Oregon and Sisters

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We hiked around the Panther Flats Campground, picking up abandoned firewood. By the river, we found some beautifully dry driftwood, perfect for making a non-smoky campfire. We thought we'd pick up some more the next day, and have a really good blaze, so we didn't do a fire that night.
Of course, then, the next day turned out cold and rainy. Since we weren't moving on, we slept in, and when we got out, it was to a fairy world of twinkling dew, misty hills, vibrant mosses, and water melodies. Julia needed to get online, and we had no phone service for our wireless hotspot, so we drove back through the redwoods to Crescent City. The so-helpful gentleman at the information center informed us that the harbor had free wi-fi, so we parked there and watched the gulls huddle, damp and subdued, on the docks.
Back at Panther Flats, Rascal decided that this rainy weather had created plenty of good soft earth, perfect for burying bones in. He trotted away with his rawhide chew, sniffing earnestly around for the best location to hide it in. He tried squirming his way into a few tangled places before deciding they were too awkward to get into and moving on. Eventually he found a spot that seemed satisfactory, and went hard at work digging a hole. Dropping the chew in, and shoveling the dirt back over with his nose, he discovered the hole was not quite deep enough to cover the rawhide completely. Rather than go through the laborious process of digging it back up, deepening the hole, and re-burying it, he opted to cover it over with moss and leaves. He did this all with a look of utmost concentration, selecting and rejecting bits of plant matter, and couldn't understand why we seemed so amused at his antics. Didn't we understand? This was no laughing matter! The safety of his chew-toy depended on it!
Finally satisfied, he returned to camp with Jessica, while Julia snuck back to retrieve the rawhide so it wouldn't be left behind accidentally. (He buried it again the morning of our departure, so it was left anyway.) Departing, we found a delay. Rocks had fallen on the road, reducing it to one lane. Fortunately, we were not kept waiting long, and crossed into Oregon with a minimum of fuss.
We drove up to the town of Cave Junction, and then to Oregon Caves National Monument. Leaving Rascal settled in the RV, we avoided the crowd of schoolkids and made our way into the Visitor Center. We made our way, equipped with flashlights and jackets, into the caves, which were a brisk 45º. Our ranger guide, a geologist, explained patiently, with the air of having delivered this letdown many times before, that very few bats roost in the Oregon Caves, and that we were exceedingly unlikely to see any on our tour.
On the other hand, we did see these things: Douglas fir roots, forty feet underground and coated with calcite, so that they were transformed into fantastic shapes; cave drapery; cave popcorn; soda straws; shields; a deposit of pure shining calcite christened Angel Falls; a column nearly a foot-and-a-half thick; a fault line; an igneous intrusion; signatures written on the rock by early visitors, preserved under a thin layer of calcite; glacial till; black bear bones found during construction of the exit tunnel; and rooms with names like Paradise Lost, the Banana Garden, Niagara Falls, and the Wind Tunnel. Oh, and of course, more stalactites and stalagmites than you could shake a stick at.
At the exit tunnel, we opted to take the long way back to the Visitor Center, climbing up and over granite boulders, beside moss covered walls and through pine and maple forests, and across the mountain ridge with a panoramic view all around us. Besides the chatter of birds, and some beautiful snails, there was little sign of wildlife, until we came nearly face-to-face with a black-tailed doe on the path down. She gave us a look of surprise and darted off neatly to the right, rejoining a peacefully browsing companion.
Driving on again, we stopped at Lake Selmac, recommended to us by our sister Johanna. (As it turns out, she meant the county campground around the lake, not the RV park. Oh well, we still had fun.) There was a rather weathered mini-golf set-up, and some beautiful oaks to park under. We took a walk around the edge of the lake, watching the swallows and ospreys, and keeping Rascal out of the berry bushes.
The next day, we drove northward again, but only for a little way. We stopped in the town of Grant's Pass, where our sister Johanna lives, taking care of her mom Debbie, along with her brother James. At their place, while Rascal charmed Debbie, Johanna showed us the scrapbook she'd made of our trip to Hawaii together and let us do some laundry. We also went grocery shopping at her workplace, Safeway. She showed us the deli she works at, and introduced us to her boss. Afterwards, we made a quick stop by the vet to have Rascal's stitches taken out. Johanna then drove back with us to Lake Selmac, where we situated ourself in the correct campground. Jo stayed with us in the RV, folding down the table into a third bed. We made a campfire, where Jessica and Johanna were surprised by a nocturnal visitor. They heard rustling noises in the bushes, and Jo began to get nervous. What if it was a bear? Jessica remained calm, judging the animal to be somewhat smaller than that. Into the light stepped... a skunk! Fortunately, he was no more keen on making their acquaintance than they were his, and moved on quickly. We all considered ourselves fortunate that Rascal had been inside with me at the time, or things could have gotten ugly. (Actually, things were pretty ugly inside too. Rascal stole a porkchop from the counter, and ate it stealthily all over my bed.)
The next morning, Jessica and Johanna tried their hands at catching some trout, bass, or bluegill for us, but had no luck. (Okay, they caught plenty of bluegill, but all little guys.) We then drove back for a bit to Grant's Pass, so Jo could check on Debbie. It was so fun to hang out with our sister, just chatting and catching up. Back again at the lake, our ambitious anglers tried again while Rascal walked Julia and she restrained him from getting too near the canada geese and their goslings. While fishing, Jessie observed ospreys and a bald eagle attempting to steal fish from one another, and the crows harassing both raptors impartially. This time, the fisherfolk managed two decently sized bluegill, which Jessica cleaned, cooked with pesto oil, onion powder, salt, and pepper, and thoroughly deboned.
