Oregon Coast

Fri, Nov. 4th - Sun, Nov. 13th

We arrived in Portland on Friday and spent the weekend with Aunt Dorothy and David and Karen. On Sunday Karen and I went for a hike here at Powell Butte Nature Park, not far from their home, while the guys watched football. It is 570 acres on an extinct volcano with views of the Cascade peaks, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams to the north, Mt. Hood to the east and Mt. Jefferson to the southeast.

Monday we drove south to Corvallis and spent three days camped at the fairgrounds. We walked this bike path into town, thru the Oregon State campus and around downtown, about six miles. This is the Irish Bend covered bridge built in the 1920s and moved here to the bike path in 1988 from Monroe, Oregon.

This building on campus is where Michelle O'Bama's brother is the basketball coach. John says he's had a losing record for the last three years, so he will probably be looking for a job next year.

Walking on the bike path along the Willamette River in Corvallis.

Thursday we moved further south to Newport where we camped four nights at South Beach State Park. Oregon state parks are awesome and there's one about every twenty miles along the coast. This is the trail from our campground down to the beach.

A short ways down the beach, John is standing next to the bay with the Yakina Bay Bridge in the background. There is a lighthouse on the north side of the bay and another on the southside. There are 11 lighthouses along the Oregon coast.

Another view along the coast.

We drove south to Florence to do a little sight seeing. This is a view of Heceta Head Lighthouse on the point, and the lighthouse keeper's house that is now a museum. Straight down at the bottom of this cliff where we are standing are hundreds of sea lions barking their heads off, making a huge ruckus. Two years ago when we stopped here, there were thousands of them up and down the beach and all over in the water.




Looking straight down over the cliff at the sea lions.
 

 

 

 

Zooming in on the sea lions.

Sunset on the beach back at our campground. Monday we head further south to Brookings near the California border. Brookings is supposed to have the warmest weather on the Oregon coast and I am ready for warmer weather!

Searching for the sun, but probably won't see much till we get to southern California in late December, after a long visit with John's sister in central California.

Happy sailing,

Tarra

Helena to Olympia, Washington

Mon, Oct. 31st - Fri, Nov. 4th

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! We had a change of plans and stayed the whole month in Helena to help out, after the kids unexpectedly got a call to pick up a four day old baby girl at the hospital for foster care. When we finally left on Halloween, this beautiful rainbow appeared as we left town. Hopefully, it is an omen of a good trip to come.


Another pretty view after giving the RV a workout getting over McDonald Pass.




Another workout for the RV at the Idaho border getting over Lookout Pass and then the 4th of July Pass, before driving by Lake Coeur d' Alene, 38 miles long and one of the prettiest places we have been. We did a little hiking there with friends last year.

Getting ready to cross the Columbia River in Washington. Then 10 miles uphill out of the river basin toward Ellensburg where we spent the night at the Flying J. Over the Snowqualmie Pass and on to Olympia the next morning.

We camped at Olympia Campground in Tumwater, very pretty.

A couple views of beautiful Tumwater Falls Park, where the Des Chutes River ends it's journey from the Cascade Range in an 82 foot tumble into Capitol Lake at the southerly end of Puget Sound. Beautiful hiking trails on both sides of the river. The maple leaves are huge!

The first American settlement in Washington was here in 1845 where the falls was used for grist mills, saw mills, shipping and the Olympia Brewing Company (one of the largest employers in the area for almost 100 years). The first and oldest home in the area, built in 1860 by Bing Crosby's grandparents, is a museum in the park.


View of the marina on Puget Sound with the state capitol building in the background.

A little closer view shows the Occupy Wall Street protestors camped on the opposite side of Capitol Lake from the Capitol grounds. There was loud party music playing in the evening as we drove by and banners that said "Olympia Commune" and "Solidarity Worldwide".

Built in the 1920s, the Capitol is surrounded by five buildings and the Governor's Mansion. The grounds are strikingly different than the southern states we have been in, that are over run with statues and monuments to war heroes, women's sufferage, prohibition, civil rights, fire fighters, you name it. They had only four war monuments for WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam and one for law enforcement officers.

The brick and sandstone dome rises 287 feet to the top of the cupola and is one of the tallest masonry domes in the world. There are 42 steps up the front because it was the 42nd state to join the union. There are no steps on the other three sides. You walk in at ground level and there is a huge stairway on the inside at all four entrances leading up to the main rotunda area.

Inside there are over 400 pieces from Tiffany's in New York, including this ornate 5 ton chandelier with 200 light bulbs hanging from a 101 foot chain, in the dome that is 175 feet from the rotunda floor.







A view of Capitol Lake from the Capitol grounds, with Puget Sound in the background.

A closer view of the marina on Puget Sound.

Heading for Portland on Friday.


Happy Sailing,

Tarra

Birthday Parties & Cross Country Meets

Just a few poses from Tierney's latest photo shoot. It's been a while ago, but I just got them on my computer. One of her Mom's friends uses her for advertising her photography.

