The Beautiful McKenzie Highway

Today was nothing but blue skies and sunshine.  We could have used that time to work in the yard but what the heck – the work will still be here tomorrow but the sunshine might not be. So we loaded up the car with the kids – but not the furkids this time – instead our travel companions of the day were my sister Laila, and her husband, Brian.  I apologize to those of you with slow internet connections.  Many pictures tonight, all ones I want to be sure go into my next memory book.  Sorry.

Our itinerary was just a drive up the beautiful McKenzie Highway, route 126 between Eugene and Sisters, OR.   We drove about 130 miles round trip and all we saw would be way too long for one post. 

Our first stop was Hendricks Bridge Wayside.  This is a county park, day use only.  There is a day use fee here but you can stop for 30 minutes without paying a fee.  We have an annual county parks pass so we’re good to go at any Lane County Park. 


This is a great park for picnics and is a popular place for taking out or launching drift boats and rafts.  The McKenzie River is a great river for trout and steelhead fishing and gets  a lot of use by rafters as well.  The river is VERY high right now and the fishing is good.


When the water goes down some, this is a great sandy beach and water play area for families.  Notice that house in the background?


It’s a beautiful view, no doubt, but I just am not sure I would want to live there!


Next stop was yet another fish hatchery, the McKenzie Fish Hatchery. There were only small fry in most of the tanks but the landscaping was beautiful and the flowers simply gorgeous. And it was a good walk.


It seems there are always nice picnic areas at fish hatcheries – have no idea why!












More roses all along the visitor’s center.


Laila confirmed what I suspected – this was a Mr. Lincoln, my favorite rose.


Russ threatened to throw Brian in the salmon holding tank but Brian knew what to do.


There were still some Rhodies in bloom and Brian found one that matched his Duck Colors.

Isn't he just precious?!?!

Russ found a great watering hole.

Unfortunately, I think that’s the spout where the fishies come out!!  They load up the tanker trucks with fish to be released into the streams and rivers.  There is good parking here for all but the largest of rigs.

Our next stop was lunch at Takoda's.  If you are traveling the McKenzie Hwy., this is THE BEST place to stop for a meal.  They serve great food and you can sit outside on their beautifully landscaped patio.

They recently opened a restaurant in Sisters, OR as well.  But do be careful of those plastic chairs on the rough aggregate patio.  Russ went to get up and those chairs do NOT scoot.  One leg got stuck, broke and folded under the chair, and Russ ended up on his keister with the chair seat still attached to his seat!  Luckily he wasn’t hurt but unfortunately, I didn’t have the camera handy.

Gonna have to wrap this up.  We still have the Tokatee Golf Course to visit with its gorgeous views of the snow-capped Three Sisters Mountains.  Then we went on to Sahalie Falls, Koosha Falls, and Paradise Campground.  If you are traveling this way, Paradise is in my opinion, one of the best campgrounds in the state.  But all that will wait for tomorrow.  Hope to see you back here.

Leaburg Lake and Poppy takes a walk

It was another one of those days…grand kids days that is.  We piled them all in the motor home and headed about 25 miles east along Hwy.126 to Leaburg Lake and the EWEB Public Park.  EWEB stand for the Eugene Water and Electric Board, the suppliers of said utilities for the Eugene/Springfield area.  They have built a park on the McKenzie River where their power producing dam creates Leaburg Lake.  It is not a large lake but it is a popular fishing place and there is a fish hatchery on part of the property.  Handy, eh??  Oooops, no fishing allowed in the hatchery pools.

It takes about 45 minutes to drive to Leaburg from Eugene.  Quite long enough to be in any kind of vehicle with 6 kids, two dogs, two old fogeys and two portable video screens!  There is a small bridge off the highway at the entrance to the park.  It isn’t high or very long…



…but it is VERY skinny. 


One lane of traffic only and if you happen to be coming into the park from the west, it is not always easy to see what’s coming OUT of the park.  Slow down and take it easy.  I thought of Nick, who writes Gypsy Journal as we crossed this bridge.  He recently wrote about his feelings regarding bridges.  Somehow I think he would feel safe on this one.

This park has several areas and is well suited to different activities.  There is plenty of parking in the picnic area, especially on the weekdays.  We easily turned the motor home around and parallel parked well off the road.  It gets a little busy on some weekends but parking a motor home of less than 35’ or so should not be a problem.

Here’s the whole group raring to go and that is our Therapy in the background.  See how much parking room we have?


Just a short walk down the trail and you are at the fish hatchery part of the park.  Although you cannot access the raising pools, there is plenty to see in the canals.  There are several huge sturgeon along with several species of trout.  I like the nice rainbow trout in front of the sturgeon here. 



The kids had fun exploring the park and seeing all the fish.   They even got to go for a ride on one of the sturgeon.


There are several small bridges at intervals along the canal. 

There’s always one in every crowd…or sometimes, TWO!  Oh well, they’re having fun.  Rusty even found a stream next to the fish canals and he went for an early swim.  Too busy holding onto his leash to get a photo.

Here’s grandpa with his brood on another of the bridges.



We walked past the dam, where some of Eugene’s electrical power is generated.


On the other side of the road (driveway really) is Leaburg Lake created by this small dam.  There are great facilities here and more than one handicap accessible fishing dock.  There are restrooms and tables right here at the lake for those who don’t want to venture too far from their fishing spot.  Both dogs got in a little wading time here.


Plenty of parking here too and picnic tables are under the shelter.  Very nice facilities.


We walked back to the motor home and pulled out all the sack lunches we have brought with us.  We found two picnic tables adjacent to the ball field, one in the sun…


…and one in the shade for those of us who dislike temperatures over 68 degrees!!


Within the park are many well shaded trails and lots of individual and group picnic areas tucked in amongst the trees.  There are plenty of conveniently located water faucets and the group areas have covered cooking facilities. I believe there may be a charge to reserve a group area and get the electric turned on but the rest of the park is FREE.  No charge for anything.    There is also a restroom building with CLEAN flush toilets and sinks.


I don’t know if I could call it a “hike” but we definitely did some walking today.  The trails in the park are gravel and are well maintained.  Down along the lake, there are dirt trails and there are often exposed tree roots and large rocks to be aware of.  But it is mostly fishermen who use these trails.




There are also two sets of very sturdy swings here and all the kids had great fun playing on them.





Be sure you pay attention to warning signs.


We kept the dogs on leash all day for their own protection.  However at one point, Poppy was terribly anxious to find her Daddy.  He was just a little ways away from where I was so I locked her retractable leash and gave her the go ahead to “Go find Daddy.”  Bless her heart, she did the best she could with that big old leash hanging down in front of her.

She did find her Daddy and she set about making a cool nest under the table where he was sitting.
She was a mess and had to be washed before being allowed back into he motor home.  Those outside showers really come in handy.


It was time to say good bye to our day at the park and we reluctantly headed for home.  But you can bet we will be back to this very special place.