Jacqueline’s Jaunts

Ryan and Amanda’s Steps – 2,390 We woke up to a smokey sky. Somewhat better today, but not much. Ryan was off to work early this morning; the kids had school, cleaned up the RV, and Barry cleaned up his BBQ today. I was on a few calls today and going through email. I played ball with the dogs. They wore me out! Before Ryan got home from work, Amanda took Tucker to the pump track to ride his new bike. He said it took a little time to get used to it, but it felt great. From the photos Amanda took, he looked like he was enjoying himself.  Addison spent part of the afternoon riding Josey. No barrel practicing, just for a ride.  Ryan BBQed chicken on his Traeger, and it was delicious. We had everyone taste Aunt Reba’s BBQ sauce (see previous blogs).  They all agreed it was the best BBQ sauce they had. They couldn’t get enough. I informed him if they came to our Annual Griffin Christmas Dinner again, they would get some, but we did leave them some of ours.  The sunset was ...

2023-09-16 Oregon Trip to Visit Family and Friends John Day Fossil Beds National Monument Ryan and Amanda's Place Steps – 9,006 Playing with our shadows Up early, packed a lunch, and was on the road by 7:30 AM. John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, here we come. It was a two-hour drive to the park. It is on the eastern side of Oregon—Tucker decided to go with us.  The road was through the mountains. This is a volcanic area that was once underwater. Volcanic rock is everywhere and looks desolate.  Our first stop was the Painted Hills. The hills have a different color for each period after the dinosaurs went extinct. The colors were gold, yellows, browns, and reds. We hiked three trails around the hills. Each hike was short, but we had better views of the painted hills.  We ate lunch in a nice picnic area with plenty of shade trees. I'm glad we got here early this morning. Today's temperature was around 97º and would have been too hot to hike. After lunch, we drove an hou...