The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

Medicine, or dropping off the grid into a Volcano

Medicine is a word of several meanings. As in, Take Your Medicine, or more beautifully, This Place Has Powerful Medicine. Medicine Lake is named for the second meaning, the sacred meaning, but the two seem to overlap here in the deeper meaning of healing, either body or spirit, and of course, both are connected.

Medicine Lake is a small lake in the bottom of a 4 by 7 mile caldera on the Medicine Lake Highlands near the Northern California border. This sweet little lake is just a couple hours drive from Klamath Falls, and yet I don’t often hear of people from Klamath traveling here. Most of the license plates are from California, with folks driving up the nice paved two lane road from Mt Shasta. It is a bit of a drive, off the grid entirely, so perhaps that accounts for the open campsites and quiet lake.

There are no hookups here, no cell phone service, water in the campground but not at the sites. We came ready to boondock for six days, with a full tank of fresh water and empty waste tanks. Generator use is allowed in the campground from 8 in the morning to 10 at night, but we tried to be considerate and except for one early evening movie when the campground was nearly empty, we only ran the generator for an hour or so in the morning to keep up the charge. We were careful and when we left, our tanks still had plenty of room to take on the extra six gallons of water we added with jugs and a funnel. Mo has a small solar panel and although it doesn’t support heavy use, it does keep the charge up throughout the day.

Medicine Lake Highlands has the distinction of being the largest volcano in the Cascades and the largest volcano in California. Unlike the dramatic peaks we are all so familiar with, Shasta, Lassen, Mt Hood and others, this volcano is a broad volcano with dacite and rhyolite lava and obsidian flows as recent as 1000 years ago spreading from the shield volcano for more than 30 miles in every direction. From Klamath Falls, the Highlands can be seen in the distance to the south, unassuming, appearing as a nondescript broad plateau.

Medicine Lake Highland’s volcanic area exceeds 200 square miles in Modoc and Siskiyou counties and encompasses portions of three National Forests including Modoc, Klamath and Shasta-Trinity. Over the last half-million years, volcanic eruptions on the Medicine Lake shield volcano have created a rugged landscape dotted with diverse volcanic features including more than 700 lava tube caves. Some of the most popular features include Glass Mountain, Burnt Lava Flow, Medicine Lake Glass Flow and Undertakers Crater. Medicine Lake has no known outlets yet the water remains clean and clear with inflows only from snowmelt, rainfall and springs.

Driving south from Klamath Falls through Merrill, home of one of the best quilt shops in Oregon, Tater Patch, we continued into California on Highway 39 to Alturas, turning west toward Tionesta 40 miles or so south of Tulelake. The road to Medicine Lake is well marked, but narrow, paved but very rough. Abby and Jeremy complained quite a bit about the thumping, bumping rough sounds of the regular seams across the road. I guess they are created to prevent frost heave on a road crossing soils thick with pumice deposits.

The road rises over 20 miles or so from the juniper sage desert at 3900 feet to high red fir and lodgepole pine forests at nearly 7000 feet elevation. We watched the temperatures drop from the mid 90’s to the high 70’s as we drove. The skies were clear and gorgeous, with just a bit of smoke from the California fires marring the blue. In the past few years, we have planned trips to Medicine Lake, changing our mind at the last minute because of fires and smoke. This time we decided to go anyway, because fires and smoke in the west seem to be a constant and if we wait for no fires, we may never get back to this favorite little place.

We decided to skip the tow car on this trip, instead hauling the boats and bikes in a small trailer. We have traveled here several times, and spent days wandering the forest service roads exploring lava flows, obsidian flows, and taken in the views from the high mountain fire lookouts. This time we intended to relax completely. Without the car, we wouldn’t be tempted to wander any farther than we could go on a bike or our own two feet.

We arrived on a Tuesday afternoon, to find one of our favorite sites wide open. There are three main campgrounds at Medicine Lake, with the first one a bit more open and a sign says not suited to larger rigs. We aren’t quite sure what that means, because the sites are quite large, but the road is narrow. The sites are also not even close to level. We could camp there in a pinch, but the second campground, Hogue, is our favorite. There are a few sites in the upper part that can accommodate bigger rigs, but our favorites down by the lake are a bit small and not level. Medicine campground is the third one in, usually busier with lots of room for larger rigs. The Headquarters campground is farther west on the gravel road beyond Little Medicine Lake, and is very quiet, open and usually empty because it is a bit of a distance from the lake with no lake views. Another place that would do in a pinch if you drove a long distance to camp and there are no reservations here.

