Pic-of-the-Week for September 25, 2012

Hola Amigos,

The pickup is packed and we're ready to head south; that is, after a detour to the Oregon Coast to visit the last brother we haven't seen yet this summer!  It turns out that we've got a bit of spare room, so we've invited Ben's brother Ken to join us on the trip down.  He's excited that his wife Bea allowed him to go!  We hope to leave from Brookings, Oregon on or about October 1.  We try to be fairly flexible with our schedule.  In fact, one year, before we had a trailer, we informed our hostess in Keizer that we were staying with her for another week, because there was a hurricane going through our neighborhood in Baja!  No reason to go down and maybe not get there due to washed out roads, or fight for the resources (gas, food, etc.)  There is a tropical storm off off Baja right now (Miriam) that will drop some rain, but shouldn't actually go over Baja.  In the meantime, we keep watching the weather forecasts for that area.

Our dogs, Sam & Zoey, have been enjoying the last days of our vacation.  They have been enjoying playing with the BIG dogs!  When we got to Prineville to visit cousins John and Allyson, Sam and Zoey got to know Hayden, their beautiful white German Shepherd.

Zoey fell in love, and Sam was a bit jealous!   The dogs also got to run and play at the Prineville Park by the Crooked River, and chase balls with Hayden.  They had a grand time!

Harriet's cousin John has just opened a bike repair shop in Prineville.  He attended a bike repair school in Ashland this summer.  He's an avid bike rider, and teaches a spinning class in the gym where his shop is located.  Seems like a good fit for him!

John in his shop.

Allyson trying to get Hayden to give the ball up.  He knows if he drops it, Sam (in the blue collar) will grab it!

Allyson (left) & her assistant in Allyson's Health Food store.

We had a great time visiting with them.  Then we drove to Tygh Valley to clean out our trailer and put it away for the winter.  We saw these two deer at the bottom of the driveway just about every time we went by!  They had comfy beds dug out in the dirt, and hated to get up when someone drove by. 

Believe it or not, Zoey spotted this little guy near our friend's garden, but was too scared to chase. 

As we were leaving Tygh Valley, we came across a cattle drive.  We passed by slowly.  Typical site in much of Central and Eastern Oregon.

We got to Bend on Sunday, and by late Sunday afternoon had all of our stuff out of the attic and packed into the pickup.  We seem to be pretty good at arriving at places at opportune times.  On Sunday afternoon, Ken & Bea's youngest daughter Beth showed up for a several day visit, and daughter Marilyn, with her two youngest daughters also arrived.  They're all from the Portland area.  Then daughter Chrys showed up, and there was a birthday celebration for Chrys & Beth, whose birthdays are both in September.  

We promised to take Ken & Bea out for their 49th anniversary, and the first free night for them was Tuesday, so we'll do that tonight, then leave tomorrow, with Ken in tow.  In the meantime, he's out mowing his lawn and getting a list of things done so he is free to go with us.

Chrys on left, Beth on the right.

Three year old Devin, Chrys's son, enjoys reading the newspaper each day.  

He even reads the ads! 

On Wednesday we leave here for the Oregon Coast, first Florence, then North Bend, then on to Brookings.  After we leave Brookings with our friend Pat, we will get serious about putting on some miles each day.  

So....until we return to Baja, this is probably the last Pic-of-the-Week until sometime in October.  More photos are in our September Picasa album at https://picasaweb.google.com/105471094228418480553/201209September#    You should really check out the shoe tree we found!  :-)

Your friends on the move in Oregon & California & Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey (who just got their baths and are ready to roll!)

Pic-of-the-Week for September 18, 2012

Hola Amigos, 

Ben thought I should write our "almost weekly" newsletter this week.  He told me that perhaps the Pendleton Roundup was "my" thing, but I know he enjoys it as much as I do!  

Yes, we attended the famous Roundup last weekend in Pendleton, Oregon... the 102nd edition!  That means our summer "vacation" in the Pacific Northwest is drawing to a close, and we need to pack up and head south very soon.  I've enjoyed my vacation from writing Pic-of-the-Week, and I think Ben did a great job, don't you?  It's nice to get a different perspective.  

You see, I like to take pictures of people and places.  Ben likes cars and trucks and animals.  For example, my 1st cousin twice removed turned 3 while we were visiting her grandparents (my cousin and his wife) at their farm near Harrisburg.  She had a tea party that was pretty amazing.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from that event!

Georgia, the 3-year old birthday princess...

 

 

One of the properly dressed birthday tea party guests....

They had a birthday Pinata, and there was a little fairy swinging the bat with the best of them!

 

It was all just too cute! 

OK.  We left the valley (after one more quick repair to the truck).  This hose that is part of the turbo had a nice big hole in it (see top left part of hose).  The truck is running VERY nice now after that was replaced.  And it's a good thing, because we like those back roads. 

 

We spent a day or two in Bend organizing our hoard of stuff, then headed to Prineville, Mitchell, Spray (where we spent the night in the city park on the John Day River), then on to my niece's home in Athena via Heppner and Pilot Rock and Pendleton, of course.   We were ready to "Let 'er BUCK!!!"  Our friends from Salem, Dan and Paula, joined us.  They set up a nice tent on my niece's yard and joined us for the parade and Round Up on Friday and Saturday.  Paula's family is from the Pendleton area; she even had an aunt who was a Round Up princess in the 1930's!  

The Westward Ho parade is one of the only parades in the US with NO motorized vehicles.  Only horses, mules, and oxen are used to pull the various wagons.  We saw some amazing horseflesh.... 

There were also marching bands and Rodeo Princesses and Queens from all over the Northwest, politicians, people running for office, representatives from all the Universities and Colleges in the state, and who knows who else!  All in all, it's a great parade, and I take a ton of photos every year.  Unfortunately, I had a setting on my camera that messed up the majority of the videos I took until I figured it out later in the day.  Oh, well....

The Round Up is always entertaining.  So much activity is accomplished in the time allowed, it is truly amazing.  As far as I could tell, no one was seriously injured this year (except for a few calves that were hauled off the field on a tractor).  

I'll spare you the hundreds  of Round Up photos here...  I've added the best shots to our September Picasa album at...

https://picasaweb.google.com/105471094228418480553/201209September# 

Be sure to check out the videos at the end.  There is a very interesting bull ride / dismount video near the end.  You couldn't pay me enough money in the world to do that stuff!!!  Yikes!  

That's it until Ben writes the next one!  Who knows how long that will be!  

Tus amigos de Baja,

Harriet & Ben, Sam & Zoey