Portland!

 

Every summer my sisters and I get together and this year was no exception as the city of Portland called to us!  We stayed at a hotel in Vancouver, Washington, very near to where my Uncle Don lives.  His daughter Becky drove in to spend the week as well.  In addition, my sister Linda brought her granddaughter, and my own daughters Ash and Lys flew in from San Francisco.  We gave Uncle Don fair warning that he would be greatly outnumbered by all the women with our chatter and giggles, but he assured us he was up to it!  Don is the brother of my father who passed away two years ago.  Their mannerisms, dry sense of humor, and quiet but wise ways are so similar, we wished we'd had a dollar for all the times we remarked to one another, "He's just like Dad!" 

We visited, played cards, went out to dinner, pored over family photos, hugged, joked, and generally had a ball just being together!  On Saturday night Uncle Don treated us all to a cruise on the Columbia River through the Columbia Gorge.  The problem was -- he came down with a cold and didn't feel well enough to go with us.  Bummer!

We passed the famous Multnomah Falls on our way to the Sternwheeler, but only had time for a quick photo opp from the parking lot before needing to hit the highway to Cascade Locks.

We boarded the beautiful Sternwheeler, mesmerized by the rotating paddle and the gorgeous scenery.  We were served a delicious dinner and savored the tasty desserts!  (Our family rule -- when we're on vacation we throw calorie counting out the window!)

 

 

Here's our route:

We went under the Bridge of the Gods, which joins Oregon (on the left below) with Washington (on the right):

It was a "see through" bridge ~

 See the semi truck going over it ~ yikes ~ not appealing to my fear of heights and tall bridges!

There is a beautiful Native American legend about the Bridge of the Gods, Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams. You can read about it here:  Native American Legends: Bridge of the Gods.
We also passed many of these crude docks, built by the local Native Americans for fishing per the Columbia River Inter-Tribal fishing rights.

Wind surfers and kite boarders also kept us entertained.  It was really a lovely cruise and all too soon it was time to dock.

 

In fact, we enjoyed it so much that on Monday we took another cruise -- this time on the Portland Spirit along the Willamette River.  And the good news was that Uncle Don was well enough to go along this time!  The wait staff even entertained us with a song or two:

 

 We left the city behind and motored past the hills, homes, and boats of the Willamette River,  It's hard to see in this picture, but there is a row of houseboats in front of the condos below:

 

Portland is a city of bridges ~

 And then the city came into view and we returned to the city shores ~

So far I've been telling you about visiting my dad's side of the family, but we also have relatives on our mom's side of the family in Portland!  Stay tuned for another post about those escapades! 

My daughters adopted two adorable kittens this weekend and have been texting me pictures of them!  Brothers -- aren't they sweet?

Sherlock

 Sisko

Here's Sherlock playing with Ash's shoelace, Sisko is in the background.  So far Sherlock seems to be the ring leader, while Sisko is a bit shyer. 

But "Sisko (Cisco) the Kid" did catch a little of "Breakfast at Tiffanys" on TV on this lazy Sunday morning:

So ends my lazy Sunday morning -- time to get busy around here!  Have a wonderful rest-of-the-weekend!

Treasures from a North Carolina Beach....

What a wonderful summer it was!  My daughters and I joined my sisters and their families in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a week on the beach.  On a Friday we flew into Raleigh where my nephew lives, grateful for the yummy curry vegetable and rice dinner and soft beds to sleep in.  Saturday we all hit the road, caravan style, and drove on to the Outer Banks.  Here we approach the bridge over the sound ~

Once we fought through the bumper-to-bumper traffic (everyone seemed to be making a beeline to their beach house on the two lane road) we finally arrived at our home away from home -- a large 3-story where we all had our own bedrooms and bathrooms, a pool, two hot tubs, and wood steps right down to the beach! 

There were 16 of us in all.  The real reason we planned this very special family reunion was to celebrate my dad's 90th birthday this year.  Although he is no longer with us, we knew he would want us to get together and live lovingly and joyously in his honor.

Here are just a few treasures we'll remember ~

Yummy, yummy suppers from the grill and juicy watermelon

Squealing grandnieces and grandnephews when our flashlights spotted crabs in the sand when we went "crabbing" at night

Lazy moments in the swinging hammock chair, reading our assorted novels

Rooting for our favorites on the Olympics on TV at night

Long walks and collecting shells on the beach every day 

Swimming, boogie boarding and sand castle building

Working on our family jigsaw puzzle for several days

Discovering the old village of Corolla

Jeeping to see the wild horses of Corolla

Spa day with massages, facials, pedicures and haircuts

An afternoon visit from a thoroughly entertaining magician who performed extraordinary tricks

No schedule, just awaking when we wanted and going to bed when we were tired

Game night with all around the table.

Pelicans roosted on the tops of these wood poles in the water.  We enjoyed watching them fly in formation and dip into the water at dinner time.  Sand pipers joined us in running from the waves on our walks.

 The view from our back yard!

Moon light dancing on the Atlantic...

How did he do that?  The "Amazing Stanley" amused us with his tricks and witty jokes!  As close as we were to him, and none of us were in on his tricks, we could  NOT figure out how he did things!

 The little village of Corolla is quaint, nestled in the trees near the light house.  Here is the first school house of Corolla:

One day my daughters and sister were going to go parasailing -- we paid and walked down a long wooden walk way to the water where the boat was docked.  As you can see, storm clouds suddenly came in, the wind began to blow, and the captain cancelled the trip for safety reasons.  (Later we saw water spouts over the ocean!)  All was not lost -- we went shopping nearby where I found that darling picture at the top of this post -- it was on a wall by the gourmet popcorn shop where we bought bags of Cheesey Garlic Popcorn!

Tons and tons of photos were taken.  This is such a small sample...  I hope you enjoyed peeking in on our week.

And guess what?!  From Corolla, my girls and I drove our rental car to Washington D.C.!  Can you remember your geography to know some historical places between North Carolina and Wash. D.C.?   Stay tuned for my next blog!

Life at the Sea - Part 1

Up early (my sleeping pattern is way out of whack this week) and with only a few hours before we leave for San Francisco for the day, I thought I would begin sharing scenes from the places we went while my sisters, nieces and Dad visited us in July. It was the first trip to the Monterey Bay area for nieces Andrea and Katie. We were enthusiastic tour guides, savoring the re-discovery of the treasures in our area. All ages were represented, from the youngest grand-nieces Shelby (age 6) and Katie (age 12) to Great-Grandpa (my dad, age 87). We managed to find activities that all could do and enjoy.

First stop was the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Despite the cool temperatures and overcast skies, the aquarium was packed that day.

Don't you just love these swimming turtles?
The jellyfish never cease to fascinate.
The touch tank is a favorite!
The variety of fish are beautiful, in all their color and glory.
Not all fish are pretty, but all are interesting in their own way.
Sea horses are tiny and oh so cute. How many can you count?
The aquarium isn't just about fish, but represents all sea and beach life. The penguins were fun to watch.
Hot pink flamingos is one of the newer displays at the aquarium.
At one point we gathered all nine of us together for a group photo on one of the outdoor decks. Just as we were posed and ready to ask someone to snap our pic, a bee buzzed onto Shelby's arm and gave her a painful sting!
The Aquarium produced an on-site paramedic with a first aid kit, who took Shelby and my sister Linda back to a room where they applied a bandaid and gave her a little toy, which stopped the tears.

After a couple of hours, tired and hungry, we called it quits and walked down Cannery Row...
... and had lunch at Bubba Gumps and dessert at Ghiradelli Chocolate. Yum!
Stay tuned for more adventures from our family reunion.