Kristin Laura

We are in search of the perfect home for retirement and have decided to look in eastern Washington and northern Idaho.  We’re looking for some land, about 20 acres, with a combination of timber and flat land for a bit of farming.  Of course I’d like a house with views of this lovely land and a nice kitchen.  Should be simple, right? We flew into Spokane this morning and met up with our Washington realtor Chris.  We have spent months on Zillow looking for just the right place and we sent Chris a list of our favorites.  Unfortunately, our number one pick is no longer on the market, but we did visit four houses today.  It’s funny we have been dogging the pictures people post on Zillow thinking they could do better.  After today, I thought “damn, those pictures made the house look at lot better than it really is.”  Of course most of the photos were taken in the spring when everything is green and lush.  Today it is raining, foggy and there is a...

We woke up in Oregon, but we are going to sleep in California. Emigrant Lake Campground The change from Oregon to California seemed drastic on I-5.  The pine trees turned to oak trees and scrubby bushes, the ground from green to brown, the sky from gray to blue, the temperature from cold and damp to warm and sunny, and the condition of the pavement from smooth to potholes.  An hour into California we got great views of Mt. Shasta. We decided to stay over in Red Bluff instead of driving all the way to Sacramento.  We’re staying right off the highway in the Durango RV Resort.  It is quite impressive with full amenities: community room, pool and hot tub, bocce ball, tetherball, horseshoes, laundry, curb side garbage pickup, and full hookups.  I think the 3 RVs to our right are having a family reunion.  It looks like they brought 20 extra folding chairs. Steve is ready to hit the road and go home  Since the weather was warm, we ...

It was so cold when we woke up this morning.  It was raining and the thermometer in the trailer said it was 44 degrees outside.  Shawn donned his new rain gear to pack up the trailer and we left Yoncalla in search of drier climes.  At some point in the two hour drive, the trees changed from green pines to brown oaks and there was more fall color to see. We’re staying at Emigrant Lake County Park outside Ashland.  As we rounded a hill expecting to see a beautiful lake, we saw a puddle surrounded by dry shrubs and trees.  Shawn said it looked greener on the web site.  Oh well, more reason to spend time in Ashland proper. We started at Caldera Brewing to sample their beers.  They had quite a selection, and we sampled a Hatch chili, grapefruit IPA, a couple more IPAs and a barrel aged stout. Our waitress was a fan of their IPAs and she said they are one of the few local breweries that make IPAs that are 100 IBU (hecka bitter).  The long wooden bar...

Since it didn’t make sense to sit in the RV while it rained for another day, we decided to keep driving south.  Out next planned stop is Ashland, but that is a 4 ½ hour drive from Silver Falls, so we broke it up by finding an RV campground south of Eugene.  On the drive from Silver Falls, we passed lots of Christmas tree farms.  We went through Linn County “World’s Largest Supplier of Grass Seed”.  There were huge grass farms (not to be confused with weed farms).  We tried to visit 2 Towns Cider house, but there was no RV parking.  We had lunch at a truck stop in Coburg.  Our waitress was super friendly, but the food was not worthy of a photograph. One of many Christmas tree farms we passed After we got the RV setup at Rice Hill RV Park, we went to a nearby winery.  MarshAnne Landing is owned by a couple from Maryland.  They moved to Oregon 17 years ago to open the winery.  The owner is a former chemist, and they grow all their ow...

We left Portland early because we wanted to get to Silver Falls State Park.  The weather forecast indicated it would start raining at 2:00.  We drove through more beautiful countryside.  We arrived at the park at 11:30, had a quick lunch and hit the trail for a 3-mile hike. If I haven’t mentioned it before, the Oregon state parks are wonderful.  They are clean and well maintained.  The trails are well marked and wide.  We meandered down a trail along a creek to the first of many falls.  A local was sitting looking up at the waterfall that was dripping down the rocks.  He said it was much more impressive in the spring. The next waterfall was Middle North with a height of 106 feet and it was gushing.  The trail went behind the falls and to a shallow cave.  It was beautiful! We saw 6 of the 10 waterfalls along the trail.  We were about 100 feet from the trailhead when it started raining.  It was exactly ...