Our first trip to the Oregon Coast, and a quick trip to Phoenix, April 24 - 30, 2016

After I returned from my quick trip to Massachusetts on Saturday April 23, Patty had her first flying lesson on Sunday morning, April 24.  After that, I took Ben and Martha to the airport for their week in Utah visiting friends, looking at the University of Utah and hoping to get in some visits to some national parks.

Patty has started classes to get her private pilot's license while we are in Portland, hoping to do so over the summer.  Lessons 1, 2 and 3 were on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, April 24 -26. On Wednesday, Patty and I went on our first trip to the Oregon coast.  It was about an hour and 45 minute drive to Ecola State Park.  We parked in the large parking lot and then explored.

 Crescent beach was to the south of the point we were at.

It was a windswept point that had views of the island where Tillamook Lighthouse had been (it is now a place for cremated human remains to be interred).  

If you look closely, the next picture shows the light house, and the picture after that is one where I tried to use the zoom on my cellphone camera to get a better view of the light house.

We had a pleasant picnic lunch, with visits from several seagulls - it reminded both of us of our trips to Acadia National Park in Maine and my encounters with the seagulls there.  We then took the trail north for about three quarters of a mile to where we had a better view of the lighthouse, but where the trail became very narrow with a precipitous drop off.

We headed back to our starting point and that is when I realized that one of the rock islands off shore had an arch through it.

We also found out that we were in cougar country and how to respond - similar to the warnings we had earlier in the month in Sequoia National Park about being in bear country.

Here are a couple of better shots showing the arch through the rock islet.

We then drove south a few miles, passed the town of Cannon Beach and stopped at Arcadia Beach State Park.  We climbed down to the beach and spent an hour walking around on a virtually abandoned beach that had a half dozen homes on the cliffs looking down at us.  We saw one that was listed for $2.5 million.

We then drove back north and through the town of Cannon Beach - it appears to be a great place to visit again, perhaps renting a space for a week or two.  We got coffee and then drove back to Portland, arriving in time for a quiet dinner.

Thursday, I flew to Phoenix and had dinner with Anne and Shawn at their home, and got caught up with them.  Then back to our condo where I greeted Bob and Marianne - they were in town for TJ's wedding.  Friday, I did school work and a number of errands.  Bob and Marianne went off to the wedding and I went off to the Desert Botanical Garden for a shift with the Bruce Munro exhibit.  Saturday, I attended the annual faculty meeting at the Phoenix office of Wayland Baptist University.  And then headed to the airport for flights to San Francisco and back to Portland late Saturday evening.

Two quiet days in Portland before going to New England, April 19 - 23

We continued shopping for and setting up things for us at the house in Portland; a dresser and nightstand for me and a storage unit for Patty in the bedroom; a desk for my office; more shelves in the second floor bathroom; another lamp for the living room; and various small items around the house.  This has meant several shopping trips, both to used furniture places and to new, such as Bed, Bath and Beyond, Fred Meyers Home, Home Depot, etc.  Things are looking up and are more organized.  One of the ways to help decide what to get was to take photos of the items and prices.

Portland had three days of record high temps, Monday through Wednesday.  At the airport, the official temps were in the upper 80s, breaking old records by five or more degrees each day - but the airport is not a heat island like the city and has the breezes from the Columbia River basin.  The Wunderground Hawthorne monitoring station is only a few blocks from us and it reported temps in the upper 90s.  I took this photo in the car while going for gas - by the time I took the photo, the temp was down from 102 degrees.

Wednesday, I caught the 11:00 p.m. United flight to Chicago, arriving there at 5:00 a.m., then the 7:30 flight arriving in Boston at 10:30 a.m.  I took Logan Express to Framingham where Helen met me, and we went out for lunch.  In the afternoon, I took it easy, and a little before 5:00 we walked to the park where Helen's grandson Allie had practice of Little League.  I carried dinner for Helen, Phil and me: tuna sandwiches, chips, water, ice and cookies, and we enjoyed a light dinner while watching his team practice. 

On the walk back home, we stopped at Medusa Brewery - Helen and Phil had always seen them as very busy so were interested.  It turns out they only sell beer and no food other than pretzels and artisan cheeses - signs tell you that you are free to bring your own food, and many people had brought pizzas from the pizza shop next door.  I ordered a pretzel to share and a beer for me:

BADGERWEISS

Hefeweizen – 4.7%
A Bavarian yeast strain gives this light, dry wheat beer its signature spicy clove-like character.  Brewed with 100% Massachusetts-grown red winter wheat and pilsner malt from Valley Malt in Hadley, MA.   A beer style favored by woodland creatures everywhere.

Shortly after sitting down with my beer, Phil arrived (Helen and I had walked, he drove) and tried the beer - it was not for him.  After the beer was done, Phil drove home and Helen and I walked to Amaia Martini Bar, another place on Main St. in Hudson that Helen had wanted to try.  We each had a nice glass of chardonnay and we tried an order of Bacalhau Cakes.

