Bonney Lake

After Portland, we headed to Bonney Lake to visit with Lee's good friend, Connie. Lee and Connie worked together at Northwest, and Connie lived on the coast side as well. We hadn't seen Connie since her daughter Holly's wedding in 1997.

Connie and Russ live in Paradise!! This is their back yard - just past the fire pit is their dock, right on the lake! They have a boat, paddle boat, and their daughter Holly and her husband, Louie, keep their jet ski there, as well!

We had a great selection of munchies and a glass of wine on the deck, while we visited with Connie, and caught up with each other's lives.


Here's Louie, readying his jet ski for a spin around the lake. His daughter Katelynn watches. Holly and Louie have two adorable kids, Katelynn and Hunter, ages 11 and 7.

Connie and I, enjoying the beautiful, sunny day! Life is GOOD!!

Holly and Louie, headed out for a spin! What a great thing to do on a Friday afternoon, after a long week at work!

Hunter with his surfboard.

Lee takes a spin on the jet ski!

They had a beautiful trip around the lake, and saw some amazing houses!

Connie waving from the porch. The covered porch allows them to enjoy the outside, even when it's raining!

Lee and Connie - Lee's enjoying a 'smore!

Lee and Pat, with the lake behind us.

What a great reunion we had!

Our time in Bonney Lake was so wonderful! It was fabulous to catch up with Connie. Unfortunately, Russ was away on business, so we didn't get to meet him, but we enjoyed the incredible hospitality and beautiful surroundings of their home. We had pizza for dinner, with Holly, Louie and the kids, and Connie made a great fire in the fire pit. And of course, we all made "smores - what a beautiful evening!

On Saturday morning we went for a walk with Connie, along her usual route. It was such a beautiful day. Connie fixed a fabulous breakfast, and then we loaded up and continued north!

Next stop: Everson!

Portland

We arrived in Portland on Tuesday afternoon, just ahead of the commute rush! Our motel was near the Max station, which provided free transportation to downtown, and many other points in the "fareless square". We headed into town, and had a wander around the downtown area. Portland is a large, cosmopolitan city, there are tons of great restaurants, and great shopping there.

Since we had a well-stocked ice chest with us, we ended up having snacks at the hotel on Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday we visited the OMSI (Oregon Mueseum of Science and Industry), which provided shuttle service. We got the shuttle at the Max station, and were delivered at the door of OMSI! This is a great hands-on experience, and we spent several hours there, going through all of the exhibits and experiments, including the CSI crime solvers, in which we viewed the crime scene, gathered information and clues, and then had to determine what had actually happened. The kids LOVED this one!

After OMSI, we shuttled back to the Max station and got on the bus headed to Washington Park. The shuttle driver gave us transfers, which allowed us to travel on the public transportation system in any direction, for no extra charge! Pretty good for our initial $2 investment!

There are lots of things to see and do at Washington Park, but we were headed to the Rose Gardens. Portland is known as the city of roses, and world known for their experimental rose garden. It was a tad bit cool and overcast on Wednesday, but perfectly comfortable for wandering through the roses! We also toured their Japanese gardens, which were just beautiful, peaceful and relaxing!

Here's some pictures of the gardens:

This is the Robertson Tunnel - this is where the light rail stopped for Washington Park. After we came up above ground, we walked to the gardens, which turned out to be almost a 2 mile walk. We discovered that there was an inter-park shuttle, which we took back!

Beautiful, fragrant red roses!

Me in the rose garden

This is a shot of the Japanese Garden. Very beautiful

On Thursday we headed out of town to explore the Columbia Gorge along the Columbia River. It was a beautiful sunny day. We got off the main highway, and on Hwy 30, which meandered along all of the waterfalls and beautiful scenery. Hwy 30 was the first road over the mountains in Oregon, and gave Oregon residents and visitors a way to get to Portland besides the Columbia River.

Here is Multnomah Falls - it was quite spectacular, and the 2nd longest continually running waterfall in the US. The longest is on Mt. Ranier.

This is a picture of the gorge, taken from a lookout at the top of Hwy 30.

Isn't this a beautiful backdrop?

