Ramona Falls

Hiking in Oregon is just beautiful!  I am pretty sure that heaven will look like Oregon, minus the months of rain!

A short walk over a 'seasonal bridge' got us on the trail to Ramona Falls, said to be the most romantic waterfall in Oregon.

Mount Hood even peaked through the clouds a few times.

Ramona Falls was as beautiful as we had been told.  I'm not sure about the 'romantic part' as there were tons of people there.

 I love the way the water looked in these photos.

 I told George that I could sauté this mushroom for dinner but he wasn't convinced.

 The Sandy River was named the "Quicksand River' by Lewis and Clark because of all the sand but the name was shortened.  It is an interesting gray color.

I love living in Oregon!

Kayaking on the Willamette

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day; just perfect for trying out our new kayaking skills on the Willamette River.

The Oregon City bridge was built in 1922 and recently renovated.  Some motorcycle gangs require their new members to ride up and down the arch.  The concrete is about 4 feet wide and very steep.  Crazy! 

We paddled down to Willamette Falls, which has the 2nd largest average volume of water of any waterfall in the US.   That is hard to believe when you look at this photo!  Our guide said that it was almost the 'Willamette Cliffs' tour. There is not much water right now.  Still a fun day and so great to still be enjoying the sun!

#8 Armando

Armando is our 8th foster dog from Guide Dogs for the Blind and our second 'active guide'.  We had him for 11 weeks while the person he guides recuperated from surgery.  I will admit that it was not 'love at first sight' for me.  But after having him for about one day I realized what a gem of a dog he is!  Sweet tempered, never barks, loves everyone and every dog, and very obedient!  What more could you want? To keep him from being tempted to beg, we decided to put him in his crate when we ate dinner.  After about the 2nd day of doing this, I realized that every single time I sat down at my table at any time of the day, for any reason, Armando headed right into his crate and stayed there until we told him  that he could come out.  Also any time I said "Crate", he immediately ran in!  What a smart boy!

 To make him happy I combined two of his favorite things: his Kong and baby carrots!

 This combination kept him entertained for hours!

Ok, here is his one 'naughty habit'!  If I got on the couch to watch TV, he thought he should be there too.  Perfect place to catch a little nap!  I only let him do it a couple of times though . I didn't want Guide Dogs to fire me as a Foster Care provider.   Doesn't he look comfy?

 Last Tuesday I got the call to bring him back to the campus for two days of guide review and then he was going back to his real life as a working guide dog.  We will miss him but are happy that he is back to doing what he was born and trained to do.

How soon can I travel?

Ok, so I had an appendectomy on August 8 but that didn't stop me from going to Vancouver, British Columbia with this handsome guy

To hear a Loreena McKennitt concert!

Her music is hard to define; sort of new age, Irish with a middle eastern flavor.  Very beautiful!  We totally enjoyed the concert and the whole trip. Perfect hotel, delicious food and Vancouver is a great city!

A short hike took us to this very, very long suspension bridge.  It was so long that there was quite a bit of sway.  I forgot that you use your stomach muscles to keep your balance.  That was the only part of the trip where I was reminded that I did have surgery a few days before.

Interesting 'cliff walk path' that didn't make George too nervous!

I think the first thoughts I had after surgery were "How long until I can travel?"  The doctor did nix the kayaking trip for 2 days after surgery but he said ok for Vancouver. I decided on my own that Education Week would be too much for me.  Today when classes started at BYU, I felt sad. I probably could have gone but I guess I do need to take it semi easy for awhile.  George says that I am back to my normal fast walking so I am on the mend!  

And I am not planning on anymore surgery for a a LONG TIME!!!!!

Lucky dog!

George bought this when we were in Seattle.   

                                 

 This morning I came into the bedroom to the perfect illustration of the sentiment expressed on the decal!

Here is Armando sitting in George's lap having his back scratched while chewing on his favorite bone!

That boy dog can definitely say, "Life is good!"

