at Mom's

We got to Mom's before dark and the dogs were delighted. Elsie ran so much she was exhausted. She headed for the barn to see the horse and got her first glimpse of the goat. Wow! Then she barked for the horse to come out (he had already gone to bed in the barn). She was so happy when she finally got to see him.








































Today Mom wore me out driving her to banks, the eye dr, etc. My nephew Stephen brought dinner over and cooked it for us so we had a chance to see him.

Travel Day

Gary drove thru mist and rain all morning. The rain helps the coast of Oregon grow gorgeous flowers. There were rhododendrons in almost every yard. It really is breathtaking beauty.












We stopped in Astoria for lunch with yet more extended family, Gary's cousins, Mike and Julie. Had a great time catching up and planning for our visit with them in August for the Regatta and more of Astoria's 200th Birthday Celebration as a city.

























Gary decided to try a new route so we left Astoria by driving over the big bridge to Washington, then drove along the Columbia River to Longview, past Cathlamet. It was a beautiful route, but very curvy. Elsie wasn't thrilled with our choice of road.



I am really enjoying my iPhone. Right now it is my wifi connection to my computer so I can blog as Gary drives thru Tacoma and on to Seattle. Of course, all the photos on this site have been taken by it, too.

We will be at Mom's tonight, hopefully before dark.

Clouston Family Day

Today was the day set aside just for my brother and his family--and it was Monte's birthday which made it even more fun.










We made it to the beach so those most industrious could climb the sand dune and run back down. That would be Brenda, Josh and Alex. The dots in the photo are people climbing the huge dune.


















Josh had a great idea to use an old toboggan to slide down the hill. Didn't work too well, kind of slid in very slow motion, but Tule learned how to be a sled dog pulling it back to the RV park.





















Then we had the height test photo op--Brenda comes just about to Gary's armpit. She was kind of glad he hadn't done any of the hiking as she stood in place for the photo.




















Came back to our RV's because there was no wind for kite flying and the rain had started. We played Mexican Train until time to go out to dinner to celebrate Monte's birthday, then back for another rousing round of Mexican Train.
























It was a fun day in spite of the rain. We have a great family!







And here's a photo of all six of us at dinner.

Another Fun Family Day

Dinner with Alan and Karen was great last night. This morning we met them at the Pig 'n Pan in Newport for what has become our traditional departing meal. Love that restaurant and we caught up on more family info (gossip?). It was a fun visit.
















Then we made the short trek to Camp Kiwanda near Pacific City. Haystack Rock is the huge land formation out in the ocean. We have beautiful weather and a wonderful clean beach to enjoy.

















We bought kites for the boys and we all enjoyed watching Josh and Alex fly them. In the photos we have Gary helping Alex


















and Monte helping Josh.















And the dogs didn't get any attention at all--uh huh. They are loving being with their extended family, too. Brenda is snuggling them in this photo.




















Alex


















Josh










After a nice pizza dinner we enjoyed toasting marshmallows around a cozy campfire while the dogs checked out the bunnies that live at this camp.

Peterson Family Day

Oregon roads are so much smoother than CA roads. Today has been a much nicer driving day. Elsie has not been happy this trip--kind of an upset stomach, so she is mostly happy when we stop. Tule is happy no matter what.

I sure do like my iPhone--I can use it as wifi for the computer, as well as for taking photos. I remembered my good camera and the new tripod Britta gave me for my birthday, but forgot the cord to connect it to the computer. Too much going on all week for everything to stay in my memory. All the photos on this blog were taken with my iPhone 4G! And many were taken at about 64 mph, since Gary doesn't stop for photos.

This is the view from the front of our RV at our Medford RV spot. It is the Bear River--rushing fast so we could listen to the song of the water.






















The cute car was in the next site--loved the bumper sticker on it.
































We had lunch in Eugene with Gary's cousin, Lynn. She looked great and we had a fun time catching up on what is going on in her life.


Tonight will be dinner at the RV with Gary's brother and his wife. Another fun family day.

We're Outa Here

It was a relief to leave this time. Nice to get out of the mess that is our house, even though we have cleaned up a lot, there are still papers to go thru.

Gary experimented today--at 64 mph we only use 7 mpg--at 70 mph we use 6.4 mpg. So we drove a bit more slowly today.










It was much drier outside Redding than we expected.

















But Lake Shasta is full! First time in many, many years we have seen so much water there.

















And Mt. Shasta is more covered in snow than we have ever seen.


We are now in Medford right next to the river--it is absolutely beautiful.

Uffda

We had a great weekend at the Vagabundos del Mar Crab Feed last weekend. Then we came home to a nasty surprise. Someone had broken into our house and really trashed the place. The photo is the office--couldn't walk thru there. The master bedroom was worse, clothes everywhere.



The police came to take a report and decided CSI was needed. The CSI was there 3 hours doing his thing. Then we got to dig thru the mess to figure out what was missing. Some was obvious right away--the silverware was gone--silverplate and sterling sets. All my earrings were gone except Easter bunnies, snowflakes and Norsk flags. They left my Solje pin, but took the matching earrings. Didn't find my necklaces. Took Gary's jewelry box. The worst two were my wedding ring and the heart necklace Gary gave me for a wedding gift.

The good part is that we now have very clean clothes, a large bag to donate and nice, neat drawers and cupboards. The hardest part is that we needed to leave Thursday (we discovered this on Sunday) so we have hit the ground running every day to get the house in some kind of order and do all the research we needed to do for the police and insurance company. Now we are on the road to Seattle.