Peaceful Day

On our morning walk we checked out the campground. All of it is situated around the lake, with three RV loops and two tent areas. We are partly trying to figure out which sites we might prefer on a future visit.

We saw scrub jays and cardinals and water birds along the way. We've been enjoying the flowering pink mimosa trees among the oak and pine forest.

This afternoon we sat out in our lawn chairs and read for a while. Ken barely got the lawn chairs out of their compartment, since the large pine tree trunk is very close to it.
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Lake O' the Pines

Yesterday on our evening walk around the campground, we noticed a couple of sites in the first come area that had orange cones and "rented" signs on them. This struck us as unusual, since the general rule for walkup or first come sites is that you have to put equipment on it and occupy the site for the first 24 hours. This morning we stopped to chat with the volunteers at the gate and asked about it. They said that here if you come in person and put a cone or something on the site and start paying for it immediately, you can in effect reserve the site for your later arrival.

We spent part of the day going through our mail and paying bills, not our favorite task, but it has to be done. This evening we watched another part of Ken Burns' Civil War documentary. We've seen the whole series before, but find it just as compelling the second time around.

You can see from this campsite photo why the lake we are camped beside is called Lake O' the Pines. We are surrounded by tall sturdy pine trees.

It's nice to look out and see the lake and hear the birds. So peaceful.
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On to Brushy Creek

We had a reasonably short trip today, along a route we’ve traveled before, so not too stressful. We’re camped in the same site we had the first time we stayed at Brushy Creek (site #110). It’s shaded and spacious. We enjoyed our walk around the campground, checking out the neighbors. It’s not crowded on a Monday in May.

Tonight we played some Boggle and relaxed.

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Lovely Day for a Visit

It was cool overnight but warmed up to the lower 70s. When we took our morning walk, the sky was a cloudless blue dome. We walked out the entrance road and along County Road 4134 to where it joins Hwy 64. That made just about the right distance. We saw some scissor tail flickers flying about.

We headed over to Dick and Carol's this afternoon, taking our laundry along and fixings for salad for dinner. Carol had fix your own pizzas, using prepared whole wheat crusts, making dinner pretty easy and delicious. Carol drove me to Super One to stock up on some groceries before our stay in the relative isolation of Brushy Creek. I remembered that Super One has some nice frozen wild caught salmon. The fridge will be completely full.

Robert and Debbie and the kids stopped by on their way home from church. They couldn't stay too long because Robert is working tonight. Sam is walking everywhere, very busy and inquisitive. Christine asked Carol to put on a CD titled Hooked on Classics 3: Journey Through the Classics, which started out with the piece that opens 2001 A Space Oddysey. She danced around to it. Sam got excited, and Carol joined in the dancing. I capered about a bit too. We all had fun.

Carol found a Hot Wheels puzzle at the garage sales yesterday and has been assembling it on her puzzle table. She figured that Andy's boys would enjoy it. When Christine and Robbie saw it, both of them were also attracted to it. Hot Wheels have entranced kids for many decades. When Ed was a toddler and had surgery, the nurses gave him a Hot Wheels track to keep him entertained. They first came out in 1968, the year he was born.

Venture in Site #17
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Happy Birthday, Ken!

This morning I got up bright and early to go garage sale-ing with Carol. We found more than we expected, since there were a couple of neighborhood sales. I managed to spend a whole dollar and got a book, two notepads, and some mailing labels for my buck. Carol found lots of good stuff.

Ken came over and we hung out until after lunch, when Dick and Carol and Ken and I went for a walk to Tyler Junior College, which is only blocks from their house. We walked around the athletic field and managed to get in an hour's walk. Jeff called while we were walking to wish his Dad a happy birthday. He will be leaving for Qatar on Tuesday and not returning until October. Tiffinie will be keeping the home front, including Pink, while he is out of the country.

This evening we met Dick and Carol at the Holiday Inn on Broadway to attend the Tyler Chorale Spring Gala, with special guests, the Tyler Big Band. The dinner and musical entertainment were birthday gifts from Dick and Carol to both of us--Thanks! We really enjoyed the entertainment. The band musicians were extremely talented, including the female vocalist, Veronica Casals. The songs were all from the big band era, so lots of nostalgia.

Veronica Casals and the Tyler Big Band

Sisters (from White Christmas)--Carol and her sister Gail used to sing this one!

Terri called during the pre-dinner entertainment to wish Ken a happy birthday. Rebecca and Cathy timed their call for after dinner. Ken had a good birthday--some consolation for finding himself closer to 70 than 60!

