There are Gold in them thar Hills

We are at the Moose Lodge in Gold Hill, OR. About 20 minutes south of Grant's Pass. When we pulled in we discovered our friend "Manic" Mike Isham here. We had a great visit with him and compared notes of what we have been doing. Of course, we already knew cause we keep up with each other on facebook.

Our first day here we took the Hell's Gate jet boat ride. We took their longest and wettest ride. Started out a little cool. 
Went thru Hell's Gate. The narrowest part.

We stopped for lunch & Donna had to share her ice cream cone. 

Our captain took it easy on us until after our lunch. Then it was hit the rapids, do 360's and sudden stops to get us cooled off and wet. There were two boats and we were splashing each other. Lots of rafts, fishing boats & kayaks to dodge.

Our seat mates on the boat were Doug & Tabitha.  And they told us about heading back home on a different route. So we took it &

we cached & stopped for appetizers at a balcony Mexican restaurant in Jacksonville. It is a historic town from the 1850's. 

Back home we dried out and went to the Lodge for a wet one.

Okay, I know we have been complaining about our cool summer but when it gets into the high 90's it's time to go find some cool. So, we drove the Redwood Highway (Rt 199) all the way to Crescent City, CA, where it was a balmy 63,

then drove along the cool foggy coast up to Gold Bar, OR and drove back  home over 9000' mountain passes 

and along the Rogue River we jet boated on the day before. Almost 260 miles but we stayed cool all day.