Golfing at Colockum Ridge, Quincy, WA (Sunday, August 25th and 26th, 2019)

The Colockum Ridge RV Park where we are staying has a beautiful golf course that Sam and Sharyn play a lot.  Today we played it with them for the first time.  It is a long course with nice wide fairways.  The perfect course for Steve, because if he has enough room, he can hit the ball really far and the direction isn't that important!

The irrigation system in the background is what they use to water the main part of the course, and it works really well!

It's a lot bigger than it looks, the tires are almost as big as me.




We had a great time playing this course with Sam and Sharyn!  Steve has decided this is his new favorite course!  Between the two days we played, he had eight pars and a birdie!  I'm sure we'll be back here real soon!

Boating the Columbia River, WA Day 2 (August 24th, 2019)

We're back in Sunland for another day of boating on the Columbia River.  Today we headed down the river and our first stop was the petroglyphs, right on one of the cliffs by the river.  They are always an amazing sight to see!



The water in the river has dropped substantially since we got here, and it dropped again today.  There are big islands appearing near the boat launch.

More of the dramatic cliffs around the river.  These rock formations are fascinating to me.  I could look at them all day!  They are so beautiful and intriguing!

Check out these beautiful clouds with me!  They look like honeycombs!

We called this one alligator head rock.  Sam and Sharyn have seen beavers in the water level caves here, bet we didn't get to see any today.

More crazy rock formations.  Some of the rock columns here point directly out toward the river like a stack of toothpicks.

As we continued down the river we crossed under the I-90 bridge.  The wind was coming up, and the water was starting to get choppier.

So we decided to turn around and head back.  It got so rough as we turned around that I somehow accidentally changed the setting on my camera to this wonderful mood setting to make my next few pictures even more dramatic.

Steve wasn't ready to give up his beer in the rough water.  Luckily he didn't end up with any broken teeth.

And just as quickly as the wind came up, it died again!

So instead of stopping at the boat ramp, we headed back up to the sand bar.

But as we headed back home, the wind came up again!



So we decided to have a nice relaxing evening on their back porch instead of braving the elements any more.



Which was the perfect decision!  We enjoyed a nice relaxing dinner with their son and his wife who came into town for the evening.

Boating the Columbia River, WA (Friday, August 23rd, 2019)

We spent two days boating the Columbia River with Sam and Sharyn.  The views are so diverse as you make your way up and down the river.  It changes from low rolling hills, to towering cliffs and small communities dotting the landscape.  The river is huge, about a mile wide and up to 105 feet deep.

Our first day we headed up river toward a community called Crescent Bay, and of course Sam and Sharyn know all of the right places to stop and look.

Their house sits right on the river with incredible views!

This petrified tree is still embedded in the mountain from when the Columbia River Gorge was formed.

The landscape of the rock formations is so dramatic.  They must have been twisted and torn is so many directions at once.

The Gorge Amphitheater sits high on the hill, overlooking the river.  According to Sam and Sharyn, concerts are held most weekends during the summer months, with the biggest being a weekend called Watershed.

Depending on the water levels, there are beautiful sandy beaches where you can park and play for the day.

Small buddhas have been placed on some of the rock shelves along the river.

Even a statue of the Virgin Mary is hiding in one of the caves.

The area around the river used to be extremely arid, until they built the Grand Cooley Dam for farming.  Now the ground water from the irrigation has created springs that have formed beautiful water falls and almost tropical oasis' down near the water.

Our first day of boating the water was like glass most of the day.

The community of Crescent Bay.

More of the dramatic rock hillsides.

Just chill'in.

At the end of our first day of boating the Columbia, we headed back to the beach at their house and did a little more chill'in.  Such a great day with wonderful hosts!

On our way home, we stopped to take a look at one of the many apple orchards that grow along the roads that we travel.  There are new hybrid apples that grow on horizontal wire supports that make them easy to harvest.