Camp Hosts at McCormick - We are done!

The "fire ban" is lifted! We finally got to build fires. It was nice to see fires going around the Park in the evenings. We had to loan out our barbecue and our electric fry pan several times when campers would come, not knowing they couldn't use briquettes or build fires, and that is all they had to cook with. We got to have several wiener and marshmallow roasts before we left.

The previous camp host planted several tomato bushes before he left. We sure enjoyed the tomatoes. He planted big ones and cherry tomatoes also. They were a real treat!

If there were ripe tomatoes when some of the Park crew came in, we shared. But, we ended up with the biggest part of them. I will miss having fresh tomatoes off of the vine.

Since we retired, we haven't gone to Church in the same place for very long. Terry thought he would be off the hook for having to give a talk in Church. Well, we stayed just long enough in McCormick and going to the little branch in Halfway, Oregon, to have to speak the week before we left. They are very friendly people and we really enjoyed getting to know them.

Last Saturday, two days before we left McCormick, we took our pontoon boat home. It had rained all the night before. When we got up that morning, there was snow on all of the mountains around us. Terry let me turn on the furnace for the first time!

When we came back from Emmett that day, we saw the wild turkeys. There aren't too many times that you travel from Cambridge to Hell's Canyon that you don't see any turkeys--that is until turkey season opens They seem to know when to hide.

We also saw our first mountain sheep up close. We had seen one other one, but it was quite a ways away up on the mountain ridge above the dam. This one was hanging out along the road as we came down off of Brownlee Dam. Other campers had told us one was there, but we hadn't seen it. It has a tracking collar on it and was pretty scroungy looking. I get confused (Terry says that is not unusual) because the goats look like sheep and the sheep look like goats.

This is a picture of the park coming down from the top of the dam. It is a little blurry because we are moving in the truck.

They planted flowers and built a little fence by the restrooms at McCormick this year. When we got there, only part of the flowers were doing very well. But after lots of care, they finally exploded! That was usually the last thing we did in the evenings is go water the flowers. Lots of campers commented on how nice they looked.

This is Steve, one of the head maintenance guys over McCormick and Woodhead Parks. He usually did the lawn mowing and anything else that needed done. When it was hot, they started early in the mornings and when he showed up at the park, lots of times we were still in bed. Even when they started work later, towards the end of the summer, we were sometimes still in bed. We told them we were "retired" so we got to sleep in! Steve was the guy we called if there was any trouble. It seemed like most of the trouble happened on his days off, but he was always there for us. He is a retired police office so he could handle anything!

Susie was a maintenance person. She had to put up with all of the guys and always accused them of assigning her to "restroom duty." When she would come with Steve to mow the lawns, he would tell her, "Go ahead and get the restrooms, Susie. I'll start on the lawns!" But, the restrooms sure got cleaned good when she did them. It was lots of fun visiting and getting to know her.

Terry, another head maintenance guy, came with Steve to do the restrooms the last day we were at the Park. I think that at least the mirrors got cleaned that day! Terry and his wife also own and run a bed and breakfast at Oxbow.

It was a pretty dreary day the morning we left. It kind of matched our mood. It was a lot of fun being Camp Hosts. We worked with great people and met a lot of really nice people. We hope that we get to do it again sometime. They fed us a great dinner of all-you-could-eat giant prawns. I could only eat four, but I think Terry had at least ten! And then they even gave us a gift certificate for Home Depot.

We got back to Emmett in time to attend a funeral of a good friend. He was our age and died suddenly of a heart attack. You never know! We are so glad that we have the opportunity to live our dream and feel very fortunate to have good health and be able to do the things we want.

We are headed to eastern Idaho after we stay here in Emmett for a week. We will stay in Jill's parking lot in Rexburg. Terry is going hunting with Shay. Jill and Dan just moved into a house in Rexburg and I think she has a few projects for her Dad to do while we stay there until after Thanksgiving. Jill and I are going to Dugway Army Base where Sarah and Ryan live, fairly close to Tooele, Utah, to can pears. Thanks for reading out blog and sharing all of our adventures so far.

Camp Hosts at McCormick Park Sep 9-23

We decided to take a break from camp hosting and go camping! We went to a Thousand Trails campground in Bend, Or. We had to listen to their sales pitch, which we shouldn't have, because we are now Thousand Trail members. But, it will really add to the parks we can stay at and there is a really good program to help your kids get membership some day. Terry's sister and brother-in-law are also members so it will be easier to camp with them a little more.

