To go or not to go

Colorado or not.  Here it was, early in August, and we were checking maps and distances.  There were many factors to consider, but in the final analysis, we had ordered new shades for Cleo to be delivered to the kids’ house because we had to install them ourselves, and what else are limber, mechanically talented sons-in-law for if not to do that kind of manual labor for us?  And it didn’t make much sense to drive to Colorado and then straight back to Oregon, so we went to Washington. 

The first stop was Tacoma, where we visited the Glass Museum.

                      

Chuhuli Glass bridge ceiling                                                           Glass fountain

The glass was beautiful but the part of the museum I liked best was the children’s gallery.  Each month the gallery takes a picture drawn by one of the local children and turns it into glass.  It was so obvious that the guys who worked in the hot shop loved making these joyful, bright works come alive in three dimensions.  One of the staff sais that no one ever has a bad day that can’t be fixed by spending twenty minutes in that gallery.

We meandered our way up the coast, with a stop at the Boeing plant to watch the assembly line in action.  It was more of a slow motion action, but very interesting.  It’s pretty unbelievable that all those zillions of of parts go where they’re supposed to go.

We ended our northern leg of the journey at Gerry’s cousin, Naida and her husband Larry in Bellingham, WA.  They have the best view ever from atop the bluff where they built their house.  They look out over the San Juans and we spent a lovely 10 days just hanging out with them and checking out the surrounding scenery.

                                          

View at sunset from Naida and Larry’s house                                          Orca by San Juan Island

                                               

Lighthouse on San Juan Island                                                              Seal pup basking on the rocks

Summer 2010 continued

After the wedding we had several weeks before we could start on our summer tour, so we started with a little mini trip and we took Indiana along with us.  Our first stop was at the Roseburg Wild Animal Safari.  We didn’t plan nearly enough time there and we’ll know better next time.  Indy was fascinated with the animals just wandering around free.  (Well, the lions and tigers and bears, oh my, weren’t wandering around free – for our comfort there were fences with them on the other side.)  The llamas were casually strolling down the road, though, and I’m not sure which was a better moment for Indy – watching the llama watching her, or sitting on Dandad’s lap and steering the car                           

    .                                       

Then we headed for the coast, where we enjoyed the beaches and the Newport aquarium, where Maggie, Shane and Micah joined us to take Indy back home.  We missed her after she left us.  She was a good traveler.

                             

 

We went back home for appointments, with every intention of heading off to our Colorado trip in the middle of July, but as these things happen, we had our plans changed when the air conditioners in Cleo decided to go toes up.  No one here could get around to fixing it for a month, so we decided to go to Oregon to get the work done.  As long as we were there, the Monaco owners group was having a rally at Salem, OR, so we decided to check out our first rally.  We had a great time and met a lot of nice people. 

We had to go on up to Portland to visit the kids, of course.  Couldn’t be that close and not go up there for a couple of days.  We entertained Micah.  What did you do to your eyes, Dandad????

                        We went to Indy’s gymnastics class.         

Indy and I went to the zoo, where there was an exhibit on dinosaurs. 

This was as close to the exhibit as Indy would go.                               

Then we had to hang around for the Hillsboro Airport air show                .

 

So, there we were at the beginning of August, just a tad past our original schedule.  Did it really make sense to stick to the Colorado venture? 

June 2010

The big event of June was, indeed, The Big Event:  Darling Lizzie married her beau, Josh Williams.  Early June is not the safest time of year in Portland to plan a big event, especially not an outdoor event, and true to form the day of the wedding dawned to a forecast of record rainfall.  There was a back-up plan, though, and the rain made an opportunity for a colorful photo of the wedding party.

Liz was the definitive beautiful bride, and the party afterward was truly great, even gathering some wedding crashers.  Isn’t that the standard to which all wedding parties aspire?  Thankfully, it cleared up enough for some good outdoor photos, but a little rain was not going to dampen anyone’s spirits.  It was a perfect wedding.

2010 update–April

Our summer plans for 2010 were to explore the mountains of Colorado.  I had the trip planned out from the top of the state to the bottom.  Or maybe the bottom to the top - you have to be flexible about these things, you know. 

But first we had a visit from the grandkids just before Easter.  They were heading down to LA for Passover with Shane’s family so

they came through here for a few days.  Grandma has an in with the Easter Bunny, so he most accommodatingly hid Easter eggs in our back yard the week before the official date just so Indy and Micah could find them. 

They got to visit with one of the horses who live in our pasture.

Catching Up

Okay, I’ve been very, very bad.  Not a post one for a year, and we have done a few fun things this last year, so I’ll try and fill in the gaps in days to come.

Most recently, we’ve spent about two and a half months in the Arizona desert, which was not nearly long enough, given that we came home to winter storm watches and weather cold enough to justify a fire in the fireplace, usually reserved only for January.

As I work through the photos of the last year, I will post some of the best, so there will be things to come soon.