Hard
to believe, but summer’s almost over and soon we will be heading back
to Arizona. I loosely use the term “summer”
because Salem hasn’t really had one.
June was mostly wet and cool.
July had some nice warm days, but also some cool wet ones. August was nice and mostly in the mid to high
80s. The first week of Sept did have
some mid to high 90s, but as I write this, it's back to rain and
cool. We are being told there still is
some nice days coming. Hope that happens
before we head back to Arizona.
We got
back in Salem on Memorial Day and have been busy ever since. The first couple weeks of June we worked around the house and organized some repair work to be done on
another piece of property we own.
June
25 we loaded up coach and drove it to Prineville where we parked at the Crook
County RV Park for two nights. We were
thrilled to have clear warm days and cool evenings! Both that Saturday & Sunday, we cached
and checked out the BLM campsites along the Crooked River to see what sites
were available for us to camp at starting Monday.
Monday,
June 27, we moved the coach 15 miles south on hwy 27 and set up camp in a
wonderful spot along the Crooked River where we spent the next 12 nights. Soon after we were set up, our friend, Rod,
showed up and set his camp up in the site next to us. Rod’s wife Lynda had to work until Thursday
so the three of us played cards and sat around and visited until she got there
Thursday evening.
Saturday,
July 2, our daughter Leigh & her husband Tim showed up with 4 of their
grandkids and stayed in our huge family tent for two nights. What fun, we visited, floated the river, ate,
visited some more, ate some more, and watched the four "mini tornadoes" - ages 3-7)
enjoying their very first camping trip.
The little ones got really dirty and no one cared! They were having fun and that was what the time
was all about. These are the four "mini tornadoes."
On
Monday, July 4, our daughter’s family packed up and drove into Prineville to
check into a hotel so everyone could get cleaned up and have the little ones
take a nap before watching the evening fireworks show. Rod & Lynda, and Ken & I stayed in
camp and enjoyed a very peaceful evening.
After another few days of total fun, we all packed up and pulled out of our camping sites on July 9. Rod & Lynda headed home, while we drove
back to the Crook County RV Park for a two night stay. Where we camped along the Crooked River was
in a narrow canyon, so we on AT&T had no cell/internet service (our
daughter did on Verizon L)
so we weren’t able to get news on our sister-in-law’s Breast Cancer surgery
until we got back into town. Once back in town, we talked to her and happily, she said she was doing well after having a lumpectomy and would
know in about a month if she needed further treatment. We later found out that would undergo some
Radiation, but Chemo would not be needed.
We spent the next two days caching in and around the area, then drove
home on Monday, July 11.
July
was a month of Cancer surgeries…. On July 13 we spent a nervous day as our
daughter-in-law underwent a "high risk" hysterectomy due to Uterine Cancer. Thankfully, she came through surgery with a very
hopeful prognosis. We didn’t find out
until a month later that she was free of Cancer and required no further
treatment.
July
18-25, our coach was in Lafayette, Oregon having the bay door repaired. They did a fantastic job and it now looks
like new.
The
rest of July we spent working in and around the house. Ken re-leveled the pavers in driveway while
the coach was in for work, then after we got the coach back he repainted the
house. We still need more work to be
done on house, but we plan on holding off till next year.
August
came and went so fast, it’s hard to remember what we did that month. I remember it finally being warm, sunny and
in the mid to high 80s. We did go to Ken’s 50th high
school reunion on August 4-6. Also, on the
18th, we drove to Seattle to attend a MEGA Geocaching Event that took place on the
19th. Since we were so close to the
Canadian Border, we drove across to White Rock and found a couple caches so we could claim a
foreign country on our geo-stats. The MEGA Event was called “Groundspeak's Block Party” and it was held at their new headquarters on 34th and
Freemont just under the Aurora Bridge, downtown Seattle. We spent the whole day there and had
a great time meeting geocachers from all over the world and seeing old friends.
Our
grandson Justin and his wife Holly live in Tacoma while Justin is stationed at
McChord AFB. Holly is pregnant with
their first child and our soon to be 7th great grandchild. We found out late August that she is having a
boy and his name is Tristen Raymond Allen.
We all are very excited about the up and coming birth of this little
guy. On the 20th while heading back to
Salem, we got to visit with Holly & Justin at their place and see how they
plan on setting up Tristen’s room. After
having a late lunch with them, we checked into a hotel for the night and had
the opportunity to have a wonderful visit with our niece Janis. Janis, whom I haven’t seen for over 20 years,
is my half sister’s third of four children.
It was such a thrill to sit and talk with Janis and reflect on the past
and present. We vowed to set up another
time to get together and include her siblings and our daughter. I am truly looking forward to that.
Labor
Day, Sept 5, we headed north to SeaTac and stopped in Tacoma to spend an hour
with Justin & Holly over an early dinner.
As always, it was great to see them….they are so cute together!
After
dinner, we drove north another 10 miles and spent the night near the SeaTac Airport. Early the next morning, we caught the
airplane to Yakutat, Alaska and were there till September 14. Ken has been going to “Yak” to fish for
Salmon since the late 60s, but I didn’t start until I retired in 1999. After watching the weather, we were expecting
nothing but rain the whole time we fished, but were pleasantly surprised to
have some very nice days. Yes, there were
some days of rain, one very heavy and miserable day, but two days were totally
sunny and nice. One thing about the rain,
the awful “no see-ums” don’t bother you.
As I have said in the past, the scent of the month in AK is DEET. I used a lot of Avon Skin So Soft and I didn’t
get one bite (yay). The fish were
smaller than last year, so our “limit” didn’t weigh as much as last year, but
we still brought home 3 full boxes (150 lbs) of Filets plus about 30lbs in a
4th box (180 lbs total)