Mount Rushmore

I found this picture recently  It had to have been taken in the late 60's because I was definitely going through an awkward teenage phase!  It occurred to me that in this photo my mother is about 13 years younger than I am right now!

 I remember this family trip.  We first went to Monticello, Utah to visit my Boyle cousins and then up through Utah and Wyoming to Yellowstone.  We stayed in the Old Faithful Lodge and loved it!  This whole trip was made in my Daddy's little Volkswagen Beetle!  I remember feeding Oreos to the bears in Yellowstone.  There are people somewhere that have a great photo of 3 bears leaned up against the side of our little car begging for cookies while I fed them out the window!  Bad I know but it surely was fun!  After Yellowstone we headed east and stopped at Mt. Rushmore before turning south towards home.  Sweet memories!

I read an article in one of my travel magazines about Mt. Rushmore so thought I'd share a few interesting facts:

• First a question:  In what direction do the presidents face? north-northwest, southeast, or west-southwest
• The idea for the carvings was conceived in the 1920's to draw tourists to South Dakotas.  After hearing about a project to chisel Confederate leaders' faces on a mountain in Georgia, the sculptor, Gotzon Borglum was invited to the Black Hills.  
• Borglum picked the 4 presidents and the granite expanse that became the memorial.  
• In 1925 Congress agreed to finance the project.  Borglum and hundreds of workers spent the next 14 years and a million dollars creating the monument. (Serious money for our government in 1925)
• Today, nearly three million visitors come each year to ogle the massive busts, each as tall as a six-story building.
• The original plan was to showcase Lewis and Clark, Chief Red Cloud and Buffalo Bill, but Borglum decided the four presidents made more significant subjects.  (Good decision - I am not even sure who Chief Red Cloud is)
• Workers carved 90% of the monument with dynamite and finished with hand tools and air hammers.
• Thomas Jefferson's face began on the right side of George Washington, but Borglum blew that up and carved a new head on the left. 
• In 2005 the memorial got its first cleaning ever.  Workers spent three weeks pressure washing the dirt and lichen.
• In 1937 Congress proposed adding suffragette Susan B Anthony to the memorial, but lack of rock suitable for carving nixed the plan.
• Some 400 people worked on the memorial. One of the workers, Jack Payne, was fired for yodeling.
• Just 15 miles away a stone profile of Crazy Horse is taking shape on a mountainside.  When completed it will dwarf the four presidents. 
• Each presidential nose is 20 feet long.
• With an erosion rate of one inch every 10,000 years, it will take a long time for Rushmore to fall apart.
• Visits to the memorial spiked 15% the year following the September 11 attack.
• Finally an answer - Mount Rushmore faces southeast, gaining maximum exposure to the sun.

MVP - Most Valuable Puppy!

For the second year George and I volunteered at Guide Dogs for the Blind's annual "Puppy Fun Days".  The day is exactly what the name implies; a fun day to honor the puppies and their raisers!  The theme this year was "MVP- Most Valuable Pup".

Each department developed a game that could be modified for the visually impaired.  "Labrador Lanes" was the name of the blindfolded bowling activity that the vet clinic organized.  George was one of the pin setters and also had the noise maker that helped the blindfolded participants aim.  The comment from almost every participant, "It is a lot harder than it looks."

These two cute puppy raisers really got into the theme with their "Oregon State Beavers' clad puppy!  She didn't seem to mind at all! I admire the puppy raisers so much.  They receive a squirmy, untrained puppy, spend more than a year turning that pup into a socialized, well mannered, obedient dog and then return that wonderful dog to Guide Dogs.  

 The definite highlight of the day was the puppy delivery as a new group of raisers received their adorable little pups!

One woman has raised over 20 puppies.  She started as a teenager and now has involved her husband and young children.

There was also a graduation.  The puppy raiser hands the leash of the now fully trained guide dog to the new visually impaired owner.   There are tears all around as you see the culmination of the work of the raisers and also the staff at Guide Dogs who have spent several months finishing the training of the dog and orientating new owner and dog.

It was an exhausting day for puppies and people!