Tom and Becky's/ Riley reunion 7/7-7/20/09

After spending a lovely night in Seaside,OR we were off to visit Tom and Becky Andersen (Lee's sister and husband).

The Astoria bridge is a beautiful sight isn't it?

We are now on Long Beach peninsula headed to the town of Ocean Park.

We have arrived at Tom and Becky's. Their home is beautiful and the landscaping is breath-taking. They have a lovely front porch to just sit and watch the day go by, have good conversation, or read.

Each area of the country we've gone through seems to have it's resident wild flower. For this area it is the fire weed.

This is us coming down Tom and Becky's lane. We were able to park right next to their garage.

The above collage gives you an idea of how beautiful their home is. There is also a video at the end of this post to give you a better feel for how gorgeous their yard is.

We had a lovely day visit with Tom's brother Dick and his wife Jan and their sweet granddaughter.

Lee and his sisters, Doris and Becky, divided up a box of family photos.

The collage above marks the beginning of the cousins reunion on the Riley side of the family. From this point on it was non stop talking, eating and laughing. I am so lucky to have been born into a wonderful family and also to marry into one. This is the first time I've met any of these cousins and within a Short time I felt like I'd known them for years. What a wonderful time we all had.

Above is a picture of the boys: from left to right--Lee's cousin Bob, his brother-in-law Del, his cousin Rex, and brother-in-law Tom.

Major male bonding was happening around the grill!

Chief grill master,Tom, and his assistant, Rex.

When we couldn't find the men it didn't take much to figure out they must be back in the garage again, guarding the PBR.

The Girls
From left to right: Eriz, Judy, Doris, Becky, Luanne, Janice.

Doris and Janice hard at it.

Here's a picture of three sisters--oooooopps that's Lee in Becky's wig trying to see what the girls are up to. Isn't he a cutie??

While the boys are out in the garage guarding the beer the dinner preparations are being made inside by the girls.

Wendy Riley made a beautiful apron for Becky--she was thrilled!! I look forward to meeting Bob's wife, Wendy, when we get to Canada.

How much more alike can two cousins be???
Luanne and Doris

The girls asked me if I wanted a drink and I said the only drinks I really like are the kind where they had a pineapple wedge and an umbrella in them. Big mistake!!!!!!!!!!
Doris and Becky to the rescue!!

Let's talk about the food!!! Rex is enjoying fried razor clams---boy were they good!!!

The boys are getting the beer butt chickens ready to grill.

Tom's grilled oysters are to die for!!! Fixed with pesto sauce and Parmesan cheese.

Grilled salmon to make your mouth water.

One of the greatest treats for breakfast was zip lock omelets. They are great!! Becky found this recipe on the Internet and it's one I'm sure will be a hit with my family. You put the eggs in the bag and gently mix them up then you add the extras you'd like in your omelet- zip it shut and put it in a kettle of boiling water for 13 minutes.

Our last evening together we celebrated Janice's birthday--she just turned 57 and yet the day before she was carded at the grocery store when she bought beer. How jealous were the rest of us!!!! We can't remember when that last happened to us. Of course, she is the baby of the group and we never let her forget it.

We also celebrated Doris and Delbert's anniversary---Their 56th congratulation!!!!
In this day and age that is something to be very proud of!!!

Cousin Bob from Canada

Cousin Janice from Canada

Janice and Bob are brother and sister, the children of Lee's Uncle Pat.

Eriz is from S0noma,CA

When I'm in my 80's I want to be just like her!!!
Eriz is Lee's Uncle Ralph's child

This dashing young man is Luanne's husband Rex.

Luanne is from Napa, CA
She raised four boys and is still around to tell about it!!

Luanne is Lee's Uncle Ralph's child

Aren't they a handsome couple??

This is Lee's elder sister, Doris, a real sweetheart!!

This is her wonderful husband of 56 years, Delbert

When Doris and Del were dating this little kid in the back was always getting in the way and she still is!!!!

What a group!!!
From left to right: upper row: Rex, Tom, Lee, Del, Bob
Lower row: Luanne, Janice, Becky, Judy, Eriz, Doris

Thanks so much from all of us to Tom and Becky for hosting a wonderful reunion!!!

Thought for the day from all of us

Whaler's Rest/ Pacific City, OR 7/1-7/6/09

We continued our trip up highway 101. Many more scenic vistas along the way.

Our first 2 days at Whaler's Rest were sunny and about 68 degrees. Good for Oregon coast. We did not have cell phone reception or air card for the computer. While there, we did get our RV and car washed and waxed the RV.

This is the bridge that takes you into Newport, OR. The night of July fourth the fog was so bad that you couldn't tell you were on the bridge because you couldn't see it. We left before the fireworks started because it was obvious you would probably hear them but not see much.

This is the lighthouse located just over the bridge to the left as you travel North.

One day we went over to the wharf area and had a great seafood dinner. This was the view from our outside table at the restaurant.

A picture of the Fourth of July parade at Whaler's Rest. That's the day we spent waxing the RV.

