A REALLY Full Day

This was Tim’s last day here so we did a little tour of Dorena Lake and Lowell.  This area is about 20 miles east of Eugene, OR on Hwy. 58.  Dorena Lake is formed by a flood control dam on the Willamette River.  First stop was the day use area and boat ramp on the west side of the lake.  This area has a nice boat landing and two courtesy docks.  There are picnic tables, toilets, and a Frisbee golf course. 




Rusty wasted no time getting in the water while Poppy preferred to stay on the dock.  We have a funny story about Russ and the other dock at this lake.  I'll save it for another time.



Look carefully at the long white rectangle in the upper right quadrant of the photo.  That is a covered bridge and that is where we are going next.

At the other end of the lake is another of the many covered bridges you will find in Lane County.  This was was built in 1945 to serve the emerging town of Lowell, OR.


This bridge had been restored for historic purposes but is not used for traffic.  There are interpretative displays inside the bridge that tell the history of the area and of the bridge.




This is one of the original timbers used in making the bridge.  It is a single cut from an old growth Douglas Fir about 400 years old.  It is here for display purposes only.


Also at this park, a fishing walkway has been constructed at the end of the lake.  It is easy and convenient place for people to fish who may not be able to get around as well as they used to!  Great place to bring children fishing too.  This is the end of Dexter Reservoir but almost immediately to the east is another lager dam and behind that dam is Lookout Point Reservoir.  Both of these dams are for flood control as the area was at one time plagued by seasonal flooding.

There is limited RV parking here (3 spaces) and pit toilets.

We left this park and headed across the bridge into the small community of Lowell.  There is a tiny park at Lowell that has some interesting equipment on display.  An old train caboose is fun for kids of any age!


The sidewalk through the park is fashioned to resemble a train track.  Pretty cool!


There are several pieces of old logging and train equipment on display and all are open to climbing on.  Timothy is wondering how big the logs were that were picked up by this piece of equipment.


This is an old horse drawn road grader.  Look at all the knobs the operator had to master.



Never met a guy yet who didn’t like to climb on old equipment and try to figure out how it worked.


This park has covered picnic tables and flush toilets.  RVs could park on the street but there is only a small driveway and limited parking off street.

After we left here we headed for home.  We stopped in Springfield for a bite to eat at the Giant Burger.  This is just a little hole-in-the-wall place but has been featured on the Food Network for their Inferno Burger…It’s HOT, they warn, with lots of very spicy chilies.



They also feature a 5 lb. burger served with 5 lbs. of fries.  If you can eat it all in one hour, it’s free.  Otherwise you pony up $39.95.  No one has yet won the challenge.  Their milkshakes are the best part of the stop.


The burger were pretty good but I would not recommend the fries.  They come in several varieties and we each had a different one and they were equally limp and underdone.  But we had fun anyway.



On the way home we stopped by my nephew Zach’s shop and Russ got a hug from Zach’s wife Brandi.  Zach and Brandi started Hard Luck Customs from scratch about  a year ago and are doing a pretty good business working on custom rebuilds and regular auto repairs.  They were just featured in the local newspaper this week so I was pretty proud of them.



Well, that was a long day already.  As we were leaving Zach and Brandi’s place my cell phone rang and it was my DIL.  “We just passed  you”, she said.  They were on their way to a local antique store so we pulled in next to them for a quick howdy.  Hadn’t seen the girls since their trip to Texas 3 weeks ago.



When we got home the girls wanted to come swimming so we were happy to see them and spend some time visiting.  Tim left at about 2:30 and it wasn’t long after that that Josh and his harem arrived.
They had a great time swimming and it was fun seeing Josh in the pool with his girls.  One of the reasons I cannot sell this place yet is because of the pool and backyard.  I can remember our kids enjoying the pool and learning how to swim when they were just tadpoles.  And now their kids are enjoying the pool along with the parents.  So many memories live in this place and so many new ones are made each year, that I can't bear the thought of selling this house.  I know we will have to at some point as it is a drain on us and really too much to keep up with but …NOT YET.  Just a few more summers…a few more memories…then maybe I can let go…








…and then again, maybe not.