collapsed tubes in the world

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It was cool. Just a long, straight, cold, dark tunnel under the ground. We walked a mile each way I think.

We hit the road after some lunch, saying farewell to the cinder cone as we left

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We tried to hit Glass Butte(s) as we drove east, but the amount of shattered obsidian in the road and out lack of clearance in the minivan caused us to turn back. This was the nice road into the area before it got very sketchy:

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We stopped for the night at Crystal Crane Hot Springs. This is the hot springs pond

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That night the Perseid Meteor shower was giving a show, and my daughters and I stayed up late, lying in the water watching. It was a cool place, a bit rustic but very functional in terms of lodging. Not a bad place to stop although there is nothing else out there.

Next day, farewell Oregon

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Hello Idaho

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This was the part of the trip I might regret most. We opted to move quickly across Idaho on the interstate. I felt all the beauty of the state pulling me off the fast-lane but we had to make up for the long day at the volcano. All we wanted by the time dinner came around was a potato, and Idaho Joe's Obliged.

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A couple of the kids were done with photos for the night. The potatos were great though!

We made it to Lava Hot Springs and stayed in the Home Hotel, which was perfect.

The kids were wiped, and the rooms were quiet and clean.

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Next day, we started for "Soda Springs" - and the country was beautiful

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We found the springs!

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There was a cool story about how when the springs were going to be a commercial hot springs, but when the pool was dug, the geyser started spraying and quickly turned cold. It ran for something like 6 weeks and the secretary of the interior sent a telegram asking the developer to cap the geyser as Old Faithful was being impacted hundreds of miles away!

I don't know about the authenticity of the claim, but every hour during the day the timer goes off and the valve opens allowing the geyser to spout. The calcite formation around the base is pretty impressive.

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And the Algae adds some nice color

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We hit Mesa Falls as we decided to hear North toward YellowStone:

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We made it to Montana (my first time) and while Nancy and the kids went looking for dinner in West Yellowstone, I called every hotel in town, twice! There were NO ROOMS at all. The last place I called, the lady said she'd just spoken with a friend at a guest ranch and they had a few rooms available. We drove out of town and found a very peaceful guest ranch, I can't recall the name now, but my wife, 2 daughters and youngest son had a cabin of their own, and my older son and I shared another smaller cabin. It was dark when we arrived, and we left pretty early the next morning so nothing to show except this shot of the Montana Rockies as we drove to the ranch.

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The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we headed to Yellowstone. None of us had ever been and I thought it would be a nice drive-through on our way home.

There had been a fire there years ago, I remember it on the news when I was younger, but you could see the old trunks standing for a lot of the drive, but a lot has re-grown.

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Folks were fly fishing in the Madison river.

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Very pretty everywhere we went

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The we started seeing steam

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and more steam

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and mini-geysers.

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Eventually we made our way to Old Faithful. We waited about 30 minutes before the eruption started.

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You should be able to see the video of the eruption here:

[img]http://goo.gl/photos/YioE2TR721Qgjx5A8

The we hit some of the really pretty pools in the park
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We were driving along again, and all of the sudden right out the passenger window was this guy:

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A little futher down the road and his buddy

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After a while the long line of cars came to a halt, and Bison were all over:

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The "couple of hours" turned into 8, we made it past Yellowstone lake, which is enormous, then the Tetons came into view:

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They are spectacular

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We'd seen the West side of the Tetons the day before coming up through Idaho, but it was raining on and off, and while still impressive, they were less dramatic than the view from the East in Wyoming.

After a couple stops to oggle the amazing beauty and swear to ourselves that we'd be back, we started our mad dash to try and get home.

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We drove all night, that is to say *I* drove all night and we got home really late.

This trip was amazing. We'd not made many plans other than the house we would be in during the week in Oregon, but no plans for the route or where we'd stop or what we'd see, and it was greater than we could have hoped. If you haven't had the chance to make time to see the American West, do what you can to make it happen. It is really something to behold.

Well I've taken enough of your internet time, thanks for reading. I am doing little bits of hounding and mucked the slab saw the other day so I will be sharing some more coming up.
Last edited by herchenx on Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
John
Fort Collins, CO
USA

I collect stones, cut and polish cabochons, make jewelry and tumble
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PinkDiamond
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Re: WARNING Oregon Road Trip. Hundreds of photos.

