Last of the pictures

James arrived home at 5 PM yesterday after a great trip where they battled head winds traveling down and back. (I think James is the common denominator here--we ALWAYS have headwinds!) they had snow, sleet, and sunshine with temperature ranges between 23 degrees (Going over Hood) and 100 degrees in Death Valley.

The first picture is the Charcoal kilns by Wildrose Peak near Death Valley.

The second picture shows the intrepid travelers when they reached Corbett after 2700 miles in a week!

The last pictures are of Edmonds Beach. I LOVE going to Edmonds Beach! Of course I grew up in Edmonds and this is MY beach. We would go down to the beach as a family, we watched the fireworks over Puget Sound here for many years, we rode the Kingston Ferry countless times and in high school we would skip out of school and have lunch at the beach, or just sit. Mom and I drove down here last night--it was beautiful!

Mom and I are headed to the movie, 'Monument Men' now--can't say I have gone to a movie at 0920 in the morning. Tonight we are going out to dinner with Bob and Marianne. I will head home tomorrow morning sometime between 0900-1000. I have had a fun time with my mom!

Motorcycle trip

I heard from James last night and he said they had left that morning and due to snow in the passes they decided to head into Nevada and up that way. They cut across and were coming down a pass in Oregon--yes, it was snowing--when James ran out of gas. This was surprising because his is the bigger tank. He had to wait on the side of the road while the other guys rode the 4 mikes into a small town--the only town for miles--only to find that the gas station there was closed! They beat on the door and the kind people there allowed them to fill up their tanks and Kirk had a 1 gallon gas can they took back to James. They were able to make it to Burns in that and James filled up this morning.

Since he will be home today, and he seems to be, and has said, he is having a great time, I asked him, 'Why are you coming home from your vacation two days early?' His reply after a short pause, 'It's Thursday isn't it?' I said, 'No, it's Wednesday.' That surprised him. He said, 'Well, I guess that is a good vacation if you can't remember what day it is!'

Today I got this picture. He said that the mountain passes all have 6-10" of new snow. (I suggested they go to the auto store and get chains for the tires...and some more wheels, like training wheels.) So they are headed north to I-84 and then west the ought the gorge. He will be home today.

In other news, the Porsche sold yesterday. James has wanted to sell it to be more prepared if there is an emergency, or downturn in the economy. We have had that car for 9 years, it was very sad to see it go. We thoroughly loved and enjoyed that little car. We are happy that the man who got it was as thrilled about it as we have been. He is a judge from Klamath Falls--I hope this means he will take real good care of it. Aaron handled the transaction for us and we are grateful to him for that.

I am up in Seattle with my mom. All is well here, I will be home in Saturday.

Death Valley

I didn't hear from James last night--they were at a campground in Mesquite Spring and had no cell service.

Yesterday they were at a racetrack where the rocks move around seemingly on their own, he thought it was 'very cool'.

Today they went to Furnace Creek. When I looked it up on the Weather Channel it said it was 90 degrees there--and that was before noon!

Tonight he stays in Emigrant Campground and then they start their three day trip home--I think, unless their plans have changed! The plan was to take the coastal route last I heard, but it also depended on weather.

Death Valley

James had dinner last night at a place in Beatty, NV. He tried to send this last night and it wouldn't send. Here are George, Rennie, James and Kirk.

Today they rode through Titus Canyon. He said the scenery is beautiful. The next picture is James and Kirk coming out of Titus Canyon.

The last two pictures are: From Dante's View down to Badwater and Zabriskies point.

He is having a great time! Tomorrow they leave for a different part of Death Valley where they will camp for two nights.

Bend, OR

Our friend Rennie invited us to his cabin in Bend to spend some time with him as well as his son, and mom, sister and her husband that were visiting from Amsterdam and England. We arrived Saturday morning and immediately headed to Mt. Bachelor for skiing. The temperature outside was 36 degrees and and the weather was beautiful! We found it was more like Spring skiing. Rennie, his sister Trixie, James and I had lots of fun skiing.

