Ti'lomikh Falls

Michael headed into Gold Hill when we left The Oregon Vortex. Along the way we saw a sign for Ti'lomikh Falls and he took it. GREAT CALL.

The Takelma (People of the River) had a village here and have celebrated the salmon ceremony for thousands of years. During the ceremony, an elder from the Takelma sat on a stone rock, called the "Story Chair," and netted the first salmon of the spring run. To allow the salmon to swim upstream and spawn, the first salmon was prepared and divided among the people as a sacrament. To ensure the salmon would return, his bones were carefully returned to the pool below the falls. Then the fishing season began. 

Beagle heaven - so much to sniff out

These 3 are troopers - adjust great to our new lifestyle

 We drove around to another view of the river and then to the other side of the falls. Back at the trailer we enjoyed dinner and games.  

The Oregon Vortex

Nolan and I picked up a brochure at a fuel stop on The Oregon Vortex. Michael said he'd heard about it before. To be honest, he was skeptical. It looked interesting to us....the campground was FULL of campers communing with nature by smoking and drinking outside their trailers. We, no longer being  campers,  can commune with nature when they all go home. We decided it would be a great day to explore the area, rather than the campground.  

Michael taped my ankle and told us to load into the car. I was able to ride with my foot elevated and with it taped it felt pretty good. We headed out to find things which would have little hiking.

 

We checked out the little town of Gold Hill, Oregon and ended up at The Oregon Vortex.  I did a bit of internet research and ran across the comment that the owners claim to be involved in the paranormal - that is not at all what we experienced or were told.  This area was known to the Native Americans of the area as the "forbidden ground."  Their horses would stop at the edge of the vortex and refuse to enter it. Animals still don't come into the area on their own. There are no birds, rabbits, raccoons...only snakes and insects - which I think has deep meaning.  In the 1850's a gold assay office in the center of the vortex consistently weighed the gold wrong. That assay office is now the "House of Mystery." You may be able to blow these info boards up if you are interested in more details.

 

There are a series of level  platforms around the area for various demonstrations. Most involve perspective change. People seem to be taller when they move to the magnetic south of the platform.

 

She certainly appeared taller when she moved north

All seem to lean towards due north when in the area. We experienced this. When we got to the center of the vortex, many got motion sick.

 

Inside the House of Mystery, you step UP to appear shorter and things rolls down and then return and roll uphill....Poor Nolan never got to catch the rolling bottle as it stopped short and started rolling uphill each time. They stress the HOUSE can be replicated but they only use the house so you can see the dramatic perspective change....all the effects are duplicated outside of the house. The height change effect has not been duplicated in any of the "copy cat" mystery houses around the world. ::grin::

 

It was fascinating. Some of the demonstrations were very interesting, while some seemed to be manipulated.  Like this one which was to demonstrate the blind  sense the difference as well....on the south side his shoulder was lower and supposedly on the north side it was  higher...I discovered this with my eyes closed. Michael rightfully points out that he does seem to be standing with a different shoulder deliberately raised higher each time....one of those demonstrations which seem to have been exaggerated.

 

There is no doubt the angle changes on this platform.... I was fairly excited to be nearly as tall as Nolan.

 

 

We still have one dedicated skeptic and the rest of us are in the "hmmm" category. Even our skeptic  admits  there were some interesting, unexplainable phenomenon. We all admit there were a couple of instances where we think we caught the guide manipulating the demonstration to exaggerate the effect.

We found this excursion to be interesting, quirky and fun - just our sort of outing. They gave a $1 military discount - never hurts to ask.

The Rest of the Day

It's always a blessing to sit and visit with my sister-in-law.  There wasn't any time this trip to connect, so we met at 0700 for tea/coffee and a visit.

Not a picture of our actual breakfast - a no make up day the day before

 I hit Target at 0800 - who knew it was STAR WARS DAY! ::snort:: I picked up some food items , more  Command Velcro and a roll of quarters.

Here are a few photos from our ill-fated walk...Before the fall...

 

And After the fall Nolan took the younger two and took photos while Michael tended to me at the trailer.

 

You are not looking at trees. This is the reflection in the McKenzie river.

 

Mom and Dad stopped by The Caboose. They were our first visitors since moving into The Caboose. (Well, our first visitors which we didn't put to work).

 

We checked out of Armitage right at noon and headed down the road to Valley of the Rogue Sate Park (review to follow).   We finished setting up right before a thunder storm - it blew through too quickly for my liking.

I sat on the couch, elevating and icing my ankle, and supervised the kids as made dinner.

My view from Armitage to Valley of the Rogue

Nolan and Michael got the new grill set up. They did great.

 

I cleaned up - you can almost reach everything by standing in the middle of the trailer - and Michael and the kids went out and explored the campground/river.

Rogue River

Rogue River behind the camp site

We topped the night off a round of Dixit and a Tim Hawkins comedy show.

New Bifocals May Be Hazordous...

I exited the Caboose with energy and purpose....we were off to explore Crilly Trail and walk along the McKenzie river before we took off for the Rogue River.

Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that hikes with new bifocals can be treacherous.... the steps got me.  Michael walked back to the campsite and brought the van to retrieve me. I settled in with ibuprofen and ice, while the kids continued their hike and he ran a couple of errands in preparation to moving.

I had a bit of crying jag and realized it is because I so desperately want to make a zillion fun, family memories in face of Michael's recent "transition diagnosis."  Then I realized - this is our LIFE. If we miss this hiking trail, or this evening of s'mores - there will be plenty more. We are not camping.

