Umpqua River, Oregon

July 29 - August 1, 2017

For a quick weekend getaway, we went down to the Tyee BLM Campground near Sutherlin. It was a modest little campground, right on the Umpqua River. Not a place I'd necessarily go back to, but the price was right. With my new Senior National Parks pass, it was only $7.

 

 

The weather wasn't the best, but we had wanted to go to a visitors open house at the Dutchess Horse Sanctuary, where a friend of Kate's volunteers.

We left the teardrop at the campground, then drove into Oakland, a cute historic town for lunch at Tolly's, a an old-fashioned soda fountain. We both indulged in chocolate malts and burgers before heading out to the nearby sanctuary.

 

 

The Dutchess Horse Sanctuary was established in 2008 as a place to house abused and neglected horses. It is home to 200 horses, most of which were rescued from inhumane PMU (pregnant mare urine) farms in Canada. (PMU is used by drug companies to make an estrogen replacement drug.)

The grounds, staff, and volunteers for this place are so impressive, and it was wonderful to see these formerly abused horses so well cared for, getting to live out their lives in a little paradise.

 

Back at the campground, Bailey was happy to get out of the car and go for a run and swim down by the river. It was cloudy and cool, but we were grateful campfires were allowed. (They'd been banned through Oregon for the last month because of forest fires.)

That night it rained hard, but we were snug and cozy in our little teardrop. (Thank god for the canopy.) The next morning we had a drizzly breakfast and campfire, and the rain stopped in time for us take a quick walk by the river and pack up or soggy gear.