As you can see, we really did go "camping" with our tent and all! It was pretty cozy. The temperature dipped down into the mid 30's at night. Needless to say, we stayed in our tent in the mornings until the sun came up and shined in our window. A good thing about it was that we didn't bring anything to cook with, so we ate food out of our cooler and from Wal Mart deli. I didn't have to do dishes or anything! It was lots of fun and relaxing.


We took our tandem bicycle, which had a flat tire at the time. We went into Wal Mart and bought a new tube and Terry fixed it. It was fun to ride around the park. The park had 300 sites, so it was pretty big and was right in the middle of the forest. There were some big gray squirrels with long bushy tails. We came back to camp one day and one was inside the screen house. I tried to get a picture before it found its way out, but he escaped before I got the camera ready.

Several years ago, I went with Terry when he was the bus driver for the basketball teams when they had a conference in Bend. We saw this tree that had a lot of shoes hanging on it.

We saw it again when we went to the Thousand Trails campground. We stopped and took a picture. I wish we would have had an old pair of shoes to add to the tree. There were a lot more shoes on it than there were when we saw it with the basketball team.

After we got back to McCormick, we found out that one of our friends in our Ward at home, Kitty Fluckiger Carroll, had passed away. She found out that she had cancer several months ago. We have known her and her family since we were kids. We went home to Emmett for the funeral. She left behind her husband, a daughter who is a senior in high school (who was one of my special Young Women when we lived at home), a son who is about fourteen, and a married son with two little boys. The funeral was a wonderful tribute to her life.

It was kind of fun being home again for a day. We didn't get to see Lorrie because she was at work, but she had everything looking spiffy! I did our laundry and then we went back to McCormick.

We decided we better get some more fishing done so we can have more in our freezer when we leave in two weeks. We didn't have much luck with any keepers, but I sure had fun catching this big catfish. It is probably the biggest fish I have ever caught. It was about 5 pounds and I caught it on a little light-weight pole with a crappie jig on it. Those catfish will bite on anything!

We brought it back to camp to get a picture. I tried to hold it without a rag around it, but I just couldn't do it. It was so slippery and ugly and whenever it moved around too much, I would drop it (with a loud sound effect) and so I finally used a rag to hold it. Later, we tried to give it away. Everyone said it was really too big to eat, so we took it down and put it back in the river.

Our very good friends, Don and Renae Walker, came and spent the weekend with us. The first night they were here, we had a wild group of people staying along the entrance road to the Park. They were drinking a lot, whopping and hollering, and shooting some guns, round after round. We ended up having to call 911 several times and get the Sheriff's Deputy to come and settle them down. They had put a large pontoon boat in the water (after dark) and the Deputy couldn't find them. They were still there the next day and still shooting guns and partying. We got the Deputy back and he threatened them that he would get the State Police here and carry them all off to jail if there were any more complaints against them or any more shooting. He would have made them leave right then, but they were all so intoxicated that they couldn't drive, so they spent another night. They were pretty quiet that night and they were gone when we got back from Church. We were sure glad.

We were worried about the weather being bad with Don and Renae here, but it held off raining long enough for us to go fishing. They had a bet going as to which of them would catch the biggest fish. It isn't hard to see who won!

We did really good fishing and came back with 79 crappie and 2 bass. After cleaning all of them, Terry and Don decided that next time we would throw the little ones back! We had a really fun weekend, fishing, playing games, visiting, and eating.

The Snake

I just learned how to put a video on the blog so I thought it would be fun to show you the video of the snake we met our first week as Camp Hosts!

Camp Hosts at McCormick Aug 26 - Sept 8

Our little lizard is still hanging around. We never know where he will be, but he has some favorite places to spend his time. As you can see, he kind of likes hanging out on our shoes. I am always leery about putting on my shoes each morning!

He has also made "friends" with our other "pets." Here he is visiting our mama turtle.

We had one of Hell's Canyon's famous wind storms the weekend before Labor Day and some of the electrical lines going up the hill on the Idaho side of Brownlee Dam whipped together. The sparks started a fire at about 6:00 pm. It was pretty exciting.

A crew of volunteer Idaho Power people and others got up there pretty fast and with the cooperation of the wind, they had it out by midnight. It burned at least 20 acres. The wind even kept the smoke from coming down into our camp. There were a couple of little boys who came up to me really scared to go to bed because they thought the fire would come down in the park while they slept. I assured them that there were good men up there fighting it and I was sure we would be safe!

We go on walks most mornings. I took the camera one morning and caught some of the local wildlife. There were lots of fish jumping, but I couldn't get a good picture of them.

This little cottontail rabbit let us get pretty close to him before he ran away. He is the first rabbit we have seen around here.