Our site 45 has a gorgeous view of the lake, a nice big picnic table down the slope from the rig, and for some reason there are two additional rock firepits added to the big one that was here when we camped last in 2008. A rocky trail leads down to the water and with a bit of maneuvering, we got the boats down to the shore where we could leave them safely for the duration of our visit.

We settled in for a great afternoon of watching the water, watching the sky, playing cards, and I brought out a decidedly sinful and delicious supper of old fashioned hot dogs, baked beans and potato salad that I made the day before at home. The site has only a small drawback. It really is a bit more suited to tent camping than a rig, but we managed to get the MoHo leveled and pulled in far enough that the back end was off the camp road. It is times like these that we are grateful for our perfect length of 26 feet. We can fit most anywhere and yet still have enough room to travel comfortably for weeks or months.

Our sleeping area looked out over the camp road, but there was no one in the site across from us, and the road was quiet, so it wasn’t a serious problem. The night was completely silent, the moon was low and reflected on the lake and the stars were brilliant. I wondered momentarily about the next several days. No internet, no phone, no car. Just a book, a boat, a bike, and a chair. Ahhhhhhhhh.

Next: kayaking, birds, and social life at Medicine Lake

Summer Doings

I am writing this post in late August, the 22nd actually, and a large thunderstorm has just passed over the east side of the Cascades. We don’t often get moisture this time of year, so it was a surprise, lovely and luscious and more than a little bit scary. Hopefully there is enough rain in the storm to offset any chance of lightning strikes starting more fires. The temperatures have dropped considerably this afternoon, and I had to actually put on a pair of sweat pants.

The month of August seemed to fly by, and somehow one of our favorite little gatherings slipped by without even a mention. For the past 11 years, Klamath Blues Society has hosted a Brats, Brews, and Blues Festival at the Pelican Marina in Klamath Falls. It usually runs from early afternoon to about 7 in the evening, with local blues bands on the venue for some delightful entertainment. The bands come and go and are at various levels of excellence, but for a small out of the way town like Klamath, it is still great fun to go listen to music on the shore of the lake and pay 20 bucks for a bratwurst and 6 beer tickets.

Each of those tickets buys a very small sampler of beer. but It’s all for a good cause, with proceeds from the event go to Camp Evergreen, a youth bereavement camp run by Klamath Hospice for children who have lost loved ones. A couple of local breweries are there to peddle their wares and this year the midges were absent and the weather was perfect. This year the event was in early August, and for once, Mo and I weren’t off traveling somewhere.

Even more perfect, my daughter Melody and son-in-law Kevin were the emcee’s for the event and my daughter Deborah now lives close enough to join us for a great afternoon. It was sooo much fun. We ran into our neighbors, Wes and Gayle, who enjoyed the event as well. Not as much as I did though, since I had my daughters there to get me up out of my chair and dancing. Once I started, there was no stopping. I would try, but then that dang beat would keep me going and laughing like crazy and trying to keep from falling on my face, I just kept on dancing with my girls. Haven’t had that much energetic fun in a very long time.

The other summer doings around here have been a bit less delightful. Our giant ponderosa pines have very long needles, lots of them, and every summer it is a big job getting them off the roof. Mo is the ladder climber in the house, since I get wobbly and goofy up there. I can do the roof part, but that part where you get from the ladder to the roof not so much. I watched her up there, holding the ladder for her ascent and helping jockey the blower cord around so it didn’t get in the way.

Other excitement around here has been even more subtle. I have been watching flowers bloom and trees grow while Mo mows. She built this place a year before I knew her and I was comparing some of the photos of what it looked like in 2002 and what it looks like now. It is so much fun seeing tiny little trees that were a foot or so high now reaching for the sky at more than 30 feet. Something has “grabbed” in the last couple of years and everything is growing like crazy. Starting to look like a jungle out there in spite of the challenging climate we have here in the mountains.

Somewhere toward the end of July we traveled a few miles east to the Running Y Resort for their “big” garden tour. One of the gardens there was carved out of all that rocky basalt with an incredible amount of work and planning. She won “gardener of the year” for some sort of statewide thing, and said she was amazed that she won over some of those lush Portland landscapes. We drove through the resort roads from garden to garden, marveling at the variety of stuff that could be grown in a dry rocky landscape.

The Running Y Garden Tour Winning Flower Bed

I also thought that I should have a garden tour of my own! Instead, when the kids come to visit, I just take them on the “garden walk”, telling them how things are doing and what is what in my Rocky Point landscape.

