Patnaik Family Adventures: My Washington

Sam drove back to WA with my mom in August and they took a trip up North to my memory lane. Sam took a few pictures...

These first 3 are of China Bend...this is where we used to go fishing with dad and where I caught my Walleye...maybe not such a big feat to most, but to a 7-8yr old little girl, it was a huge thing, especially since I was the only one to catch a fish that time. My grandfather was a fisherman and my mom (or dad) used to tell me that I was like him, I had the touch. I must admit, I love the serenity and peacefulness of fishing, but I feel so bad for the fish that I just want to put them back. Crazy how I love the sport of it, but don't want to hurt the fish, ha ha

This is the entry point to China Bend, where we would fish...seeing logging trucks on this road was a common sight.

This is the house that my father built, ok...we helped too...I put in my fair share of nails and of course there were other friends and neighbors along the way that helped out too. That white fence wasn't there when we lived there, the whole front here used to be green, green grass and the tree on the left...that was a small sapling while I was growing up.

Below is the view coming up the driveway, the building on the right is my dad's shop, there was a wood shed before it, but it is gone...

These are the bars that my dad built for me and the swing set he made...at one time I also had a balance beam...I loved doing gymnastics.

This was my view on the way to school or Northport every day...the Columbia River...the road was very narrow and almost all dirt 99% of it...it would be so dusty that when the sun was shining and the dirt was flying, you had very low visibility...made for some very scary moments going around corners and seeing nothing but a deep ravine down to the river. They eventually did get some barriers up but not in every spot. Passing big trucks on this road while in a car or the bus could be quite tricky...amazingly tho, there weren't that many accidents that I can remember.

Ahhhh....refreshing Moses Creek...my dad LOVED this creek...with no A/C in the car and it being hot and dusty, especially if you have your car window open for air...you could get pretty grimy and sweaty...my dad often stopped here to cool off...he would get his head wet, and his hat, maybe take a drink or two of fresh water and then be on his way.
I love this picture of Mom and Sam.

This is one inlet they finally made, they had to blast the side of the mountain to bring the road farther in so there would be a place to pull off if needed to let a large vehicle pass through.

The swimming hole...usually in July-August, this would be filled with water and where we would swim...we would jump off the rocks, catch pollywogs and go out to the "sometimes" island, sometimes only because it wasn't surrounded by water all year round, lol...the water is straight from the Columbia River so VERY, VERY cold...it would take me an hour or more to be able to get all the way in.