36 Hours

So one of my cousins was in the Northwest this past week. Cheryl, who lives in Memphis TN, was in Seattle for a writer’s conference. She ended her visit with a side trip to visit our family. She described her trip to our region as the ” trip of a lifetime.”

We met briefly during a family get together back in the early 80’s. We reconnected in recent years through (ta-da!) Facebook. My dad and her mom were brother and sister; we are first cousins. We are both middle children. We had the feeling that we would get along great; sharing some interests and a similar sense of humor.

Sunday Night At my suggestion, Cheryl took the Amtrak from Seattle to our train stop here in Oregon City. Carmen and I picked her up and took her on a mini tour of OC. We showed her the famous (to us) Oregon City Elevator.

Also showed her Willamette Falls and some other sites.

We only had 36 hours to spend together, so we got visiting! Brought Cousin home and had a spaghetti feed. Had a couple Black Butte Porters; I had bragged up my favorite Oregon beer to her. She enjoyed.

We kept her up til midnight. 30 hours to go. Bedtime.

Monday Morning Monday is walk day for Carmen and our neighbor Caron. They took Cheryl out for breakfast and mall walk. I waited at home and planned a quick beach trip. They enjoyed visiting and returned at 11 to leave for the coast. 19 hours left. Beach time.

Mid Monday Drove through downtown Portland for a bridge-eye view of the city. Through the West Hills and on Sunset Highway 26. She enjoyed the wet, green Oregon landscape and the journey. Stopped at a rest area with a nice short loop trail that goes through coast range forest.

Monday Afternoon We made it to Cannon Beach. Cheryl cried tears of Joy at her first sight of the Pacific Ocean. She was awed by the enormity of the Pacific in winter.

We went to lunch at Mo’s. Our family favorite for clam chowder. They serve the chowder in sourdough “cannonballs” (Cannon Beach). Delicious.

Cheryl, Carmen and I looked around town, making a stop at the Cannon Beach Bakery. Headed to Seaside, just to the north. On our way out of town, witnessed a sight we haven’t seen before. A group of elk feeding on the escallonia in a front yard of a residence. Amazing. 15 hours left….

Made Seaside, sharing stories about our late daughter BreAnna and her love of Seaside. Showed her the house we’d stay in on our visits, cruised the Promenade, took pictures with Lewis and Clark and went to the candy shop for salt water taffy!

Drive to the south end of Seaside and watched surfers braving the cold winter Pacific. Looked at a trailhead that we planned to hike “next time.”

Headed back home. Stopped at Camp 18… Closed! Just happened to be the night of their annual floor sanding. They let her look inside for a moment. Made the trip back home. 12 hours left.

Got home for another spaghetti and Black Butte Porter session. Gabbed for a while then went to bed. Cousin’s flight left at 6:00 am. I got up early and drove Cheryl to the airport at 5. Said our “see ya laters” and off she went back to Tennessee. Time’s up.

Well that was sure a fun time! We should do this again.

Beautiful Places Part 1

The Great Strides Walk for Cystic Fibrosis a week and a half ago was the first of three important events in remembering BreAnna. The second was a return to Mt. Hood and Lost Lake for Carmen, Brandon, Owen and myself. I felt that it was important to return to the “beautiful places” that our family enjoyed with BreAnna. The third and probably most significant was Bre’s favorite place, Seaside.

In the last ten days, we did the Great Strides walk, made a day trip to Lost Lake on Mt. Hood and this past weekend, returned for the first time to Seaside since Bre passed.

Last Sunday, we packed a picnic lunch, grabbed our fishing poles and headed up to Lost Lake. We always took “the loop” route, around Mt. Hood. Highway 26 from the west, up the southeast flank of Hood, then onto Highway 35 around the south and east side of the mountain.
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Then a series of back roads on the north side of Mt. Hood to Lost Lake. The snow had just been cleared from the road, but quite a bit remained! We went as far as we could on the road then parked by the snow and walked from there.

Our family enjoyed the short walk along the north side of the lake through the old growth forest to a bench and viewpoint where we liked to spend time. I have many pictures from this spot of all of us. Bre even captured a salamander here, played with it, then let it go. One of my favorite pictures of BreAnna and myself was taken here.

It was a wonderful day. We saw a ladybug by the lake. Bre loved them. We released them in our garden the last couple of springs. To have so many of them brought her such joy. I feel this was her way of letting us know she was right there, with us.

To make this trip was important. Significant. We will honor BreAnna by returning to the places that brought her so much happiness in her short time here. She would have been the first one in the truck… Ready to go.