Roseburg, Oregon Continued. . .

Sunday was a rainy day and the boys and I stayed snuggled in the van for a good portion of the morning. Coffee, snuggly pups, and a good book!  After a leisurely breakfast,  Frannie and I spent most of the rest of that lazy Sunday chatting the day away, taking the restless dogs for many, many walks, and watching a movie.  It's a good friend who will take one of your dogs on so many walks and subject herself to all his idiosyncrasies and penchant for pulling like he thinks you could never possibly walk fast enough.  Thanks Frannie!  Burger loves you and I am endlessly grateful.

Monday was fairly nice and we drove up the Umpqua River, again on Hwy 138 (Diamond Lake Hwy), but heading east this time.  We stopped at one section where Francesca has done some SCUBA diving and found this memorial.  Something terrible happened here.  It was obvious this man was well-loved and will be missed.

                                          The river is so low!

We motored on and took a hike up to Fall Creek Falls.  Oh. My. Gosh.  GORGEOUS hike on an easy trail (except for the dogs pulling like sled dogs :) .  It was cool, damp, and everything was green. I could just picture the wood fairies scampering among the ferns.  The falls was beautiful too, but with much less water than normal, so it's potential for spectacular will increase with an end to the drought.  A lot of the boulder strewn creek bed (BIG BOULDERS) was dry in places, but it was obvious that in a normal year there is a lot of water fighting for space there.

This photo below had us thinking about the Cascadian Fault (read about it HERE) and the fact it's 50 years past it's "due date" for a major earthquake.  If you read up on that, the potential for a catastrophic event that would devastate everything west of I-5 along Washington, Oregon, and part of California could happen at any time. 

Yes, the trail goes through these rocks.

 

 

Imagine the falls with maximum water plunging over the edge. 

 

On the ride back toward Roseburg, we made a quick stop at Colliding Rivers, where a river on the left, Little River, "collides" with the River on the right, the North Umpqua.  These photos do not do this place justice.   In the flood of 1964 the water here was FIVE FEET ABOVE the railing from which I took these photos.  It's quite a ways down to the water........ mind blowing.

 

It was a wonderful visit with a wonderful friend--and long overdue--and I truly hated to face having to come home.  I keep chanting to myself 'one more year, one more year' until the day the boys and I can take off on our traveling adventure full time.  I don't like to wish the time away but...........

I mentioned at the beginning of this post about kicking back and doing some reading on Sunday morning.  Finishing the last book in Jane Kirkpatrick's Kinship and Courage series leaves me with the question of what to do with these three books.  Yes, I could give them to the local library as I have done with many of my books, but I thought it might be nice to give them to one of you.  If you want these books please comment that you would like them and the first one to respond will get them.  We'll work out the details of getting them to you later and keep your information private.  Here's a synopsis of the books:

Published in early 2000, these books are historical fiction based on the true story of 12 pioneer women who lost their husbands to cholera and faced the 1800's frontier on their own.  Their journey takes them from a wagon train heading west to California where some settle and some move on.  I particularly loved these books as the second and third in the series takes place in my own county, Shasta, and gives a good portrait of life in the mid 1850s town of what is now Old Shasta.  The third book takes place in both Old Shasta, south to Sacramento, and north to Jacksonville, Oregon.  Jane Kirkpatrick is an extremely talented writer. 

Thanks for stopping by Two Dogs.  Until next time, Shawna

FINALLY!

Yes, finally, a date was set for a trip north into Oregon to visit a friend in Roseburg. The Boys and I left Friday after I got the last of the items onboard Miss Freedom, heading north on Hwy 89 to merge onto I-5. If it had been summer we would have taken a more meandering, less traveled path, but it wasn't and we didn't. 

The trees that show color in the autumn were halfway between pretty and kind of dried up and dead looking. Pretty much half and half on most of the trees. The drought seems to have taken the life out of everything. Still, it was a nice drive. 

When we arrived in Roseburg and pulled into my friend's driveway we were delighted to find Francesca's neighbor had several maple trees in various stages of fall glory. And they were not showing signs of the drought.





Once the boys and I got settled in we waited for her to get home from her job then, of course, there was all that catching up to do. And we did a good job of that!

Saturday morning we planned a little day trip to Bandon-By-The-Sea, a jaunt of about 70 miles if you go the direct route, but we decided it was a lovely day to do a little sight seeing so we went via Hwy 138/38 to Elkton following the scenic North Umpqua River. Loved this carved pole, one of the four that decorated each end/side of the bridge across the river.


 We took in Fort Umpqua, a wonderful re-creation built with as many old techniques and skills as possible; pegs, hand-hewn timbers, etc.







The Monkey Puzzle Tree.  I've seen these around the coast and inland a ways before.  They always fascinate me. And the tips of the "leaves" are needle sharp!

At last we arrived in the quaint little town of Bandon and drove through "Old Town" and out where we could park and walk the beach. The wind was fierce and we did not get the photo of us we always take to document how we've grown, ummmm.......aged, but I did get a shot of the roiling surf and a sweet little pigeon who was either very confused about just what time of year it is or just plain crazy. She was perfectly content to just sit there on her basket nest watching the people come and go. Not sure which came first, the nest or the basket. I think she got some help from someone, what do you think?



A trip to Bandon is never complete without a stop at the Bandon Bakery for a cream puff so after a bite to eat at a local restaurant where we shared a table with a very charming Canadian and a local gentleman, we went straight for the puffs. Oh man. Heaven! I was good; only had one. :). I thoroughly enjoyed every last bit of it, and it wasn't until I was savoring the last bite that I realized I hadn't taken a photo of it. Oh well, probably a good thing I didn't.  It might have been more than you could take.  Yes, they are that good!  :)

Some local art.  And a sculpture made of garbage to bring awareness of the threat to wildlife, human life, and the eyesore garbage is to the environment. 


Despite the biting wind, we had a wonderful time and Burger and The Chiweenie Brothers were three very tired pups. Guess we were pretty tired, too, because I didn't get a picture of the hounds!              

Sunday and Monday of our little getaway will be the focus of the next post. Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Shawna

LOOK UP! Tomorrow morning (and Friday) the predawn sky has a treat for you. Check it out HERE and scroll down.