Post by PinkDiamond »

You took me on a fan-freakin-tastic journey, John. You guys really know how to take a vacation!! The pics are great, and you have a beautiful family, and a trip like that is a lifetime memory for them that they will cherish forever. I was smiling the whole time I was reading your text, and enjoying the scenery like I was there. :!:

Thanks for sharing your adventure with us! I enjoyed every minute of it. :D
PinkDiamond
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crazy8s
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Re: WARNING Oregon Road Trip. Hundreds of photos.

Post by crazy8s »

Me too :!: You and family sure covered some miles and thanks for taking us with you. :D
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gingerkid
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Re: WARNING Oregon Road Trip. Hundreds of photos.

Post by gingerkid »

:mrgreen: Enjoyed your trip pics, John! My favorite pic is the one of your family next to the huge Redwood.

What did your youngest son do with his awesome sunstone find? :)
~ Jan ~

"...you gotta know your ABC's...
Always. Be. Cool." 8-)
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SwordfishMining
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Re: WARNING Oregon Road Trip. Hundreds of photos.

Post by SwordfishMining »

Glad you all enjoyed your vacation. Some of the biggest memories growing up are found on them. I can't imagine living anywhere else than up here. It does take miles and hours to get around tho'. My commute to the kids is from the opals to the other side of Crater Lake, and I usually only grab a bucket of the big pumice cobbles on the way. Pity you missed the opal and didn't have time to rockhound everywhere. My favorite Virgin Valley Mine- well all of them sort of, was rained out all opening week. On the other hand I dug every day on one of my places for a bit instead of calling to see if they were opening and staying home when it is raining heavy sporatically. They just had to open the next day right? Wrong. It gets real muddy and sticky when its wet.....but the opal on top is more obvious.
I'll jump over my shadow. https://www.virginvalleyopal.com"
Opals & more at my ESTY store https://swordfishmining.etsy.com"
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herchenx
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Re: WARNING Oregon Road Trip. Hundreds of photos.

Post by herchenx »

Thanks all!

Jan his big sunstone is in his rock collection box. He takes it out from time to time to show and tell when folks visit.
John
Fort Collins, CO
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I collect stones, cut and polish cabochons, make jewelry and tumble
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PinkDiamond
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Re: WARNING Oregon Road Trip. Hundreds of photos.

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Some of my fondest memories of childhood are the trips we took as a family, which wasn't easy with 7 kids and 2 adults, so vacations weren't something we did often. But one in particular was to upstate NY, to a hunting cabin in the woods that my dad's cousin owned, that was near a lake in a small town. The cabin had a few built-in bunkbeds in the living room, a small kitchen with a pump for water, and an outhouse with a fur toilet seat. :lol:

I learned how to shoot a shotgun, and of course landed on my butt, to my father's great amusement, and it turned out to be the best family vacation ever despite my unwillingness to go initially, and I'll never forget it. :D

I also have wonderful memories of vacations with my maternal grandparents, who took my brother 17 months younger than I, and me to Montreal and Quebec where I got to use the French I had just spent 4 years learning, so I had a blast, and my grandparents even allowed me to go out and investigate Montreal on my own, which was a first for me, and a wonderful experience.

Your children are so lucky to have a father that takes them to such places, John. And the next time the ISG does a trip to the Dust Devil and the other sunstone mines out there, you should plan to take the family and go with them. I tell you, if you did, and if I lived closer to you I'd be begging you to pick me up and take me with you. :!: :lol:
PinkDiamond
ISG Registered Gemologist


· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ ..·´ There are miracles left for you to do .... -:¦:- -:¦:-
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Lydia
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Re: WARNING Oregon Road Trip. Hundreds of photos.

Post by Lydia »

Enjoyed the photos and the mini vacation they took me on. Looked like you were the only people left on earth at times!
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gingerkid
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Re: WARNING Oregon Road Trip. Hundreds of photos.

Post by gingerkid »

Hi, John! Your son's sunstone has to be the largest piece of sunstone rough I've ever seen!! :mrgreen:

Your oldest daughter looks just like your wife to me. :)
~ Jan ~

"...you gotta know your ABC's...
Always. Be. Cool." 8-)
- Boyd Crowder
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