Thanksgiving dinner was hosted at Sheila’s son Randy’s home.  We had a great time visiting with everyone.

Pat and her Dad

We brought the trailer to a really nice RV park in the Wilsonville area - Pheasant Ridge RV Park.  This put us about 20 minutes from downtown Portland.

While the girls did their thing most of the day, Andrew and I went geocaching/hiking out on Sauvie Island and in Forest Park.

We all went to dinner at the Hawthorne Fish House in SE - very good.  Pat had great gluten-free options including clam chowder and fish-n-chips!

Handsome Foursome outside Hawthorne Fish House in SE

The Happy Couple!!

Here is Pat’s favorite photo of the day.................

Pat and I joined Brother Tim, Jean and Anita on this nice fall saturday for a great hike into Kentucky Falls. Our plan was to hike the 2 miles to the falls then hop on the North Fork Smith River Trail south another 6.5 miles to it’s lower trail head where we would leave one of the vehicles.

This is great time of the year to make this hike. The mornings are beginning to get cool and crisp but the afternoon is warm. The vine maple is starting to turn it’s fall colors. The large mature conifer trees are shedding their older needles making for an occasional “shower” of brown needles whenever the wind kicks up.

The volume of water coming over the falls isn’t quite as much as earlier in the year but it was impressive nonetheless.

After taking in the falls we made our way down the North Fork Smith River trail stopping for a bite to eat at a huge Douglas-fir tree that was 11 feet in diameter! I took a few minutes to replace a geocache at this location that had come up missing recently.

Shortly after getting back on the trail we came to a short section of the trail that had slipped about four feet down the hill. We carefully traversed this section without loosing anyone!!

Didn’t see a lot of wildlife unless you count the big ole’ spiders Anita kept meeting up close and personal!! Or the mosquitos! Nearing the end of the hike we did catch a glimpse of a small family of river otter crossing their little pool as we observed from a bridge.

Pat took quite a few pictures with her newfangled camera and if you want to see a slide show of the hike, click on THIS LINK.

After the hike we returned to Old Town Florence for dinner at Bay Street Grill again!  Drove up to Heceta Head Lighthouse to see if Pat could get some good shots - too foggy!

After setting up, we went into Florence for some dinner.  Had a great meal at Bay Street Grill.  Walked around Old Town afterward looking at all the old cars in town for the Hot Rod show.

Tomorrow we rise early and meet the Ellison’s and Anita Blackwell for a day long hike to Kentucky Falls and beyond.

Rods N Rhodies Car Show

Stopped in Sisters for a little window shopping.

Completely opposite weather heading home compared with the day we drove over here - rained all day from Sisters all the way to Coos Bay!  Welcome back to the coast!!

Mom and Dad came down from Dufur for the day to meet up with us, Jenny & Kyla AND Sarah, Amber & Christina were over visiting from the coast as well!

We went out to Tumalo State Park for a picnic.  Amber and Kyla had fun playing in the water.  Cooked hotdogs and had a good time visiting.

Great-Grandpa Jim with the girls

Later in the day we did some shopping in Bend then picked up Kyla so she could come out and camp with us for a night.  After some dinner we all took a walk around the park hunting a geocache.

C’mon - it’s THIS way!!

Also visited Paulina Peak and Pauline Creek Falls later in the day and watched a storm brewing over the Cascades.

View of Paulina Lake from Paulina Peak

Paulina Creek Falls

Looking across the crater in the top of Lava Butte