A Whirlwind Two Weeks (Monday, February 25 to Monday, March 11) - Monday, March 11, 2019

Life is tricky. We may want events in our lives to go a certain way and we work toward that end. However, changes happen, things come up, you have to make new decisions, and adjustments must be made. It's all a part of our personal evolution. 

On Monday, February 25, I flew to Portland, Oregon, to spend time with my family. My flight was delayed in Denver: first to wait for a flight attendant arriving on another flight which was delayed, and second, the plane's wings had to be de-iced. We were over an hour late leaving Denver. 

My son kept an eye on our progress and was at the airport to pick me up about 12:35 p.m. Portland had its own weather going on with temps expected to freeze. He got me to my sister's house and made it back to his place safely. Thank you, Michael. I really appreciate it especially because of the weather and you had to work the next day.

Tuesday it was time to pick up my rental car and my sister and I went to see mom. For dinner, Gustav's German restaurant sounded like a nice change from all of Mom and Jan's visits to PF Chang's. At Gustav's, we had their Peasant Trio Dinner which is a Caesar salad, two pieces of German cheese bread, and lentil or onion soup. For dessert, we had their excellent Creme Brulee (not included in the dinner). After dinner, the three of us played Rummikub for 2-1/2 hours.

Mom, Jan, and I went to PF Chang's for dinner on Wednesday. After dinner, I headed back to Jan's house and my sister went to church.

My sister, Jan, and my mom, Margaret.

Me, Jan, Mom at PF Chang's.

On Thursday, Jan, Mom and I went to see "The Green Book," followed by dinner at The Olive Garden. My son, Michael, met us there. We had an excellent time.

Me, Michael, Mom, and Jan at Olive Garden.

Friday, March 1, Mom and I went to see "The Upside." She loved it and so do I. I've seen it three times! Then I dropped her back at her apartment so she could be in time for dinner there.

Saturday, I took mom to the bank in the morning. In the afternoon, Michael and I played five games of Lasertag and then went to Killer Burger for dinner. Laser tag is so much fun. There is a really good laser tag arena at Wunderland in Gresham. At Killer Burger, all burgers come with a piece of bacon and fries. The burgers were good.

Laser tag suit up area.

Killer Burger mural.

After dinner, I played Rummikub with mom in her apartment. My sister was at her friend's house for game night.

Sunday, March 3, my brother & sister-in-law (Frank and Gina) met Mom, Michael, Jan, and I for breakfast at La Provence restaurant in Lake Grove. It's a great spot for breakfast with an awesome French bakery there as well. Yummy. My mom, sister, and I had mixed berry crepes. My son had a traditional breakfast which also looked excellent. He shared a couple of bites of his croissant with fresh raspberry jam with me. Mmm! Gina had a huge omelet which will make another meal as well. My brother ordered one of their specials, I believe it was tenderloins of beef served with steamed butternut squash cubes and a croissant. 

Me, Frank, Gina, Mom, Jan at
La Provence

After breakfast, Jan went to church. Frank and Gina headed home to watch the Portland Trailblazer game. In the afternoon, Michael, Frank, and I played four games of laser tag. The arena was full for all the games except the first one, so it was quite fun. Afterward, Frank headed home. Michael and I went to dinner at Red Robin.

Me in my laser tag vest with a laser gun.

Michael took a week of vacation so he could spend time with me and the family. What a wonderful son. I enjoyed being with him. Thank you, Michael.

Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Bob walked the Alamo Marathon. It took him over seven hours, but he did it and walked away with a great medal.

Congratulations, Bob!

On Monday, March 4, I wore mom out. We went for a ride in the country on the hills around Sherwood and Scholls. I made random turns and followed small, winding country roads where we saw horses, a winery, and a sweeping view of Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Adams totally covered in gleaming white snow. 

We had a cod lunch at Elmer's Pancake House, went to McCann's Pharmacy so she could buy some cards, the Discovery Shop Thrift Store, and Baskin Robbins for ice cream. We played Rummikub and chatted until it was time to meet Jan at The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Jan had been working all day so she was ready to eat. 