Wed, Sept. 28th - Wed, Oct. 5th

After a couple days of John mowing for my Mom and little brother and a little visit with my brother's family, we packed up Mom and her stuff in the RV and hit the road again. We stopped in Bismarck for lunch at my great aunt Clementine's (whom my Mother is named after). Then we headed west to Circle, Montana and spent the night camped in the park by the fairgrounds. We spent Tuesday night at my Mom's brother's place in Lewistown, Montana. Uncle Tony took us out for Mexican and margaritas and cousin Wade sent us on our way with a case of homemade wine. We tried the first bottle, a pinot grigio, and it was very good. Thanks for everything, Tony & Lori and Wade & Debbie. It was great to see you all, again.

We arrived in Helena Wednesday afternoon just in time to get to Carter's first cross country meet, but forgot the camera. The next day John was busy washing tons of bugs off the front of the RV and the car, as the rest of us enjoyed watching on a beautiful sunny afternoon.

Monday morning arrived and Tierney woke up to a decorated house. "Whose birthday is it?" "Mine!"

The making of the princess cake with lots of onlookers in attendance.

A job well done! Way to go, Hilary!

The Princess, herself!

"Pinning the Tiara on the Princess." Everybody wins and gets a very shrill whistle for a prize. Big mistake!

Opening of the presents. Oh, a cooking set! I think her favorites were the princess jewlery from Aunt Dawn and a little bird from Great Grandma Clem. She loves birds.

Blowing out the candles.

A little tea party with birthday cake to finish off the party.

The next day Grandpa got a surprise party for his 60th with his favorite thing, a butterfinger ice cream cake from DQ. Friday we are going out to Jade Garden for Great Grandma's 77th birthday.

Carter's 2nd cross country meet with the little girls cheering him on. He is the second runner here. "Go Carter! Yeah Carter! Run Carter!"

It was a rainy, muddy day.

"Let's climb up on the monkey bars, so we can see Carter better when he runs by."

Carter checking in for his time after the race.

"Hurray, the race is over! It's snack time!"

She's such a sweet little baby!


Heading to Portland by the 19th.

Over and out,

Tarra

Brookings, SD. to Greenfield, Iowa

Mon. Aug. 21st - Sat. Sept. 24th

We spent a week camped out at Rich's little ranch, where we literally went to sleep counting sheep and woke up every morning to their bleeting. Sometimes we heard the coyotes howling in the night.



Julie, the animal nut, enjoyed the kittens when she stopped out to visit us. I was surprised she didn't try to climb the fence and pet the sheep.







I saw this tree growing inside a corn crib when I was out walking. I thought it was kind of cool. Rich and Kathy, thanks again for all your hospitality and the bags and bags of tomatos and other veggies from your garden. We have enjoyed them very much.



On Sunday afternoon we got together with old friends at their home south of town. [Many years ago (before 911) this friend planned a long weekend trip to Canada for the guys. When they were crossing the border, they were asked if any of them had ever been convicted of a felony. John piped up from the back seat and asked, "Did you say, convicted?" Needless to say, they were asked to pull over and the entire car was thoroughly searched. Steve is a very "organized" guy and had a time line for the trip including dinner reservations at 7:00, etc. This certainly threw a wrench into the schedule.] So we had been relaxing on their patio for a while, John and Steve rocking in their patio chairs, when Steve started giving John the look like he was doing something wrong. We were all wondering what was up, but we were not a bit surprised when he finally told John, "You're rocking out of sequence." (And my kids think I'm anal!) We weren't sure if he was serious or just pulling our legs. Either way, it was very funny! We enjoyed the afternoon very much. Thanks Steve and Ruth for having us all out to your hacienda. It was great to see you guys, and you too, Ron and Linda.


After a couple of days with Dawn in Sioux Falls, we headed for Greenfield, Iowa to visit friends and relatives. Here we are camped in the side yard of our very good friends, the gourmet cooks and world travelers. This is the friend who ran with the bulls in Spain with John.


Here's to good friends, good food, good wine and good times! Cheers!






Besides all the gourmet meals, they also had a Labor Day brunch with Bloody Marys and other "refreshments" at their cabin in the country, with lots of old friends invited. Very nice and so good to see everyone.


We walked by the fairgrounds where they were setting up for the annual swap meet with over a 1,000 venders. We came by these porta potties that have the same name as my pet name for John.

He felt right at home and wanted to show them off.

BL and Gerry, it was a great week! Sorry we couldn't stay longer. Thanks so much for all the good times! Good luck on your Sixth Continent Marathon in Buenos Aires, just one more to go! Have a great trip!

On the way back to Sioux Falls we stopped in Emmetsburg, Iowa to visit John's Aunt and family. We spent a week and a half at Dawn's, then back to Brookings for a few days and a bike ride on Saturday, the 24th. Then up to North Dakota to Mom's and back out to the grandkids in Montana. Blogs will probably get more regular again in November when we sart heading south thru Oregon and California.

Over and Out,

Tarra