First we want to thank my Mom and Ray for our round of beers.  They were cold and tasty.  Wish you were here to say Cheers with us!

MORE NORTHBOUND

Welcome back along our road trip.  It’s 0600 in Concord, CA, and we have a day, 13 hours drive to Silver Falls State Park, Oregon head of us.  We will be hooking up for a camping weekend and celebrating with our friends, Tom’s 60th Birthday.

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It was another heart filling visit, with the bonus of seeing our dear friends of Portland.  During this three-day community weekend, we accomplished many memorable activities together.  We prepared amazing meals, drank a little too much, hiked to waterfalls, dipped in the water, observed fly fishing by Scott and Omar, individual napping was had my most, created amazing meals, and sang along to fantastic music played by our friends both evenings.  It was a magic weekend of love among friends.  Happy Birthday, Tom!

HIKE TO SILVER FALLS

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TOM’S BIRTHDAY

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HIKE TO A NEARBY CREEK FOR SOME FLY FISHING AND SWIMMING

A GLIMPSE OF THE TALENTED MUSICIANS IN OUR GROUP.

THE MOVIE IS DARK BUT YOU CAN HEAR THE AMAZING MUSIC.  

UP A LITTLE MORE NORTH TO PORTLAND FOR A MONTH OR SO

Five weeks in Portland visiting beautiful souls. We had a basecamp at Omar & Gwynne’s lovely home. Throughout our stay, we were blessed to learn how to make sausage, participate with harvesting honey, enjoy how to make homemade hummus and hummus and falafels from scratch (I’m hoping never go back to canned garbanzo beans), taste-testing pickles during their process, Chris made plum sorbet from plums picked from the backyard, picking vegetables from their garden for meals and snacks, bike rides to meet up with friends, walks from Casa Team GO, aka Gwynne and Omar’s House, to Mt. Tabor park and the neighborhood.  And a garden to get lost in, bees to admire their hard work, and a vegetable garden that enhanced culinary delight.

PICKING PLUMS

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HARVESTS FROM THE GARDEN

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MAKING SAUSAGE

Apple Chicken Sausage

HARVESTING HONEY

This was a fascinating process to observe. I learned there are many steps involved with harvesting honey. Some folks do less, and some folks do more. I think, from what little I know about harvesting honey, Omar and Gwynne have it down.

LEARNING HOW TO MAKE FALAFELS & PETA BREAD

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MT. TABOR

And so, one of our many walks was Mt Tabor Par, which is one of our favorite parks in the area.  The park was half a mile from our previous house. In the past, we walked our dogs up there, hiked, ran, walked, and even picked blackberries.  We loved it so much, it felt natural to get married on top of the park.  There is a large set of trees we named the wedding trees.  

ARE YOU HIP

This is new to us.  We have read a little about HIP camps and how there are many all over the county.  HIP Camps are the AirBnB of the outdoors. Some provide participation on the campsite like working a vineyard, farm, etc.  Our HIP Camp camping was located in the hills of Lyle, WA.  A vineyard with a working farm.  This location was chosen because it was located on top of a hill and provided a clear wide view of the skies. Omar brought his 4-foot life-size microscope and showed us and taught just so much of the universe. It all made sense at the time. I wish I can remember everything he was teaching us. But we did get to see Saturn and its rings and clusters and clusters of stars. It was an evening we will not forget.

Hip Camp folder photos

In the last few photos in this group, we are teaching the bowline knot.

YES, Yes, yes, I know. There are many photos. Okay, there were a lot of photos. But we had, I had, to capture as much as I could. I even forgot to take photos at some visits. But don’t think this is it. There is a Part IIb of Oregon in the following post.

Thank you so much for following and riding along with our trip.

Stay tuned.