Johanna showed us around the other sides of the lake, and we had a lovely chat with the camp hostess. For dinner, we barbecued steak, accompanied by corn-on-the-cob and baked potatoes. For desert, we used a recipe we'd found at Richardson's Grove: banana boats. You cut a triangle shape in the peel, cut out the underlying wedge of fruit, fill it with mini marshmallows and chocolate chunks, replace the peel, and place the banana in the coals to heat. It's a deliciously tropical variant on a s'more, and Jess and I have decided to better the experiment by adding coconut to the ingredients.
The next day, which started off rainy but gradually improved, Julia stayed in the RV working on homework, while Jess and Jo fished. Despite several hours of effort, they caught only one small bluegill. Julia took Rascal for walks, and noticed the campground filling up. It was, after all, Memorial Day weekend. After hours of frustration, Jessica and Johanna switched fishing spots, which proved to be all for the best. They caught five decently-sized bluegill and one small bass, lost a trout, gained a worm and a hook, and cooked their piscine prizes as before. Again, we followed this dinner with the banana boats.
The next day, after a breakfast of muffins, we packed up and headed into town. Grant's Pass had its annual Boatnik Celebration that weekend, and we watched the parade. Shriners in Tin Lizzies, Job's Daughters, car clubs, church groups, local farms and businesses, dance and martial arts studios, a gay pride group, radio stations, and marching and spirit bands alternately drove, skipped, walked, ran, spun, stuttered, and marched past. The streets of the town were decorated with statues of bears, painted doors, and plinths. Boats prepared for the races up and down the Rogue River and people walked around smiling.
We spent the night parked on the street by Jo's house, and after saying our fond farewells, went on to a wildlife rehabilitation center called Wildlife Images. Most of their animals are to be returned to the wild, and thus are kept from over-exposure to humans, but those whose injuries, upbringing, or illness keep them from that life are kept as ambassadors of the animal kingdom. The animals we saw included wood ducks, mallards, canada geese, sacred ibis, whooping cranes, bald eagles, turkey vultures, a black vulture, a kestrel, a peregrine, a red-tailed hawk (the bird featured in the movie Ladyhawke), a barn owl, a ferruginous hawk, a golden eagle, a white ground squirrel, a mink, some coatis, a bobcat, a river otter, a badger, some timber wolves, some wolf/dog puppies, six black bears, two grizzlies, and a cougar. Finishing our tour, we passed by the office where they keep small songbirds they are trying to rehabilitate, where a hummingbird was flying around, defying the vain efforts of the vet trying to contain it.
On our way back to the highway, we stopped again in downtown Grant's Pass to take some more pictures of the town's decorations. We drove up Interstate 5, a much prettier drive in Oregon than in California. We stopped at Wildlife Safari RV campground, preparing to enter the park the next day. There was river access, and we saw deer and raccoon tracks, and some beaver sign. Julia also got her first mosquito bite of the trip, which certainly felt like a milestone.
The next morning, we entered Wildlife Safari as it opened. The safari is a drive-through zoo with no fences between you and most of the animals. We had to leave Rascal in a kennel at the entrance, which did not exactly delight him. On the drive we saw ostriches, a southern white rhino, african lions, gemsbok, giraffes, oryx, eland, zebra, wildebeest, watusi cattle, a lot of american bison in the road, guanaco, black bears, grizzlies, llamas, barbary sheep, elk, african elephants, a hippo, bactrian camels, black bucks, gibbons, white fallow deer, nilgai, sika deer, yaks, emus, rheas, cheetahs, and siberian tigers. And that was all just on the drive! Inside the Wildlife Village we saw two cheetah cubs running and playing with each other, dik-diks, porcupines, hornbills, tamarins, a screech owl, tortoises, an armadillo, pythons, a bearded dragon, ponies, goats, donkeys, Snowball - a spotted white-tailed deer, parakeets, cockatiels, wallabies, black swans, lemurs, koi, maned wolves, capybaras, coatis, cougars, bobcats, nene, finches, hissing cockroaches, and a massive tarantula. On the way back out, we saw one of the cheetah cubs out for a walk with his handler.
Picking up Rascal, who was very glad to see us, we drove on to Cottage Grove and its beautiful covered bridges. Julia was feeling headachey, so she slept in the RV, but Jessie drove us out through beautiful flower-covered country. Lupin, broom, and other flowers blossomed beside pines and ferns. Large rhodendron bushes grew wild along the roads and tamed in yards. We drove through logging areas and farmland. Huge black hogs squinted at us from their field, and one lone calf kept company with a herd of unsheared sheep. We stopped at the town of Florence, in Harbor Vista County Park. We took Rascal down to the beach, where we clambered over driftwood and water-beaten rocks. Since no one else was about, we let him run around off leash for a while. He tried drinking some saltwater and discovered he didn't like it.
The next day, we tried to visit a lighthouse, but it was closed for renovations. We also stopped at some beaches. There was kind of a clamber down some steep trails, but the beaches themselves were beautiful. Gulls nested on top of the high cliff nearby, the smooth beaches had been traced with designs by visitors, and huge mussels and anemones decorated the rocks washed by the waves. We also visited the devil's punchbowl, a massive hole in the coastal rock, where the ocean comes in through a tunnel and swirls and splashes around most impressively.

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Photos

Sisters
Julia, Johanna, Jessica

The lake
it was so pretty there.

Rainbow
In between rain showers we saw this scene.

Slug
This very large slug visited our camp site.

Dirty work
cleaning blue gill

Geese
They were everywhere

on the lake shore
a short hour of sun

Oh what a dog
he did this to himself

It's not a parade
without horses

It's not a parade
without a marching band
(or lots)