One Last Hurrah

The boys and I made one last summer hurrah and traveled to Sunriver to visit with Mame, Mike & Toni and their family.  Even though we just returned from seeing them in July, it is always good to see family.

Mame enjoying some down time with the girls.

Mame and some of her grand kids.  Kellen doesn't look too excited, but Kaia looks like a lounge lizard!

Kellen & Morgan had a tough time saying goodbyes!

We returned on Thursday and bright and early Friday morning my contractors made an appearance.  They proceeded to make a big mess, which I have been told is a sign of progress.  They took out one large window, framed it in for the new cabinetry; framed in a wall for my new laundry room and tore out what was remaining of my old laundry closet. 

Window all framed in.

Current/old kitchen will become my new laundry room.

The one glitch that was giving me concern was the possibility of my old laundry closet being a load bearing wall.  From all appearances, it didn't look like one, but I just had a gut feeling so I never completely removed it.  Well, it turns out that my guts were right.  I wasn't here when they tore out the remaining posts and ceiling, but I was here to see the mess and clean up blown in insulation.  It is bearing, so we will have to make some modifications in the attic.  But I am assured that it is no big deal and they will be here Monday to keep at it. 

Morgan has also decided to run cross country for KUHS this year.  It should be interesting as he hasn't ran XC since his diagnosis 3 years ago.  It is also that time again when I must sit down with teachers and coaches and get his 504 plan and diabetes plan in place.  Where did the summer go?

Bush Man of San Francisco

Okay, This is like the second time I have written this post, Blogger loses it  and I re-type it.  The story has lost some of its flair during the last couple of re-writes so bear with me!!

When we were in San Francisco over Christmas we were able to visit the pier and Fisherman's Wharf.  It is always  a fun place to visit, with the sights of the wharf, sounds of all the people and smell of the sourdough bread steaming from the bakery!

We were unable to eat at the sourdough bakery as the lines were just way too long so we made our way back down the pier to "Joe's Crab Shack".  Pat and I had eaten at Joe's in Houston, but not the one in San Fran.  The restaurant itself is above street level and was surprisingly empty. 

We were seated at a window table with a full view of the street below.  After a couple of minutes a man, who I will call "Bushman", came along with his 5 gallon bucket to sit on and an armful of branches. 

 Bushman set up shop on the opposite sidewalk and we watched with a perfect view.  What happened was absolutely hysterical.  This guy would 'hide' behind his armful of branches and scare any unsuspecting soul that happened to not be paying attention...which was quite a few.

We saw big burly men jump about 3 inches off the ground when Bushman would scare them.  There were quite a few of us in the restaurant who where busting a gut laughing at what was going on at street level.  We had a perfect view.  

What we couldn't see was the mob of people that had grown on the sidewalk below us watching  Bushman do his thing!

Galice to Agness/Gold Beach

Almost 19 years ago Pat and I tried to take this route to the coast on our honeymoon. It was in mid-March when we tried to pass over the coastal range. When we finally turned our little Honda civic around, there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground, I had moved some rather large rocks out of the road and the final straw was that we ran out of pavement.

I swear when I read the map it said that there was a road going over the mountain! Pat loves to tell the story and we have actually had a couple of friends and a family member take that very same route-though they passed in the summer!

When we went fishing in October our guide told us that there was actually a lot of traffic taking that route and that it was passable-even in October "I have seen Lexus' on that road" He stated...I seriously doubted that!. Pat was determined to cut 2 hours off our trip and I was a nervous wreck.

Wouldn't this sign make you just a tad bit nervous?

Mind you, that this is the same route that the Kim family happened upon almost 1 year ago.

The weather was nice on this trip, but I was definitely keeping my eyes on the storm clouds that seemed to be gathering on the other side of the mountain.



We did see a lot of trailer traffic, people pulling boats and several raft vans, the ones with multiple river rafts on their trailer!

This was definitely a very narrow road, but it did get smaller!

And I was having a Deja'vu moment.



Which way...the large road to the right or the smaller one to the left?

Definitely not to the right! (This is the route that the Kim family took. Some one later painted the sign on the road.)


We made it to the top and to Bear Camp.



Beautiful View!


But the road down was mighty treacherous! As we were going up the mountain we were telling the boys our harrowing tail of 19 years ago. We had them all freaked out that we were going to get stranded up there. When we finally landed in Agness we were all relieved and Morgan's blood sugars were over 300....he told me later that he was so scared that his heart was pounding the entire time!

There is actually quite a bit of traffic on that route. I really can't even call it a road. There are so many wash outs, especially on the coastal side. We did not take this way back as there was a huge storm blowing in from the coast and the word was that it was snapping trees on the mountain. It took us 7 hours to get home and only 4 hours to get there. I would absolutely take that route again, but only in the summer.

Happy, Happy Birthday....

For Pat's birthday we went to Agness, OR and fished the Rogue River for Chinook salmon with Jim Dunlevy. Pat caught a couple, but Lucas was the big winner. He caught 3 pretty big salmon and landed 2.

Morgan caught 1 steelhead but we threw him back for another season. He had just as much fun playing with Hannah.

Lucas tried to wack this Chinook to death.Lucas is our little angler. The boy loves to fish and the excitement we see in his eyes when he lands his fish is worth every penny.


Mom with yummy Coho...guess what we are having for dinner!

We had a great time with some great stories from the trip that I can't wait to blog about. Our family and friends will remember our honeymoon trip, that almost ended in annulment, to the coast on the Galice-Gold Beach road? But alas the laundry awaits and it smells like fish.