I use to walk around outside with our lovebirds, Nigel and Vince, on my shoulders...but I don't plan on doing that anymore!

Nigel & Vince's wings are clipped so when we're home we let them hang out by a screened open window. Yesterday, Darrell and I were in the next room watching TV when we heard a loud noise and Nigel and Vince flutter to the floor with their shrill, alert chirp sounding! Darrell and I hurried in and I picked the birds up, with them still chirping, and placed them on my shoulder. We couldn't really find anything that had fallen, so we didn't know what the source of the excitement was. Minutes later, Darrell heard the noise again and looked over to see flapping wings at the screen on the window, that's when he saw the hawk (broad winged?) which was now on the ground by the window....it flew off shortly after that. Upon farther inspection, we saw the claw holes and small tear in the window screen. Guess that would have scared the daylights out of two little birds.

Trip Home

Return to reality day, Monday, July 13^th; we set two alarms for 5 a.m. but didn’t need either of them. We left the motel after a quick breakfast, shortly after 6 a.m. We had no problems making our way to the airport and dropping off our rental car. Security didn’t even ask to see Darrell’s 20+ pounds of rocks! However, Em had to go through the metal detector twice before she remembered that she had a granola bar and a couple foil wrapped tea bags in her side jean pocket! Our connections all went as planned, Phoenix, AZ to Philadelphia, PA to Binghamton, NY!! Darrell kept Em busy taking pictures out the airplane window as the terrain changed, flying from state to state; we even got a few of the majestic Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon. Em declared they’d be lousy pictures, but they turned out to at least represent the dramatic changes along the way. Even the quick Burbon/orange chicken in Phili was tasty! We were very happy to see and get our hugs from our two chauffeurs, as Matt and Jess picked us up at the airport.

The Lord blessed us with an amazing trip! It was wonderful to see Josh again, to meet and learn to know Laura, to make two new friends in Roger and Jan, to meet Joe, Teteh, Grant (again) and some of Josh’s other soccer friends. All of this while exploring and experiencing God’s creation through the sites (and tastes and sounds….) of Oregon!!

More Roses, Theater & Good-byes

Sunday was a rather gloomy day, weather wise and mood wise. We didn’t set an alarm, and woke to a fine on-and–off drizzle. The first rain since being in Oregon fell on our last day here. We worked on pictures yet again before breakfast and a 10 mile drive to the Portland Rose Garden. It was such a lovely and calming place, in the morning before the crowds arrived, overcast and misty. We stopped back by the Fairfield to change for the show, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”, and headed off to meet Josh and Laura at the Broadway Rose. The performance was very well done and an entertaining musical, although a bit risqué at times and too many seemingly avoidable profanities. Too bad. We then found a Mexican restaurant at a nearby plaza and enjoyed our last meal together. It was indeed hard to want to let this somewhat surreal vacation draw to a close. The drizzle was now a rain, so we prayed together in Josh’s car and weathered the rain for our good-bye hugs before driving back to the Fairfield to pack for our trip home.

Roses, Zoo & Soccer

Saturday was the first morning for our entire trip thus far that the alarm woke us up – 6am. We ate breakfast at the Fairfield and made the short trip east 10 miles or so to Washington Park. This 400 acre complex includes the Oregon Zoo as well as the International Rose Test Garden, Japanese Garden and Hoyt Arboretum. We drove by the Zoo entrance and decided to check out the Rose Garden, just 2 miles on down through the woods. Needless to say it was beautiful; too many roses, so little time! After an hour or so of wandering, smelling, oohing and ahhing (and several nasty comments about our NY cold, deer, Japanese beetles, etc) we drove back to the Zoo. Despite the construction and a large crowd (predominantly of younger and younger families as the years go by!) we enjoyed our stroll around the exhibits. Sea lions, polar bears, baby elephant and lorikeets were at the top of our list.

We drove back by the Rose garden for one quick final look, and to see if the clouds had cleared enough to see Mt Hood. Oh what crowds, with nowhere to even think about parking; it was tough to just drive through the area. We decided to stop by the Pittock Mansion, just a few miles north and west. This was far less crowed and an amazing building and view (still overcast so none of the 4 mountains were visible). One interesting happening we stumbled across was 3 or 4 “wedding parties” or so we initially thought. But the participants seemed consistently far too young… Turns out they were celebrations of Quinceaño - A Spanish/Mexican coming-of-age birthday party for 15 year old girls.

Hoping not to find the same traffic on the way south to Salem that we have seen the last several days, we decided to make sure we got an early start so as not to miss any of the Surge game (back in Salem). It was busy, but no problem, so that gave us plenty of time to stop and pick something! This time blackberries! What a treat, since we had once again let lunchtime slip into the afternoon. We were professionally informed that Marion berries (a native berry others had bragged about) are not necessarily overrated, but Sylvan and Katala berries are just as good. After eating almost a pint between the two kinds, I can’t imagine he is not right! We picked and packed our five pints into the trunk and headed out for the next course, blackberry appetizers now consumed. Just down the road we found “Papa Joes barbeque”. We split a Pork barbeque sandwich, which made us wish we had room for a whole sandwich each! The establishment cooks, and prepares their own meats, coleslaws, beans, etc.

We arrived in Salem an hour before game time, so it was nice to relax and just watch the guys warm up. Josh invited us up to the press box where he was preparing to do the game announcing since the regular announcer was unavailable. Josh had already put Laura to work, so they both spent the game in the “sky-box”. The Surge played well, so the 0-3 loss was not representative of the effort and many close scoring opportunities. We sat with the Brehms for the second half and enjoyed cheering and chatting with them. After the game much of the team went to Applebees, a valued sponsor of the Surge. Laura and Josh joined us for the meal, and talked about our activities of the past several days. After dropping them off we headed back north; no issues with traffic at midnight!!

