Fall Photos...37º

A beautiful day, an incredible drive...Joseph, Imnaha, River Woods, Ollokot, Gumboot, circled back on the 39 road, coming home...Pam and I talked non-stop, laughed a lot, reminisced about the past 30 years, sat on rocks next to a creek to eat our lunch...Only the sounds of water running over rocks, otherwise we were surrounded by quiet...We visited the places where she worked this summer as she recounted her adventures and also told of the endless driving in a 3/4 ton truck that she does, checking, cleaning and maintaining campgrounds...It was a good day...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Favorite spots on the Imnaha River.

Getaway Wrapup...47º

My last post left you as we exited the pool at Burgdorf, dressed in the warm changing rooms before we sat at picnic tables, inside the small lodge and ate our lunches...Again we took the Warren Wagon Road back to McCall to our little cabin...We donned dry swimsuits and drove south of McCall, through Donnelly, Idaho to Gold Fork Hot springs...Last year we visited this hot springs but didn't soak...It is a large area with 5 soaking pools, surrounded by rock walls, all different temperatures and again quite crowded...We spent an hour there, trying out 3 of the pools, before deciding we had soaked enough for the day...Changed clothes one more time, took the Farm to Market road back to McCall, stopping at the historic town of Roseberry, continued on to "Ashton Lane" to tour Jughandle Estates, my old stomping grounds.

Gold Fork Hot springs

The last soak

Back at the cabin, after a long day of soaking, we were all famished...Sue and Jan put the finishing touches on macaroni salad and coleslaw and cooked hamburger steaks...It was a yummy dinner, that beat anything we could have ordered at a restaurant...After playing a game of Five Crowns, Jan served her special raspberry pie, ala mode, in celebration of my birthday...Another game of cards before an early bedtime.

Sunday morning we took our time packing, cleaning up in the kitchen before we had a wonderful breakfast at the Pancake House (a longtime restaurant) in McCall...Our plan had been to take one last soak in Mundo Hot springs, but by that time we were all done soaking...Our trip home was uneventful, we arrived in Joseph before dark, tired but content, thinking we would like to do it again or plan another kind of Getaway, another year...So many things to do and so little time...Our general consensus was that we loved our little cabin, and would return to Mundo and Burgdorf, but would only go to Gold Fork during the week, maybe less crowded...All in all, it was a great trip....Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Heading home over the Wallowa Mountain Loop road.

Salt Creek Summit

Road weary but still smiling.

Getaway Day Two...34º

With a busy day ahead, we were all up early, not moving very fast, but up and ready for more "soaking."...We decided on leftover soup and brownies for breakfast, instead of going out to eat...We made snack bags for the four of us for lunch...Swimsuits worn under our clothes, we were on the road before 9am, ready for the trip to Burgdorf. (click on the link)

The paved "Warren Wagon Road" hugs the North/West side of Payette Lake all the way to North Beach (the head of Payette Lake.) Upscale homes and vacation Cabins line both sides of the road, everyone looking for a view or room for a boat dock...McCall started out as a Mill town, morphed into a tourist destination for boating, fishing, water skiing and later when Brundage was built in the early 60's, it became a winter ski area...Now tourist season is year round and the small town of McCall, where I grew up is no more!..I actually grew up on a ranch/farm in Lake Fork,  6 miles down the road, 3 miles off the main road that is now called "Jughandle Estates," filled with upscale homes,  built on the land, where we rode horses and tractors, where my parents tried to eke out a living.

Burgdorf 

Burgdorf is about 40 miles from McCall on a paved road except for the last 2 miles...Again we traveled in single tracks, 4 to 6" of snow covering the road...We arrived just after the resort opened for soaking...Only a few heads were visible in the fog/steam, temperature just above freezing...The two changing rooms, Mens/Ladies are heated with small wood stoves, no stalls, just hooks on the walls and baskets to stash your clothes/shoes...Out houses are "out back."...Thankfully it is a short walk to the steps into the pool where, I could stand flat footed in the 100º water, up to my chin..The pool is large with 2 small very hot soaking tubs at one end, (none of us ventured into them.) Noodles and other floating devices are available, so we floated/bobbed our way around the pool, visited and relaxed until noon, when the pool started to fill up fast with people who seemed ready to party...It had been a wonderful soak...(It is difficult to keep a phone/camera handy in this kind of weather, so not many photos.)...Hugs To All...OWAV:)....Come back tomorrow for the final installment.

Another shot.

Hot Springs Getaway...33º

Friday morning, the car was loaded, no snow in Joseph, but snow was in the forecast...Four ladies, Pam at the wheel, Sue co-pilot, Jan and I back seat drivers...We didn't even get 5 miles out of town, before we encountered snowy roads...For the next 50 miles, we followed the two lane "road," made by hunters on their way to hunting camp...Luckily, traffic was only going "one way."

Headed toward Salt Creek Summit

Fall Colors?  Not what we had in mind, but 

beautiful anyway.

Without getting out to measure we estimated the snow to be about 4 to 6 inches, but with a great driver and our all wheel drive subaru we had no problems.

Smiles of relief, the snowy roads ended.

We made a side trip into Halfway and enjoyed the autumn colors and think that might be a place to visit on another trip...Cornucopia, twin lakes was mentioned as possibilities...We oohed and awed our way along Oxbow reservoir, crossed at Brownley dam and continued to wind around and up until we arrived at Cambridge, when we stopped for lunch...Tummy's too full, we made our way to Mundo (Moon Doe) hot springs, where we quickly changed into swim suits and soaked for the next two hours in the sparkling mineral water...It was sunny with blue skies...We relaxed, visited and unwound, before continuing our journey.