The next morning after church, we took a walk along the Deschutes River. It was interesting to see the ice floating downriver. We watched and listened as it pulled more ice down from the ice built up along the side of its path. As we watched it being carried further downstream, it piled up, forming a dam where the water rushed underneath and then hurried around the bend.

Later we went on a long ride on bikes--I have only been on a single bike once that I can remember in the past 20 years. I much prefer the tandem.

Monday we drove back toward Mt Bachelor to go snowmobiling. Since there isn't a lot if snow, I wondered it we would be able to do it. We came to an area that had enough snow for us to enjoy ourselves. We had a lot of fun, James and I managed to get separated from the rest of the group a couple times, which was frustrating--since we didn't know where we were or where we were going. We are grateful for cell phones that connected us back up. The area we were in was gorgeous with the mountains and snow. This was only the second time I have been snowmobiling, but I think I will enjoy it.

We enjoyed some English dishes we had 'English Fry-up' with fried bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, and peppers. This was served with toast, pancake and sausages. For dinner we had 'Bangers and Mashed'. It was all very good. And we enjoyed getting to know Rennie's family--hearing about their lives in Amsterdam and England. His mother 'Caroline' lived during the war and we listened to her war stories; what her life was like from 1939-1945. We can tell it still effects her deeply.

Today, under cloudy skies, we took another long beautiful walk along the Deschutes River--which had thawed since our last walk. We were grateful for the scenery around us. After lunch we headed west toward home as a light rain started to fall.

Our weekend in Seattle

We have had a great weekend in Seattle. We drove up on Saturday morning arriving just in time for Mom's clam chowder , biscuits, and apple pie. It was delicious!

Later we drove to downtown Seattle where we stood in line for an hour at the Sheriton Hotel to see the Gingerbread Houses displayed. The theme was nursery rhymes and after architects designed around the rhyme, chefs made it happen. The event was to raise money for juvenile diabetes. There were a total of six--they did an amazing job.

After that we drove to Candy Cane Lane in the Ravenna neighborhood to look at the lights and back to Mountlake Terrace where there was a street with lights.

Sunday after church and dinner we went out to see more lights. This morning we were able to take James's sister Ann out to breakfast, and then, we were able to stop by Lynnwood and see John, Anne, Titus and Ginny at Anne's mom's home before they headed back to central Washington and before we headed back to Portland.

Fall Family Get-Away

We are on a family trip to Redmond Oregon where we are staying at Eagle Crest Resort. Aaron and Lauren are part of 'Worldmark' and assisted us in securing reservations. We have been blessed in that the weather has been so good. We have had 70 degrees during the day, but must admit it is very cold at night. There are deer walking around, or sitting and resting everywhere--out the window, walking around, etc.

We are in three separate condo's (which are next to each other) and James and I are sharing with Josh, Kaija and Sophie. Our condo is the hub or beehive of activity. We eat all our meals here and this is where the main visiting takes place.

We arrived late afternoon and made things simple by having Papa Murphy's Pizza. It was fun to sit around and talk and see the little cousins interact. After we all had a swim in the pool, the kids went to bed where they fell asleep immediately. Thanks to baby monitors, we were able to gather for a devotional and share our thoughts and feelings with each other. It was a wonderful evening!

Today we have participated in activities in groups as a whole and in smaller groups. We all enjoyed a walk along one of the paths at the resort where we could look down on the Deschutes River and then we followed a switchback trail to the bottom of the canyon. Then in the afternoon, some played racquetball, some swam, some just relaxed, Josh studied and James and I drove to Sisters and then enjoyed another walk. We all met up for dinner at Niblick and Green. Since it is Aaron's birthday on Monday, we all came back and baked cookies, visited and let Aaron open gifts.

Tomorrow is church, early. Then after lunch we will head back towards Portland.