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A Day to Visit & Relax

Friday, we all slept in some! Em and Darrell had coffee and a nice visit with the Brehms. Josh picked up Laura and Jan Brehm invited the basement dwelling soccer guys up for “Grandmas pancakes” . Joe & Teteh, as well as us four, enjoyed fellowship and a wonderful breakfast. We chatted on through the morning; the Brehms have so many wonderful stories to tell of their travels and how God has used them to minister to missionaries through giving over their basement for God’s use! Josh did some juggling and “diabloing” for us all, and soon it was time for lunch. We returned to “La Hacienda Real” (the Brehms favorite Mexican place in Salem) where we all six shared 3 orders of the Brehms favorite, you guessed it, Chicken and Beef Fajitas!! After lunch, Em and I headed back through the ever present Route 5 traffic to the Fairfield Inn in Broughton. We did some repacking, some garden and Zoo planning for Saturday, and finally got caught up on a rough draft of our trip journal.

Mt. Hood/Columbia River Adventure

Wednesday, we picked up some groceries at Winco, a locally owned Aldi-like store, and then met Josh at 10am at the Brehms to pack up camping gear. After picking up Laura on our way out of town, we were officially on our Mt. Hood/Columbia River adventure. In route, we changed plans due to an accident on 84E and headed east on 26 to Mount Hood instead. We’ve learned in Oregon that roadside fruit stands are too good to pass up, so we stopped for a pint of raspberries to snack on with our apples and granola bars! Our first official stop was at Government Camp for info and a look at the “scooters” on the ski slopes (Skibowl). Next stop was Timberline lodge and Blue Ox pizza overlooking the cloudy peak – what a beautiful building. We exited the lodge from the back and walked a ¼ mile or so up the mountain. Our prayer was that the clouds would part on Mt. Hood long enough for us to see the whole mountain, and God graciously gave us a beautiful view of the peak as the clouds finally broke a couple times for about 5 minutes! We snapped many pictures of the mountain and its surroundings, threw a couple snowballs and observed the “gigantic” chipmunks! As we drove down off the mountain on 26, we enjoyed the striking tall white flowers (beargrass) and a surprising view of the full mountain yet again. We had another opportunity to observe the “don’t pass up a fruit stand” philosophy, as we stopped for more cherries and yet another view of Hood. Josh and Laura enjoyed the site from a huge swing in the backyard of a rental house next to the fruit stand. We purchased the most delicious of apricots and more cherries (this time Bings). Alongside the stand were more loaded-down cherry trees, Rainier and Bing, side by side. That evening we set up our two tents at the Viento State Park camp site and had spaghetti over the cook stove and marshmallows over the camp fire. The campground was a narrow park between Interstate 84 and the Union Pacific train tracks. A fellow camper told us we’d hear maybe 3 trains all night, although some thought it was more like 3 trains an hour! Yet all in all we slept reasonably well.

Thursday, we were up by seven for yogurt, cherries, granola, oj, apples and the last of the wonderful apricots. Em had her own special Marriott brew (cold yesterday’s coffee with plenty of cream from a water bottle). Our first stop was Bonneville dam for a tour of the turbines and a view of fish climbing the ladders. Next was a couple mile hike, starting at Horsetail Falls, then hiking on to Ponytail Falls and Oneonta Falls. The bridge to Three Falls had been washed out by storms, so Oneonta Falls was our turn around point. But, we enjoyed the spectacular views from the trail as we returned. Traveling west on the Historic Columbia River Highway we stopped at several more falls including Multnomah and the Vista house for another spectacular view. Multnomah was definitely the “tourist trap”; we could hardly find a parking space. Yet, it was a beautiful falls and we “needed” to have our picture taken in front of it, because that’s what every true tourist does!! Vista house provided a wonderful view of the whole area! It was time to head down to civilization and a Popeye’s chicken feast and gas in Troutdale. We arrived back in time to drop Josh off in Salem for his soccer “banquet”, and Em, D & Laura returned to the Brehms for showers and downloading of 100’s of pictures. Laura and Darrell went to watch soccer practice; Em stayed to work on photos and visit with Roger and Jan. After practice we dropped Laura off at “her place” and Josh and Darrell returned to Brehms. Darrell and Em enjoyed the Brehms hospitality once more, this time sleeping on a very comfortable, double air mattress in Roger’s office.

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Rock Hunting Day

Tuesday, Slept in ‘til 7 a.m. ish and worked on pictures. After a late/normal breakfast, Em and I headed for Sweet Water and the Holleywood petrified wood dig. We stopped at what we thought would just be a quick rock shop detour, but the” Living Rock Studio” was much more than that. It’s hard to describe, but simply put it was a museum of sorts, literally built out of tons of petrified wood, agate, crystals and the like. It housed a huge variety of Taylor family memorabilia, and included a tour inside and out. We bought 3 small thundereggs and headed out again. Our lunch was fresh picked blackberries at a roadside stand. On to another personally guided tour, this time by Dave of the Holleywood petrified wood locale. Very enjoyable – purchased several “scrap” pieces by gem cutting/polishing standards. Last stop was “Al and Merles Rock and Gem Shop” on route 34 near Corvallis, where I traded several small Herkimer diamond specimens for a couple larger thundereggs. Came back and picked up Laura for what we were thinking might be a reserve game, but it ended up being a Surge scrimmage. Laura met her ride to her host housing and we spent the night at a lovely Marriott Residence Inn in Salem, packing for our Mount Hood camping excursion before getting to bed rather late again!

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