Tuesday, we planned to go to Cannon Beach for the day. Mom decided to take a day off. All of the rest of us thought it was too cold to spend the day at the beach. I had to return the rental car today and after that, Jan, Michael, and I saw "The Upside." For a late lunch which ended up also being dinner, we went to Sweet Tomatoes salad buffet. We were stuffed when we finished there! Who says you can't gain weight in a salad restaurant? You sure can when they also serve soup, baked potato bar, pasta, muffins, pizza cubes, and tapioca pudding.

On Wednesday, March 6, Mom, Jan, Michael, and I made another foray into PF Chang's for dinner. Fortune cookies came at the end of the meal. I jokingly asked if anyone wanted to trade fortunes with me. They all said no. When I opened mine, it said, "You will soon have a chance encounter with an old friend." 

As soon as I got the fortune, the former editor of the newspaper where I used to sell ads, Curt Kipp, and his wife Lexi, came in for her birthday dinner. We have dinner together occasionally when I'm visiting Oregon. I stopped by their table after our dinner and said hi and showed them the fortune. I wished Lexi a happy birthday. Curt took a picture of me holding the fortune.

Mom, Jan, me, and Michael
at PF Chang's

Me, Lexi, and Curt

After dinner, Jan went to church and Michael and I went to Mom's to play Rummikub and watch Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and Survivor. Jan stopped back at Mom's to pick me up to go back to her place. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Jan's chocolate chip cookies. She kept the cookie jar full. Also, thank you to Jan who let me crash in her spare bedroom while I was in Oregon! You are a very gracious hostess.

Thursday, March 7: Jan made delicious smoothies for our breakfast. At 10:30 a.m., we picked up Mom, and Michael who met us at Marquis Assisted Living. Thai Village in Wilsonville is where we met Kimmie (our "adopted" sister) for lunch. Kimme's birthday was yesterday. A nice, relaxed lunch ensued. Thank you, Kimmie, for lunch! 

Me, Mom, Kimmie, and Jan.

Thai Village restaurant

After lunch, Jan, Michael, Mom, and I played Rummikub until it was time for them to take me to the airport. 

I flew home via Las Vegas, was delayed in Vegas, but still made it home 10 minutes early. Bob was waiting for me when I emerged with my luggage. Good timing! Thank you, Bob. l love you, and I missed you while I was away.

Friday, March 8: Bob worked his last day at his temporary job. I got a massage, had my hair done, and then Bonnie, a Rivard Report photographer, came to our place to take photos of us to go with the article I wrote on our unique living situation. The article will be published on an upcoming Saturday.

Saturday and Sunday, March 9-10: Do you remember the Tasmanian devil cartoons? If you do, picture Bob and I as those whirlwind marsupials while we packed our 5th wheel for our vacation. Back and forth, back and forth we went over two full days (AND Friday evening and Monday morning). 

Bob had signed us up for a class on how to back up our 5th wheel. From 10:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., both of us got to practice backing up, over and over again. We did straight backing, 90-degree backing, 45-degree backing, and 45-degree blind-side backing. This was excellent for us, we needed it. 

Our instructor, Duane.

"Pull forward."

"Spin the wheel."

Blind-side back in. "Pull forward."

Blind-side back in going well.

Our instructor was very patient and gave us lots of tips and help. We are very happy we took this class. It will be useful information many times over. Thanks, Bob, for setting this up!

We were still moving stuff until midnight on Sunday. We moved the cats over on Sunday, too. 

Monday, March 11: Because of severe weather alerts for our route on Tuesday and Wednesday, we moved our departure date from Tuesday to Monday. 
Monday morning, Bob and I ran last-minute errands: turning in the Spectrum Internet box, closing out a bank account, and eating lunch at IHOP. Our goal was to be on the road by 2:00 p.m. It took us an unusually long time at IHOP, so we revised our departure time to 3:00 p.m.

We hit the road at 3:00 p.m. and made it to Hilltop RV Resort in Ft. Stockton, Texas,  by 9:30 p.m. without any mishaps. We were exhausted.

Whew! What a couple of weeks that was. We are now officially on the road again.

