Farewell Oregon, For Now

I've come to the end to my Oregon saga and photos with this one last post. What's funny is that most of my Oregon blog posts have been out of order, and this one is no exception. This is about Saturday afternoon, after we returned from Pendleton, July 2. What I really loved about the Oregon trip overall, and what's made it especially fun to blog about, is that it was a new adventure for me. I love exploring new places. Especially places that are so different from my own neck of the woods here in Utah. Every corner we turned was new to me, and it's been fun to share the discovery with you. So, on to Hat Rock, what Hermiston is REALLY known for.

Ta-da! Pretty fantastic, yes?! A big rock in the shape of a hat on a hill overlooking the Columbia River. Regardless of your reaction, it's a must see if you ever visit Hermiston. Take my word for it.

The river, you say. You want to see the river. Okay, onward.

Up we climbed to the rock, and then down the other side of the hill to an incredible little oasis park with a boat ramp for those lucky enough to float around in the Columbia. Wish we'd been one of them!

Such good posers, my kids are!

Here is the view of Hat Rock from the other side of the hill...apparently, it is practically in somebody's back yard.

Then back we went over the bridge and through the park, up the trail and past Hat Rock again, and into our car for...another adventure!

This is McNary Dam. There is a bridge that takes cars over the Columbia and we experienced that to its fullest...took some pictures from that side of the dam and bridge, and trekked on back to Hermiston, did some Walmart shopping for our camping trip, watched Star Wars, and had delicious local (can't remember the name) ice cream for dinner. No joke.

That was the end of Saturday. And you know all about camping from previous posts. When we came home from camping on the 4th, we unloaded and piled back into the car and set off a few blocks to the Butte in Hermiston to experience the biggest 4th of July fireworks show the city had ever presented!

And it really was quite the show! Some of the fireworks set the butte on fire. All around us people were screaming, "The butte's on fire!" Ten minutes later, the trucks arrived and drove up the butte to tend to the fire.

During the finale, there was a huge firey explosion just to the side of where the butte had been on fire. I was horrified! My first thought was for the people putting on the fireworks show, and I wondered if they had been burned! Thankful that the firetrucks were already there, but still!

After the explosion, there were no more fireworks. Well, almost no more. It took us 45 minutes to get out of the parking lot because traffic was at a standstill. About 30 minutes into the exiting, two huge fireworks went off again into the sky, randomly. And that was that. I wondered for two days after we got back to Utah about the explosion. When I heard from Holly, she said, "Yeah, apparently, the explosion was planned and that's how they end the fireworks show every year."  I still have nothing to say to that. It's just too crazy.

Goodbye Holls and Burd! (Burd wasn't in these pictures, cuz he left early for work while we were still in bed, us lazies.) Thanks for the fun and great times! Till next time!! Love!!!

On the way home, as we were leaving the flatland and going up in the Blue Mountains, we stopped and looked over the farming valley below.

What a coincidence that Ash Grove Concrete was on the way. Rob uses that very concrete at work. I took these shots from the car window as he drove by. These are for you, Rob!