July 25-27 Barlow Creek campsite

Well, we decided to go camping with some of our friends up around Timothy Lake, about 20 miles south of Mt. Hood, OR, and about an hour east of Portland. While it was a scenic drive, all of the campgrounds were full around the lake, and the surrounding areas. Leslie grew up camping in the area, so we followed her around until we found a beautiful spot next to Barlow Creek. We had a great time, and spent the next couple of days exploring Clear Lake and even made a tourist run up to Timberline Lodge. Sean & Sharon & family, Leslie & Jonathan & family, Aaron & Susan & family, Irene & family plus various other guest kids.



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4th of July at Longbeach WA (repeat!)

Well, here we are again at Longbeach again. Actually, we are in Ilwaco, which is about 5 minutes south of Longbeach, staying at the KOA. Things are going well, except for a few ants that decided to hitch a ride in our trailer. Our good friends Aaron and Susan have joined us, and are trying out their new (to them) classic 1973 Apache hard sided pop up trailer. Very cool unit. My sister and her husband Peter will be showing up shortly for some tent camping alongside. It should be a beautiful fireworks display on the beach tonight. Kyle tested out his new wetsuit a couple of times in the surf, said it worked pretty well!

Memorial Day 2008

Now this was a nice get away. We hooked up the trailer and headed for the coast. We had reserved a spot on the beach at the Cape Lookout state park. Mild weather, a huge beach to explore, and camping next to the muted rumble of the surf. We camped next to our friends, the Bauders. This was the first time towing with the truck, and it did very well. A little different to drive with the stick, and I think the mileage is a little worse, but overall it was fun. We even saw a huge California Barracuda (We think) laying on the beach, not to mention Bald Eagles, Osprey, etc.

Whirlwind tour of Tucson and San Diego!

Now this was a trip! We planned this last year, but airfare prices doubled in the meantime. The budget being what it was, we just threw everything in the ol' PT Cruiser and headed south. We drove for about 12 hours, stopped near Sacramento, then drove another 12 hours to Tucson. We took a quick break in Phoenix to visit with our friend Jeff Marcille and his lovely family. Yep, he's still a tech geek. Great dog too. Hopefully next time we can meet up with the rest of our old friends. We spent 3 days in Tucson visiting family, hiking the Sabino Canyon, and visiting the Desert Museum. While we were at it, we setup Carol with a Macbook so she could begin her big adventure on the web. Then, we hightailed it over to San Diego. That's a nice little trip, the scenery is nice around the dunes west of Yuma, and the rocky foothills going into California. Seaworld was cool, and the Electric Flyers of San Diego were showing off their planes at a nearby park. Very cool. Seaworld was seaworld, recommended, as was the San Diego Zoo. Next time we will plan an extra day to hit all the museums in the area around Balboa Park. So, here we are, back at home and recovering from our sunburns. Woo!

Thanksgiving 2007 in Azalea, OR

Well, it was sort of a last minute thing, but we were able to run down to visit our relatives in Azalea for Thanksgiving. I wish we could visit more often, but at least once a year isn't too bad. My aunt had some long lost relatives visiting from out of state, they hadn't seen them for over 50 years. I got to see some of my cousins, Kyle got to spend some time with his cousins, and Sharon got to visit and show off her famous cranberry sauce. The trailer towed great, but the door lock failed twice, causing some damage to the door when it opened on the highway. I was able to jam a piece of wood in the handle for the remainder of the trip. We had a comfortable night, but it was a little nippy the next morning, check out the frost!