McCormick Park, Hells Canyon 7/8/10 - 7/19/10

One of our favorite places to be is on the Snake River at McCormick Park in Hell's Canyon. My brother, Bill, and his friends started coming over 20 years ago and we joined them after the first couple of years they came. We usually try to go starting the first weekend after the 4th of July, and staying the next week and weekend. There have been a couple of times when all of us seven Fisher siblings have been there together and it has also turned into a Howard reunion at times, when all of our kids and grandkids have all come.

Terry and I haven't missed a year in coming since we started. At times, we have been the only one with an RV and everyone else tents. But now, there are almost more RV's than there are tents. Starting from the left is Jill and Dan with kids and cousins, Terry and I, brother Mike and Janet, brother Frank and Andy, and niece Natalee and Mike.

But, the tent site also fills up. Bill got there early and had his favorite spot, with room for several other tents, besides. Those in our family who tented were sister Lorrie and her kids and grandkids, brother Ron and Kathy, their daughter Danielle and Than and kids, and sons Cameron and Brenton, with girlfriend Cory. Then later, there were friends from Oregon, Elaine and Larry and their grown kids, Wendy and Andy.

The tents "overflowed" out onto the lawn each night, even though there had been bear sightings in the park.

This is the way we spend most of our time at McCormick--just sitting around sleeping and eating and watching the kids play! Jill had her two kids, Boe and Kamber, along with Ryan's three kids, Wesley, Ryley, and Chaz. They were lots of fun and kept Jill pretty busy.

Usually we were sitting around in groups, following the shade. Our son, Shay, came for a few days while his family were in Utah. It was nice having him because he and his cousin, Cameron, cleaned all of the crappie that everyone caught each evening he was there.

We did use a little energy playing games once in a while. We had a "golf-shoes" tournament. I would tell you who won, but I am not sure, and I know that one of my brothers would disagree. But, actually, I think that my sister, Lorrie, and I came out on top!

One day, a couple of sheriff's officers on jet skis stopped down on the river and wanted to know whose kids those were who were down there playing in the water. With some apprehension, Jill's husband, Dan, confessed that they were part of our group. He later came back with t-shirts for each of the kids that said "I got caught wearing my life jacket" on the front. He thanked them for wearing their life jackets and asked them to always wear them when they were down by the water. We had no trouble after that getting the kids to keep their lifejackets on!

The kids had lots of fun playing with cousins, Wesley, Boe, Trestin, Aleksia, and Ryley. Danielle brought fun crafts and games for them, like she does each year. All of us appreciated all of her work in keeping the kids busy and happy.

A get-together at Natalee's trailer with my brothers, Frank, Mike, and Bill, and their family members.

And then a group of my sister Lorrie's family and friends at the tent area.

After the first weekend, a lot of our family had left, but Terry's brother Ron and wife Alice showed up for a few days. They had always heard about this gathering we have each year and came to see what it was all about. It was good having them, although most of the crowd had gone by the time they got there.

We also had our friends, Russ and Louise, show up. We enjoyed roasting marshmallows around Bill's campfire with them one night.

There really had been bear sitings in the park. In fact, they had caught a mama bear a couple of weeks before and let her loose on the other side of the mountain. Well, she came back and this time they caught her and both cubs at the time time. They said they would take them a little further away this time.

We stayed a few days after everyone else had pretty much left. On the last morning we took a hike to the top of the dam with Bill. It is quite a sight from there. Bill even caught a couple of crappie at the top of the spillway.

On the way down that same morning, this deer paused to see what we were up to. We would see deer almost every morning when we would get our 8-mile bike ride in.

Once again, it was great being will all of our family and friends at McCormick and hope this tradition goes on forever!