Our 1st grandchild turns 15

Today our first grandchild, Cassady, turned 15 and we were we so happy to be able to celebrate this birthday with him. Of course we remember vividly the day he was born, and find it more than hard to beleive he has now become a teenager. I know grandparents are bias, but truly this kid is an incredibly intelligent, witty, articulate, loving and very creative person in his own right. For us he has been a joy since the day he was born!!

We all had dinner at the Black Rabbit Restaurant at McMenamin's Edgefield's property in Troutdale, OR. This was his 1st foray into gourmet dining--he is trying to branch out from his childhood safe foods. He ordered and then had at least a taste of what we all had ordered. He proclaimed he liked all of the entrees, but really liked Grandpa (Frank)'s pork the best.

His dad, our son Jaemes & love Brandi, know what makes a great dining experience--and tonight was definitely a winner for all of us!!

Lelooska Cultrural Center-Ariel WA

We spent this last weekend with a special group of friends we really enjoy spending time with, the Classic RV Club. We joined this group prior to our leaving to hit the road fulltime in 2004. So each year on our return to OR, we really enjoy reconnecting with this group of friends.

On this particular weekend we all gathered at the Lone Fir RV Park in Cougar, WA. Although, the weather was not the best (major rain), we did manage to enjoy each others company, talking, eating, playing games & finding what that local area has to offer.

One of the events we attended was the Lelooska Cultural Center in Ariel, WA. This was a great day of observing, learning & discovering all things important about the NW Indian cultural way of life.

The Lelooska Museum holds an immense collection of artifacts from many regions including the Northwest, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and the Arctic. These items are varied including baskets, corn husk bags, dolls, spoons, cradles, moccasins, tomahawks, pipes, pipe bags, dresses, a 15 foot birch bark canoe and an entire replica fur trade store fully furnished to the period. Their goal is to keep the NW Indian experience alive & known to future generations. They now mostly do elementary school programs, with a small number of evening programs aimed at adults, but today the gave us a special program.

What we most loved was experiencing the Lelooska Family share their songs, dances, stories and masks which display the rights, crests and privileges bestowed on them by the late Chief James Aul Sewide.Lots of great information, as well a very special time with our "local" RV group of friends:).

A Wedding is in our Future

Our oldest daughter, & 3rd child recently became engaged. She is planning a wedding on the beach in Hawaii in June & we are here to led a hand (so to speak).

Today she scheduled her appoiontment to pick out "THE GOWN"--oh my goodness who could have known!! Elegant but casual, classic but with a modern style, flowing but not too much, soon we were all confused. Mom, sister & 2 "helpful" little girls shared in two hours of trying on, discussing, accessing & evaluating what this bride to be envisioned as her special dress for the day & voila we have a winner. After 14 try-ons--the final choice is a secret. It was the one she found in the magazine, her first choice--the one she knew she wanted--it was BEAUTIFUL.

Finally we end the evening at dinner to celebrate!

BBQ's & Family in Canby

Sitting still in one place always seems to create a bit of a problem for us in regards to blogging. We lived in Oregon for over 40 years, before we hit the road to explore & live our adventure
dreams. But we always return to family & life-long friends here in Oregon each summer.

We have previously felt that we should not bore everyone with the mundane details of our stay here, so unfortunately our blog suffers. But then again why should that deter us, since we still are living life on the road--just a bit stationary for the time being. So we will attempt to stay as current on our lives as we can.

Sunday we invited our family to join us here in
Canby for a BBQ. The weather was good & the grandkids definitely were hip to our new environment.


There are gardens to water, lawns to mow
& of course

planes to watch land! Now that was definitely a grandchild hit for the day!!

Sitting Still For a While in Canby OR

We have arrived, parked & settled into our new "temporary home" for the next few months in Canby, OR. We will be "property sitting" at a picturesque spot in Canby, OR while our host, Richard and Marlene, travel across country to Washington D.C.

What makes this particular site so interesting is that we are parked in a neighborhood airpark. Almost everyone in this neighborhood has a plane in their garage/hanger & the main road in front of the homes is their runway--too cool.