Of course, there are always the herons everywhere. The other day we were sitting at our picnic table and saw a pure white heron fly over us. It was really pretty.

Here is a lizard we saw by the dam. I think he is the same species that hangs around our Condo, but he was quite a bit fatter. They are a little different than the Arizona lizards.

There are a lot of osprey and also bald eagles on the river. Lots of times, we see them with fish in their claws.

We scared this osprey off of several roosting places as we walked along. He was probably glad to see us get off his hill!

Everyone has been telling us that September will be a really slow month, after the Labor Day weekend. Well, the park was empty for two hours the Monday before Labor Day.

We decided to take pictures of the empty park because we didn't know how long it would last.

Well, it lasted two hours and then people started coming. We were totally packed by the weekend, which we all pretty much expected.

They were a pretty good group, though, and we didn't have any big problems.

Even the spots behind us that are in the gravel were full! We lost a few people after Labor Day, but we have kept pretty full all week afterwards and were totally full the next weekend also.

The best thing about Labor Day weekend was that our son Ron and his wife and three kids came and stayed with us for a couple of days. It had been quite a while since we had had a grandma/grandpa fix! Here is Wesley and Ryley settled in with a movie one night while Grandpa made popcorn (that is a tradition when the grandkids stay with us.)

Little Chaz was entertained playing on the Mule. Grandpa had to hide the key, but the next day after they left, he found that the lights had been left on. Thank goodness it started when the maintenance man came and got on it!

Smokey the Bear came to visit us on Labor Day. Unfortunately, he came after a good part of the campers had left, but those still there enjoyed seeing him. He had gifts and hugs for everyone.

We are headed to Bend, Oregon, on Sunday, the 9th. We are going to camp out in a tent for three nights. We are staying in a Thousand Trails Park. If we listen to their sales pitch for their program, we will get a $50 Camping World gift certificate and 30 nights free camping in their parks during the next year. Terry's sister and brother-in-law have that program, so we thought it would be fun to camp with them sometime in the next year. Also, it will be a nice break from being camp hosts for a bit. I just hope I won't think I have to replace their toilet paper in the bathrooms if I see one empty!

Camp Hosts at McCormick - Aug 14 thru Aug 26

We are still here at McCormick Park on the Snake River at Hell's Canyon. Thank goodness the last two weeks have been better than the first two weeks. We were about ready to resign with all of the crazy things that happened the first two weeks. I don't know if things just calmed down, or we are just more used to it and know how to handle things better. At least we haven't had to call the Sheriff any more to come and haul away drunks! We have been going to Halfway, Or, to church each Sunday. It is a little branch called Pine Valley branch. There are about 50-60 people there each Sunday. The Relief Society (LDS women's organization) had a "Zucchini Luncheon." One of the gals who lives across the River from us in the Idaho Power Brownley Village stopped by to see if I wanted to go. I really wasn't planning on it and hadn't made a zucchini pot luck dish, but I had just made some oatmeal raisin cookies and we decided that you could put zucchini in them if you wanted to!! So I went. It was fun. They had centerpieces made out of squashes and some of us took one home. Each morning Terry and I go for a walk and I gather new sunflowers for my "vase."

We have been going out fishing a few times and finally found a crappie hole. The first time we went, Terry and I (I won't tell you who caught the most, because it upsets Terry) caught 62 crappy, 2 bass, and one bluegill! We were up until 11:00 pm cleaning fish! At least we have some bags full of fish in the freezer now.

This is our friendly lizard that hangs out around our patio. He is pretty tame. His favorite spot is under the little freezer next to the Condo. He is not quite friendly enough to touch, but almost.
We always have to be careful he isn't in the way when we step out of the door. He lays on our rug a lot. Once in a while he will disappear for a day or two and then show up again. His tail was really short when we first got here, but it is growing longer.

Trout fishing has been pretty good (for everyone but Terry) out in the river. But most days it doesn't matter if you catch them or not, it is just refreshing to stand in the river. Terry's brother Verel came again and stayed one night. He caught several fish. His son, Mitch has come two Saturdays and fished for trout and done pretty well.

The second time we went to the crappie hole, we remembered to take the camera. Here is Terry with a big one.

And here is me with a big one. The biggest one we have caught was 14 1/2" and Terry caught it.

Here are several of the largest crappies.

The second time we went, we left a little earlier and didn't catch as many (only 35), which was fine with us because we got them all cleaned before dark. Terry and Verel went back to that same hole and caught about 15 the night he was here.

The Park has been pretty busy on the weekends, but not so many people during the week. Last weekend, Ryan and his family were going to come and then they couldn't, but Tye Thomas and his wife, Kelly, and their three kids came. Tye was a good friend of our boys growing up. It was sure nice to see them. We went out in the boat and visited with them several times.