Armitage County Park

This beautiful campground is located inside a Lane County park, on the outskirts of Eugene, OR.  The park provides lots of picnic areas and fields, a horseshoe pit, boat ramp, 2 acre leash-free dog park, hiking trails and a volleyball pit or two.

The campground itself has approximately 31 full hook-up sites,  as well as tent sites and group sites in a lush, wooded area. There are some pull through sites.  Each site is allowed one RV and two tents or three tents - making this a great place to meet up with friends or let kids have a side-adventure.  If you reserve online you will be told if your site has strong, fair or weak wifi. The sites along the river have "weak" which means you can see they are there and may be able to log on, but won't be able to post or upload photos or videos, unless you have a wifi extender.  The sites near the camp office have "strong" wifi.

 

The bathroom/showers are CLEAN and well-maintained. The laundry room is state of the art, shiny and again CLEAN and well-maintained.  A load of wash is $2 and the dryers are .25 for 15 minutes.

The highlights of this campground are the hiking trails - right alongside the McKenzie river at mile 7.3, as well a Crilly Trail.  Armitage boasts lots of fishing spots and swimming holes, boating etc.

The day use park closes at dusk and the park becomes very quiet. Lane county does a great job of maintaining this campground. With the full hook ups and laundry, minus the pools and hot tubs....Armitage feels like a blend of state campground and RV Park.  We'll stay again. It's a blessing to so quickly find a nice campground close to family so we can make lots of visits.

You can make reservations online  - and from what I see it's advisable to do. There is a reservation fee which doesn't go towards your camping fee.  We paid $30 per night. Reservations and Information - 541-682-2000; campground office 541-357-5481. Located at 90064 Coburg Road, Eugene, OR.

Work and Family

Arielle is going to college full-time, doing a 10 hour a week work study, and working at Fred Myers. The available time to visit with her on this trip is at a premium.  We saw her at dinner the night we arrived, and this a.m. we drove across town and met her for breakfast.

We were able to spend time with BreAnne yesterday and today Krista worked 1/2 a day and was able to join us at the trailer. She was JUST what I needed. She is an organizational whiz and was able to help organize the boxes still left in the trailer. It will be fun to remember her help as we benefit from the new "homey" feeling.

I need to buy some wire to hang more photos with command hooks - but we're getting there.

We've been on the road four days - today we looked at a new rig and took our first load to St. Vincent's.  We'll soon have all this stuff situated - in time to pick up the remainder of our possessions at Matt and Rachel's.

The kids are already finding their "happy places" in the trailer.

This afternoon we met my parents at the theater and watched, "War Room."  Another great movie from the Kendrick brothers. We met Bre, Will and Sherri over at Mom and Dad's for dinner and the Seattle Seahawks game.

Some played games and did nails instead.

We got a lot done towards settling today. The bathroom is totally reorganized, all the boxes are gone, water filter is installed....this is one of my favorites:

Tomorrow we head down the road a couple of hours. I'm not sure if we'll have wifi again until Sunday evening.

Here We Go Again - PLOT TWIST TAKE 3

I will most likely edit this post - but here is the text of an email I sent to a few sister-friends this a.m. Michael said it would be simplest to just post it .

I realize we left you hanging after the neurologist appointment. We wanted to talk to the kids before I emailed or posted anything online so  there was no chance of them finding out family news online.

Anyway - we lost internet when we arrived at our campground. We're back now.

Our appt was 1.5 hours long. They listened. They asked for my input on questions where Michael wasn't sure or hadn't noticed problems. First he saw a "fellow" who did quite an exam and then he saw the neurologist  - who did the same exam. This was at UC Davis...then they brought in more to observe him walk etc. Upshot....she has diagnosed Michael as having Parkinson's Disease rather than essential tremors....based on the history and her exam she is confident in saying he appears to be in the early stages of Parkinson's Disease. She agreed with the base doc (and us) that if he had "atypical essential tremors" the beta blocker would have worked by now and that it is stupid to keep increasing the dosage. His resting heart rate is now 53. We are happy to cancel further appointments with neurologist #1.

She said the DAT SCAN does not always show changes early on and that PD is one where the doctor needs to make a clinical assessment. She noted his right arm doesn't swing when he walks, the tremor, the quiet voice (which is getting quieter), he sways when he gets up from sitting etc. She said the jitteriness he feels is not him being crazy - it's an internal tremor and the external tremors usually follow.

To confirm a diagnosis of PD she will start him on the Parkinson meds and if he responds, he has it. If not, it IS something else odd....and she said we will track it down. Much better response than, "I TOLD you - I don't know."

The complication came when she remembered he's on the beta blocker. A person doesn't willy-nilly stop this med.  They don't want to start another new drug while weaning him from the beta blocker. They are slowly weaning him off it. We will see her again in Nov, she will evaluate him again (looking to see if the symptoms are progressing) and then start him on levodopa.  I feel like we dodged the bullet before but this time it found it's target - and yet the treatment for ET simply isn't helping much - it's always good to have answers - even when they are answers we don't like much.

She said to continue on with life. She said there are new treatment options and we will get through this together. We are trying not to consider the implications too much just yet....we are focusing on adjusting to RETIREMENT first.... Michael sees the military doc on Tuesday to discuss the way forward as it impacts care and VA claim.

 

Let go my soul and trust in Him

The waves and wind still know His name....