Everything is Bigger on the John Day River...

We love going here. The country is beautiful. The company is amazing. No phones, no internet, no computers. We really can't call it fishing, because there are so many fish. We call it 'catching'. We saw a herd of mountain ewes with their lambs, 12 rams, hundreds of fish, 2 FA-18 jets, and not many people. Pat and I watch our boys have a great time, in and out of the water, playing horseshoes and just being plain goofey! The memories we make during these 5 days are recounted in the 8 hour car ride home and over the next 12 month's, until the next John Day River trip.

Did I mention that we love this trip?

John Day

8 months. Almost as long as a pregnancy. That is how long Pat has been looking forward to our summer trip. He scheduled it back in October 2007 when we were on our fishing trip.

1 of 2 supply rafts & the boys

already in the water

What an amazing trip it was. The John Day River canyon reminds me of a miniature version of the Grand Canyon, only with a lot less people. We set off on Sunday to head up to Madras, OR. We met our guides and 4 other fishing companions the next morning at 7:30am. We then proceeded to drive for another 4 hours back into the farm lands of Eastern Oregon. We drove down the canyon, saw wild horses and put (or rather watched the guides put) the boats into the river. We put in at Thirtymile Creek. After lunch, we were on our way.

Jim, our guide, and his wife Janelle.

The boys & their guide Travis

Travis was awesome with the boys. I think the boys spent more time in the river than they did in the boat, especially that first day.

First night at camp with our

traveling companions. They were up and ready to go

by 5:30 every morning

A friendly game of horseshoes with Kenny, another guide.

We caught TONS of small mouth bass, literally!

We saw several herds of Mountain Sheep

or maybe it was the same herd we saw several times?

These guys are professionals, gas powered blender

for campsite margaritas!

Bass for the fish-fry

Which was absolutely delicious!

One highlight of the trip...2 rattlesnakes in camp on the last night!

A little unnerving, but the boys enjoyed it! Morgan was surprised by the amount of 'heat' that was packed by everyone.

Before we met Jimmy Monday morning, Lucas called him to see if he was bringing smore's. Jimmy said no, that there were no camp fires allowed on the river after June 1st. But Jimmy surprised Lucas with the makings of smore's, they were just grilled over the camp stove!

Pat, Jimmy's dad, helping Lucas with his smore's!

This was a fabulous trip. The food was delicious, the fishing was amazing, the company...we could not have asked for better. We had spectacular lightning shows one night and a couple of torrential down-pours that cooled us off. The boys had a great time swimming in the river and told us that next year, we need to bring inner tubes so that they can float down the river. Needless to say, we booked our summer 2009 vacation!