This is the Vista House. It was built at the same time as Hwy 30, to give travelers a place to stop. It's build like a wedding cake. There is a 3rd floor underground, which has a gift shop, museum and restrooms. It's elegant construction, typical of that time period.

We traveled east to Cascade Locks. You can see all of the wind surfers in the background. Apparently the gorge area is known for it's wind!

This is the locks at Cascade Locks. It was a cute little town, with a great deli! We also saw the "Oregon Pony" - the first little steam engine that took passengers by rain to Portland.

Thursday evening we hopped on Max and headed to town, where we had dinner at Kells' Restaurant. It's a great Irish restaurant, and tied for first place of Irish restaurants in the US! Lee had an Irish quesadilla! How's that for mixing cuisine??

Friday morning ended our Portland visit. We loaded up the car and headed into Washington, to visit with Lee's friend Connie, who lives in Bonney Lake. Stay tuned! :)

Vacation - July

Ok, we'd been home for a month, so it was time for more travel! This usually means that we pack our suitcases and head for the airport! But this time, we loaded up our "bent" car and headed off on a road trip!

We left on July 3rd, and headed to Ashland, Oregon, to visit Pat's brother, Geoff, his wife Teri and daughter Emilee. Jon, Sue and Jacob also made the trip, so we had a family reunion!

On July 4th, we had two celebrations - first the 4th of July, complete with a parade in Eagle Point. Emilee was the Rodeo Queen in the parade, riding with her princesses. She looked fabulous, and Hobby (the horse) did great, as it was his first parade.

After the parade, we all gathered back at Geoff and Teri's for lunch, and then split up for different activities. Emilee and River (her beau) went out to lunch, and then to the lake for a swim; Geoff, Jon and Jacob loaded up various firearms and ammo, and headed for the hills to terrorize rocks, bottles and cans. Lee, Teri, Sue and I headed to Lithia Park in Ashland to peruse the arts and crafts booths.

We all met up at 6:00 pm for a bar-b-que and to celebrate Geoff's birthday! He's officially 49, although he denied it, and had me confused for awhile as to his real age. We had a great day, and got some great pictures, too.

Emilee and a very calm Hobby in the Eagle Point 4th of July parade.

Three sisters at Lithia Park in Ashland.

Emilee and Aunt Tish

Emilee and River

Happy Birthday, Geoff!!

The girls!

The guys!

On Sunday, Geoff, Jon and Jacob got up at 0:dark hundred to go fishing, and Lee, Teri, Sue and I had a leisurely morning, then headed off to Jacksonville for some sight-seeing, shopping and lunch. Emilee graciously declined, as she had to feed her horses, and then she and River had plans. She clearly has a life! : )

Sunday evening, Lee and I joined Jon, Sue and Jacob for a play at the outdoor Shakespeare theater - it was Don Quixote, and it was excellent! The weather was great, and we totally enjoyed the experience.

On Monday, we went with Geoff to have breakfast with Teri, who is working at the college this summer. She was able to join us, so it was great to have that extra time with them. After breakfast, Geoff headed off to work, and Lee and I hit the road for Crater Lake.

We arrived at Crater Lake late morning, the weather was clear and beautiful, and the lake was absolutely breath taking! Between the two of us, we probably have 200 pictures of the lake, from various vantage points, but we've only posted a few. Aren't you lucky? We also did the 1.1 mile walk down to the lake, and the 11.1 mile walk back up! I did require several "breathing" breaks on the way up, but every time we stopped, we got swarmed by mosquitos, so we kept our breaks to a minimum.

Following are pictures of Crater Lake:

After spending the day at Crater Lake, we drove to Crescent Lake, where we spent the night in a little cabin! The Crescent Lake Resort has about 24 cabins, boat launch, boat and jet ski rentals and a restaurant. We had a great night there, it was quiet and peaceful, and right on the lake below. The resort is for sale, and we had fun fantasizing about buying it and turning it into a family business.

Tuesday morning we packed up and headed for Portland. Stay tuned for our Portland post. : )

We've decided that we kinda like this road trip stuff - we may do more!

John and Jim's Visit, Cont.

Here's our little cottage in Carmel - it was very cozy and comfortable, and had a dutch door! Here's Lee and John, enjoying morning coffee on Sunday, before we began our Sunday.