My Flower Bed

I still have issues with the deer, spraying the very smelly Liquid Fence at least every two weeks to keep mama deer and her babies out of my flowers. When we got back from the last trip she had nipped a couple of flower heads off the rudbeckia sunflowers, a plant I thought deer didn’t eat, but she hadn’t touched anything else. Next door at Wes and Gayle’s, she even ate all the herbs on the porch. I didn’t think deer liked strong flavored herbs, but I guess since all my flowers tasted like rotten eggs and old milk she figured something was better than nothing. Go me! Sorry, Gayle.

Oregon Fires

Photo Credits to the Douglas Forest Protective Association from their (Facebook Page Link )

Time for a little bit of update now that we are back home in Rocky Point. We planned a few days in Grants Pass, and as luck would have it, we arrived the morning after more than 3,000 lightning strikes from a summer storm ignited at least 54 fires on private and BLM lands in Southern Oregon. Living in the west as we do, keeping track of the fire situation is part of the routine, and we aren’t surprised to see smoke rising from one direction or another. Some years are worse than others. The year I moved to Klamath Falls in 2002, the Biscuit Fire burned more than 500,000 acres in the Siskiyou National Forest and the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. Much controversy continues to this day about whether or not to allow salvage logging in these wild areas.
Several times in the last few years we have cancelled an August camping trip to one place or another due to smoke, and some of you may remember our travels last summer in the upper West that were marred by smoke from huge fires in Idaho and Montana. There are many good resources to help keep track of fires and smoke, the best of which is found at the Incident Information website, http://www.inciweb.org. This year, however, it was several days before the webmasters of this amazing site were able to keep up to date with all the rapidly changing information for the Douglas Complex fires. Another very helpful website related to fire and smoke is on Weather Underground, where the WunderMap for an area has a layer for active fires that shows the current fire situation and the extent of smoke cover.
Actually, by the time we reached the pass last Saturday morning we didn’t need a website to know that smoke was probably going to be an issue for the entire time we planned to work at the cottage. Once these fires start, it takes some serious weather to calm them down, and our rains don’t usually show up until October. In the mean time, we get thunderstorms, with or without dry lightning, and very little real moisture. Sometimes a marine system will come in and cause a shift and the smoke clears a bit, but it is usually around one way or another after a fire like this gets under way.
Our main goal for the trip was to make sure we got the wood split from the trees we took down last month before it got too dry. Mo loaded up the splitter in the big trailer and hooked it up to the truck for the trip. We took the MoHo since daughter Deb is now living in the little cottage (one bedroom only) and we didn’t want to completely invade her space.
It turned out to be an incredibly productive trip, in spite of the heavy smoke. We got all the wood split, with close to a cord of oak and about 3/4 cord of madrone, probably the best firewood around in Oregon. The big rounds were heavy, but with the three of us working, (Mo does the splitting part) we managed to get it all done on the first day we were there. We have a good ten cords stored here at home already, so plan to let the hardwood dry at the cottage before bringing it back here in a year or so. We heat with wood in Rocky Point, but the cottage has a gas heater that works just fine. No fireplace.
We had a great time with Deb, and she had a chance to show her strength and skill at demolition, tearing out a lot of the old wood and shelves and yukky “stuff” that was in the old bunkhouse. We will eventually tear down the bunkhouse add-ons, but the main part of the building will be saved for Mo’s workshop. Mo worked a lot on the sink plumbing again, and on building the wall and new cupboard that separates the bath and kitchen. Finally we don’t have to hang a quilt for bathroom privacy! Of course, her projects are not made any easier by the fact that nothing is even close to plumb in the little cottage and the reclaimed wood she is using is rarely square. Lots of measuring and sawing involved.
Deb and I managed to get a full load of metal for the recyclers and made almost enough money to pay for the full load that we took to the dump the next morning. I have no idea how many dump loads we have hauled out of that place, but sooner or later we will get it all cleaned up. In the midst of all the work, we cooked some good meals and enjoyed sitting at the table in the old fashioned kitchen in front of the windows. Deb and I took time to play some rousing games of Hand and Foot, my favorite! I taught her how, but she is fast catching up to me. Dang!
We also took an evening to go see “The Lone Ranger”. Mo didn’t want to go, so we had a mom and daughter night with popcorn and one of the most entertaining movie experiences I have had in a long time. There were some great sight gags, gorgeous photography of very familiar places I have traveled, including the exact spot where I built a campfire in Valley of the Gods back in 2004. We both love Johnny Depp and his performance was great. I am really glad that I didn’t let some of the negative things I have heard about the movie keep me from at least giving it a try.
We came home to Rocky Point to discover smoky skies on this side of the Cascade crest as well, and our first night back included another big thunderstorm that ignited a few more fires on this side of the mountain. One bolt hit right on top of us, and I had an especially good view of it through the skylights! Do you suppose that lightning could come in through those roof windows??
We live in the forest. Fire happens here. It could happen to us. This part of Rocky Point hasn’t burned in more than 100 years. I hope I don’t ever have to live through what so many have endured in the last few years. I read about Nan trying to help her daughter save her cabin near Idyllwild, and Gaelyn returning home to her lot in Arizona with sadness. But for the grace of God, we could be there as well. I am thankful every single day.

