Where Yarmiks Roam

Oregon City Oregon -Week 30 - July 26 to August 1, 2021

This week we went to Family Camp!! Last year in the midst of all the fires and so on, Bev found a camp ground called Sutton Lake Campground just north of Florence. Well ... I don't think it was Sutton Lake Campground...probably just Sutton Campground. And sure enough, the lake was not right at the campground - it was down aways, over a fence, across Hwy 101, and down a steep incline. But, it was a blessing in disguise because we didn't have to worry about kids playing in the lake and possibly drowning, We had Group Camp A which was prefect. There was room for six cars to park; a bathroom with two toilets, warm water/soap/warm blower, a bunch of picnic tables, a water faucet, a waste water drain, and a four mile loop trailhead practically at the entrance of our camper. Very comfy....but I miss our days at Alder Flat. Every family had a food assignment and everything went perfectly

We did a bunch of things:

Tuesday (27th) our main activity was to go to Heceta Head Lighthouse.

Took a bunch of potential Christmas card pictures

now - just the bridge

we did find an isolated beach

Gretchen and Clara being gorgeous

Warren getting dizzy - along with Holland and Janie

Whitney (foolishly) thinking that she could hone her artistic skills with her newly purchased watercolor supplies, ended up holding an art clinic for numerous nieces and nephews.

On Wednesday (28th) we all went to a dune buggy place south of Florence to take either an aggressive or timid ride. Half of the group (ten) took the speedy and scary 30 minute ride while the rest us took the one hour scenic ride - although I think Dad wished he'd gone for ice cream somewhere.

I think it was really good. The driver had a nice and informative narrative, we saw beautiful scenery, and there were some steep climbs and drops and twisty turns.

Whenever the girls see some sort of statue, they become climbers and clingers.

On Thursday (29th) we drove to the top of Cape Disappointment which had gorgeous views. Dad and I had the lunch assignment and we supplied cold cuts for sandwiches, chips, a watermelon, apple juice...and cookies.

After walking the trails at the top of the cape, we headed to the beach and parked at a short trailhead and clamored down to the water. We hadn't been there for long before Dolores told us that someone had smashed Jessica's passenger side window. Made a mess. A jacket and a swim suit were stolen, but some poorly hidden phones were missed.

Back at camp, people tried out Dolores's travel/practice violin.

Evan kept us in kindling

Thursday evening, Ivan and family "surprised" us by arriving!! First they were coming, then they weren't, then they were, then they were definitely not! But, we knew they were coming because we tracked them on Find My Friends! It was so fun to have them with us.

Friday (30th) we went to Honeyman State Park which has a lot of lakes. We got to the edge of one pretty early in the morning and were able to stake our our territory!

The kids had a blast playing in the roped off swimming area. The most exciting activity seemed to be finding and imprisoning small salamanders which foolishly lived in the swimming area. Paul had brought two or three inflatable kayaks which everyone enjoyed while they were also getting sunburned.

Magnus and Logan liked them the best.

Saturday (31st) we went north to hike the Hobbit Trail to the beach. I will admit that I thought the trail was going to actually have little hobbit houses cleverly hidden amongst the trees. But it was all a trick. Yes, there could have been hobbit houses (and probably were), but it was just a trail through dense forest. At the end of the trail was a magnificent beach with everything you could want - sand/tide pools/rocks to climb on/water flowing over the sand.

See - the picture just says it is Hobbit Beach