Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Once everyone was up and showered, we packed up, loaded up the van and headed out for the next leg of our trip…………..destination, Long Beach, Washington. This is a beach resort town that Tom & I took Tucker and Megan to several years ago for a long weekend and that we had fond memories of. WorldMark, the time share company that we have points with, has a big resort there and we were able to book one night there this week, so we did, in an effort to keep our driving to no more than 3 hours on each leg of the trip.

As much as we all loved Lake Quinault Lodge, it was interesting that when we opened the door to the condo at Long Beach, we all were appreciative of the amount of SPACE there was!! ROOMS that were actually separated from each other, that allowed for some privacy………what a concept!! I came to the realization how spoiled I have become by our time share and the ability to stay in condos versus hotel rooms. Now that the kids are small adults and no longer little children, more space is REALLY NICE when on vacation. The rooms at the Great Wolf Lodge and at Lake Quinault were just that…..big rooms with two beds, a television a desk and chair and one other chair crammed in. Just not enough space for 4 people to spend much time in together, particularly when two of those people are teenagers!!

Anyway, we checked into the condo and the kids went and headed down to the pool. It was much cooler here than at Lake Quinault and the pool here was outdoors, but the kids reported that the water was quite warm, thus making swimming enjoyable despite the chill in the outside air. Tom & I watched some TV, I read some and, of course, got on the computer. One thing that I have to say I find a bit irritating about many of the WorldMark condos is the fact that one has to PAY for internet service in the room. Most of them have a “business center” where one can get on WorldMark’s computer, but usually there is only one or two computers in the business center and, if there are many teenagers around, it can be difficult to find one of these available. So, I bit the bullet and paid for the privilege of getting on the internet.

Once the kids were done swimming, Tom, Megan & I decided to go for a walk on the boardwalk down at the beach। It was REALLY quite chilly by the time we did this because the sun was setting. We took a few pictures, then headed back to the room because I just wasn’t dressed for the cooler weather.

We had arrived a bit before check in time, so we had eaten Thai food while waiting for the call that the condo was ready, so none of us was really hungry, so we settled in for the evening, reading and watching television. The kids headed to the game room area (pool, ping pong, video games) and hung out there for a good part of the evening. Megan came back to the room around 10 or so, while I had to go and order Tucker back to the room at midnight, which he was not very happy about, because he was hanging out with a group of kids who were NOT being ordered back to their room and he wanted to stay, too. I can be SUCH a drag sometimes!!!


Thursday, July 2

Thursday was another travel day, but first we decided to have a little fun in Long Beach. We started the day off playing a little miniature golf on a goofy little mini golf course, whose characters & obstacles appear to have inhabited this place for quite some time and some have not fared well!!


After golf (Tom whooped all of our butts!!), we divided up and went our separate ways to do a bit of shopping. Megan & I headed to the scrapbook/coffeshop/chocolate shop (all of my favorite things together in one store!!), while Tom went off to check out some of the antique stores in town and Tucker went in search of food (he’s nearly always in search of food!!) Megan & I browsed the scrapbook store, but didn’t really find anything that we couldn’t live without. We did, however, decide that we should each have a piece of fudge. From there we moved on to the elephant ear place and indulged ourselves there (HEY, WE’RE ON VACATION!!!!)
We then all met up again at Marsh’s FREE Museum. Now this is a very strange place. It’s mostly a cheap souvenir store; you know, seashells, magnets, rocks, tiny sand dollars in bottles, that kind of stuff, but scattered throughout are stuffed bears, vintage music machines, those old machines that one dropped a penny into then watched some sort of “show” through things that look like ViewMasters, stuffed animal heads on every wall and the weirdest thing of all, Jake, the mummified skeleton of a half alligator/half human creature. No!! I am not kidding………..I have a picture that proves it!

What the ****….??????? Got me! But this is what makes this place “famous”. Totally weird. The kids didn’t seem too impressed with Jake, but DID think it was necessary to sit in the Emotion Factor Chair, where Tucker came up “Lovable”, while Megan tested “Frigid”. Oh, Megan!! I don’t think you’re frigid, honey!!




We wrapped it up at Marsh’s Free Museum and hopped into the van to head south down the coast to Depoe Bay, our final destination of the vacation before heading home.

Tuesday, June 30

I, again, woke up first, with Tom not far behind me. We were planning on another hike today, but, alas, upon waking, Tom had a painful foot that had him hobbling around and a hike did not appear to be in the cards. He gets these bouts of painful tendonitis in the left foot/ankle area occasionally and it really slows him down. This one was not quite as bad as some in the past, which have had him on crutches. I walked over to the mercantile for my morning cup of coffee and told Michael about Tom not really being able to walk due to his painful foot, he suggested that we might want to take the drive around the lake. He got out a map for me and circled a couple of interesting spots. One was just about a ½ mile up the road where the “World’s Largest Sitka Spruce Tree” was. It was a short walk off of the road but he said, along with some other folks that were buying coffee while we were talking, that it was something worth seeing. He also circled a couple of waterfalls and pointed out an area where a couple of black bear have been spotted hanging around as well as some potential elk-spotting areas. So we canned the hiking idea and all piled into the car for the drive around the lake. Unfortunately, we did not see any wildlife, but we did visit the Sitka Spruce tree and took some photos at one of the waterfalls.