Camping in a Caldera

Monday July 16 at East Lake in the Newberry Caldera east of Lapine, southeast of Bend, Oregon

Temperature at 9am 66 degrees F, last night low T 55 degrees F, might get to 79 today, or not.

Something about being in the mountains by a beautiful reflective lake makes time completely irrelevant. I know that it is morning. There are a few high puffy clouds coming in from the west that hint that there may be a shift in the weather on the way, but I have no way to predict what could happen except my own personal weather savvy from looking at the sky and feeling the air.

We have been here at East Lake, the smaller and quieter of two lovely lakes at Newberry Crater for a few days now. Not sure how many, maybe three? I vaguely remember going to the Sisters Quilt Show last Saturday, but it has already become a bit of a memory filled in and muted by hours and hours of images of reflected water and sky. I’ll have to blog about the quilt show eventually, maybe when I get back home and get out of this lazy lake mode.

Yesterday early in the morning we kayaked east and found the hot springs that I knew were tucked in along the shoreline, small pools hand dug in the pumice sands to moderate the hottest temperatures coming from the bubbling springs. A mayfly hatch made for interesting reflections on the perfectly still water, frustrating all the fishermen with their various catch methods. Those big black-backed trout were very happy filling up on mayflies. Seems as though someone dumped chubs in this lake and instead of poisoning the lake with rotenone as was done on Diamond Lake, they imported some non native Canadian Black Backed trout, or maybe they are European. Supposedly they are strong predators of chubs and the native trout can recuperate. Reminds me a bit of rabbits in Australia.

I was glad that those bugs weren’t very interested in landing on me and didn’t seem to bite. We heard that they only hatched yesterday, but a few non biting mayflies are nothing compared to mosquitoes and gnats, neither of which seem to have found this perfect little lake in the mountains.

There are incredible geologic stories of the Newberry Caldera, recent volcanism, obsidian flows, there is even a nice visitor center not far from the entrance to the national whatever area that this is. I don’t know. I don’t have internet or even a cell signal to look up and research every little thing, I just have my memories and much like the weather, I can only share what is already tucked away in my mind. I am completely disconnected from the outside world. All I have is water, pumice sand beaches, blue blue skies, clean clear water, and yes, an absolutely to die for, perfect campsite right on the beach.

Roger and Nancy provided a couple of nights of easy camping in their driveway in Lapine with hookups and a great dinner of bbq chicken on one night and we all shared a yummy treat dinner at McMennimen’s in Bend the night of the quilt show. On Sunday we packed up the rigs and headed east just an hour or so to Paulina and East Lake in the Newberry Crater area. We thought that by Sunday afternoon the campgrounds should have quieted enough that we could get a campsite without much trouble.

Surprise! East Lake is a very popular little fishing lake for the locals, and we only managed to snag a good beach front site by walking the park, checking the exit dates on all the tags, and finally asking one camper when he planned to leave. He was very accommodating, and said if we paid now, we could take possession of his site when he pulled out in a couple of hours. I guess that is the way it is done here. We got here about two hours before the 2PM exit time, and it wasn’t a bit too early since other folks were checking tags after us and any later than we were wouldn’t have been so lucky.

Even on a Sunday night, all the front row water sites were taken, but by Monday the park did have a very few unoccupied sites toward the back row of the park. We are camped at East Lake Campground, the best one in our opinion because of its easy access to the water, although there are bigger campgrounds in the area, and this one only has 24 sites. There is a boat launch and a large parking area for boat trailers.

Seems as though fishing is the most popular pastime here, and the first night we saw a young family pull in with a nice big string of trout for dinner. After the mayfly hatch, however, the catch went way down. The lake has a 10 mph limit so that makes it wonderful for kayakers like us. I haven’t yet learned how to paddle at 10 mph.

