Boating

I took Friday off (Katie is lucky and has all Friday's off) to have another long weekend to go camping. This trip we towed our travel trailer to Rock Creek Reservoir near Wamic, Oregon. My friend Tyler and his wife Holli joined us Friday night.

It's been a long time (pre-Loomis Adventures), but we finally planned a trip back to Diamond Lake. We took Friday and Monday off to make it a long weekend camping trip. As always, our Mini Adventurer was super excited to go camping. We were meeting my parents (staying at a different campground in their Airstream) and Uncle Pat at Diamond Lake campground.

We took the boat out again on Saturday, this time with my parents. This was their second attempt for the season. The first time we had motor troubles (the starter blew up and we never left the boat ramp).

Today we launched from Meldrum Bar on the Willamette River just downstream from Oregon City. My Grandpa was with us too, so we had four generations aboard.

With upper 90's forecast for the weekend we got an earlier start at the boat ramp Friday (Chinook Landing). We met my sister and her family at the ramp. Everyone piled in (8 of us total) and we cruised downstream. It was windy which helped it feel a little cooler. We tried to find a calm place to anchor, but the current was ripping everywhere.

On Sunday we took our friends, Jordan and Melanie, out on our boat to have some fun on the Columbia River. It was busy, but still plenty of parking at Chinook Landing when we arrived around 10:30 am.

We headed upriver and found a spot to anchor downriver from Rooster Rock. We tossed the tube out and Julian had a blast just floating around.

After getting our boat fixed (bad starter) we were eager to take it out and enjoy our beautiful Oregon summer. We took Katie's mom and friend Tracy out with us Saturday. We launched at Chinook Landing around 10 am. It was crowded due to a outrigger canoe race taking place Saturday.

We headed upriver toward Rooster Rock. We found a nice wide stretch of the Columbia River where there was very little boat traffic and calm conditions. It was perfect for Julian to experience his first time being pulled behind the boat in an inner-tube.

In an attempt to find a family friendly activity for the summer months (and to introduce Julian to fishing), we recently purchased a 2004 Crestliner Sportfish 2050 boat. We have already taken it on a few trips, but today was our first trip with friends. It was a beautiful day. We met our friends at the 42nd street boat ramp on the Columbia River where we launched. We all piled in the boat and set off downriver toward the Willamette River.

After a fun ride up the Willamette River, we anchored downtown near the Tilikum Crossing bridge. We enjoyed lunch and then swam in the river.