Today we spent our time learning about which tasks need to be done, how the riding lawnmower works (hey Frank hasn't mowed a lawn for over 6 years), which plants need to be watered & when, which vegetables need to be weeded or cut backed & even learned a little more about Marlene & Richard's special interests (our favorite part).

This evening Marlene made us a wonderful pasta dinner, accompanied by a fresh avocado/ pecan/feta spinach salad dressed with her own homemade raspberry vinaigrette and it was topped off with delicious bread previously baked in their earthen oven. What a treat for us.

Heading back to Oregon

Our rolling home is headed back to familiar stomping grounds--the Portland metro area of OR.

We'll be staying in Canby, Oregon "property sitting" Boomer friends, Marlene & Richard's place, for a few months while they hit the road to find new adventures. We met this lovely couple in Quartzsite at Boomerville a few years ago. They built the earthen oven that still remains there in the desert awaiting their return for those of you that my remember that project.

We have enjoyed our time these past 6 months on the road and visited nine states. The fall was spent in ID, UT, CO, OK, NM, TX & MO where we saw some spectacular sights in several National Parks. The winter months were primarily spent in CA & AZ, where the weather and good friends on the road were the attraction this time around.

But we will soon be back where we can play with the grandkids, hang out with our adult children, spend quality time with special friends we haven't seen for quite some time, catch up on all those never-ending tasks, chores & appointments than need to be done & we won't have to figure out where everything is or how to get there. Dianne is especially looking forward to not having to pump her own gas and not paying sales tax everything she buys--Yippee!

It's good to go home--no matter where it is. If anyone is passing by this way give us a holler--we'd love to see you.

Triple D’s - Gorilla BBQ

As those of you who know us know—we love to eat, love to find great food, follow other friends suggestions & even travel with the Roadfood book. We also fond of several TV food programs & one of our favorites is Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-ins & Dives show. He loves to report about the more funky, even dive-style places as he travels the U.S. because he says they are the most surprising when they “nail” you with some crazy-good food. We had watched the show when Guy aired a segment on Gorilla BBQ in CA several months ago and after his descriptions we knew we would be checking it out the next time we were anywhere near this place-so Fremont, CA qualified.

Well, today was the day. Boomer friends & fellow “foodies” John & Cathy Robnick accepted our invite to have lunch in Pacifica. They were even kind enough to drive. Gorilla BBQ sits along the coastal highway just south of San Francisco, you order your food at the counter inside a bright orange freight car, from one of the owners, Rich Bacchi a big friendly guy who has “PORK RIBS” tattooed on his fingers. There is no seating inside- you can only get the food to go. No problem, it was a beautiful sunny day & there were a few picnic tables nearby, so that was where we chowed down.

Between us all we ordered pork ribs, beef brisket, pulled pork, hot links & Cathy even had a beef brisket sandwich. And the verdict was unanimous—some of the very best BBQ we have had anywhere. Smokey bbq flavor all the way through the meat, moist, fall of the bone tender & all of it was definitely “crazy-good” food! We’ll be back.

The rest of the afternoon John drove us south along the coast. It was such a great day to see the ocean while spending time with good friends

Moving on to San Francisco

We have not been to San Francisco since our daughters were in high school--they are now almost 30. We have wanted, planned & tried to incorporate SF into our travel plans for several years, but something always comes up & we have had to bypass it. But not this time, we made it back.
We stayed at the Fremont Elks and traveled via Bart into the city. Lo & behold we arrived just as the St. Paddy's Day Parade was about to start. We love a parade and so we enjoyed the view.
Our mission this trip was to find a specific patterned of china. We love stir-frys, noodle dishes & Asian soups of several varieties served in our special Chinese dishes. Over the last 6 years a few of our favorite pieces of traditional Chinese dishes had bit the dust. Replacing those pieces has not been easy, so hence our trip to SF Chinatown, which is where we first purchased many of those dishes. Viola, mission accomplished!! We found them, & even a few additions to accompany our find.

