Sami and Scott's Fun Place

  Rogue River, Oregon, United States
Thursday, September 11, 2008

Finally, we got to Rogue River, Oregon and our friends Sami and Scott.

Sami and Scott

They used to live on Maui and Sami worked for me at my reservations service. We became friends there and even after they moved back to Oregon, they would visit me on their frequent vacations on Maui. Then, we also visited them very briefly about two years ago on one of our RV trips, but this visit was to be for a few days. It turned out to be three weeks of almost non-stop fun!!

Overlooking Sami's pool & pasture

Madi & Morgan playing in the pool

  Sami is very gregarious, full of spirit, and it seemed that no matter how mundane something could be, Sami made it fun. Some of the best fun was cooking together.

BBQ with friends

It was a good thing that we got some exercise around the place, or we would have really put on a lot of weight.

Sami's stable

Some of the horses

 

Their lovely 7.5 acre 'farm' is located just across the road from the Rogue River.

Rogue River

They've been remodeling their house for the last year and living in their small guest house. The house when it's finished will be a very nice 4200 sq. ft. home. Besides the house and guest house, there's two other large buildings, one that holds a large playroom, their temporary offices and a lot of storage areas. The other has all of Scott's shops for their construction business and also a fitness room with large full bath. They also have a large RV, similar to ours, so they have water and electric RV hook-ups conveniently located right in front of the fitness room and bathroom.

There's also a chicken coup, a pig shed, and a 6-stall stable. About half of the property is pasture for 10 horses (mostly full, or half-breed Arabians, plus three smaller, but stronger Icelandic horses), 2 cows, and 2 pigs. They also have a Pygmy goat, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 rabbits and a couple dozen chickens!

Natasha aka 'Tashi'

Nicole

Sparkles

BC Kitty

 

Some of Madi's chickens

 

It's a big job just taking care of all of them. Sami's niece Madi, who lives with them, helps a lot, plus she rides her Pinto horse in several horse shows.

Madi showing English

Madi getting ready to show Western

Madi getting ready to show

More practicing

Both Madi and Hanna Looking good

To add to all of those animals, when we went out and about, we also saw a lot of deer, including some, just a few feet away, when we were visiting Margaret, a nearby friend.

Deer visiting Margaret's place

They also have lots of raspberries, blackberries, two kinds of grapes, plus apple, pear and fig trees. We were in fruit heaven, pigging out on all of them and Terry used some of the apples, pears and blackberries to make some great cobblers.

Crater Lake from the Lodge

Madi, Sami & me at Crater Lake Lodge

While we were there, we all did a day trip to Crater Lake. It was a nice day and we took lots of photos. We had lunch at the Crater Lake Lodge and afterwards we did the drive all the way around the Lake.

One of the Lobby fireplaces

Madi, Scott & Sami

Pumice Castle at Crater Lake

Vidae Falls by Crater Lake

On the way back, we stopped at the Rogue River Gorge and explored around, taking lots more photos, it was so beautiful.

Part of Rogue River Gorge

Madi & Sami at Rogue River Gorge

Another part of the Gorge

Chica & Sami by Rogue River Gorge

We also did a lot of wine-tasting, both at their place and at several wineries in the area.

Troon Vineyards

Schmidt Family Vineyards

I'm not much of a wine drinker myself, but I did discover something that I do like. It's called Frappe Vino...

Frappe Vino

it's actually a powder, that we got at the Del Rio Winery,

Del Rio Vineyards

that you mix with a bottle of wine, usually Pinot Gris, but can be most any other wine, and an equal amount of water. Stir until disolved, then freeze it until it's like a slurpee/slush. It's sweet and delicious.

One day Terry, Madi and I went to the famous Oregon Vortex House of Mystery in nearby Gold Hill. It is an area of naturally occurring visual and perceptual phenomena, which can be captured on film and very interesting.

Our guide at the Mystery House

Terry is 2nd shortest in this shot

But you almost can't tell now

Another day, we had a little extra excitement with a helicopter landing in the pasture behind the playroom building. Scott and another friend Tim, had previously purchased charity tickets for a helicopter ride and when they ran into the pilot, they decided to do it that day. They had a great ride all over the Rogue River, Grant's Pass and Applegate River area.

Scott & Tim went for a great flight

We were really enjoying ourselves so much, it was hard to leave. I almost could believe that Sami wanted to chain our RV to the post or somehow keep us there. But we did have to leave. However, we hope to get back together again next summer. Tentative plans include going with both of our RVs, plus some others, too, to the Oregon Coast, with the horses, and have a fun time on the beach with a whole bunch of the nice people who all we met while having a blast with our fun friends Sami, Scott and Madi.