The fly-in was scheduled a week earlier this year so as to avoid the conflict with the Oceanside Open in Oregon. C.J. and I got over there around noon after setting up camp at Beebe Bridge CG where the rates are half-price
($10) for seniors until the Thursday before Memorial Day (likewise after the Labor Day weekend). After checking in with Lori at Lakeside Park we went up and watched conditions from the Butte for a while. There was a lot of virga in the distance but it was otherwise sunny. I launched from "Lakeside" and sank down along the spine until I crossed to the west and got under a cloud. There was plenty of lift; I noted 800 up on my averager at one point. Working my way to the west, I got within a mile or so of the SR 97A summit before turning back. There was still plenty of room to climb below cloudbase (there were hang gliders well above me), but after almost an hour I was ready to land. C.J. was up there with me and was pulling big ears and bigger ears to get down; I did a few asymmetric spirals and then flew out over the lake at about 3000 ft. It was pretty easy to cross but I didn't waste any time when I finally put a breadcrumb on the far shore, and turned around and pointed my toes. There was still 700 ft of altitude left when I reached Lakeside Park and began to set up for my landing. I managed to finesse the light winds enough to hit the white ring, one away from the bullseye. We went back up again with Kevin White but decided not to fly a second round. [I probably should have flown to have been in contention for second place - Tom had first all wrapped up and Brian Scott was second, and Gene (?), a relatively new pilot, was in third place The party commenced around 1800 with lots of pizza and iced beer. However, it was pretty chilly by the time the sun went down and most folks headed indoors. In our case we went back to the campground and had an unusually long sleep.Down in the Columbia River gorge the sun doesn't hit our side of the river until 0800 or so during this time of the year so we didn't start cooking breakfast until a bit later when it had warmed up some. But by 0915 we were
heading back to Lakeside for another flying day. It was warmer and the sky looked to have fewer dark clouds. People were still launching from Lakeside when we got on top, but shortly afterward the cycles began on "Ants". After seeing one yellow PG getting high near where she had gotten up yesterday, C.J. launched from Ants and quickly whipped around the south side of the Butte, through the saddle and almost down to Lone Pine LZ before hooking a good one. She got to do the tour to the west almost to SR 97A and also across the lake before landing. I launched off "Between the Rocks" and worked ratty lift near "Green Monster" with Tom Johns and then tried crossing the saddle. I did manage to climb above the next knob to the west but then ran out of lift and ended up sidehill landing just south of the saddle. After a hurried pack-up, I started to walk up to launch to get the Trooper and got halfway there before Tom and Lori picked me up. After recovering my gear (left at the saddle) C.J met me on top for lunch. We had been seriously considering flying again but the wind had come around to "Monster" and launches were not looking smooth so we went back down to hang out at the park. Later we went back to camp and cooked supper and walked around the campground. C.J.'s sharp eyes spotted a wing in the air on the west side and we decided to go back up to town anyway to check things out. No one seemed to be around at the park so we drove up to launch. Ryan and Amin from Canada were kiting - they said we had "just missed it" but I got my wing out anyway 
and had an extended flydown to the park. On the way back to camp we stopped for ice cream at the bar/restaurant/ice creamery near Riverside Park across from Campbells - good ice cream, but no samples! It was later than the previous night when we got back to camp and it was warmer so we didn't have to crawl right inside our sleeping bags. Our plan for tomorrow is to drive north and take the recently- plowed North Cascades Highway to make a loop back to North Bend.(All of C.J.'s photos are from the evening flight, 26 April)
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