Friday, May 17, 2013 (Maryhill, WA)

We had a leisurely morning, having breakfast and deciding what to do today. In looking at the weather forecast, we decided to visit the Maryhill Museum. We have driven through Maryhill many times when travelling to see the kids in Marysville or Maple Valley, Washington. We used to make it our "potty" rest stop and it was a good place to stretch our legs. Beings that we were always trying to either get somewhere or were heading home, we had never stopped to check out the local sites.

In all honesty, I thought that the Maryhill museum was actually a home and would be more of a tour type venue, little did I know that it was an art museum. So we got our art culture for awhile. I must say at first it was pretty interesting, but they had so much to see, that after about an hour, it was sensory overload for me. My favorites were the main entry level and the royal section. I think I liked that best because they were items that people in the not too distant past had actually used. I also enjoyed the outdoor sculptures. Here are a few pics.

After the Maryhill Museum, we went down the road and visited the Maryhill Winery. I did a tasting and ended up getting a nice bottle of Reisling. The last item on the agenda for today was to visit the Stonehedge War Memorial. That was pretty interesting. That Samuel Hill must have been quite the interesting fellow in his lifetime.

We stopped at a local fruit stand and got some fresh strawberries and asparagus, yummy. We had a nice relaxing dinner outside. The park is full this weekend. They are having some sort of RV Club rally with all these itsy bitsy trailers, i.e. Scamp and Casita are two of the models that come to mind. We did our usual walk around the campground checking out the different RV’s. We still like ours the best. =)

Thursday, May 14, 2013 (Maryhill, WA)

We woke up to more cloudy skies, bummer as this was the day we picked up our fiver from Guaranty and had reservations at Maryhill State Park. We got a little bit later start than we anticipated and didn’t get to Guaranty until around 10:00 a.m. We had to wait a little bit before our warranty rep was available to go over what they had accomplished and what will wait until we are back in the area in September. We finally hit the road around noon.

Early on, I had always said that I was hoping we could stay away from freeways and not travel in the rain. Well we did both today. We went through a couple real deluges; the positive thing was at least it was washing any remaining salt spray from being on the coast off the underneath and roof of the fifth wheel and truck. The traffic was heavy until after we got past Hood River and then it thinned out and the sun came out. Yea.  Here is a picture of Multnomah Falls taken from the window, the rain doesn't show up but it was pouring. 

We pulled into Maryhill State Park, just over the border of Washington around 4:00. We had reservations here through the weekend; it will be nice to stay put for awhile after our drive today. It took us awhile longer than usual to get set up in our site because we had to transfer so much stuff out of the pick up back into the fiver. We had taken our laundry and some bedding to wash at my mom’s and then our duffel bags and our cooler. We knew that we would be at my mom’s for awhile, so had to clean out our refrigerator of anything that would spoil during that time. When we were at mom’s, we had taken a trip to Costco, and stocked up on some items. It felt good to finally get all setup and unpacked.

This is a very pretty park, lots of nice trees and pretty green grass. The honey locust trees are blooming right now so there is a nice soft perfume to the air. We are right on the river, so see the barges and hear the trains going by. There is a lot of train traffic, but we are getting used to the sound of trains. In Bend at Crown Villa we were not far from the train tracks and then in Lebanon, there was that small train that went by once a day.

We had a simple dinner and went to bed early. We were beat.

Monday, May 13 - Wednesday, May 15, 2013 (Mehama, OR)

 

Rock wall I cleared of fern and vinca vine



Rich working on arbor



We had three days to finish up some projects for my mom before we were scheduled to hit the road again, so the three days were pretty much work related. I was helping mom get caught up on some yard work while Rich finished up the arbor project and some other miscellaneous "honey do’s". My dad and mom had built this rock retaining wall many years ago and over the course of the years, fern and vinca vine had covered it so you could no longer see the rocks.  I though that all their hard work shouldn't be covered up, so many hours later, this is a small piece of the rock wall that I got uncovered.  There is much more left to do, but that is another project for another time.  The first two days we had good weather for working outdoors, not too hot and not too cold or rainy. Wednesday, we weren’t so lucky. It poured. Because we had to get our projects finished up, we couldn’t let the rain stop us, so out we went into the wet drippy outdoors. Oh well, you do what you need to do to get the job done. Like I’ve said before, I’m very impressed and proud of my mom for how she is able to keep everything around her house so well kept on her own. The woods tend to creep in rapidly.
To celebrate the completetion of our projects, mom treated us to a Chinese dinner at the local Chinese restaurant. They do quite the business, the place was packed.  Thanks mom for a nice treat.   After our dinner we went home and watched the final performances on American Idol.  We didn't have a favorite since we haven't spent much time watching this year and we probably won't have TV reception tomorrow night to see who wins, oh well. 

Saturday & Sunday, May 11-12, 2013 (Mehama, OR)

I got a nice surprise Saturday morning. My youngest daughter Stacy and our grandson Gunner stopped by in the morning. I hadn’t seen them since last Thanksgiving. We had a nice visit and we had a lot to catch up on.  I also got to have some fun shooting some pool with Gunner.  We also got to meet their two new small dog additions to their family, Paco and Little Miss. They sure are cuties. I unfortunately wasn’t thinking and didn’t get any pictures.