Just noticed on Facebook that Annie got her hair cut and colored, and her mom managed to snap a pic.

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On to Tyler

Today we left Lewisville Lake Park and headed to Tyler to visit Carol and family. When we got to Spring Creek RV Park, no one was there to help us. Fortunately we had been here before and just went and set up on our old site. When we later got through to the owner, it turned out that he had had surgery and had just come home from the hospital.

We went over to visit Dick and Carol. I came prepared to spend the night so I can go garage saleing with Carol in the morning.
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We Get Our Truck Back!

Spent the night last night with Julie and the kids. Got up early to go get Ed at the airport, but then he called to say that he was taking a bump and would be arriving later in the day sometime.

We went to Costco with Julie and actually got out for less than $100. Then we ate a quick lunch before going to pick up the truck at Classic Chevrolet. To add to the comedy of errors, when we got there, it turned out that the valve stems for the inside duallys were inaccessible. We waited quite a while for the mechanic to re-mount the tires. Ken didn't think to check when he got in the truck. When we got back to the lake, it turned out that now both valve stems were in the same hand hole. He drove the truck to Discount Tire and waited his turn. They remounted the tires for free. Meanwhile, I was at home packing up for our trip tomorrow. We got everything ready to go and then drove back over to Ed and Julie's.

Julie went to pick Ed up and take him to get his hair cut before returning home. I played games with the kids (Clue, Jr. and Handy Manny), which Cate won handily.

Duane called to say that he had gotten valve stem extensions for us and they would be on his keyboard. Ed stopped by to pick them up. When Ken looked at them, it turned out that they are all straight and pretty much useless.

It was 7:30 p.m. by the time Ed and Julie got home, and we headed out for dinner at Chili's. We had a southwestern chicken dish that was very good (except for being quite salty) and some side salads. Jesse figures he is one of the kids now. He has the dipping the fries in catsup thing down--including the part about smearing the catsup all over his face.

Yea! Somebody's taking my picture.

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Texas Rains

Today the sky opened up and created a lake around our site. The thunder and lightening were impressive. We decided that it might be a good idea to stay at Ed and Julie's. After 12 days, our tanks were full, but we don't have our truck, so we can't dump. We've been walking over to the nearby restroom, but that's way less fun in the mud!
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Walking

This morning we got up very early and drove over to pick Ed up. We are driving his Lexus while he goes out of town and our truck is at the Chevy dealer for repairs. Ed was flying out of DFW early this morning, and it's a good thing we got there early to take him. An accident had further jammed an already congested route to the airport. Ken got a nice shot of the sunrise on the way.

After we dropped Ed off, we went back to visit Julie and the kids and do some laundry. Cate was at school, but the rest of us took a walk, or in Sam's case, a bike ride, on the Flower Mound Trail.

We walked two miles out and two miles back, with Jesse in his stroller and the two dogs on their leashes. A little snake wriggled across the path. Julie thought it might be a copperhead, so we killed it. There are lots of snakes along the creek near the trail, including several poisonous types.

After lunch, Sam sat still to watch a TV show, and that's all it took for the long bike ride to catch up with him. Meanwhile, Jesse had fallen asleep in his high chair, eating cheese. We had two tired boys.

Julie went to Sam's school, Reading Friends, during lunch hour to give some of the teachers chair massages in honor of teacher appreciation week.
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Home Again

Today was another airline travel day--always tiring and stressful for me. Chris got up early and fixed a nice breakfast of cheese omelets and fried potatoes with strawberries and yogurt. Annie and Chris hugged me and wished me a safe trip. I was sorry to be leaving them, but ready to be home.

Annie in her usual pose--reading a book, of course.

I drove the rental car back to the airport. Fortunately, that's an easy drive and took only 15 minutes. Turning in the car at Dollar took a bit longer because the nice lady forgot to take off the charge for a tank of gas. I had prepaid, but returned the car full.

The flight was completely full--every seat, so no space to spread out. But any trip that ends in a safe landing is a good one. We touched down in Dallas on time, and Ken picked me up in Ed's Lexus Hybrid. He had returned the Lexus loaner and picked up the truck today, but only to deliver it to the Chevy dealer for more work.

We went to Ed's for dinner. I landed near 6:00 p.m., just in time to join Ed and Julie and the kids and Julie's mom and dad for a nice meal (another of Gina's Skinny Recipes). We got to see the new door that Jerry installed for Jesse's room. Of course it's a professional job, and makes a big difference in the noise level in his room. It looks like it has always been there and matches the other doors perfectly.