Doesn't this look wonderful?

Then it was time to move on to our destination, a cottage nestled in the trees in McCall, Idaho...The town where I grew up, many years ago.

Quaint Little Cottage, our home for the next two days.

We soon had the car unloaded, Sue and Jan chose their bedrooms upstairs, Pam and I downstairs, food put away, we were already thinking this cabin suited us and felt like home...We took a walk, only a few blocks to the shore of Payette lake, then returned to heat our soup and bread for dinner, before dealing cards for a game of Five Crowns...We were in bed before 11pm...Hugs To All...OWAV:)  (To be continued)

Sunset over Payette lake

Happy to start a new adventure.

Windy/Rainy...36º

Coming home from Enterprise last night, the wind was blowing huge "tumble weeds" across highway 82 along with leaves and other debris...It was 7pm and the temperature was 64º, probably the warmest it had been all day...The predicted rain started during the night and is steady this morning.

Four of us "ladies" will leave this morning on our Getaway to McCall, Idaho, soaking at Mundo Hot Springs and then onto McCall where we have a cottage rented for 2 nights...We plan to drive to Burgdorf Hot Springs on Saturday for another "soak."...We may get more soaking than we had planned as a rainy/snowy weekend is in the forecast...But we are determined to have a good time no matter what the weather does...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Yesterday on my walk I snapped some random photos of the fall colors:

View from our street

View from Mill street

Looking over the bank to the river

Maple trees

Golden leaves

Our mountain view

Crispy Fall Days...30º

A productive day yesterday as Herb and I took a walk, then returned home to have breakfast, before spending the rest of the morning outside...We raked and hauled maple leaves to the garden where I spread them on a garden spot, added a layer of straw, topped it with alfalfa pellets and covered all with manure...This spot is being readied for next years potato patch and in the spring I will add more layers before planting the potatoes in a bed of straw...Then over the summer we will add more fertilizer, straw as needed and water on a regular basis...Herb does all the loading and hauling while I do the unloading and spreading...Works for us.

I had extra fertilizer in the wheelbarrow so I gave a generous portion to the asparagus bed, feeding it for the winter...Pulling carrots was next on my list, filling a four gallon bucket 3/4 full...Now they are scrubbed clean and ready to put in plastic bags and refrigerate for winters use...Sweet and delicious they are.

Backing up a bit, on Saturday afternoon 10 of us drove to the Elgin Opera House where we had tickets for the musical "The Addams Family."...An excellent show, dancing, singing, sets were all wonderful and very entertaining...The drive to Elgin was lovely and back home by 6pm, Herb had the table set and roast leg of lamb, mashed potatoes and carrots cooked to perfection...Becky and Pam joined us to eat and were home, ready for bed by 8pm...H is getting good at following my sketchy directions, watching to make sure the roast doesn't burn and cooking veggies, so it is ready when we walk in the door, ready for a glass of wine and dinner!..Hugs to All...OWAV:)

Part of the set for 

The Addams Family

Driving to Elgin

Snowy...30º

First fall snow covers the ground on Barton Heights this morning, more is predicted...Not unusual for us to get snow this time of year, I'm hoping that the real winter snow holds off until November...Time will tell.

This past week, we, with less to do in the yard/garden, have started taking a short morning walk...The fall days are crisp, invigorating and beautiful...Today's snow might change our minds or maybe not...All of our trees are still fully leafed out, so I hope we don't get a huge dump of snow that will break limbs and can do major damage to the trees.

I'm getting back into the routine of water therapy every Tuesday and Thursday, working around those hours and still keeping up with the never ending cooking, house work and garden chores...This week I attended the last meeting of Garden Club for the year...Many of the women are interested in taking a "Master Gardener" class, but Wallowa County is hard pressed to make this happen in our area...Other years people have gone to La Grande for the class and several years ago I too thought I would like to do this, but was not willing to drive to LG, in January, to attend an evening class...Some time over the years I realized that the class wasn't a must for me and I think back then, I just liked the sound of saying, "I'm a Master Gardener." Not important anymore...I really think that more knowledge can be gleaned from our monthly meetings and put into practical use, here in Wallowa County..Don't get me wrong, I'm not against learning, just for me in particular, not into class room study...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Below are scenes from the morning walk.

Sunny with a biting wind...32º

Outside it was sunny but cold, typical fall day in Wallowa County...Yesterday was start up day for our Water Therapy group that continues twice a week from October through May...The water was sparkling, clear, blue and wonderfully warm...A small group relaxed, exercised, visited as the time sped by, then we moved to the hot tub and soaked til our bodies were warmed to the core, before braving the outside cold...I had been longing for this day.

Water Therapy always makes me hungry and no better place to eat in Enterprise than "El Bajio" Mexican restaurant...Our second annual "Girls Getaway" is coming up in 2 weeks and we had some planning to do...But first we consumed 2 bowls of chips and salsa, ordered two family sized shrimp dishes to share and got down to the business of planning a loose schedule and meals for our weekend in and around McCall, Idaho, where we have a cabin rented and "soaking" (hot springs talk for luxuriating in the mineral waters of Mundo and Burgdorf) on our minds...(Whew that is one long sentence)...But that was how our conversation went, laughter and conversation as one idea shared, 3 more added to it and before we knew it the food was all gone, menus were planned and divided up for our "getaway"...We parted happy, excited, relaxed and full...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Burgdorf 2016

Burgdorf 2016