Oregon

Craig and I traveled to Oregon for a visit with my visiting family. Tim’s daughter got married on Saturday. We came later, but Karly sent me pictures. 

Both girls are beautiful. 

Craig and I picked up Deb at the airport and found the reception, along with Brenda, Tim, Ivan and Karly. We moved bags to the proper cars, sat and visited for about an hour and then Craig and I went to find our accommodations. We discovered Airbnb this trip. We enjoyed the different houses. 

Sunday we went to church in Dallas. We tried to see all the people that we knew and loved. It was fun to see familiar and loved faces. 

After church we went to Albany to see Auntie and Kimberly. I took over 100 pictures of old family photos, but I didn’t finish the batch and I lost them all. Major bummer. Kimberly made salmon for dinner. We are at the park down the road. 

Of course family drama happened a bit. But with proximity, all things smoother over and we are all good again. I think we all really needed to be together. It was a good thing. 

Monday we went to Lincoln City. The Oregon coast is definitely different than the California coast. But it was lovely. 

Breakfast first. 

Tim’s best friend, Carl, joined us as well as Brenda’s friend Cecily. 

It was dad’s birthday. So I found a stick and wrote a happy birthday message to him. 

My ‘y’ s are odd. But I’m sure dad was able to read it just fine. We wandered the beach. We found some fun shells and rocks. We climbed rocks and found little tide pools. 

We ate at Mos. What is a visit to the Oregon Coast with out eating clam chowder at Mo’s?  Delicious!

Kimberly and Auntie met us and we enjoyed a visit. 

Enjoying the sunset. 

Tuesday we said goodbye to Deb at the airport. We met Ivan, Tim and Brenda for a visit with the Woolner’s. 

Yummy Pizzacato. 

Ivan headed off to Astoria on his new bike. We dropped Tim and Brenda off at the train. And Craig and I were alone. We headed to Gresham to say hi other loved and familiar faces. 

I so love these sweet people.  Larry and Utahna took me in and loved me when I was single and working.  They loved me when Craig and I got married and started our family. They were our neighbors and dear adopted family in Oregon. 

We had dinner with Todd and Rachelle. Sweet friends who have kept in touch through the years. How amazing to catch up with kids we haven’t seen in years. We shared pictures and stories. But we didn’t take any pictures. 

We missed connecting with the Hansen’s and the Smiths and the Marshalls. We didn’t know what our schedule would be. And it’s Wednesday and normal people have appointments and are at work. So we became tourists and went to Multnomah Falls. 

We were again reminded that good friends can be eternal. We remembered names and families and dear friends. We drove old haunts and paths. We teased names out of our dusty memory files and laughed and smiled at remembered stories. 

The gospel was the Golden thread that tied us all together. How hard would it be to constantly say good bye without the hope of rekindling friendships in heaven? The plan of salvation gives us courage to adventure on.