The rest of the story

I've just returned home from an adventure-filled vacation to the west coast. I'm very glad to be home, but I'm thankful for all the fun, new things I've experienced. This post is really more for me than anybody else, I don't want to forget the details of the trip. There are also hundreds of pictures to share but I'm too tired to upload a lot of them! :) Ok, I believe I left off at Monday...

Tuesday- We rode on a Jetboat down the Rogue River to Hellgate Canyon. It was SO fun! We saw lots of wildlife, including 3 Bald Eagles!! The Jetboat basically "hydroplanes" down the river. The driver would slam on the brakes and we would end up totally soaked. As soon as we dried off again, he would drench us again! He also did several 360s in the water too! Very cool if you ever get the chance. I don't really have any pictures because I didn't want to ruin my camera. After the boat ride, I ran into a fellow Baylor Bear, we, of course, posed with a good ol' Sic'em!


Wednesday- After dinner on Tuesday night, we drove to my Uncle Rick's (my Mom's brother) house. He lives on 7 1/2 acres in Trail, OR. His property includes a creek and is pretty much smack dab in the middle of the woods. It's a very cool property. And, it also includes the biggest dog I think I've ever seen - a German Shepherd named Tyler.

Anyway, on Wednesday morning we got up and drove to Crater Lake. There WAS snow on the ground. It was so cool that even before we got up to the lake I wanted to have my picture taken standing up on top of a pretty big pile of snow. My sister kept telling me that it wasn't really a good idea to try to climb up it, well I didn't listen. I got about halfway up when I slipped and slid a couple feet back down on my rear! Now, since the snow has been melting, it was very cold and very WET! My bum was soaked! I was laughing so hard that I couldn't stand up, so my sister tries to help me and she just dragged me a few more feet! Excellent, I can't think of a better way to witness one of America's most beautiful scenes (where hundreds of people visit every day) than with shorts that look like I wet myself! I am definitely not one to give up though, I did make it to the top of the hill:

Crater Lake was actually formed when a volcano erupted and then collapsed on itself. To this day, it is one of the deepest lakes in the world, and has the clearest water. It was AMAZING!

After spending some time outside, we went to the lodge where I tried to dry my pants a little.


Thursday- This day was all about the fly-fishing! My Uncle Rick is really great at this skill and I had no idea that it actually does take quite a lot of skill! We started out at a private lake stocked with Rainbow Trout. The fish were huge and it was cool to be able to see them in the water swimming around. Once we caught them, we let them go. I thought that was kind of nice! :) It took me awhile to get the hang of fly-fishing and I don't know that I ever really got it, but I did end up with one really big fish! And, no, I did not touch it!


After the lake, we went down to the "Holy Water." This is a really quiet spot on the Rogue, known to be a great fishing spot. The water was about 50 degrees and it felt so much colder. This is where we actually waded into the river. We thought it was only going to be about knee-deep but it ended up being waist deep. It was a lot harder to walk in the water than I thought it was going to be and the fish weren't doing much. We did catch a little trout, but nothing worth taking a picture of! :) Once we got out of the water and I took off my waders, we realized that they leaked! So, for the second day in a row, I had a completely wet behind! Can you believe that? Here I am looking the part in the river:


Friday-On Friday, we rafted down the Rogue River. Apparently, when you visit this part of the country, the thing to do is spend time on the river! It was really a lot of fun. The water was still very cold but we didn't really get that wet. I went white water rafting one time in Colorado and this experience reminded me how fun this is. I wish there was some place around here to raft! Maybe they can work that into the re-building of the Trinity River area? Or maybe not!

Friday evening was spent back at my aunt's house (my Dad's sister) enjoying one last meal with that side of the family. This is when we just sit around and laugh at each other. It was a great time. Ella and Tommy got me all hooked up as their friends on Webkinz so we can still talk to one another. They were really neat kids!

Saturday- We got up early yesterday morning and drove for a very long time back to San Francisco. We spent a few hours seeing more of the city. We rode a Cable Car from the water all the way up to Union Square and we were able to see lots of the city this way. I really enjoyed being in San Francisco. I forgot how much fun it is to be in a big city and try to figure your way around it all. We even saw the Victorian houses that they show in the background of the opening credits to "Full House." This was definitely a highlight!

Sunday- We got up even earlier this morning to catch our flight home! Now, I'm home for a few hours and then out the door tomorrow morning to head to camp! I'm looking forward to another great week full of fun!