Days 44 - 47 House Rock and Tombstone Pass, Oregon

Days 43 - 46

Day 44 - 12 July

Sunday morning we went to the Corvallis Unitarian Church to hear about and experience New World Kirtan music.

We drove to House Rock Campground on Route 20 in the Cascades.
The kids are collecting rocks in the South Santiam River next to their campsite. 

We took an afternoon walk to a 30-foot waterfall about 1/2 mile walk up the river. 

Sophie has all the moves

while Ansel and Kiana played in the shallow water.

The parents even found a few minutes to relax.

Day 45 - 13 July

We did a 2.4-mile loop to Echo Basin. Billy goats gruff is still a favorite game. 

Picnic lunch under Alaskan yellow cedars.

A dragonfly landed on Ansel's hat.

Echo Basin 

Bee on western coneflower (Rudbeckia occidentalis)

Hellebores with giant leaves

Back at the campground the kids found a deep hole for swimming and jumping.

Ansel and Sophie crouched to avoid the smoke while cooking 

hot dogs for dinner

and s'mores for dessert.

Lucky kibitzes while Midge plays Patience.

Day 46 - 14 July

Every morning Ansel and Ethan would go fishing for native cutthroat trout.

Baby chipmunk on walk to Tombstone Prairie from Tombstone Pass.

Columbine

Coneflower heads

Huckleberries

Cricket on western coneflower

After lunch we went on the Hackleman Old Growth Forest Walk. Sophie noticed how new plants get started by growing on fallen logs.

Large leaves and spiny stems of devil's club.

Sophie started another fire

so we could have more s'mores after dinner.

Day 47 - 15 July


Ansel fishing on the last day

Midge reading The Narrow Road to the Deep North

McDowell Creek Falls County Park near Lebanon on the way back to Corvallis.

Sophie and Ethan at 39-foot Majestic Falls

Days 38 - 43 Corvallis Oregon Pt 1.

Day 38  6 July (145 miles to Corvallis, Oregon)
Corvallis at last! While Cassie and Midge went to Sophie's horse riding lesson, Ansel, Kiana, Ethan and Ed got to work on the carrot cake for Midge's birthday on 7 July.

Day 39  7 July
Kiana discovers she iz zee Nutella Keed. 

Midge played games and music with the kids. 

In the afternoon, Ethan and Cassie's friend Nikhil arrived with his family. Ethan, Cassie and Nikhil met at Berkeley. Ethan and Nikhil played together in the band conFusion. Here are his parents, Geetha and Krish, from Pune, India, together with Kiana, Sophie, Ansel and Midge.

 Kiana watches as Neel organises the fleet.

 Sonia, Nikhil, Cassie, Ethan, Geetha, Krish

Grilling is a guy thing. Ethan and Nikhil did it to perfection.

A bit of trampolining aids the digestion.

 After dinner we celebrated Midge's birthday with two cakes and lots of candles.

Cassie, Ethan,  Sonia and Nikhil stayed up late -- talking while the kids were in bed.

Day 40  8 July
Fortified with coffee and French baking from Le Patissier, we headed for Anderson's Blues blueberry farm where we picked 26 pounds of berries.

Next stop was the Wednesday market in Corvallis where we got lunch, sat in the shade, played in the fountains, and hammed it up with the street art and bicycle racks.

Neel got into the swing of things.

Back home, Nikhil and Ethan started playing music. Hannah called on Skype from New Zealand, so Midge used the iPad to show Quinn what was happening

At the swimming pool, Neel enjoyed going down the slide and being caught by Nikhil.

Ansel read a story to Neel.

After fearlessly leaping into the water, Kiana admitted she was getting cold.

Raman noodle salad for dinner.

Sophie and Geetha.

An evening of great music ensued with Nikhil on acoustic guitar and Ethan on Irish flute. Sonia joined wih her guitar and voice too.

Day 41  9 July
Blueberry muffins for breakfast, then Cassie and Geetha pack blueberries for freezing.

Sophie brought out her nail polish collection and a communal nail polishing began. Grandma Midge even got glue-on rubies for her big toes.

Ethan and Nikhil played some songs for the kids.

We had lunch at La Rockita and then said goodbye to Nikhil's family as they headed for Portland OR.

Day 42  10 July
Nikhil's family brought a model airplane for Ansel.

It hangs from a nylon line and flies in circles.

Kiana helped Grandma Midge play cards and practiced her distrustful stare.

 After dinner we went to the Philomath Rodeo. It started with a lot of rodeo queens galloping around.

There was calf roping, bucking bronco riding and steer wrestling, and the rodeo clown filled in the quiet gaps, but the donkey racing provided the most chaotic fun for spectators.

Stalls sold all sorts of cowboy gear ...

 ... and a variety of sweet and fatty foods.

Day 43  11 July
Rest day.