AS PROMISED: WHEN MUFFLERS DON'T MUFFLE

I can imagine that you are thinking that our muffler has fallen off. Well, you are wrong, this isn't about our vehicle at all.

Imagine, if you will, people like us, from a place like Ross River, actually feeling like rednecks. That is exactly how we felt when we pulled into the campground at the Oregon Dunes. We had driven all day and we were tired and hungry. To put it mildly we were shocked when we pulled into the campground that we had reserved. I guess I should have know it would be like this. The place was filled with R.V.'s that all had more than a couple of ATV's parked outside them. People were decked out in full atv gear and they were revving their engines non-stop. Some of these people actually booked their campsite over a year in advance! Hannah's first observation was "there was this fat woman that rode her quad about 6 feet just to go to the bathroom!" I just had to laugh. That just about summed up the whole campsite - quads and motorbikes being driven wherever and whenever possible. As we were lying in bed listening to all the revving I could hear the guy next to us telling his friends about his accident. The first day of his holiday and he totalled his quad and was resting his stitched up leg while the rest of them were out having fun. Let's just say one night there was enough for us. We felt like real city slickers for a while there. Scary!

WHITE-KNUCKLES:
But that is not all, oh no, that is not all. The next day we went to the Oregon Caves - they were absolutely amazing. The drive up wasn't so amazing - incredibly windy road - about 5 miles worth of it and we were on the drop off side. I spent the time clutching the door, holding on for dear life. Josh wanted something and I could barely pry my fingers off the door to get it. The caves though were very cool.

Then we drove on to the northern end of the Redwood forest in California. It was Independence Day, so we thought we might just take in the fireworks, etc. We just never expected it to be so crazy. People were setting off fireworks in the middle of residential streets. There was a smoky haze over the whole city, the smell of fireworks was thick in the air. To top it all off, after we finally found a parking spot, we mosied on down to the park. Once there is was more mayhem. People were wandering around drunk with open cases of alcohol (a big no-no in Canada), and they had big fires in the middle of the beach. After a quick look around we decided that it really wasn't our cup of tea so we took the kids for ice cream and headed home.

That's all of my stories for now. You will have to wait to hear about the Trees of Mystery and Paul Bunyan until next time (Sonya, you should definitely stop there). I will also post some pictures when I get home, so you will get to relive it all again. Hope you are all having a fabulous vacation.