After dinner, I played Sorry with the kids, and it was late when we finally headed back to Lake Park. I was tired but glad to be home.
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Oregon Coast Aquarium

After breakfast we packed up and headed north to Depoe Bay to the Whale Watching Center. From the overlook building, whales are often spotted. Some are migrating, and a few others are year-round residents. Volunteers are on hand to provide tips and information on whales. One had been spotted before the center opened at 10:00 a.m. We didn't see any, but enjoyed looking out for them. We did see a couple of black oystercatchers, shore birds with impressively bright orange feet.

Next we headed south to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Chris had luckily gotten Groupon tickets, so we skipped the line and walked right in. The weather was clear, but it had been raining on and off, so we decided to check out the outdoor exhibits first. We walked the Nature Trail and saw a great expanse of wetlands and mudflats. Lots of the plants were conveniently labeled.

We walked into the Sea Bird Aviary. Unlike other aviaries I've visited, this one is limited to shore birds, including tufted puffins, rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillemots, common murres and black oystercatchers. It's breeding season, so all the birds were exhibiting their breeding plumage. The tufted puffins were especially striking in appearance and fascinating to watch as they dove and flew gracefully beneath the water or shook themselves comically to clean their feathers.

We were lucky enough to be in the aviary at feeding time, so we learned a lot about the birds from the friendly keeper who was tossing out fish and setting out other food. To limit the population, the keepers regularly substitute dummy eggs for the parents to brood. This year they have a request from another institution for two tufted puffins, so they'll allow some eggs to hatch.

Chris and Annie watching the antics of the Tufted Puffins

We saw lots else, including a giant Pacific octopus.

We packed lunch and went out to a picnic pavilion to eat, then returned to see more.
We enjoyed watching feedings of sea otters, seals and sea lions. We walked through an underwater viewing tank with lots of bat rays and sharks and school fish. We visited the swampland exhibit and saw caymen and alligators and a giant anaconda. Annie enjoyed popping up in the middle of the piranha tank.

The trip home was much less stressful than Friday's trip out of town. We drove across through Corvallis to I-5 and took that north almost to Chris's house.

Terri and Ed both called to wish me a happy Mother's Day.

Ken took this photo of a double decker trailer to send to Jeff. He's been interested in driving a class A or class C rv, but would want to tow both a car and his boat.

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Exploration

After our breakfast of fruit, orange juice, eggs, hash browns, and French toast, we went for a walk on the beach. We walked a couple of blocks towards the ocean and passed through a small memorial park on the way. We could see the Yaquina Head Lighthouse on a point north of us.

Then we drove to the lighthouse, hoping to take a tour. We got there a bit before the 10 a.m. opening, so we decided to explore the area. We walked down to the Cobble Beach at the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. Walking on the beach was a bit like walking in a playground ball pit--only the balls are made of basalt and sound crunchy underfoot.

A couple of volunteers had a scope set up and pointed at a mother seal and her pup, very cute wriggling about on the rock. We looked around for tidal pools among the larger rocks. We spotted a large dead sea star, some sculpins swimming about, some mostly closed up sea anemones, and lots of mussels.

By now the lighthouse was open, and we were among the first in line to climb up the 93 foot tower. Volunteers in period costume were at the bottom and the top. We learned that one of the reasons this lighthouse isn't taller or on a higher point is that the clouds and fog are often form a low ceiling, so the light needs to be aimed beneath it. Yaquina Head is visible for 20 miles out to sea. It’s a good thing we got in when we did—a long line of small children was waiting to go in soon after we emerged.

After touring the lighthouse, we decided to climb the trail up the nearby Salal Hill, which gets its name from the profusion of salal bushes growing there.

Hiking up Salal Hill

By now we were hungry. We drove south towards the historic Yaquina Bay Bridge towards the Oregon Coast Aquarium and the Hatfield Marine Science Center. We decided to eat lunch at Bangkok Thai, a restaurant on Bay Street among a collection of shops and restaurants on the waterfront. The restaurant was well reviewed on Yelp, and the food was delicious--the only difficulty was finding parking in this bustling tourist area.

We decided to visit Hatfield Marine Science Center and save the aquarium until we had more time on Sunday. The Hatfield was quite engaging, with lots of hands on exhibits and a very friendly giant octopus. Researchers from Oregon State University highlight their studies here. Unfortunately, several of the exhibits had out of order signs.

Colorful tidepool denizens

When we got home, Chris and I decided to walk around our little neighborhood and visit some of the shops. A resale shop had caught our attention. We found candles and art and crafts--and a little bakery/coffee shop.