I really have lost track of time, a nice thing. We have been out in the boats paddling in several directions, found little bays and inlets, and of course, the hot springs. We have cooked suppers to share at the picnic table, and in Roger’s rig when the evening winds were a bit too much. We have had campfires with the great juniper wood Mo loaded up from home, and learned to make S’mor’s with Less, a new favorite of mine. S’mores are just too dry for me, but if you slip a perfect little square of chocolate inside a perfectly done marshmallow, the chocolate melts and ohmy!! Even Roger who refuses to eat marshmallows decided it looked too good to pass up and he loved the one that he tried.

Last night brought a bit of a downer for us, though, when we decided to go for a walk and Nancy discovered they had locked themselves out of their rig. No spare key anywhere. She also thought their car was locked, and of course we don’t have a car with us either. There is no cell phone service here, so we walked down to the camp host who offered a hangar and if needed a ride over to Paulina Lake and his boss who had a land line. Nancy’s wallet, everything, was in the rig, so she didn’t even have phone numbers of Good Sam, or any information to try to call. It was already getting dark and Mo and I were thinking we might need to break out the sofa bed (not ever used) and picturing a night in our rig with 4 adults, 2 dogs, and an elderly cat was interesting.

Lo and behold, when Roger checked their Honda, it wasn’t locked! Still no wallet or rig keys, but at least one little Honda key in the glove box, something called a “valet key” that started the car. They decided the best option would be to drive back home (just an hour from here) where they could make the needed phone calls, have access to their information, and sleep in their own bed. We are hoping they will show up here sometime this morning with someone to open up the rig and all will be well.

Tuesday July 17 Sherry, this one is for you!

East Lake Hot Spring is a magical little spring that emerges right along the shoreline of the caldera lake bubbling up through the pumice sands. People have scooped out the sand into a couple of small pools, and edged them with rocks and logs to keep the hot water contained. The pumice is lightweight and a bit crunchy, but you can scoop it out deeper if you want a deeper pool, and the temperature can be controlled by sweeping more cool water from the lake into your little handmade pool of choice.

The momentary drama of last evening was solved easily when Roger and Nancy spent the night at home, calling first thing in the morning to the dealer where they bought their rig. It was a 2012 model, without electronic keys, so they got a replacement key for just $7.00, and before noon they were back here in the mountains with us, rig opened up, and everything just fine.

Nancy and I decided to kayak over to the springs while Mo and Roger took the spring hike trail up over the hill. They found us in the pools, from a high spot overlooking the spring, but certainly not any kind of path I would want to climb down to get there. Kayaks are the only way to go. Mo and I had boated over there earlier in the morning for a soak and there already were some kayakers there enjoying the lovely little spring, but they called out saying they would be leaving within ten minutes or so, and I waited my turn. I had the springs to myself for a long time while Mo paddled east to the East Lake Resort in the distance.

East Lake shoreline hot springs So my afternoon soak with Nancy was the second of the day for me. What an amazing treat! After paddling back to the campground, we all settled in on the beach with the dogs and balls, and Nancy and I even braved the chilly waters for some swimming. A bit later I thought it might be interesting to see how Jeremy was in the kayak and that turned out great. He did really well, but finally decided that he wanted to leap back to shore. It is said that Turkish Angora kitties love to swim and Jeremy may have not loved it, but he definitely was a great swimmer. He kept his head above water and just swam into shore. He may have been a bit indignant, and he was definitely a bag of bones with all that wet fur, but he didn’t seem to mind that much. I took him in a couple more times and he proved his swimming abilities quite well. Jeremy goes kayaking while the doge play

We were treated to a nice clean fluffy cat when he finished drying himself off. The sun was brilliant and the pumice sands were warm and he liked being there, at least I think he liked it. He at least didn’t run away. kitty swim

We all settled in on the beach and I kept looking at the dark cliffs on the opposite shore of the lake. The wind wasn’t too strong and I decided to jump in the boat one more time for an pre-supper paddle. It was only about a mile and a half across the lake, but I paddled hard for a good 45 minutes before I finally approached the cliffs. No matter how much I paddled, they always seemed as though they were close, but I kept paddling and they didn’t seem to get any closer. In the shadow of the cliffs, the water was calm, and I could hear it lapping inside the eroded rhyolite volcanic rock caves. The water was very deep and clear and the cliffs had much more complexity that it appeared from a distance. In fact, they were almost scary.