Travel Bug out.

Lest You Think We Haven't Been Busy... - Sat., December 30, 2017

...here's a blog to help dispel that thought.

After the Volksmarch in Southside Lions Park on November 25, I worked Sunday through Wednesday in the RV park office. Thursday, November 30, I was off work. That gave me time to pack for the trip to Oregon to be with Mom who was in Marquis Skilled Nursing Facility.

On Friday night, December 1, I flew to Portland, Oregon, via Phoenix, Arizona. No flight problems or delays were encountered on Southwest Airlines (my favorite). My son, Michael, picked me up at Portland International Airport around midnight and gave me a ride to Mom's house. Her house is very lonely without her in it!

On Saturday around 11:00 a.m., I went to visit Mom at Marquis. It is a very nice facility. They had her pain under control and she was doing pretty well.

Frank and Gina and Michael visited a few times. We worked on jigsaw puzzles and walked the halls. Janyce was there frequently and had dinner with us most nights. (Jan and I ate in the dining room with Mom many times. It was $7 per meal.)

Dec. 2 - Mom in front; Jan, me, and Michael in back

Michael and Jan

Mom, Frank, and Gina

Mom, me, and Frank

The facility has a lot of activities (kind of like summer camp). We played Bingo a couple of times, a make-shift Wheel of Fortune game (more like Hangman), Scattergories, helped make a gingerbread house, did jigsaw puzzles, went to concerts in the big dining room upstairs, and petted the therapy dog.

Other puzzles we worked on:

Hardest jigsaw puzzle we've ever done...
it took us most of the week to finish it!

Box for the above puzzle

My favorite concert was Festival Brass, a local, seven-piece brass band that has been playing together for 27 years. Two of their unique instruments are a euphonium and a triple French horn (most French horns are doubles). 

Euphonium and triple French horn

Festival Brass in concert

Triple French horn (made in Germany)

Being that it was December, I was very surprised to see fall color still on the trees and ground. The Portland area must not have had a big wind storm yet to blow down all the leaves. 

Sweetgum tree or maple?

Pretty leaves - Bi-Mart parking lot

Pretty contrast against the asphalt

While visiting mom at Marquis, I got to go to Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy with her a couple of times. She progressed very well from the wheelchair to the walker. The day she started with the walker, she learned how to transfer to the Explorer. Jan and I took her to the movie theater to see "Wonder." She seemed pretty happy to be out of the facility for a while. 

Mom with the walker at Marquis

December 7, I was checking Facebook and saw posts of snow in San Antonio! OMG, it hardly ever snows in San Antonio. 

I called Bob and said, "How do you like the snow?" 

He said, "What snow?"

I told him a number of San Antonio Facebook friends had photos of snow. He had been watching sports on TV and was totally oblivious to the snow! He then went outside and took a few photos in the RV park for me. We had only a light dusting. Farther north in San Antonio, they had about 4".

Our place and my Escape pod.

The solar lights looked like mushrooms.

On Saturday, before I left Oregon, I really wanted to do a picnic with Mom. We planned it a couple of days ahead of time and told her we'd be having it inside because it was too cold outside (45 F). 

When I drove up to Marquis on the day of the picnic, Mom was waiting outside in her heavy coat, purse in hand, ready to go to an outside picnic. When she saw me park and get out of the car, she went back inside. It broke my heart. She REALLY wanted to go out to picnic. 

Jan and I brought in the food. We had egg salad sandwiches, a veggie tray, Caesar salad, Fritos and Sun Chips, pistachio salad, banana walnut muffins, hot tea, and a pomegranate.

Me, Jan, and Mom picnicking in the Bistro at Marquis

After using the walker about four days, they had Mom progress to walking without the walker. I had already flown home by then (December 10). Next thing I knew, they were discharging her to home (December 19)! This concerns me quite a bit because she lives alone. 

Update on Mom, Saturday, December 30: 
Mom has been home for over ten days. My sister Jan has been wonderful: She cooks dinner for Mom some nights (with extra food for a couple of nights), goes grocery shopping, and visits frequently. We are so happy she is nearby. I plan to go back to Oregon as soon as I can (probably May when I'm off work for the season). 

