Our first morning in Oregon was disappointingly foggy. While the forecast for the whole week had lots of rain, I wasn't expecting fog! We left the hotel at maybe 10 am and headed a few miles away to see the state capitol, which was even covered by the fog when we arrived. Since it was cold, foggy and under lots of construction, we paid for eight minutes of parking ($0.20 because I didn't want to waste a quarter that could be used for a penny press!), spoke to a park ranger who gave us some park info and took a few pictures.
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| Oregon State Capitol |
From there, we set out for a thirty-minute drive to Sublimity, the town that has Silver Falls State Park. We stopped at a scenic overlook on our way into the park that reminded me of pictures of one of my horses that were taken in Oregon. What a gorgeous view!
When we got to the park, my mom and I got out the trekking poles to go and explore. One of the first areas we saw had steam or something coming up from the ground, so beautiful!
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| Steam coming up from the ground |
The park had so many trails and SO many falls to explore. After a few minutes my mom and I were separated from my dad as he didn't want to hike around as much as we did. Yet again I was SO grateful for the trekking poles which let my mom do so much more than I expected. We were able to hike down to go behind a large waterfall in the park, my mom making her way down the slick hill. She slipped at one point but thankfully caught herself with her trekking poles--hooray! Every now and then she'd stop to take notes about everything we were seeing.
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| The top of South Falls |
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| Mom enjoying the sights of Oregon |
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| South Falls |
As usual for Oregon, the moss on the trees was other-wordly and led to beautiful, colorful photos!
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| The trail behind South Falls |
At one point in the park there was a big bench created out of a tree trunk. My mom loved it and wanted to have her picture taken with it. Eventually we reunited with my dad back up near the car when we found him sitting on a bench. We all got back in the car to drive up to North Falls.
We found another lot to park in up by North Falls and went for another hike, this time dad coming along with us. Mom and dad started talking with a couple from Oregon, learning more about all the flora and fauna they were seeing.
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| Dad walking up ahead of us |
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| Dad and a waterfall |
Mom collected more leaves that she was fascinated with as we hiked along the trail and insisted I get a picture of them. We also saw several different varieties of mushrooms growing out of trees along the trail. Fascinating!
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| Mom and dad |
After leaving the park, we stopped to take a picture of a Christmas Tree farm... trees as far as the eye could see!
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| Christmas Tree farm |
Our next destination was to see friends at Scott Creek Miniature Horses in nearby Salem, Oregon. They have such a beautiful facility they've built! It was great seeing friends.
When we left Scott Creek, we drove up into the mountains to make our way into Bend, Oregon for the night. At first it was beautiful, but once it got dark, it was probably one of the most nerve-wracking drives of my life! The car kept warning when the temperature would get to the point that there would be ice, and the roads were about as dark/twisty/turny as possible.
We stopped to grab dinner at Sisters Saloon and Grill in Sisters and it was a huge relief to have a break from the stress of driving. After dinner we made it to Bend and stopped for the night.
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