Vacation to Oregon

What a wonderful vacation! We had a great time in Oregon. The first 4 days Rick was with us while we visited 3 colleges in Portand. Concordia, Portland State, and Univ. of Portland (our favorite in Portland.) The campuses were absolutely beautiful! The vegetation was lush and the buildings old. We did lots of walking, enjoying the beautiful weather and just relaxing and being together.
We "touristed" all over Portland but the highlight was definitely meeting my longtime "internet" friends, Al and Dotti Coon. I just love these guys. We had a wonderful evening with them at the Newport Bay Resturant in Portland.

After getting Rick safely on the plane Friday night, Katie and I "navigated" with our GPS over to Trader Joes and Kohls. The Vancouver area where Al and Dotti live is just beautiful! Hmmm. Since Dotti "feels" like a sister - I'd LOVE to move there some day!

The next morning we took off for Corvallis to go to a concert our friends, Jimmy and Holly's son Kerry was in. That kid can PLAY the guitar! Beautiful day! So good to be sitting next to Holly and Jimmy on the grass. I've sure missed them since they left Alaska.

I cannot begin to tell you how PRECIOUS our time was with this family. I've known them since they were first married. Jimmy was a hair designer and no one could cut my hair like him. Holly and I have spent many many days together. I miss her SO much. The boys have grown in to great young men. Great family. They had us for dinner and we went out to eat several nights. Other than visiting colleges, we hung out with them! And laughed. Jimmy is just a riot!

We had a "girls" day out at the coast and it was "just like the good 'ol days" with Holly. We also met some longtime Alaskan friends for chowder in Newport but I FORGOT to take their picture. Love you Jack and DeVonna!!

Corvallis has the "most favorite" college! OSU - and we also visited Western Oregon Univ. I sure would love to have Katie going there and living close to Jimmy and Holly. Our last evening there, they made us an amazing dinner of chicken, "amazing potatoes" and absolutely FABULOUS grilled vegetables! Katie and I have cooked up several batches since we got home. Just can't get enough.

The greatest highlight of that evening though was a drive to Jimmy's work, Knife River Trucking, where he drives a 54-wheeler (yes, bigger than an little ol 18 wheeler!!!!) and hauls pre-stressed concrete beams that are 180' long! He actually drives the back of the truck from the cab. Amazing. And no, Cameron is probably not going to follow his father's footsteps. He'll probably be a famous soccer player!!