LL Stub Stewart Park, 30 minutes west of Portland

We are now at LL Stub Stewart State Park just west of Portland Oregon ( and close enough to see family and friends).    We are cabin hosts for the month of September.    We were here last November and really like this park and the people.    Greeting and helping the campers is my favorite part.   We are looking forward to a visit from our friends Ed and Bunny.   We met them in Colorado, visited them at their home in Wisconsin, and have been getting their pictures from their summer in Alaska.   Should be a fun visit, especially since the weather is forecasted to be sunny and high 70s!    Last time they were in Oregon, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights..... well almost.    All for now.... more soon.

Fort Stevens fun in the sun with family

From Leavenworth we headed to Fort Stevens state park near Astoria, Oregon.   Amazing weather for the entire week.    Sun and highs in the 70s six out of seven days.   You don't get that at the Oregon coast very often.   The wind did pick up some afternoons but mostly it was super.   The Christian, Shannon and Isabelle joined us for five days and LeAnne came for two nights.    We biked the wonderful bike path every morning.   Most days we did an 8 mile loop that included the old fort historical area.   Izzy loved to run around the old batteries.    Then after lunch and nap (Izzy and sometimes the grown ups) we headed to the beach to play in the sand, water, and waves.   Isabelle loved chasing the waves and we could hardly get her out of the water even when she was shivering all over with cold.   Fort Stevens has several beaches and Lake Coffenbury.    When the beach got too windy we tried the Lake but the last day we found a wonderful protected cove on the river side of the peninsular where we could relax and play without the wind that is usually at the coast.    The last night we had a terrific feast of a picnic and then a campfire and S'Mores at the Martin's cabin.    It was Isabelle's first campfire and first roasted marshmallow.   Both were a hit and she wanted more, more more.    Nana also wants more, more, more trips like this with the family.    Amazing fun!

Leavenworth with the Seattle Girls

After catching up with the Desert Trails group, John kicked back while I went to Sleeping Lady with Annemarie, Cindy, Corey, and Jan.    We had so much fun catching up.   The room was small but the love was big.  Great girlfriend time.   I hadn't seen Corey and Annemarie in almost a year.    We ate, drank, and mostly had a wonderful time talking and laughing.   We did manage to drive the 14 miles to the Icicle River Gorge trail and hiked the very pretty route.   It was still hot hot hot so we spent our afternoons at the pool.    I am going to have to depend on my buddies for pictures for this post, as I didn't bring the camera.   Boooo Hooooo.

Leavenworth with Desert Trails Friends

After 6 weeks under the flight path of the Portland Airport we were excited to be on the road.    Friends Kirsten and Cline organized a reunion for the Washington Desert Trails folks.   We stayed at Wenatchee River County Park which is a very nice facility.    $26/day for full hook ups, nice size sites, free wifi and a lovely day use area right on the river.    The only draw back was some road noise but after the airport traffic it wasn't an issue for us.  And the weather was HOT!   90 + everyday but fortunately the nights were nice and cool.

The hot weather didn't slow us down though.    We started the reunion with a wine tasting party at K & C's place.    Lots of fun wine to taste and appetizers to munch on.   There were 11 of us and we all had more wine than we needed... but not more than we wanted ;-))   The next day was tubing the Wenatchee river from the bridge to Blackbird Island.    Then we all met at Rock Island campground, 14 miles up the Icicle River for a hike and picnic.    The elevation is higher there so it was 10 degrees cooler than Leavenworth.    Lots of fun and good food.

The last day 4 of us hiked to the petroglyphs about a mile up the Wenatchee from the old red bridge.   On the way back we had the surprise of the trip.   A young black bear was watching us from about 10 feet away.    Another hiker told us he was there or we may have missed him altogether.   I headed the other direction, but our nutty friend Kirsten grabbed the camera and went bear hunting.   The bear headed down the bank to the river to get away from the crazy lady but she managed to snap one.    If you look close you can see him in the last picture.

Picnic and Concert with Arnie and Jean

My brother Arnie and his wife Jean are so interesting and fun to be around.    They always know the coolest places to go and the interesting books, films, etc.    They invited us to join them at Willamette Park on a beautiful 80 degree evening for a free (and good by the way) concert in the park.    We arrived about an hour early and found a great spot for our blanket and chairs.    Arnie and Jean surprised us with Cackalack's Chicken from son Erik's food cart.    It was yummy along with the antipasto appetizer.    We brought a super bottle of wine from my girls wine tasting trip and a peach and blackberry crisp with whipped cream.    Sitting in the park with good wine, yummy food, jazz saxophone by Devon Phillips, and great conversation with Arnie and Jean..... am amazing evening.

Five Days of the Isabelle

What lucky grandparents we are!    Shannon and Christian took a well deserved vacation for their anniversary so Nana and Grandpa got to spend 5 whole days with Izzy.    We tooks lots of walks and spend many afternoons at the parks.    We went to the Farmer's Market at Esther Short park and discovered a fun fair with clowns and balloons in addition to the great little creek and spray park.   Aunt Alta and Uncle Snoopy came by for a visit and so did Trina.    Every day was a surprise.   At 16 months Izzy is energetic, fun, fast, expressive, and the cutest baby in the world.    By the time we picked up Mama and Daddy, we were exhausted and they were very glad to see their little girl.    It was wonderful.

19th Annual Trina, Sue, & Elaine GetAway Trip

So friendships that last 30-40 are irreplaceable.    I am lucky enough to have two great friendships that have lasted through the years.    Twenty years ago when I was living in Seattle and my friends were in Portland, we took a trip to Southern California.    It was so much fun and we found that it kept the friendship stronger.    So we decided to start a tradition.    We have been to England, Germany, New York, Savannah, Charleston, Las Vegas, California multiple times, Oregon and Washington multiple times.   The places we go are fantastic but the real highlight of the trips is the time we spend with each other.   Only one year was skipped.   Next year we plan a BIG one for our 20th but haven't quite figured out the destination yet.

This year we stayed local so we could save up for an international (maybe?) trip next year.    We started in Roseburg touring wineries.   Our favorite in the area was Kings Estate which is very elegant with lovely lavendar fields and gardens.    We took a little break from wine tasting to drive part of the waterfall highway that goes east of Roseburg and hiked to a few falls.   Our favorite wine tasting experience was at Abecela where we had a fun sommelier and a pretty path to walk.   The 2009 Estate Malbec was fantastic.   

From Roseburg we headed to Salem for a slumber party with Sue's Mom, Betty.    We had so much fun with her and she baked us such wonderful treats that I think we may have to make Betty an unofficial member of the girls trip.   Then we headed to Forest Grove for the last night.    We tasted wine along the way and Sue and Trina liked the wine at St Innocents (wonderful Pinot Noirs) best while I favored the Canna's Feast wines (great italian style reds).   We had a great suite at the Grand Lodge McMennamins.   The evening was beautiful so we played scrabble at the outside bar before heading in to dinner.    After a yummy breakfast we drove out to Hagg Lake for a little walk to burn off some of the food and wine we have been enjoying.    Then one last winery, Montinore before heading home.    Another fabulous trip!

More July 2012

Well I found some more pictures from July so these are a bit out of sequence.   But I don't have many pictures of Erik, Jenn, and Christian so I am including them anyway.

Great fun at the 4th of July and Christian's birthday: