Boulder Beach

There were showers on Sunday, so we didn’t get to Boulder Beach, the water park area, until today.  It was definitely the nicest part of the park, although it paled in comparison to one of the water parks at WDW.  

The two big raft rides were well done, but the lazy river just wrapped around itself, and several of the slides were plastic troughs suspended off of metal platforms, rather than built into a hillside. We were only there for about an hour before the clouds started coming in and it got colder (and it wasn’t that warm to begin with), so we decided to call it good and head for home.

Silverwood is no Disneyland, but it’s a nice for a weekend, especially if you’d like to camp and just relax.

Silverwood

On Friday, we packed up the RV and headed north towards Silverwood, a theme park in northern Idaho. We stopped for the night about halfway there, and arrived at Silverwood on Saturday afternoon. We stayed at the Silverwood RV park. Our site was great, right next to the entrance to the park. It only had a few drawbacks – a couple of trees between our site and the other sites and the walkways would have been nice, there was only 30 amp power, and there was no wi-fi. Luckily cell phone reception was good. We parked the rig and headed into the park. 

Silverwood has an odd layout, partially because it is multiple parks in one, and partially because of how it has evolved over time. It started life as an airfield and air museum, then added a train around the perimeter, then an amusement park, then a water park. They call it a theme park, but the western theming is pretty thin, and offstage areas are often visible, especially from the amusement park area. The layout is kind of a flat figure 8, with the southern loop being the amusement park and northern loop being the water park. Where the loops meet is an entrance area which contains new Victorian buildings. To the west of the entrance area is the old air strip – the air museum is no longer part of the experience.

The amusement park area has four roller coasters – two woodies, a corkscrew they bought from Knott’s Berry Farm, and the old Deja-Vu boomerang they bought from Six Flags Chicago, now called Aftershock. Each is fairly low capacity - only running one train at a time, so I imagine lines can get long in the summer. Aftershock was down, so I never got to ride that.

There is also a raft ride and a log ride, and a bunch of flat rides. There are no dark rides or relaxing boat rides, so the only family rides (ones that don’t throw or spin you around) are the antique cars and the train. The food prices looked to be pretty reasonable, but we mostly ate in our RV, so I can’t attest to quality.

Conclave

 

Friday night was the opening of Oregon DeMolay's annual convention. It was Bryan's third and last time presiding due to his two and half year term as State Master Councilor. It was held at the Shrine Center in Wilsonville.

After the opening banquet, the kids went to Bullwinkle's Fun Center. On Saturday there were business and Sweetheart Sessions, followed by the election of next years officers and Sweethearts.

At the banquet on Saturday night, Bryan gave his farewell speech, then installed the new SMC.

Jennifer did the decorations, as well as auctioning off a mystery box, which was won by the Grand Junior Councilor of DeMolay International.

Rainbow Reception and More DeMolay visits

Saturday we drove out to Eastern Oregon to attend the last Rainbow Official Visit. It was held at the Lodge in LaGrande.

 

This week Bryan and Jennifer continued making their last visits to Oregon DeMolay chapters as State Master Councilor and Princess. On Monday Susan took the kids to Eugene Chapter. On Tuesday they attended Tigard's meeting.

On Wednesday we visited Pacific Chapter in Forest Grove.

DeMolay Visits

It has been a busy week, as Bryan is trying to visit as many DeMolay chapters as he can before he finishes his term as SMC at Conclave on Memorial Day weekend. The kids went to Peninsula Chapter on Monday, and on Tuesday Bryan visited Mt Hood Chapter while Jennifer assisted the Rainbow Assembly in Vancouver with an initiation. She performed Fidelity.

 On Wednesday they attended a meeting at Milwaukie Chapter. 

Today was Mt Hood's installation. Bryan was installing officer, and Jennifer helped with decorations and refreshments.

Rainbow Receptions

In addition to DeMolay activities, Jennifer has also been going to several Rainbow Official Visits and Receptions, including the reception of the Grand Worthy Advisor of Washington and Idaho. Above is she and the other Grand Officers at the OV in Canby.

She also hosted a fondue party.

In early May, we attended an Eagle Scout Celebration at Camp Withycomb near Clackamas.

DeMolay Installations

After DJR, March was a fairly slow month for us but we did go to a few Masonic events. Bryan served as the installing officer for Pacific Chapter in Forest Grove.

While Jennifer installed the new Sweetheart for Tigard Chapter. In April we attended the State Ritual Competition and dance at the Shrine Center in Wilsonville.  

Last night was the installation of Milwaukie Chapter. Bryan again served as installing officer. The theme was Star Wars, so one of the Masons dressed as a Stormtrooper.

Here is Jennifer with the newly installed Sweethearts.