Plymouth Park, Madras, Crane Prairie, and Pitiful Pups – Oh No!

 

Hard to beat this view from Crane Prairie Campground near Bend, OR.

We’d stayed at the Marina in Umatilla, OR on our big trip in 2016 so decided to try out the Corps of Engineer (COE) campground, Plymouth Park, just across the Umatilla river on the Washington side for this trip. We arrived on Friday, 5/9, with reservations for four nights. We spent a lot of that just hanging out, letting Riley play in the sprinklers, and taking the puppers for walks. Large groves of black locust trees in the park were covered in white flowers with a light honeysuckle/jasmine scent that was heavenly.

Our home away from home.

Groves of blooming black locust smelled sooooo good!

Riley in the sprinklers (again). Lol.

Raney sits pretty in front of a culvert decorated by local *ahem* artists.

There wasn’t very good river access from the campsites, so we drove Raney and Riley across a small bridge to the day use area on an island in the river. The boat ramp was open, but the road into the day use area was blocked off. We did some 4-wheeling on dirt tracks and then parked and walked the dogs down to the closed area for some off leash fun. We noticed that the dump station at the campground was closed when we arrived and things went downhill from there. On Saturday the park water shut off completely and the public bathrooms closed. By Sunday there were only a few hardy souls left in the campground. The maintenance folks got the water working on Monday and had port-a-potties delivered since the septic system was still out of commission when we left on Tuesday, 5/13.

A little off road exploring. 

Off leash and headed for the water at a dead run. Lol

Dogfish in their element.

Our next stop was an overnighter in Madras, OR. We parked in the lot behind the Chamber of Commerce building, which was a Harvest Host site. The staff were super friendly and we were right across the street from the Town Hall and an easy walk to lots of shopping and restaurants. We opted for dinner at Rio Distinctive Mexican Cuisine which featured some unique and truly delicious variations of mole, one of my favorite Mexican dishes. They made the guacamole appetizer table-side which was also a treat.

 Harvest Host site at the Madras Chamber of Commerce.

A delicious dinner with three different types of mole. Yum!

Rog was looking forward to doing some fishing at our next destination, Crane Prairie Reservoir which is known for its rainbow trout. Our friend, the wind, was back for the drive to Crane Prairie Campground on Wednesday, 5/14. Since it was early season, the park was still first come/first served and nearly empty. We picked a lovely spot right on the water with stunning views of the snow-covered mountains across the lake.

The view was spectacular!

We could launch the kayak right from our campsite, but unfortunately the wind and weather were not very cooperative. One downside to an inflatable kayak, even a moderate breeze can be challenging and white caps on the lake are a deal breaker. Rog kept a close eye on the weather reports and it looked like he had one good chance on Friday, the temps should be in the 50’s instead of 40’s with winds calming to about 10mph. The lake was dead calm at 6:30am when we walked the dogs, but by the time he was on the water it had gotten breezy again. After about an hour or so on the water, he came back to shore for a quick potty break (thank you morning coffee). When he stepped out of the boat, his foot slipped and SPLASH, into the lake he went. Those waders that do such an excellent job keeping water out, do an equally excellent job keeping water in. Lol.  So, he sloshed back to the RV and called it a day. 

Heading out - fishies beware! Lol.

Rog on the water.

Drying out after Rog went *into* the water. 😁

We found some forest service roads near the campground where the pups could enjoy off leash walkies and of course they love their daily dunk in the lake. That is, until the pups both fell apart. Ugh. I noticed some red patches on Riley’s chest above his legs. Oh no! Hot spots. He usually gets them on his head, so these got fairly large before we noticed them. I have topical meds to treat him, but that was the end of his fun in the water. No more skinny dipping dogos. He looked so sad and confused when we wouldn’t let him in the lake. Poor boy. Just in case the topicals don’t do the trick, I called our vet and have oral antibiotics being delivered to Rog’s Mom in Redding (we’ll be there on the 22^nd). Hopefully we won’t need them, but better safe than sorry.

Long walkies along a forest service road.

Riley is not happy about his hot spots. 

Check out the side-eye I get when I say, "No lake time."

Then Raney started limping badly. Maybe Riley was getting too much attention? Not sure what happened, as we couldn’t find any injury, but long walkies are also off the table for a while. Luckily, mastiffs are pretty content being coach dogs, at least until everybody is healthy again.

They don't look like they're suffering too badly. Lol.

We bundled up for a campfire Friday evening, then woke up to the sound of steady rain around 3am. Rain isn’t a problem, but there was a potential for snow on Sunday and we saw no reason to hang around for that. Lol. So, we decided to cut our stay at Crane Prairie short by one day and left on Saturday, 5/17. Next up is Lava Beds National Monument which should be fun!

Campfire time!