Of course no trip into SF would be complete without a good meal. For us we were looking for a meal that Dianne had with a good friend many years ago. The memory still lingered after all these years---so a another quest was taken. Again we hit paydirt--House of Nanking!! We found it, we had lunch and were rewarded with a most a delightful taste treat. A specialty was the tea, wonderful flavor, sweet without sugar & a surprise to us--a flower blossomed in our tea we sipped it--so cool. House of Nanking Rocks!!

We walked from China town to Fisherman's wharf--gee it didn't look that long on the map! Geez our "doggies" were popped by the time we arrived, but nevertheless we did explore Pier 39 offerings. The day was beautiful-sunny & warm, but we were truly exhausted by the time we arrived home later that night.

California here we are.....

After leaving Yuma our drive was west & north. We stopped overnight at the Lancaster Elks in CA. This lodge has over 40 RV sites with water, electric & even cable and most were vacant. /This is a friendly Elks, & we just happened t0 be there for their Thursday night "Fabulous Fish & Chips" dinner. They do a brisk business, serving over 300 meals at this particular event. Actually it was a cut above most fish fries--we felt it was one of the best of the several we have tried. Wished we would have had a camera, but that was not the case--so just picture YUMMY.

Once again we say goodbye....

We must say goodbye to our time in Yuma, and as is usual it was not long enough. Interestingly we found there to be way more Oregon & Washington license plates than AZ. But then again Yuma does have quite an appeal for those of us from the NW. Such as little rain, rarely a cloud, usually sunny & warm & a large range of things to do in the winter. So why won't they be here:)

So goodbye to:
The "Purr-fect Retreat" at Dan & Jenny's place--what a special time. Sunny & warm days allowing us to even wear shorts:) 2 for 1 meals on Monday & Tuesday at Q with good friends, as well as $10 free play at local casinos on Monday & Wednesday-wahoo a big win was ours!
$4 admission to 1st run movies on Wednesday in Old Town Yuma, which even included a free large popcorn for each of us-now that is a deal that is hard to pass up, so of course we didn't.

Wonderful homemade dinners with the Marlers & Sheppards (how does one say more than yummy), breakfast with the Moores & those group times out with those we may not see for quite awhile.

Yuma Marketplace where there is so much to shop for-but unfortunately too little money to actually buy all that we would have liked--but we did manage to pickup a few things that will enhance our time on the road. Two new chairs were on sale & we could not pass up the "good deal".

Of course the happy hours & good conversation with long time friends that we haven't seen for some time, an incredible classic car show, even a day at the Gypsy Journal Rally that included some informative classes & our time in Yuma included way too many headlights to restore--as Frank will attest too. But we now must move on to a new place, a new adventure and our looking forward to discover what tomorrow may bring.

We will miss our time here, and have learned we must schedule to stay longer next time!

Midnight at the Oasis Show in Shine

The day started out with good friends, Bea & Ken & their friend Gail with all attending the Burger Bash at The Palms RV Resort. The entertainment was good, the food was a great price, but as usual the company & conversation maded the event work for us.

Later in the afternoon, we attended the Show in Shine at the Midnight at the Oasis. We viewed almost 1,000 cars--great variety, special projects & lots of memories for us. Since Frank & I have owned over 25 cars in our married years, had a few in car shows, attended some of these rallies ourselves, there just happened to be several we once owned in years gone by. Gee if we would have only known what those cars would have been worth today, we might have been a little better off. Then again we wouldn't have known the thrill of struggle:) I guess our youth invited us to indulge in the moment, but didn't quite give us the understanding of the future investment picture. Well, I guess that is the definiton of wisdom--learning about the things that worked or more importantly what didn't.

A Cruise-in of so many cars for Midnight at the Oasis in Yuma

As many of you know, Frank & I enjoy attending car shows across the nation. So since Yuma's big car show, "Midnight at the Oasis" was this weekend-that is where we were. On Friday night the "Cruise In" was scheduled & we were parked right on the 1st corner as they left the Greyhound Track lot with front row seats (at least our lawn chairs where). Since the weather was perfect, we had good company & our view could not have been better-we were happy campers.