This past weekend, most of the RVers left, but the tent sites were totally full. But, by the time we got home from Church on Sunday, we almost had an empty camp. The weather is so nice--it has finally cooled down. After Labor Day weekend next week, things should be really slow. So, if anyone wants a nice place to come camping and fishing, come and see us!

Camp Hosts at McCormick - August 1-13

Yes, we are the Camp Hosts at McCormick Park on the Snake River at Hells Canyon! Here we are, all set up in the Camp Host spot.

McCormick Park is about 30 miles west of Cambridge, Idaho. Across the river is Oregon. It is one of our favorite places to be. While we were here in July with our family for our yearly camping get-together, we learned that the Camp Host was leaving the first of August to have knee surgery. We joked with him that he should have let us know and we would have taken his place for the the next two months. The next day, the Park Manager was knocking on our Condo door and offered us the job. It doesn't pay anything, but we get the site with full hook-ups and are only asked to keep an eye on things, do a little watering, and keep toilet paper in the bathrooms! We will be here until the first of October.

The park wasn't very busy the first week we took over, but there was a lot of excitement. The first evening, two fishermen were crossing the lawn and found a snake. They weren't sure what kind it was, so they called us over. The grass was a little tall so they couldn't see the button on the baby rattler. We heard it buzz and spotted the little button on it's tail and you can see what happened to in in the picture.

Terry's brother, Verel, was our first visitor. He stayed for a couple of days in his camper. He and Terry fished a lot because the camp wasn't very full.

I was watering the flowers one evening, after turning several valves in the bathrooms to get the water turned on, and a man went in to take a shower. While I was still watering the flowers, he came out and said that there was no cold water in the men’s shower and that that had made for a pretty hot shower! After he left, I checked the valves, and sure enough, I had turned off the hot water to the men’s shower! I was going to have Terry apologize to him the next day, but he left early that morning before I could talk Terry into it!

One afternoon, we were sitting around and terry glanced at the tree he was sitting by. There was a big bull snake slithering down the tree! Terry moved pretty fast!

We watched him come down the tree and then "guided" him across our patio and out into our woodpile. We have seen a bull snake twice since then around the bathrooms. Terry has taken a shovel and picked it up and thrown it across the fence into the pasture. I don't know if it the same one or different ones.

Friday night, the 3rd, a woman on a motorcycle hit a deer as she was riding on the road across the river from the Park. She ended up with a broken leg and some scratched, but her motorcycle caught on fire and totally burnt. Thank goodness some boaters close by grabbed their fire extinguishers, jumped onto the bank, and kept the fire from starting on the sides of the road. I called 911 and Terry took off with one of our walkie-talkies to check things out and report to me so I could report to the Sheriff and ambulance. It was all pretty exciting!

Things were pretty quiet during the first week, as far as the number of campers. We thought,
"This is going to be a cinch, being Camp Hosts."

Then the park started filling up. A big group came in from Oregon for ten days and the rest of the park was totally filled! It stayed pretty busy all week and then a bachelor/bachelorette party started on Thursday and lasted for five days! We felt like babysitters and went to bed several times with knots in our stomach wondering if we would have to get up in the middle of the night to quiet people down. There was one group of boys that got out of hand who were drinking and fighting and swearing until all hours of the night and they were kicked out of the Park. We don't have authority to do that--we just call our boss from Idaho Power and he handles it. The boys were very apologetic and got to come back after three days. (They were part of the Oregon group.)

Then last Thursday, a drunk guy pulled in down at the end of the tenters area and was going to spend the night. He was swearing at the campers and sicking his dog on them. Terry went to check on it, along with several campers. The guy pushed one of the campers and the camper "decked" him. He almost landed on the ground and ended up passed out in his pickup. We called our boss who called the Sheriff. He hauled the guy off to jail.

This past weekend was even busier than the first one. We had a Hispanic group come in and got an RV site where they could put up the three tents allowed. Soon she came and got another site and more and more people started coming in. We counted nine tents they had put up, so we made them get a third site. There must have been at least ten cars and 50 people! They did pretty good, but stayed up kind of late.

We had visitors this weekend. Terry's brother and wife, Ron and Alice showed up, and later their son and family, Matt, Stephanie, and Mason, came. Then Larry and LouAnn Sutton came with their grandson (and my nephew). It was fun having them here. They got to see all of the craziness that is part of being Camp Hosts when the camp is full!

We are really hoping things slow down, but they will probably keep being busy, especially on the weekends, until after Labor Day.