Fall in Oregon is a magical time, and our favorite camping season. With warm days, cool nights, and half filled campgrounds, it’s a campers heaven.

Labor Day weekend found us at the beach. Long days on the beach, miles of hiking, and evenings around the campfire. The drive home was gorgeous, leaves were beginning to turn all shades of red and gold, reflecting brightly in the dappled sunlight. It doesn’t get much better.

1 Beaver bandanna, 1 Duck bandanna. Dogs are ready for the games!

And yet, maybe it does! The next weekend had us hitting the road again, this time heading east along the stunning Columbia Gorge highway. We’ve driven on a lot of beautiful roads in a variety of countries, but this drive is surely one of the most extraordinary. The road snakes along the Columbia river, edged by age old rock walls on either side. As Jim drove, I lost myself in the rock formations, trying to envision how incredibly difficult the journey would have been for the Lewis and Clark expedition and other early settlers to the region.

East of the adventure town of Hood River, the landscape becomes ever more arid with the lush greenery changing to sagebrush and brown hillsides covered in windmills.

Le Page Park is a favorite annual haunt of ours. With only 22 sites, the campground sits at the confluence of the Columbia and John Day Rivers and is a sportsman’s paradise with opportunities for boating, hiking, fishing and hunting.

We had company, once again, in the form of Ron & Dario and Dave & Anne, the latter showing up in their beautiful new Trail Lite camper.

With near perfect weather, plenty of fresh air and exercise and lots of great food and wine, it was a perfect ending to my vacation week.