Vacation Part 1--Lake Wallowa, Oregon

We decided to take the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway on our trip to Joseph, Oregon.  It was a cold rainy day so we knew we had the time to take in some beauty along the way.  As we meandered along the curvy forested road, we were thankful we didn't hit the free-range cattle that were roaming around!

We did some exploring/shopping in Joseph since we arrived early and it was raining and just too cold to enjoy much of the outdoors.  After we moved into our lovely vacation rental we started a fire and got the games out!

The rain had stopped by the next morning so after breakfast, we hiked Chief Joseph Trail at the Wallowa Lake Trailhead.

We thought this rock had an interesting profile.

Destination--BC Falls

I asked them to stop so I could take a picture.  Not quite what I had in mind. 🙄

I decided to just take the picture while they were walking instead.😂

 After lunch even though it was quite overcast we decided to take the tram to the top of Mt. Howard.  The views on the way up were breathtaking, but once we got to the top visibility was zero...initially.  As we hiked through the snow, the sun finally broke through giving us awesome views!

These little guys were all over the top of the mountain and were not afraid of us.  

The next three pictures show how the clouds eventually moved out to give us those great views.

The views out of both sides of the tram car--lake and mountains.

 After warming up by the fireplace and playing a few games, we ate dinner and then walked by the lake.  The kids skipped stones and we just enjoyed the beautiful evening.

Cascade/McCall

Last summer at a pastor's golf outing sponsored by the Christian radio station Russ won a night's stay in Cascade along with a lunch/dinner for two at Bistro 45 in McCall.  They both expired a year from the date of issue (August).  Blackout dates for the hotel included the entire months of July and August.  Since we knew we would be gone to Iowa half the month of June, we realized we needed to make a last-minute trip up north if we wanted to make use of these gift certificates! 

We left by 8:30 on a Thursday morning and were in McCall by around 10:30. 

The Payette River was running super fast.

Payette Lake in McCall

What a beautiful day--sunny and around 70 degrees!  We walked by the lake for a bit and just enjoyed the scenery before heading to Bistro 45 for lunch.  The Yellow Warblers serenaded us as we ate our lunch al fresco. After lunch, we drove up Brundage Mountain Road until we came to the parking lot where the trailhead for the Goose River Falls was located.  This was a lovely hike through the woods to a beautiful waterfall.  The hike to the falls was mostly downhill so the hike back to the car raised the heart rate a little (at least for me 😏).

Selfie #1--Squinting in the sun

Caught a glimpse of a Western Tanager.  Wished I had my better camera.

 

Selfie #2--Not looking in the sun

Drenched with waterfall spray

The uphill hike back to the parking lot.

After the hike, we headed back to downtown McCall for some ice cream.  All the shops required masks and had social distancing quotas for the number of people in the store.  Since this is a huge tourist town, I guess that made perfect sense.  Anyway, we enjoyed our Wells Blue Bunny ice cream cones as we again walked along the Payette Lake.  Since we had had a communication snafu and left any and all games at home, we stopped at the Ace Hardware store to pick up some dice, a deck of cards, and a double nine tin of dominoes. 

We drove back down to Cascade (McCall and Cascade are about 30 minutes apart) to check into our hotel.  After settling in for a few minutes we headed out to Cascade Lake to walk a bit on Crown Point Trail along the lake.  

Thought this tree looked pretty cool with its roots just hanging over the water.

After enjoying the lake for a bit, we drove to the Payette River and walked The Strand (a pathway along the river) and thoroughly enjoyed the wildlife, especially the nesting osprey.  

The ospreys left their nest just as I took this picture.  

We ended up at Kelly's Whitewater Park and watched the kayakers tackle some whitewater on the river before picking up our pizza that we ordered before we started out along the river. 

We ate our pizza outside on the porch at the hotel and then played a round of "O Shucks."

 After the game, we all changed into our suits and enjoyed a dip in the hotel pool and hot tub.  We took our turns in the shower, went back down to the hotel eating area for the hotel's fresh cookies and tea/coffee, and played a game of dominos.  We then headed up to our room to watch the first Indiana Jones movie which the kids had never seen.

The next morning we ate breakfast down in the dining room area--fruit, yogurt, and a pastry I had brought from home knowing that the hotel was not yet serving breakfast due to COVID-19.  We played another round of "O Shucks" before checking out and heading home!