Our intention was to spend a month in Anna, Texas visiting family. We had a wonderful time including Pat's grand daughters "Bumble Bee" dance recital. We went to the Dallas Aquarium with the family and had a wonderful day on Pat's birthday. This aquarium is more then a bowl of fishes. The adventure begins at the top of the Orinoco - Secrets of the River rainforest exhibit. Then it wines its way down along a path through a rain forest with birds and other critters lurking about and then down under the water to see a wide variety of fishes. Very nice unexpected exhibit, stop by if you're ever in Dallas.

My visit was interrupted by news of a dear friends' sudden death, then before I had time to fully digest this, my father's health failed dramatically over a short few days. I flew to St. Paul, Minnesota but I arrived to late, my father past away one hour before my arrival. This time I was able to stay for the funeral. While there I went with two of my brothers to my Dad's old cabin on Devels Track Lake north of Grand Marais, Minnesota. Forty years ago I helped my dad build his cabin. We had a good visit while we got the place ready for their summer activities. On the way back to the Twin Cities we stopped at a Lake Superior view point. Quiet a specular sight indeed!

After my birthday we made plans to head to the northwest. We wanted to travel on some new ground in order to traverse the country. We decided to head for Amarillo and then NW to highway 25 then north through Denver and then follow the interstates back to Portland.

On the way to Amarillo we listened to the radio and kept hearing of rain storms ahead and north of us. We did end up driving through a few rain squalls, as we approached the Oklahoma border we ran into a true "cats & dogs" down pour. We slowed down and had to drive at reduced speeds for 20 miles as one and then another squall came at us. We decided that we were in the squall birthing zone because the radio was reporting lots of hail in the storms 50 miles to our east, and we didn't have any. Whew! Soon we drove out into just cloudy skies and reached Amarillo easily.

We'd been through Amarillo a couple of times and had heard of the Cadillac's that were planted in a field. We decided to go locate it. After a quick Google search we had our directions. There is indeed 10 Cadillac's buried in a field. Visitors are allowed to bring spray paint and paint away. Unfortunately they didn't "Pack their trash out". Regardless these were incredibly painted, junked cars, poking up out in of the ground in the middle of a field.

We cruised on through Colorado and Wyoming, as we were passing into Utah we decided to stop and see the Golden Spike Historic site. On May 10, 1869 the Union and Central Pacific Railroads joined their rails at Promontory Summit. Golden Spike National Historic Site commemorates this incredible accomplishment of this nation's first transcontinental railroad. The day we visited the site there was a full scale reenactment occurring so we stuck around for the presentation. The museum and the presentation was very informative. The only down side was the fact that the location is 29 miles off the freeways so it a bit of a drive out and back. If you're into history and trains its worth a stop. The remainder of the trip to Portland was uneventful.

The summer has been spent visiting with family and friends, spending time at our place at the coast. Oh ya and waiting for the new grand baby the 12th and the 1st great grand baby to arrive in August. There was a lot of time spent bemoaning the crappy weather. Oh well! We had several visitors at our place this season which provided a lot of fun for all. We made time to get the RV serviced for our trip in the fall. We were able to attend a couple of Longbeach events this summer too.

One event was the Sandcastle building contest. We all always amazed at peoples imagination and the sand sculpturing skills required to create their master pieces. Another event was the Washington State International Kite Festival. There was an amazing amount of kites being flown the day we visited the festival. They had many roped off areas containing a variety of events. One had large kites, one had a contest to see if they could set a record for the largest number of kites in the air at once, and there were many areas stretching south along the beach for various kite acrobatic events. Of course there were vendors selling everything kite related including food and drinks.

In August the grand babies arrived as expected and all concerned were OK. We spent over 2 weeks in Portland visiting and helping out as best we could. In late August we attended the annual Baja Cruisers Rendezvous. This event is held in Cathlament, Wa. the last weekend before Labor Day. Its not much more then a very large pot luck dinner with 80 or so friends. The part that is wonderful is that as on the seas, the wondering nomads starting arriving all week long in the their RV's and trailers. If you get there early, there are many hours spent catching up and reminiscing with friends. Coinciding with our event was the annual long board down hill race going on. So the small town was packed and the streets closed during the races. We watched the finals on Sunday afternoon and saw some exciting downhill runs and some great wipe outs right in front of our seats behind the hay bail barriers.

The rest of the summer was spent at the DBBB. (Dirt Boat Beach Base) One weekend was spent in Portland for Susan's son's 40th birthday party, otherwise we were at the coast. There were logs to be cut and stacked up for the winter. There was chores to be done before we headed back south later in the fall. A few friends came out for visits and a card game weekend was a big success. The last visitors had just returned from a vacation in England, Ireland, and Scotland. We helped them decompress!

Susan had decided to travel to Pennsylvania to visit her mom for a week. Pat stayed at the coast and started final preparations, on the DBBB and the RV and the car, that were needed to be done before casting off on the trip south. After a weeks visit in Portland, the Dirt Boat will way anchor and turn her bow southwards.

Thanks for visiting our blog. More to follow for sure!

Summer of 2010 Photo Album