On the Deschutes River, Oregon: Our whirlwind weekend of festivities has ended. The ladies gathered at Tamra and Steve's "cabin" at noon Saturday for the baby shower (for our goddaughter, Natalie), the gentlemen donned pink shirts and played in a scramble golf tournament. Tamra outdid herself with pink (Natalie and Jake are expecting a girl) flowers galore and their large dining table was high piled with fancy food platters and sweets. Natalie received so many lovely gifts and everyone had so much fun. Tamra's 95 year-old Mum was in attendance, and she is very excited about becoming a great grandmother! Late in the afternoon, the ladies began trickling out (having to drive back to the Portland area) and at 5p, Tamra's birthday party began. Yes, the shower was held on the future grandmother's birthday! More presents and our friend Don made martinis to celebrate. Dave and I didn't get back to our RV until dark. A very long day and memorable day. Natalie and Jake are due in September - so soon!
There is really no other news, because nothing could top that. I did finish a needlepoint project over the weekend. It is the front of a (sun)glasses case:
And now that we have left the Mt. Hood Village RV Resort, I need to report it has gone down-hill since we were last here. Four years ago, everything was neat and tidy, the lawns were mowed. Not now. Weeds everywhere. Weeds actually growing out of the fire pits! So many live-ins with piles of junk around their RVs. There was a lot of trash in our campsite. Not happy with this resort any longer, though it is still the only game in town. It is owned by Thousand Trails and the sales office are advertising readily. The office, pool area and laundry factilities still seem to still be kept-up.
The local farmer market is held in the campground parking lot (in season), and DT and I found a few veggies and a nice chunk of just-caught salmon (from the Columbia River) before heading out into the wilds of eastern Oregon. We drove east on Highway 26 this morning, then north on 35 to the Columbia River Gorge, and continued east on I-84 until we reached the mouth of the Deschutes River to find our campsite. We arrived in time to catch the second half of the World Cup final (having listened to the first half on the radio). I will be serving Spanish appetizers tonight.
One quick aside about the Deschutes River - pronouced by Oregonians as DUH-shoots... which was derived from the name a French trapper must have called the river, as chutes is part of the French word for waterfall. When I was a little girl, our family watched some-sort of documentary about Oregon rivers or maybe just Oregon, but the narrator pronounced the river DAH-shoot-tay and we all cracked-up for hours and to this day, I often pronounce the river incorrectly as an "inside" joke. (Don't get me started on Horse-doovers for hors d'oeuvres - another old family joke.)
No matter how you pronouce the river, our campsite along the Deschutes River is simply lovely. So many fellow campers were floating down the river - putting in on the south side of the campground and crawling out behind our campsite. Many used floaties, but most just floated on their own. They reported the river was cold when they first enter, but get used to it in just a few minutes.
Our pool (at home) was 94 degrees today.
DT grilled the freshly-caught salmon and I made a peach-jalapeno-cilantro-lime-red onion salsa on the side. Dave also grilled skewers with yellow squash, green pepper and tomato. After dinner, we were treated to the most gorgeous sunset!
Tomorrow we continue east.
Until my next update, I remain, your vacationing correspondent.
Campground Information: Desschutes River State Recreaction Area - We had a back-in campsite overlooking the river. Water & Electric service.