Wow, I can’t believe it has been nearly two years since we first dragged our camper across the country from Ohio to Washington State! There is still so much to see and dear friends and family to visit, so off we go and here we come!

Waterfalls & Banana Slugs on the Oregon Trail

Our first travel day found us heading south on I-5 and then east from Portland along the Columbia River following the Oregon Trail (backwards, of course). I can’t imagine how treacherous and dangerous the lives of the people emigrating west by stagecoach, horse and on foot must have been. Even with the modern conveniences of today the roads are steep and winding, the nights are cold, it is very windy and the Columbia River looks terrifying. There are drawings of emigrants trying to cross the Columbia River by putting their stagecoach, cows, families and belongings on a wooden raft. I wouldn’t even want to try to cross in a motor boat.

We stopped at Ainsworth State Park for two nights which allowed us a full day to explore. There are beautiful waterfalls and the Columbia River Gorge has amazing rock formations and stunning views. Every trail we walked had more banana slugs than I have seen since arriving in the PNW. They are fantastic! We also visited the Bonneville Dam which had a fish hatchery and absolutely gorgeous landscaping. I never expected a fish hatchery to be pretty.

All around us were signs of a wildfire from 2017 called The Eagle Creek Fire that was started by a 15-year-old being reckless with fireworks during a burn ban. It impacted 50,000 acres. Nearly all the trees were either completely burned or had black fire marks on one side, along with burn marks on rocks and paths.

Pelicans & Morels

A few hours further along the Oregon Trail we spent two nights at Emigrant Springs State Park. There is a ton of history in the area. As a result, the best-behaved group of 5th graders from Portland were tent camping for three nights along with their chaperones. They were dressing in period clothing and doing skits and performances for each other. No one made history that fun when I was in school. How awesome! It must have been chaotic for the chaperones. They deserve an award (the chaperones, not the kids).

I learned from the campground host that morel mushrooms are prevalent in the area. Greg and I did some amateur foraging and actually found four morels! After verifying that they were not false morels I cooked them with a little garlic and olive oil. We each got two spoonfuls and they were delightful. And I am alive to write this, so all is good.

We visited McNary Dam and its lovely nature area. There we found American White Pelicans! I never imagined I’d see pelicans in Oregon unless they were near the ocean. Some of the pelicans had a disk-like growth on their bills. Google informed me that during breeding season some pelicans will develop that growth temporarily. Fascinating!

Pendleton, OR was nearby, so I just had to visit the famous Pendleton Woolen Mills. We just missed having a factory tour, but they did have a small history museum and a lovely store. The quality and patterns are amazing. The prices reflect the quality.

Catio Corner

What our humans have failed to disclose is that they did not deploy the catio on either of these stops. They said something about it being “too cold” and “we aren’t here long enough.” Blah, blah, blah.

And these old roads are extra bumpy in the back seat. Somebody needs to do something about that. Not cool! Makes for a long three hours. You know what they say about payback…