After breakfast, we enjoyed a walk around Carmel. Here's a shot of John and Lee at a little shopping mall there. We did some shopping in Carmel, too. John found some great items to take home as gifts, Lee found a jacket, and I found some capris! Success!

When we left Carmel, we drove to Capitola to take in their Classic Car show. It was pretty amazing - lots of really neat old cars and any car buffs would have loved it. We looked for a Studebaker to take a picture for Peter, but there were none.

Seals, sunning themselves on the rocks at Pt. Lobos.

Enjoying a glass of wine on the deck. Note that there is NO sun! But it wasn't cold, so we enjoyed sitting out there, and so did Rex.

On Thursday evening we all walked up to the Distillery for a G&T out on their deck. The sun came out and it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon. The patio at the Distillery is pet-friendly, so Rex was able to go along.

We all had something to drink - even Rex, who had his own glass of ice water!

Here we are all are at Sushi Main Street! Jim took us out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. It was John's first time at a Japanese restaurant, but he was very brave - even had the hot sake! The sushi was fabulous, as usual. John and Jim both had the box dinners, and we all had green tea ice cream for dessert - YUM!

This picture is courtesy of John! He set up the timer, so that we were all able to be in the picture. We had such a good time with Jim and John, and hated to see their visits come to an end. Jim left on Friday afternoon, and John left Friday night, and then the house seemed so empty and quiet!

So, now you are all caught up! We're getting ready to take a road trip from Moss Beach to Canada, beginning on July 3rd, with lots of stops along the way. Stay tuned for the pictorial travelogue!

John and Jim's Visit to Moss Beach

Our wonderful Hawaiian odyssey ended on Friday, May 29th. We had a noon flight on American and John had a noon flight on United, so Friday morning was a flurry of packing that was pretty stressful! We finally got everything in, and hoped for the best, weight-wise, as there is a 50 lb. limit. Charges for weight over 50 lbs. get pretty high. Our bag actually weighed 53 lbs., but Lee gave the agent his Northwest Airlines card along with our ID, and he didn't charge us, which was very nice of him. Uneventful flights home, and our arrival times were within 15 minutes of each other, so that worked out great. Bob picked us up in our car, and then we headed home. A quick stop at the grocery store (the cupboards were bare!), and we were home by 10:30 pm. We did a quick conversion from den to guest room, got organized, and were having dinner about midnight! Of course, that was 9:00 for us, as we were still on Hawaii time! Saturday was a very low-key day, we all got unpacked, did laundry, did some watering in the yard, which had grown amazingly during our absence, and took a long walk up to the lighthouse in Montara. On Sunday, we took John to Filoli, one of our favorite places:

The rose garden

The "knot" garden, with amazing lavendar

John and Lee under the rose arbor. Notice long-sleeves and sweatshirts - we were definitely feeling the temperature difference!

Peeking through the Camperdown Elm - a most amazing tree with branches that reach the ground, creating a space under the tree.

Relaxing on the steps

John in the house at Filoli

More relaxing - it's a tough life! : )

Here's a picture of John and Jim, also at Filoli. Jim had never been before, and he called it the Hearst Castle of the Peninsula!

During the first week of John's visit, my friend Dani was also visiting, and we were busy knitting. John and Lee headed off to do some sight-seeing, San Francisco, Muir Woods, etc.

John with the Golden Gate bridge

John and Lee at Muir Woods.

At the waterfront in San Francisco. They watched Princess Cruise line set sail for Alaska!

Our knitting retreat ended on Thursday, and Dani headed back to her daughter's home in Elk Grove. We left on Friday for a weekend in Carmel and environs. We took John to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Friday, then headed to Carmel.

In April of this year, the aquarium opened an amazing sea horse exhibit. These are shy little creatures, and this was about the best picture we got.

Lee in the giant clam!

Furry bunny looking for a home! We had gone for a walk to the beach in Carmel for the sunset, and a woman was trying to find homes for her bunnies. I couldn't resist holding one, and she commented on how well he (she?) matched my sweater! We came home without a bunny.

John and I with a sunset background

Lee and I