A Summer of Adventures


 This past summer was full of adventures.  It seemed like a whirlwind.  Ellen went to FBLA nationals in Atlanta.  That was exciting for her, and for Gary and I in a different way.  Worrying about your child is always exciting...not always the excitement that you want.


In late June Ellen and I packed up and headed for California to visit family.  It's too long of a story for a quick blog post, but here's the gist.  We flew to Portland where Dan, my brother, picked us up and we drove down to Redwood Valley in California and camped for the weekend with the family down there.

That was fun.  From there, Dan drove back up home and Ellen and I stayed a week with Leslie.  While we were there we filled every day with some sort of adventure.  Here is Ellen standing in front of a redwood tree and its burl on the skywalk at the Dickerson Park Zoo in Eureka, CA.  We went with a friend, Doris Foss, who was (still is) the on site manager of the senior living complex where my mom had lived when she was in CA. 

We went up to Trees of Mystery, we went down to Ferndale, went to the beach in Trinidad, we drove around Arcata....pretty much did Northern Humboldt County.  

We also went out to 4550 Woods Lane, the little house where I grew up.  It has changed significantly from when I was there.  The couple who bought it from my mom were landscapers, so they have done quite a bit with the place.  I am stunned that the little redwood shake house my dad helped add on to back in the 50s maybe, is still even standing.  But they had done quite a bit of improvement on it.  The couple was in their 40s back in the mid-90s when they purchased the place, so I am not sure if they are even still living there.  The last I saw of her, Donna, was in 2014 maybe.  They didn't have any children, but they had a friend staying there. 


After the week was over Dan came back down and drove us back up to Oregon. We did quite a bit of driving around sight-seeing there as well.  We went up to Mt St Helens, over to the Tillamook Creamery on the coast, and over to Multnomah Falls; us the Willamette Gorge.


It's beautiful up there.  Ellen and I hiked up to the bridge.  Then we had lunch there with Deb.  It would have been nicer if the food was actually warm.  Haha...  

After a week of visiting and running around we came back home and after a few weeks time caught COVID.  Then after recovering we went to Canada, where we stayed at a KOA for 2 nights on Thunderbay.  

Then we came home.  And a just  few days after getting home Ellen headed off to school.

It was a whirlwind summer.  



Comments

Donna. W said…
People around here are getting Covid for the second and third time, and it's no big deal. We haven't had it, so we got the latest shot last week.
November 5, 2023 at 7:20 PM
Calfkeeper said…
Yes, I had Covid a second time in September. Not fun, but not really a huge deal for me either, aside from random minor inconveniences. I managed to not pass it along to anyone else in the family, thankfully. Rebecca H
November 7, 2023 at 8:06 AM
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