Settling In

We’ve been here a little over a week now and it feels like home on Robins Island. We’ve met the other volunteers, went out for pizza with a few of them last night, and went back to work today after 3 days off. When we got to the ranger’s office, we were told our supervisor was out sick, so we watched the safety training video and left. Went to the Bonneville Visitor’s Center and got some information on the area. They have a library for the staff and we borrowed a few books about Columbia Gorge hiking trails, Lewis and Clark, and ranger stories. Now we need to find time to read!

Our days off  just flew by, and today was no different. We’ve been to Camping World 3 times now,  trying to get our sewer connection hooked up properly without leaking. We haven’t spent any time in RV parks with sewer hookups, so we normally go to the dump station to dump the tanks. We have gotten to be pretty comfortable with that, but putting out sewer hose on a semi-permanent basis is a bit different. Then we turned the rig around for better views and to keep the hot afternoon sun off the refrigerator side of the rig, so we needed longer hose to reach. Think we may have finally gotten it right today.

We visited the fish hatchery the other day, and it is a really neat place. This is Herman the sturgeon, who lives in the giant pond there, along with many smaller ones.

There is also a trout pond, gift shop, and of course the hatchery.

Jim had an appointment with an ophthalmologist yesterday and needs to have a laser procedure done and possibly his other cataract removed. At least we will be here for awhile to tend to those things.

We took a nice hike tonight on the Eagle Creek trail to Punchbowl Falls, another trail just a couple miles away. We only hiked 2 miles to these falls, but the trail goes for 12 miles, with 6 waterfalls along the way.

   

Upper Punchbowl Falls

 

Lower falls.    It was another beautiful trail.

 

We had highs in the upper 70’s today,  so looks like the heat wave is over. Been here 10 days now and nothing but sunshine. We are waiting for the rainy Portland weather we’ve heard about, but hope it holds off for awhile. The wind in the Columbia Gorge is very impressive, though.  One of these days we will go watch the sail and kite boarders on the river.