When you see this rock you know you are in Pacific City. It was cold and overcast here today.
We still managed to get some sight-seeing in and a trip to the beach with Nicky.

On our way into Pacific City we went by this farm and I felt like I had temporarely been transported back to Pennsylvania.

We went into Pacific City and they did have some lovely shoppes there so I explored several of them while my boys patiently waited.

Nicky's new friends!! Never saw wild black rabbits before!

This is the path from the campground to the beach. It's so foggy it's hard to distinguish there's a beach out there. Ther view from the community building here must be beautiful also because it overlooks the ocean but it was too foggyto capture with a camera.

Just look how my boy smiles when he hits the beach!!!!!

We have one more stop on the Oregon coast then we will go to Ocean Park, WA to visit with Lee's sister.

South Jetty,OR 6/30-7/1/09

Above one of my favorite views along hwy 101 and below a collage of some of the unusual bridges we saw along the way.

Traveling highway 101 is always an experience. So many beautiful views. The drive today was slow but oh so pretty. The collage contains some of the spectacular views on the drive here.

It was very windy today and only got up to about 65 degrees.

I'm such an ocean lover that I just never tire of the many panoramic views.

After we got to the campground and got set up we drove to Honeyman State park to see the sand dunes and to look at one of the many lakes around here and then we drove out to South Jetty.
The girl below is sand surfing.

The picture below is a view of the beach from South Jetty.

This is one of the lakes we saw.

Tomorrow it is off to South Beach, OR where we will be spending July fourth.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else

Charles Dickens

Smith River, CA 6/27-6/29/09

This is the view that greeted us from the office of the campground in Smith River. The campground is Salmon Harbor RV resort and it is passport America participating. What's not to like?

Lee and Nicky checking out the view.

This is the walkway down to the beach.

The sea lions are very active in the water right in front of us. Nicky was fascinated with listening to them and it was a totally new scent to him so his nose never stopped twiching.

When Lee was a child of 6 his parents took him here and when we approached it on hwy 101 he wanted to stop. Below is a picture of Lee revisiting his childhood memory.

The pictures below were taken on the drive to Smith River from highway 101.

This was a restful stop. We enjoyed the scenery, watched the sea lions, took walks and played ball with Nick.

On Sunday we attended Calvary Chapel in the Redwoods. It was a lovely church, a warm congregation, and a very good message. After church , Lee worked on some things for the camper.

Today is Monday and I'm catching up wash and Lee is washing down the camper. We drove into Cresant City this morning to have some welding done on the tow dolly. This has been a nice respite.

TOMORROW IT'S OREGON!!!!!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.

Diane Ackerman

Trinidad,CA 6/25/6/27/09

My friend, Jann DallaMura, suggested we stop in Trinidad on our way north. Boy, am I glad we did. We've only been here a day and 1/2 and we've seen so much I feel like we've been here a week. The above picture is the name of the campground we stayed in ( it is Good Sam participating). It is a 12 acre campground with 650 redwoods on those 12 acres. As you can imagine we are sandwiched between the redwoods. We have free WiFi and cable. There is,however, no AT&T cell phone connection here.

While driving out to Redwood National Park I was able to get these pictures of the Elk.

On our drive here we decided to leave hwy 101 and take a road that runs parallel to it called "The Avenue of the Giants". There were some spots that were a little tight for the RV but the drive was well worth the effort. We drove right through the Redwood forests and it was beautiful.

Below is one of the views along the way. It was a beautiful drive.

The following pictures were selected from about 55 pictures at least. The truth is no matter how many pictures you take you cannot capture the immensity and grandeur of these trees.

If I had not been standing in this tree, there is no way you would guess it's size.

After awhile your neck gets tired looking up to capture the height of these majestic trees.

This was taken on our drive through the "Avenue of the Giants". There were times it seemed like the RV would end up scrapping the side of one of these giants.

Here again, if Lee and Nicky were not in the picture you would not realize how big these trees are.

What's interesting about this picture is that I was standing inside the trunk of one of the Redwoods when I took it. It was a room inside the trunk about 5 foot by 5 foot. Of course, before I walked in there I took a peep to make sure it wasn't someone's home I was invading.

Jann, this is the little red school house you were talking about and yes, there is a campground behind it. It used to be an RPI park but no longer. We stopped in the store and gift shop there and had a piece of blackberry pie. It was just down from here that we saw another herd of Elk.

Those of you who know Nicky know that he loves the beach. He's had two great days there and tonight it collapsed on the sofa.

Breath-taking view isn't it? Everywhere you look it is gorgeous. Of course, you must remember that northern California is like Oregon. It's nice to look at but not something you swim in.

This is the lighthouse in the town of Tinidad, which has a population of about 300 people.
There is a walkway down to the beach in front of the lighthouse. A beautiful walk and workout.

My children all know my love of the ocean so they know I'm in 7th Heaven right now.

There is just so much to see and the time just goes by so fast.

Love to all the grandchildren !!