After having all our vacations cancelled since COVID-19, we really were feeling the urge to leave our little county that was starting to rack up cases rapidly. Selecting a company we had experienced great things with the year before and reading up on their new COVID guidelines, we felt comfortable being outside with this company for three days. We tried to recruit some friends to go with us, but that didn't work out so we settled in for a good family bonding time. Also on the trip were two millenial couples from Portland who were lawyers (Brendan and Gabby, Joe and Julia), a couple from San Francisco who live close to Oracle Park (Dan and Ellen), and an older couple from Portland (Bill and Deborah) who is a geologist.
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| Safety speech--all the do's and don'ts, listen carefully. |
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| This is COVID rowing! |
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| Manning the front of the boat--our 3 boys. |
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| Coxswain and sometimes paddler, Griffin |
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| The left side of the boat: Dad and Bryce. |
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| Class 5 rapids...I think we will go around... |
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| Hiking around the class 5 with our masks in case we get too close to others in our party. |
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| The way around the class 5, pretty difficult in itself, a narrow convoluted passage that our guides took the boats down. |
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| Garrett rests after our hike while we wait for our boats to make it safely through. |
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| Bryce spots a bald eagle, one of a number we saw our first day on the river. |
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| Griffin stands tall and proud on our waterfall hike. |
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| Bryce prepares to find the phantom fish, about 3 feet long nesting under the waterfall. |
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| Griffin and Garrett on the waterfall adventure. |
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| Dad is the faceless masked man with Griffin and Garrett. |
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| Joy goes for a refreshing swim. |
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| What are you going to do about it, Bryce? |
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| Oh, you might me to relax and look like I am enjoying myself? |
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| Garrett relaxing by the waterfall after a little swim. |
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| Griffin jumps off the rock. |
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| Bryce makes a lizard sound as he jumps off the rock. |
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| Arriving at our first lodge stop on the Rogue River. |
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| Where we were greeted by deer, everywhere, fawns, mamas, and young bucks. |
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| The boys carry their dry and day bags to their cabin. |
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| Griffin shows off his mask, red day bag, and yellow dry bag while a deer watches with great curiosity. |
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| Game time before dinner. |
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| Joy takes note of Nubbins, the begging deer, moving in closer and closer while we ate dinner. |
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| Black Bar Lodge photos |
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| The boys had their own separate cabin, D, across from ours, C. We each had hot showers, a flushable toilet, and reasonably comfortable beds. |
