We had a great vacation. We started to get antsy at the KOA and, on Saturday, decided it was time to move on. After lunch in Ashland, Oregon, we decided to try to float part of the Rogue River. A guide shop in Ashland suggested that a guide service in Shady Grove might be willing to pick up us and our kayaks after the float. Coincidentally, I had previously researched camping in that area and thought the state park at Lost Lake, just beyond Shady Grove, looked interesting. Off we went.
The state park (Joseph Stewart Park) had a nice campground and, lucky for us, a free site that evening. The weather was hot, hot, hot, so we spent most of the time in the Casita keeping cool until later that evening, when it cooled. The lake was really large and inviting. We were tempted to kayak it the next morning and drove to the boat dock. The bummer was we’d have to paddle over part of the lake to get to the no wake area. Something felt not-quite-right so we decided to forego the paddle and continue heading north.
We found ourselves home that evening. On Monday, we paddled part of the Tualatin River Trail. I can’t believe such a cool trail is so close to us. We put in at Cook Park and made it to the Hwy 99 Bridge, about 1.5 miles out. We saw a crane, who watched also us and was beautiful. We really enjoyed that adventure and hope to paddle the rest of the trail.
Tuesday morning, we took Iris to the Troutdale dog park. She loves being able to run around the park off leash, smelling everything, and playing in the river, especially with other dogs. She was very hesitant at first to not go deep into the river so that she had to swim. If her feet touched, she was happy. But we eventually convinced her to try a little swim. We think she missed the flotation of her life jacket. She loves to get sticks, weeds, whatever out of the river, so we played a lot of fetch. We had lunch at the Kennedy School and Iris was very good. She was also very tired. It was nice to end the vacation as a family.