For dinner I fixed some portobello mushroom stroganoff After dinner we walked along the beach again. We noticed some unusual clear marble sized jelly forms lying on the wet sand as the tide receded. They turned out to be small jellies called Sea Gooseberries (confirmed by Chris's FB friends after he posted a photo).

Sea Gooseberries were everywhere on the beach
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Trip to the Coast

Our morning walk around the neighborhood took us to a nearby historical cemetery, Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery. It's a lovely place with many old graves. Some of the more recent have flower gardens growing over them. Laser photographs of the deceased appear on the headstones of many Russian and Ukranian graves.

Many lovely trees grace the cemetery grounds.


Chris also pointed out for me some community gardens located along our walk--ones I would never have recognized. When he first pointed one out, I was totally unable to see what he was pointing to--it just wasn't what I was expecting. The tiny plots are located between the sidewalks and the street. Here's a bit of advice from the Community Gardens Toolkit:

The land between the sidewalk and the street, often called the parking strip or planting strip, is part of the public right-of-way and can also be used for gardening. Keep in mind that you will need to closely maintain this space so that your garden does not obstruct the sidewalk or the street.

Later, Chris and I took the bus and Max Redline train to the airport to pick up my rental car. When we got there, we were discouraged by the very long line at the Enterprise desk, since I had a reservation with Enterprise. After a few minutes, we noticed that the line was not really moving--and that the Dollar Rent a Car counter had almost no line. I decided to switch to Dollar and looked up the price on my Droid to see if it was comparable.

When I got to the desk, the clerk offered me a higher rate, but I showed him the online rate and he agreed to match it. Soon we were driving out of the airport in a Subaru Legacy.

We wanted to go to the big rummage sale near Rerun that we had seen signs for yesterday. It turned out to be not much more than toys and kids clothing, but Chris did pick up a rollaboard to use for his trip next week, so he can do some research and decide what kind of new luggage to buy. Next he ran into Rerun to pick up one thing. He came out with something else, but he was happy.

We loaded up the car and picked Annie up after school, on our way to the Oregon coast for the weekend. We had decided not to take the freeway. The route via Oregon Hwy 99 and Oregon Hwy 18 over to the coast and the US 101 south to Newport looked more scenic. It was, but we didn't appreciate it much. First we ran into lots of traffic heading out of Portland on a Friday afternoon. The weather was very overcast and rainy, so we couldn't see much, and the driving was stressful.

When we got to US 101 (at this point called the Oregon Coast Highway) and saw the Pacific Ocean, we cheered up. What a magnificent sight. The weather even cleared partially.

We got to our B & B in Newport only half an hour late and found cookies waiting for us and a fill-in couple to greet us. The proprietor was away welcoming a new grandchild, and she had let us know that her good friends would be filling in for her. The Vintage Cottage at the Grand Victorian has a view of the ocean from the sun porch and living room windows, but it was pretty much obscured by the overcast tonight.

We settled right in, after placing our breakfast order. Then we talked about our plans for the weekend over a glass of wine and some of the chocolates Shawn had given us as a present.

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Thrifting and Gallery Walk

Chris was on vacation today, and we decided to go thrifting. We started for Hollywood Vintage, where he sometimes buys clothing, but we also stopped at several small consignment stores and a pottery studio. We ended up at Rerun,a community resale shop that had really good reviews online.

It lived up to its reputation. Although rather small, it has an interesting variety of items, including well priced quality furniture. Chris found a really nice queen size quilt for only $24.

This evening we went to the downtown public library, where Annie picked out some books. Then we went to Clyde Common to meet some of Chris's work colleagues to celebrate a grant just won by two of them. Shawn joined us also, and our group of ten got an upstairs table.

Chris and Shawn share a laugh

We had a great dinner, and then some of us went on to the gallery walk. Today is First Thursday, when many of Portland's galleries open late and provide wine and appetizers to guests circulating through to see the various featured artworks. In one, we spotted a Picasso and a Warhol limited edition print. Most of the artwork is by local Portland artists. We were winding down and decided to head home so Annie could get ready for school tomorrow. Shawn gave us a ride and loaned us a pair of binoculars for our trip to the coast.


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Another Quiet Day

Chris got home early this afternoon, so I still had the morning alone. I finished sorting through photos--trip back to nostalgia land. I took a nice long walk and saw some of the sights in the neighborhood.

I've been enjoying the luxuriant spring flowers, especially the ones that require colder weather, like the tulips and bleeding hearts. The neighborhoods around Chris's house include lots of historic homes, some really well preserved and attractive. Portlanders are also rather eclectic in their tastes--note the bicycle theme at one local home.

