AUGUST 10th and the OREGON TERRITORY

I have been remiss in my writings...missed one week and its going to turn into two! We are in Oregon for the next ten days. Early planning on our part (booked in January) but poor planning as well because it turns out school starts WAY early this year (August 18th-Monday) and we are therefore returning on the 17th...LATE!
We left Friday after Zach finished his basketball camp with the Jazz player Ronnie Price. He had a blast at such a level that his basketball came in the car with us to Oregon and he is right at this moment playing basketball with his dad down at the Jefferson courts where Rich used to play (here in Eugene) when he was just a teen! Every few hours in the car Zach would yell out "Lets stop" and we'd reply "do you need to use the bathroom?" and he would say "no, I want to play ball, stop at a place where I can shoot some hoops!!" Those type of roadside services are near impossible to find by the way!
Our first stop was outside of Portland at the Columbia River. We went white water rafting with the RIVER DRIFTERS expedition! It was a HOOT! We had our six people, and it was a six man raft, (plus our guide) so our raft was somewhat small, but our Guide, Maggie, was AMAZING. We put in the water and within 10 feet about had Rich out of the boat already! (Pitching forward in some rapids). The ultimate coolest part of the ride was the falls, and learning the definition of "HIGHSIDE" as it is screamed loudly prior to a boat nearly tipping. The falls is about a 15 foot high waterfall that Rich, myself, and Jenner all decided to go over in the raft. Well, I say go over, but I really mean go under, hold your breath, have water shoved up your nose during the entire descent, hold on for your life dearly and nearly drown for about 10 seconds and then pop back out from under the falls again. All the while wondering if your raft mates are still in the boat with you. We would have photos, but we didn't have a waterproof camera, so you'll have to visit www.riverdrifters.com to see their photos of their level 5-6 water experiences to know exactly what I'm talking about. But it was a BLAST! Definitely a grand experience!
Today we are off to church at 1pm, then over to the Cedar Creek area to set up camp and enjoy the great outdoors. We picked up Jordan late last night from the Salem area and so we get to enjoy the day with him today and then we will drop him off at work tomorrow on our way out to the coast. More details on the coast next week! No phones, no laptops, no tv, MAN I am looking forward to the next 5 days!