Mom cannot drive (per doctor's orders to the DMV) so we have to look into Tri-Met Lift or maybe the bus in her retirement community to help her get around to doctor's appointments, grocery shopping, and the hairdresser. So much to think about. 

Jan got all the utilities turned back on when Mom went home. There was a slight glitch in getting internet and TV turned on, but Jan got that straightened out too. Thank you, Jan!

Mom's neighbor, Merilee, invited Jan and Mom over for Christmas dinner. She made a roast beef dinner which Jan and Mom loved. Merilee, if you're reading this, thank you so much!

I call Mom every day to see how she's faring. One day she made chocolate chip cookies. Another day she dust-mopped her linoleum floors. Mostly, she watches TV, reads, or gets on the internet. I think she's getting cabin fever. 

It sounds like her pain is under control. The main problem seems to be a seriously swollen left foot. She has a doctor's appointment on Wednesday for that. On Thursday afternoon, Jan. 4, she has an appointment for an X-ray at Meridian Park Hospital, immediately followed by an appointment with Dr. Simpson who did her hip surgery.

There are still a lot of logistics to take care of for her to be at home. We're thankful she's home, though, because that is where she wants to be.

All for now.

McDowell Creek Park - Mon., June 13, 2016

We had smoothies for breakfast this morning. I wanted to shop at the Discovery Shop second-hand store. Then I wanted to take mom hiking at McDowell Creek County Park east of Lebanon, Oregon.

At the thrift store, I was looking for a good deal on jeans. But the only jeans I found were way too short for me. However, I found two really cute T-shirts. You'll be seeing them on me in the next few days.

McDowell Creek County Park beckoned with promises of hikes to beautiful waterfalls: Royal Terrace Falls, Crystal Pool and Majestic Falls. First we needed to eat lunch, so we made a stop in Albany, Oregon, at Elmer's Pancake House. The hazelnut crusted cod sounded pretty good so we both ordered it. Mom ordered a side salad and I had beef barley soup, plus when our meal came, we had steamed vegetables and rice. It was very good and we were properly nourished for a two-mile hike.

Upon arrival at the park, we needed the potty. The maintenance man had just cleaned them. As we started to leave the parking area, the maintenance guy said, "Do you know your lights are on on your car?" Oh my gosh! I'm used to automatic headlights and forgot to turn off the lights on Mom's car. I'm glad we hadn't left on the trail yet or we would have returned to a very dead battery. And we were out in the country, far from a service station. Whew!

I was reading the description of the hike on OregonHikers.org. The trail we were taking had a rating of "easy," and called it a "Lollipop Loop." Hah! I wish I had the photos to show you that I took on my cell phone, but I cannot get my cell phone to send the photos to my email. I have been trying for three days! (Yes, I FORGOT my camera. Shame on me.) You can see photos of the falls on the link at the top of this paragraph.

Royal Terrace Falls is a lovely, 119'-tall tiered waterfall. Our walk instructions from OregonHikers.org said to do the loop, backtrack a few feet from Royal Terrace to the stone staircase. Well, the stone staircase started out with a very big first step. Mom headed up the stairs and she thinks there were about 86 stairs. We huffed and puffed our way up. Maybe this was a lollipop loop for young, frequent-mountain-hiking studs, but we were an 86-year-old and 63-year-old. To us, this was NOT an easy part of the loop!

Anyway, we next had beautiful views at the top of the waterfall and continued along the upper trail high above the river. We walked and walked, finally finding a fork in the trail. All I could figure without a trail map in front of us was that we should turn left and go down to the river level. (There were no trail signs or maps on this trail indicating which way to go.)

When we got toward the bottom, we could see that a big tree had fallen across the trail. In order to get down to the road and river, some temporary steps had been carved into the hillside. The steps were huge and had slippery mud. I helped mom down. When we got to the road, we looked back at where this trail left the road to go uphill and it looked like there had been a tape across the trail to keep people from going that way, but the tape was broken.