When Annie got home, we walked downtown to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) to see Sea Rex: Journey to a Prehistoric World in OMNIMAX--an IMax format that wraps around your whole field of vision. The cgi made prehistoric sea creatures come to awesome life.
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Pics from the park

I had a quiet day in Portland. Chris was at work, and Annie was at school.  Tuesday is her Do Jump day, so we had a late supper. Then we played a game of Citadels.

The Lewisville area had much better weather today. Ken got some pics on his walk of the lovely sunshine and blue skies.

Heron on the lookout for lunch

It's Rebecca's 35th birthday today--Happy birthday, Rebecca! Ken called and left voicemails for her because he couldn't get through. Hope she's out having fun celebrating.
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Pizza and Games

We met Jeremy and Tanea and Austin and their friend Russell at the Flying Pie Pizzerie tonight. It was the first time I had seen Jeremy since his family moved away from Nacogdoches--many, many years ago. He looks and sounds a lot like his father, my nephew Dave. He is following in his dad's footsteps too, as a balloon artist and juggler. He says his dad is juggling fire now.

We had a great time enjoying the pizza and playing games. The Flying Pie encourages game playing, and Chris brought a selection along. Some of us played Can't Stop! and all of us played three games of Wits and Wagers. Good thing I wasn't betting the farm--I'd have lost all of it!

On the way home, Chris and Annie and I stopped at Rimsky-Korsakoffee House for dessert. The food was delicious, but the real attraction was the quirky decor and atmosphere. I was told I needed to see the restroom, so I was forewarned, but I still recoiled when I opened the door to find this waiting for me:

On my walk earlier today, I found the sidewalks and roads paved with pink petals from the flowering trees.

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Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

We had a beautiful day today for our outing to the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in Portland. The sun shone and the water sparkled, and the gardens were alight with color from the featured rhododendrons and lovely "companion plants," including cherry trees in bloom and lovely maples.

Waterfall

Blossoms over the lake

Annie and Chris

The little preserve and lake form a wonderful habitat for wild waterfowl, including lots of ducks and geese. Since it's springtime, we saw loads of cute downy ducklings and goslings.

Goslings!

Chris spotted a muskrat contentedly munching in a grassy clearing.

Muskrat browsing near a Japanese maple tree

After our visit to the garden, we spent some time cruising a couple of antique malls before taking a bus to the New Seasons grocery store and heading home.
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DASH 3 Portland

Today Chris and Annie and I joined Mike and Meredith and Josh to form a team to participate in a daylong puzzle hunt called DASH 3.

A puzzle hunt, a unique type of treasure hunt, is a fun, interactive, outdoor event in which teams of players race to find and solve creative puzzles hidden in different locations.

DASH (Different Area—Same Hunt) is a puzzle hunt event that happens simultaneously across multiple cities across the United States. The inaugural DASH in September 2009 spanned 8 cities. DASH 3 is currently being planned in 12 participating cities.

Creating the hunt is a collaborative effort of puzzle enthusiast volunteers across the country. Each city contributes a clue to the event, and each event uses all the clues from the contributing cities.

The day was fun, challenging, sometimes frustrating, always novel and rewarding. We did very well in some ways, but needed occasional hints and help. All of us were DASH neophytes, so we assume that we'd do better next time around, knowing more about how the puzzles are structured.

The BeeGees Team puzzling in the park

Elephants never forget!

We left home just after 9 a.m. and returned around 7:30, a bit later than we had expected. The weather cooperated quite well, considering that most of the activity was outside, though we ended up at a pub for the final puzzle. Most of the puzzle venues were outdoors in the Pearl District, which is well supplied with parks and public spaces.

We weren't the first team to finish--but we weren't the last either, so we felt satisfied with our efforts.
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Portland

I had a non-stop flight to Portland, which gave me time to rest a bit on the plane. Good thing, since we had plans to go to the Portland Art Museum tonight. I got to Chris's a bit later than planned. All went well until I missed getting off at the Stark St. bus stop where Chris and Annie were waiting for me. Chris ended up getting a ZIP car to pick me up.

I had an hour to get settled before we headed out to take a bus to the Art Museum, where we met Chris's friend Shawn. The collection is quite eclectic. We visited some an exhibition titled "Portland Collects" of pieces on loan or as gifts from local collectors first. We saw a number of contemporary pieces, including one titled "The Dishwasher," rather unnervingly lifelike.

We had limited time, since the museum closed at 8:00 p.m., so we still have lots to see on future visits.
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