Salishan Family Reunion – Day 1 – Joel and Alison’s Excellent Adventures

It was a 14 hour drive from our house to the Salishan Resort/Lodge on the Oregon Coast so we decided to break the trip up into two days. After a bit of research, the logical choice was to stay in Bend, OR. That afforded us (we thought) enough time to get to the coast and check in early, decorate Mom’s room AND take a quick hike to Tumalo Falls en route.

Joel is always happy to find a waterfall to photograph and we were the only ones on the trail early in the morning. It was a bit chilly and most of the fall colors had passed, but it was still beautiful. A very worthwhile side tour! I think Joel made a note to return at a later date. A Pacific Northwest waterfall tour is certainly waiting to materialize.

The trail that we took is actually part of a loop – we didn’t have enough time this day but would certainly warrant a second hike.

Sadly, with the government shutdown and lack of Forest Service management, people did not seem to be able to do the right thing. As the note says – why would you just keep piling your dog poop bags up and not take them with you as the can is obviously full – SAD!

After the hike we headed for the 4ish hour drive to the Coast. Unfortunately, there was significant road construction that our lovely Judy Garmin neglected to alert us of; coupled with the fact that groups B and C arrived earlier than planned which made for a stressful arrival at the Lodge. We frantically recruited Ross and Sammi (Thank You!) to help with the decorations as the rest of the group distracted Mom.

I had these made by the daughter of the Exec Director at the Senior Center I volunteer at. She made them EXACTLY like I described them to her over a text! Looked good and tasted amazing.

Arranging dinner for the 8 of us was easy – the Lodge owns the Beachcrest Brewery across the street and it look like a great place for a casual meal for all the weary travelers. I had called the Lodge several weeks ahead of time to confirm that it would be open for dinner and they could seat all 8 of us. On the way to Salishan, Larina had pulled up the website to look at the menu and texted me that, “Oh, by the way, they are closed for an employee event.” We were able to find an alternate quickly and ate at the Side Door Cafe. Mixed reviews!