We then crossed a bridge and got on what we thought was the trail to Majestic Falls. People coming from the other way confirmed it was the right trail, but warned us there were steep, slippery rock steps ahead and some of the rocks were hidden in the undergrowth. One of the ladies said she almost fell. When we got to the stairs, we decided not to go down them and took the "easy" part of the loop back to the car.

The lady we talked to on the trail told us we could drive to Majestic Falls, so that's what we did. When we arrived at that part of the trail, there were more steep, slippery stone steps down to a viewing platform of Majestic Falls. I went down and took a photo for Mom. She didn't want to go down more of those rock stairs and I don't blame her. Neither of us wanted to fall!

Today ended up being more of an adventure than we planned, but we enjoyed the beautiful scenery, cool weather and the waterfalls.

When we got home, I took some photos of the flowers in Mom's front garden. She has lilies and geraniums, plus trailing petunias in her flower boxes.

Such pretty lilies

It's a big, outdoor flower arrangement!

Lilies and geraniums

Trailing petunias

We made it home at 7:15 p.m. and had left-over trout in lettuce wraps with avocado and tomato. We also had steamed beets.

It was quite a day. That evening we vegged out watching American Ninja Warriors. That is my favorite sports show!

All for today! Isn't that enough?

Another Beautiful Oregon Day - Sun., June 1

On my last trip to Oregon in September 2013, we had record rainfall for that month (6"). This time, we are having lovely, spring-into-summer weather. Our high temperature today was 77 degrees.

When we picked up Kimmie (our "adopted" family member) at 9 this morning, the temperature was 59 degrees. Our drive to Oregon's largest state park was uneventful, but the temperature when we started hiking was 55 degrees. Great hiking weather.

For the third time in a week, Mom and I made our way to Silver Falls State Park. Kimmie has never been, so we were thrilled to take her to see five of the ten waterfalls.

Our first hike was the easy one, Upper North Falls (65'), then the overlook of North Falls (136'). 

Kimmie and Mom - Upper North Falls

Beautiful understory.

From there we drove to Winter Falls and this time we hiked down to where we could see the entire 134' waterfall. It's quite impressive when you hike to the bottom of it.

Kimmie at Winter Falls

Mom at Winter Falls

South Falls (177') was next and we hiked behind the waterfall, down to the bridge, then continued on 0.8 mi. to Lower South Falls (93') which is my favorite of the five falls we saw today. To get to Lower South Falls, the trail drops down 185 steps and continues behind the waterfall. 

Mom and Kimmie behind South Falls

Hike along Silver Creek to Lower South Falls

Lower South Falls

Lower South Falls

Lower South Falls

Kimmie and Mom at Lower South Falls

We decided to retrace our route back up the 185 steps and 0.8 mile back to the bridge at South Falls. 

Part of the 185 stairs

Mom and Kimmie almost to the top of the stairs!

Pretty wildflowers.

Kimmie

Mom and Kimmie on bridge at South Falls

Monkeyflowers in full bloom.

Kimmie packed the lunch for today and it was time to eat. We had tofurkey sandwiches and veggie wraps with dip. Mom and I brought cut-up pineapple for dessert. 

All of us hiked well together. We were home by 2:45 p.m., tired and happy.

For dinner, I planned to meet friends Curt (former co-worker) and Lexi at 4:30 p.m. in Wilsonville. Being so tired after the hiking, I set the alarm on my cell phone and laid down in my room with the door closed to take a nap. At 4:10 p.m., my phone rang. It was Mom calling me from the kitchen to say, "Aren't you supposed to meet friends for dinner at 4:30?" I looked at the time, jumped out of bed, grabbed my purse and headed out the door, arriving at the restaurant at 4:31 p.m. Whew!

Curt, Lexi and I had a great dinner talking about their upcoming trip to Maui, future travel plans, basketball, what they've been up to and what we've been doing. The Ram restaurant had an interesting dessert I wanted to try: ice cream cupcakes. They had four different flavors; I decided on mint chocolate chip. I couldn't believe it when we got up to leave that we had been there two hours! 

I love catching up with friends. We had a very nice early evening meal. 

Travel Bug out.