Fall

We have enjoyed many atypical sunny fall days here in our area. As we prepare for our big trip, we have just been having fun close to home.

[a walk in the woods outside our home]

We went for the grand opening of the 

NW Ski and Snowboarding Museum at Snoqualmie Pass...

a bit too crowded to see much but a lot of cool people from the history

of the pass were there.

[first cotton candy, at the fair]

[pumpkins at The Nursery at Mt. Si]

[catching raindrops]

[hiking Little Si; friends helped carry babies]

['car wash' fun]

[leaf crunching]

Cottonwood Canyon

As we have a tendency to do, we made a couple easy travel days into epic travel days recently. We left Waldo Lake, OR, with the goal of making it to Bend, a mere 3 hours away.

When we got to Bend, however, we decided to keep going to shorten our trip the next day. We still needed to drain the gray water tank and find fresh water, and those two tasks took way too long for various reasons. We didn't end up leaving Bend until after dinner and so we put the kids in pajamas and drove while they slept. A few hours later though, we were ready to find some camping, and we discovered an awesome spot.

Cottonwood Canyon is a new camp area along the John Day river. We spent the night and enjoyed a little exploration the next day.

While perusing the visitor center, we saw a brochure about local fossil beds. Had we read more carefully, we would've learned that the only one actually near us (and not that near) had only leaf fossils. But the brochure showed dinosaurs! And really cool dinosaur fossils! We assumed that there would be a really cool museum/exhibit at each fossil bed location. Well, you know what they say about assuming.

The 'short' drive took 2 hours because the road was so curvy. Then we got to the fossil beds and were quite underwhelmed. We managed to convince the toddler that it was still VERY cool, even though we hiked in heat to see a measly three leaf fossils, which are most definitely not as cool as dinosaur fossils.

at least the rocks were cool to look at...

heading out, 

having doubled our day's drive time 

We're Finally Doing It!

Two of our goals in moving to a full-time RV life were to simplify and to travel. It took awhile to get to these goals, much longer than expected. Repairs were needed, a parking spot needed to be found, more repairs were needed, my pregnancy became high-risk, our baby was born, and so on.

Last week, we took a trip to Eugene, OR to get solar installed. After the install, we headed to Waldo Lake, where we got to enjoy a beautiful, quiet lake, warm temps, some mountain biking, and campfires. We also got to test out our new solar system and found it worked great.

throwing rocks

muck monster

on my 6-week post-c-section date, 

I hit the trail for a lakeside jog...

the boys out on the paddle board

testing his mtn biking skills 

Both B and I managed some actual mountain biking on a trail that went along the lake. It was a perfect ride to get back into the groove after a long time off the bike.

Hidden Gem

You already know part of our story, that we moved from a standard American home into a 30-ft Airstream back in April. And you know that we started out in an RV park in North Bend, with very little outdoor space and nowhere to walk/run/explore with our little guy. It was a place to park but definitely not a place we envisioned staying for any length of time.

In telling folks of our great adventure, a coworker mentioned a nonprofit camp in the woods in our area as a potential spot to park our home. They didn't have availability until September, but now we are finally in our 'homebase' parking area.

We have between 10-20 elk in our yard every evening.

While eating breakfast one morning, e watched a coyote under a tree less than 20 feet from our door. This morning, again during breakfast, we watched a black bear sit under an apple tree and then lumber/run across the field (sorry, no pic).

K has 52 acres to run around in. Here, he was playing "Tootle", a train that likes to jump the tracks and chase butterflies.

Apparently, Tootle also rolls down hills. 

On this beautiful, sunny day, I decided to make cookies outside while everyone else took a nap. This is what you do when you live in 30-feet of space...you extend outside. It was quite a nice spot to make cookies.

Oh, did I mention that K has not one but two playgrounds within 20 feet of our home?!? With all the play equipment, the boys find the mound of dirt/mud most entertaining.

A nice picnic lunch with friends

Another view of our 'home sweet home'