 

Friday morning, after Phil left for work, Helen was going through some old photos, looking for ones to use for their 50th wedding anniversary party in November.  She came across these two from our wedding in 1975.

Phil, me and Helen, with Laura in front

I could not figure out how to rotate this one.  My sisters Helen, Jane and Joan in front, brother Gary, my mother and me in back row in front of the house in Conway, MA

After doing some work on my classes, I left Hudson around 8:30 and got to Johnson State around 12:30 where I had lunch with a student who is doing an independent study with me and with my colleague and full time professor Henrique.  Then I taught my class at 3:00, left Johnson around 5:00 and got back to Hudson around 9:15 p.m. for a glass of wine and chat with Helen before bed.

Saturday, Helen and I went for a walk, then Helen, Phil and I went out for Sunday brunch with my niece Leta and her husband Bill.  And then back to Logan Express and the Boston Airport.  I had been upgraded to first class on the flight to Denver and the connecting flight to Portland.  But it was not to be, as the Denver flight was delayed several hours, too late to catch the last flight to Portland - so I was rescheduled on flights to Chicago and then to Portland.  The delay gave me added time in Boston, which I used updating this blog.

Hiking in Forest Park, Monday April 18, 2016

After Ben and Martha went to work Monday morning, Patty and I drove to the MacLeay Park section of Forest Park.  MacLeay Park was the first 105 acres to be donated as park and it was the start of what is now the 5,000+ acres of Forest Park.  We did not end up where we thought we would at the start of the Lower MacLeay trailhead - instead we were at the upper end, which is also the lower end of the Wildwood Trail that goes up to Pittock Mansion, now gardens and museum, that we have visited before.  It is about 1.5 miles uphill to the mansion, through a nice grove of large Douglas Firs, among other trees and flora.

As always, Pittock Mansion and the surrounding gardens were beautiful.

After spending 15 - 20 minutes wandering around the grounds and looking down and out at the views of Portland, Mt. Tabor and Mt. Hood, we returned to our car.  We then hiked down to the lower MacLeay Trail which follows the Balch Creek.  Mr. Balch was the first hanging in Portland back in the early 1800s.  Apparently, he was unhappy that his daughter ran off and got married, so he shot and killed his new son-in-law.  The trail is well kept and surprisingly busy for a Monday that had record high temps - the first of three days where new high temps were set in Portland.  It was about 1.5 miles down to the trail head, which had parking and restrooms.

After our hike of 3.5 hours and almost 7 miles, we returned home and then walked to Fred Meyers, the local grocery store.  We had another nice evening at home with a quiet dinner with Ben and Martha.  And of course, also Mr. Shadow.

A new Volvo and Megan comes to visit April 9 - 17, 2016

Friday, we got somewhat settled into the house in Portland.  And Saturday we went looking for Volvos.  We saw two advertised through the USAA car buying service, both were 2015 Volvo XC-60.  We test drove both and decided on the silver one with just over 37,000 miles on it.  It has black leather interior, dual heat/AC controls, and a bevy of digital things I have not yet figured out.  The most interesting is the technology that causes the engine to stop when your foot is on the brake and while you are at a complete stop such as a red light or stop sign.  By the time you remove your foot from the brake pedal and move it to the gas pedal, the engine restarts and you can drive away. 

On Saturday, I was signing the paperwork for the new car when Megan texted that her flight had arrived, so Patty left to get Megan in the White Box on Wheels (see the previous blog entry).  By the time they returned to the dealer, everything was all set except for a couple of signatures for Patty.  Once done, Patty and Megan drove home in the Volvo and I drove in the WBOW.

We had a great visit with Megan.  She was given permission to work remotely during her vacation, and it turned out to be a busy week for her - the office manager called Sunday evening to say he would be starting jury duty Monday morning.  His jury duty lasted all week.  Megan actually booked 23 hours of work (I think she probably did more).  Office calls were forwarded to the office cell phone she had with her.  Many times we were driving someplace or doing something and Megan would deal with a flight reservation or contract or any of the hundreds of issues needed for work.  Similarly, she had set up her work computer so she could control it remotely from her laptop while in Portland.  So it really was almost as if she was there.

All of us, including Mr. Shadow, were glad to have Megan visit.  With four bedrooms and three bathrooms, the house is more than large enough for all five of us plus Mr. Shadow.

One evening when Ben and Martha were busy, Patty, Megan and I went out for dinner and ate at Hoda's Lebanese Restaurant, mom with an eggplant risotto, Megan with chicken and me with a lamb and rice bowl.  All three were so large that we all took half home for lunch the next day.

The Sunnyside district where we live in Southeast Portland is very colorful, both with all the spring time blooms as well as with house colors.  Purple and orange are not at all unusual.  On our many walks with Mr. Shadow we got to see just how colorful the neighborhood is in spring - there are virtually no houses painted white.

Even the motor vehicles are colorful.

We had many fun shopping excursions, meals in, meals out at restaurants and trips and tours during the week.  We bade a fond farewell to Megan and I brought her to the airport early Sunday morning for her flights to Seattle and then on to Ketchikan.