PORTLAND, OREGON

PORTLAND, OREGON

It's old home week in Portland! We are finding ourselves enjoying all the things we have been missing for 4 months! Debby couldn't wait to get back to school to see her Second Graders and be mobbed with hugs and questions! I have been relaxing at home sorting photographs and trying to fix stuff. Wanting to head for the Gorge to do some hiking but trying to logistically figure that out; not to mention the inclement weather of wind, rain and snow we are having!

We will be in this area for two or three weeks. We have appointments to be poked and prodded by doctors and dentists for various old age symptoms. With Christmas just around the corner, we have shopping to do, gifts to wrap, and parties to attend. Then there are the grand kids! We have school events like Home Coming, pancake feed, Basketball games and hugging parties to attend. I have invitations to get together with friends who have actually missed me! So much to do and so little time to do it!

Although it looks like it will be a rainy Christmas this year, it was snowing this morning with large puffy flakes. The upper elevations are getting more sticking to the ground and the mountains are getting hammered with several feet of new snow! That should help our Orchards next summer and provide beautiful mountain backpacking in August!

It's all good!

BAKER CITY, OREGON

UTAH to IDAHO to OREGON

The drive from Fort Collins, Colorado to Park City, Utah was a comfortable drive. The road itself was dry even though the country side was white with a heavy dusting of snow. We ended our day of driving in Park City, Utah. The surrounding mountains have numerous winter ski runs and even a ski jump where our Olympic Teams practice their jumps.
 

We spent the night with friends in their amazing home atop a mountain on the opposite side of Park City, providing awesome views of the ski runs. Their back yard was dotted with Deer and Elk tracks in the fresh snow. I had not seen JoAnne since the 11th Grade. It was nice to meet her husband and get to know them. They were most hospitable and treated us to an awesome dinner at the Clubhouse. We had a great visit trying to catch up on a few years. We spent the night in their guest room.
 

We drove away wondering how one could come close to repaying the kindness shown to us.
 

The early morning views across the valley were awesome!

We continued our drive across Utah and Idaho. We made a brief stop in Twin Falls to buy a pair of chains for the Sienna, as it began to snow more and more. As soon as we bought the chains the snowing stopped. We also made a pit stop in Boise at the last Cracker Barrel Restaurant towards parts West.

As we entered Oregon, the weather began to turn sour and the temperatures dropped into the low 20's and snow was falling. The roads were beginning to ice over and were covered with a blanket of white as we took the Baker City exit to refuel and take a room in the Best Western. Tomorrow we brave the snowy pass towards LaGrande and beyond. Looking forward to seeing "our people"!

God is Good!

COLORADO

COLORADO

HEADING HOME! We drove away from Branson, MO early Tuesday morning and headed West. We spent the night in Colby. KS. It was 21 degrees this morning when we headed for Colorado Springs.


Flat Stanley wanted to visit the headquarters of FOCUS ON THE FAMILY. There was still snow on the ground but the temperature had warmed to 42 degrees and felt much better than the early morning chill I had while filling my gas tank in Colby, Kansas!

We took a brief self-guided tour of the Bookstore building. It is a very intriguing place for kids. The Adventures in Odyssey exhibit is awesome! This would be a great place to bring the kids. The little ones we saw there were having the time of their lives! A kid could spend hours in there having fun!
 

Following lunch we headed out to GARDEN OF THE GODS, a City Park on the edge of town. It's a beautiful area of interesting red rock formations created eons ago and slowly, through an erosion process, created the awesome formations we see today.

  
The park is used by joggers, hikers and horse-back riders. The one-way road allows self guided car tours with turn-outs, viewpoints and photo ops. I give it two thumbs up!
 

We decided to try to get past Denver before the heart of rush hour began. But much like Portland, I think rush hour started around 1:30 PM! It was stop and go occasionally but not as bad as could have been a couple of hours later! The 3 or 4 car pile up on the Expressway at exit 181 blocked traffic for a while, until the wreckers showed up and the PoPo's redirected traffic off the freeway and merged them back on at the 181 entrance on the other side. I needed to get off and refuel anyway.

This evening we stopped in Fort Collins, CO for the night. We had dinner at Famous Dave's before coming back to the Hilton. Tomorrow we head on towards Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho. We have been most fortunate that bad weather has been ahead of us or behind us this entire trip!

God is good!