Through OR to CA...

We took Cori to the Portland airport and put her on a flight that went to John Wayne airport in Orange County, CA then on to DFW. Having to come home early is the down-side to having a summer internship where you only get 5 days off.....BUT we're very thankful she got to join us!!

Nancie & I got on Hwy 26 to Canon Beach, OR. It was beautiful. We walked down the beach to the haystack rocks.








We had a good seafood lunch at Mo's on the beach. We got on Hwy 101 & drove down the coast. It was an incredible scenic drive!!

In North Bend, OR, as we drove across a bridge, we could see another bridge across from us that had a gap in the middle of it. We asked in town and learned that it was a railroad bridge. The middle section stays turned so that boats can pass through, but with an hour and a half's notice from the train, the mid-section rotates and makes the bridge passable. It hasn't been operational in years, but has recently been refurbished to begin being used in the next couple of months. Very cool!

When we got to the state line, we came to an agricultural inspection station. The officer asked us if we had any fruit with us. I told him we had an orange & a banana. He asked where they were from. I told him, "Oregon". He asked where we were going. We told him Oakland. This guy took his job very seriously. He carefully inspected the orange and declared, "The skin is pretty beat up. You'd better make sure you get it into a proper trash receptacle." He pointed out that since it was Sunkist orange, it might well have been grown in CA. As we drove on, through our laughter, these questions arose...

*are bananas not a high risk fruit?

*if we had been going to San Diego, would that be more of a problem?

*what is a "proper trash receptacle"?

*did your uncle get you this job?

*is the Sunkist label serve as a fruit passport across state lines?

*is this California's tax dollars at work?

THIS WAS THE FUNNIEST THING THAT HAPPENED TODAY!

On to Oregon...

Caught the 7:20 ferry to Anacortes. We drove thru BEAUTIFUL Deception Pass.

We caught the Coupeville to Port Townsend ferry. We were the LAST car allowed on the ferry.....WHEW! WE Drove down the east side of Olympic Peninsula. Stopped & ate our picnic lunch at a beautiful little scenic view. We stopped at the Lillywaup, WA PO to mail postcards. They had 2 customers in the lobby at once & that was big news (a rush) for them. We drove to Portland, checked into our hotel near airport, then headed to the Pearl District to walk and look around. Lots of sights!! Had a burger & smoothies at Burgerville.

We headed about 30 minutes east of Portland to Multnomah Falls. Walked STRAIGHT up a 1.25 mile trail to the top of the falls. It was a HIKE, but the view was totally worth the effort!!

We woke up to a cold windy AM. No one at home sympathized with us because they were all enduring 100+ temperatures.

Nancie, Cori & I hiked onto Shark Reef. There were lots of sea lions on the rocks.

Took ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan island. Nancie rented a moped and Cori & I rented a "scoot coupe". We drove out to the American Camp at the south end of the island. It was a beautiful drive & our little vehicles were FUN, FUN!



We walked around shops in town and had ice cream (AGAIN!) before heading back to Lopez.

Went back to Nancy's house for a delicious roast beef dinner.

Beautiful islands...

Nancy, Nancie, Cori & I caught the 10 AM ferry to San Juan Island's Friday Harbor. We drove out to Lime Kiln Point, walked out to lighthouse point in hopes of seeing whales. No whales...but a beautiful view, nonetheless.

We went to Roche Harbor. We walked thru Hotel de Haro & a beautiful adjoining flower garden.


We walked down dock & looked at all the boats (yacht shopping). Had more good seafood at an outdoor restaurant overlooking the harbor. We were disappointed to find the ice cream shop closed, but continued searching until we found another ice cream shop open (it IS vacation, after all).


We rode another ferry to Orcas Island, then drove to Mt Constitution & hiked up to lookout tower. We then drove around Deer Harbor until dark & time for ferry.

Sunset doesn't happen until after 10 PM, so everyone was ready to crash when we got home.

Day #2

We had no schedule today, so we slept in. We got up & drove around Lopez Island. We picked up some sandwich makings & had a picnic at Spencer Spit. We then went back to the house house, picked up Nancy & William, then headed to Iceberg Point for a supper picnic and watched a beautiful sunset. Amazing sight...

Headed west...

We have been looking forward to a west coast vacation.....& now it's time!

Cori & I left DFW @7:55 AM & flew non-stop to Seattle. Nancie Sawyer flew in from Denver about the same time & we met at the airport. We picked up our rent car, then cousins Brad & Dellamy Thomas met us. We went to the Locks. We enjoyed a great seafood picnic, then went to see locks & fish ladders. There were also beautiful flower gardens to enjoy!
The next stop was Pikes Place Market. Fun place to walk around....beautiful flowers, lots of great produce & fish markets.

We left Seattle in time to make it to Anacortes the 9 o'clock ferry to Lopez Island.

By the time we got to Nancy Carson's house (Nancie's aunt), we had been up 23 hours. It was BEDTIME!

Here's to the horses in my life...

Horses have ALWAYS been a part of my life. My daddy made sure there was always a good horse in the pasture with my name on it! In fact, I don't think I've ever been without one...until today.

The first horse I remember helping pick out was Honeybee. She was a beautiful Palomino. She was a pleasure to ride! I had her until I was in college. When we sold her, I got a mare that we called Nancy. I ran barrels on her until I traded her for another mare we called Blackie, also a barrel horse.

The horse I got that I first learned how to team rope on was Big Mo. Tommy wanted me to learn to rope. He bought him for me. Big Mo was a TANK & perfect to teach someone that knew nothing about roping. When he got old enough to retire, we traded him & I got another rope horse we called Mad Dog (he was branded with my initials, thus the name). When we sold him, I rode a horse named Yeller that belonged to some friends of ours. There were a couple of other questionable purchases that didn't last long.

Probably the "once in a lifetime" horse I had was next. He was a tall, lanky roan horse that Cori dubbed MACARONI PONY. He had a stomach ulcer that was diagnosed on Christmas Eve one year. We had to go to the grocery store & buy all the Maalox they had on their shelf to doctor him until we could get it ordered by the gallon from the vet. Anytime we brought another horse into our barn or did anything out of the normal schedule, his ulcer would flare up & we'd have to give him Maalox before he could eat. He was safe to put any kid on & was also a great head horse. I always said when something happened to him, we'd have him stuffed in our living room because I couldn't imagine life without him. However, after he was past his roping years, we sold him to a family with children who were wanting to learn to ride.

The next horse we bought was Uno. He has been at our house for the last 7 years. I've loved roping on him, but he was getting enough age on him that I knew I should begin to look for something a little younger.


We heard from a friend about a young man that was looking for a horse that he could learn to rope on. He & his family came out today to try him. We knew as soon as he got on him, that he was leaving our house today. I've never seen an 8th grade boy smile any bigger.









It's a bittersweet day. I know that Uno has gone to a GREAT home, but it's kinda strange going to sleep tonight, knowing that there isn't a horse in the barn tonight that is MINE!

Winston Churchill once said, "There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man". We are believers in that philosophy.

Author Gary Paulsen wrote a book called My life in dog years. If you haven't read it, you should. Each chapter tells the story of a dog that he had during his lifetime. I guess I'll call this blog post My life in horse years. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, I'll start a new chapter.