There was a deep spiritual silence there, and the closer I got to the rock, the more I felt as though I needed to ask permission to be there. I looked up and said a little prayer before I paddled close and touched those dark rocks. Yeah, it was spooky, for no reason I can name. A powerful spot. I turned away after a time and paddled straight back across the lake without much trouble. I had purposely left the camera behind so I wouldn’t have to worry about it, and as I was silently cruising around those rocks I thought it was properly fitting that I didn’t photograph the moment. rougher than it looks!

The next morning Mo and I woke to glassy waters and decided that it would be fun to cross the lake once again, returning by way of the springs. Within minutes of launching, a big lake wind came up making for a very rough crossing. This time I did have the camera, but the I took very few photos, since I was paddling hard against the wind and current. We reached the cliffs, which seemed less spooky and actually more dangerous with the rough water. I could see how a storm could bash you right up against those dark rocks. We didn’t linger, and decided that it would be safer and easier to skirt the shoreline along the northeast side of the lake along the Cinder Hill campground and around past the East Lake Resort to the hot springs.

By the time we reached the springs, we had been on the lake longer than planned so a dip wasn’t in the cards, but it was good to be there at least one more time. Roger and Nancy had already left early that morning and we needed to be in Lapine by mid afternoon. We packed up in a nice breeze but I was still sorry to leave that beautiful, warm and sunny beach.

On the way out I thought it would be good to stop at the visitor center, but the parking was extremely limited, with only 15 minutes on the south side of the road and no parking signs everywhere else. I figured it wasn’t worth it, but hopefully next time I go to East Lake I can stop in to read about the monument and the geology. The Newberry area is “hot”, and there is some controversy brewing about companies planning to inject water under high pressure deep into the fissures in the lava to generate steam power. Ahh, let’s mess with nature just a little bit more. But since I am still writing this without the benefit of the internet, you will just have to search it out yourself!

Leaving the prettiest place in the world…

For the other prettiest place in the world. Or maybe there are others, but do you remember ever saying “That was the best ever”, and knowing that the next one would definitely be the “best ever”? Leaving Rocky Point on a clear summer morning seems a bit silly, unless of course you are heading north toward Sisters and a quilt show that probably rivals one of the best ever. Although I have never been to Paducah, Kentucky or to the Sisters show before either.
The MoHo is all loaded up and we are ahead of schedule. Just enough time to write a bit about what has been and what is yet to come.
Best little trip recently was a quickie north to Collier State Park where I met up with Jerry and Suzy, a couple of RV bloggers I have followed for some time now. To say they are a delightful couple is an understatement, and as usual, a couple hours of visiting time at their sweet comfy rig in the shade flew by. We didn’t even have to go out to eat! You know how you set that one up sometimes….just in case something or another is awkward and you need a table between you and a waitress to mediate. I am so glad I got to meet the two of them, and look forward to their next trip our way so they can come out to Rocky Point for a visit as well. Don’t you just love their traditional matching tee shirts?
The delphiniums finally bloomed in front of the cabin, just in time for the wind and the sprinklers to knock them over. Soooo glad I got a photo of them the morning before that happened. Then I decided it was time to entertain some local Rocky Point folks for a nice dinner. I think the last time I had Wes and Gayle (our next door neighbors who winter in Tucson) over I fed them hot dogs cooked on a pitchfork. This time I went all the way with a French Country dinner including appetizers and an Apple Galette for dessert. It was great fun to have someone to cook for, but once a year might be enough for that kind of dinner!
I invited another local Rocky Point couple to join us, Jim and Mata have lived here for decades. Jim was the contractor who built Mo’s house and Mata is one of the first members of the local quilt guild of which I am the newest member. I even had fun! Isn’t that the point? Although most women know how hard it is to have fun when you are doing a dinner party with the timing thing always in the back of your mind.
Tomorrow is the quilt show, and we will be meeting up with Roger and Nancy in Lapine for an evening of fun before taking their car to Sisters. (The MoHo will wait safely back in uncrowded territory!) Nancy and I get to play why Mo and Roger hang out in the park. That way we can look and shop to our hearts content without worrying about them getting bored with the whole thing.
The next day we will all travel east toward Newberry Crater and Paulina Lake for some high mountain forest service camping. Did you notice no car on the back of the MoHo! Kind of fun to load the kayaks on that trailer, nice and low! Hopefully we will get a spot close enough to the lake to make up for the fact that I have yet to order those little wheelie thingies that Sherry and David have. Oh boy! camping, kayaking, family, and quilts!!! Does it get any better anywhere??