After Stacy and Gunner left around noon, Rich and I just spent a relaxing afternoon hanging around and enjoying the sunshine on the deck and I started catching up on our blog.

View of the pond from the deck

Around 3:30 we got a call from Rich’s daughter Jessica, she’s engaged to be married – congratulations! The wedding will be August 10^th, in Arlington, Washington so that will be worked into our summer schedule for sure!

We were invited to my brother Rob’s house for a BBQ, so we took a nice roundabout drive through the countryside to get there. It sure is pretty country when the sun is shining. We had a nice visit with Rob, his wife Kelly, and their 3 daughters and some friends of theirs and my mom. We also learned some new BBQ techniques for the Traeger BBQ. We had never tried BBQing hot dogs on the Traeger, our favorite is rib eye steak, but boy the Traeger sure adds some nice flavor to hot dogs. Rob also grills big onion chunks on the Traeger for hamburgers, those were amazingly good too. Rob & Kelly’s twin daughters, Amanda and Allison are graduating high school this June and Amanda is the salutatorian for her class– Wow! That’s pretty cool. They are two smart girls those two. It was good seeing everyone and again, the camera didn’t make an appearance, so no pictures to share. We’ve got to get better about pulling out the camera.

Sunday - Mother's Day
To all the mother's out there - Happy Mother's Day.  I got another nice surprise visit from my oldest daughter Amber.  It was great catching up with what's going on with her also.  I don't get to see my daughters that often, so it was a special weekend in the fact I got to see them both and have nice long visits with them. 

Other than visiting, we didn't do much and had a pretty relaxing day.  The only work that was accomplished was that Rich finished removing the posts from mom's garden.  After dinner  Rich and I took Gracie for a walk through the woods which we have been doing almost every evening.  It is always so peaceful and relaxing to walk through the woods. 

As I was sitting here tonight working on updating and posting our blog, I could start to hear the rain on the roof, looks like we might be having some rainy weather the next day or so.  We'll have to see how that affects our outdoor projects.  God willing, if everything goes according to plan, the missing parts for the fiver will show up Wednesday and be installed.  Then we'll hit the road on Thursday for points unknown.  We'll keep you posted. 

Friday, May 10, 2013 (Mehama, OR)

Today was another beautiful day. We are just loving this weather. Today the project was to work on the back yard area. My dad had built all these beautiful rock retaining walls which through the years have gotten covered up by plant foliage. My goal was to start removing some of that foliage so the walls would show up again. But I got sidetracked from the wall project because there were lots of ferns that I got started trimming to try and tidy them up. Boy, where did the day go, still have a ways to go.

Rock retaining wall project

Another rock wall shot

Rich fell a viney maple tree for my mom and worked in her garden removing some old posts from the ground. My Mom has this thing for viney maple trees so the fact that we could take one down was quite the accomplishment.  It really opens the area up and Mom was happy. 



Viney Maple Tree felling project - see white stumps at bottom right of small tree

Mom worked on getting another of her flowerbeds planted. We got a lot accomplished today.

Thursday, May 9, 2013 (Mehama, OR)

Today was the day to start some projects around my mom’s. She does an amazing job keeping up her home/yard all by herself, I’m so proud of her because it’s a lot of work. Today we started weeding and planting in her front flowerbeds. Of course, yesterday when we were at Costco we got a flat of impatiens and a couple of nice perennials to go along with some other flowers she had purchased on Tuesday before we got here. I don’t know how it could take all day, but it did. I guess that’s the beauty of retirement, you don’t have to get everything done in one day. It sure takes the pressure off.

Rich went to Salem to donate blood at the Red Cross, he is a regular donor. It was a beautiful enjoyable day had by all.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 (Mehama, OR)

Well today is my 54^th birthday. Funny I don’t feel 54, I guess that’s a good thing. We had a lazy morning having breakfast and chatting with mom. We decided to take mom and head into Salem for a late lunch and to run some errands.

We had a very nice lunch at the Olive Garden (thanks to our co-workers for the gift card). We visited the local Trader Joe’s and Costco. Two of our favorite grocery stores. There was also a stop at Home Depot for a little repair job at my mom’s. While at Home Depot, I couldn’t resist looking at all the pretty flowers they have out. Have you all seen those hoses that shrivel up to nothing when there is no water in them? They had them there and got talked into trying it. The reason we liked it was the weight issue, it weighs next to nothing and anything we can do to keep the weight down in the fiver is a good thing. My mom got one too.

I got a nice surprise once we got home. Unbeknown to me, Rich arranged for two of my brothers who live nearby to come by for birthday cake and ice cream. So I got to see my baby brother Jer and his two kids, Brandon and Carley. His lovely wife was working out of town and not able to come, sorry to miss you Tasha. My brother Jay and his gang showed up too, his lady Lisa and her daughter Melanie. I can’t remember the last time I was with my brothers on my birthday and got to hear them sing me the "Happy Birthday" song. That was a nice special treat. Thanks Rich and mom.



Mom and Carley cutting birthday cake



Brother Jer, me, Lisa and Brandon



Brother Jay



Being serenaded by the family



Me, Mom, Melanie, Brandon, Lisa, Jay, Jer & Carley