Once back at the lodge we decided to have a rematch of horseshoes (you know those boys, they cannot stand to lose!), so we played another couple of rounds of horseshoes and the boys did end up winning two out of three, although I must say that Megan & I made a much better show than I ever dreamed. We even had a few ringers, each, throughout the games!

We ended the evening with dinner in the Roosevelt Room again, then some serious lodge time…….reading, etc…and relaxing. We all agreed that we really like this place and would be willing to come back again. The next day was a road day for a one night stay at the WorldMark condo in Long Beach, Washington.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

I was the first one up on Sunday morning at 7:00 am with visions of Starbuck’s (they have one in the lobby of the building) and waterslides in my head. The waterpark didn’t open until 9 and I wanted to let everyone else sleep in (it IS vacation, after all) so I grabbed the laptop and the card from the digital camera and headed down to the lobby so I could start journaling about the trip while indulging myself with my morning mocha. While I was typing away, a little show started up in the middle of the lobby where they have a “cabin” with animated talking/singing creatures for the younger generation to enjoy. Looked and sounded very Disney’esque…..thought I was in Disney World for a moment. Around 8:30, I went back to the room, where Tom was in the shower, but the kids were still in bed. I woke them up so we could all go to the waterpark again before checking out (I know, I know….it IS vacation, but this place was WAY expensive and I wanted to make sure we got our money’s worth out of it!), only to find out that no one else was really that interested in getting wet. So we discussed our options and decided on breakfast and then hitting the arcade.





We did just that, had some fun, Megan came away with a small wolf purse that she traded all of our collective tickets in for, then we hit the road for the second leg of our trip.
Tucker wanted to get some driving time in so he drove the first hour on our way to Lake Quinault Lodge with a stop in Aberdeen, Washington for a change in driver. Tom handled the second and final hour of driving to get us to our destination for the next 3 days.


Lake Quinault Lodge, I must say, is a TOTALLY different experience from Great Wolf Lodge. Lake Quinault Lodge was built in 1926, while Great Wolf Lodge was built within the past year, I believe. Lake Quinault Lodge has a definite throwback to the 50’s, 60’s kind of feel, while Great Wolf Lodge has a very modern feel. Great Wolf Lodge is about action and adventure, while Lake Quinault Lodge is more about nature and rest and relaxation. It is a beautiful, old lodge that sits right on the gorgeous, glacial Lake Quinault. There is a big, beautiful lawn that stretches out to the lake with a gazebo and lawn chairs and a horseshoe pit. They have canoes, kayaks and paddle boats for rent to take out onto the lake. The Quinault Indians own the lake and set the rules. Only small motor boats are allowed on the lake and cannot go over 24 miles per hour. No water skiers or SkiDos on the lake. It is very placid and peaceful. Our first day here was pretty laid back. Tom and I hung out at the lodge, reading, doing Sodoku puzzles, typing up this very journal and generally just hanging out. Tuck and Meg went and hit the pool for some water, nerf football while Tom & I were relaxing. I must say that it is very nice to have children who are grown enough that we can let them wander off on their own at these types of places rather than having to shepherd them around everywhere. Makes for a MUCH more relaxing vacation.
The kids went back to the room and got into warm, dry clothes, then we had dinner in the restaurant at the lodge, the Roosevelt Room. It is called the Roosevelt Room because FDR (Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt) visited this lodge back in the 1930’s and shortly thereafter declared this area a national park, Olympic National Park to be exact. Dinner was tasty and the chef was kind enough to cook up some of Tucker’s pasta for him with a primavera/marinara sauce. After dinner we hung out in the lodge again for a bit then headed back to the room and called it a night.


Monday, June 29

Monday morning, Tom & I got up before the kids and headed over to the mercantile across the street from the lodge for a cup of coffee, then back to the lodge to read and do sodoku puzzles while waiting for the kids to get up. The mercantile is a little store across the street from the lodge that has a few grocery type items, some fishing gear, books, locally made jewelery and a café. It is quite charming and is owned & run by a family that lives above the store. Michael, the owner, is very knowledgeable about the area and his love of the area just oozes out of him. He is very quick to share his knowledge of the area with you when asked questions; about the trails, the lake and the local sites. In fact, he runs the store until 2 pm daily, then heads across the street to the lodge where he puts on his other hat and does the lake tours for the lodge. I found him to be very helpful and his attitude definitely added to the charm of the place.
Once the kids were up, we decided to go for a short hike (about 1 ½ miles), right from the lodge, through the old growth forest. Lots of photo opportunities with waterfalls and big, mossy trees.


It was a very nice hike that worked up our appetites. We had breakfast/lunch at the café in the mercantile, where Tom & Tucker decided to go into Aberdeen, an hour away, to do a bit of grocery shopping and antiquing. While the guys were gone, Megan & I did some reading, then decided to get some horseshoe practice in, since we were planning on playing a game upon their return. When the guys got back, we did, indeed, get in that game of horseshoes and WE WON!!!! ( I think even we were surprised). Then back to the lodge where we played a game of SET. The lodge is such a wonderful place to hang out. It has a great big rock fireplace, in which a big fire burned, lots of cushy couches and chairs scattered around, along with some tables and chairs, too, where a family could sit and play a game or do a puzzle.





There are always a number of people hanging out in there, reading, playing games or doing stuff on their laptaps. Unfortunately, the wireless internet was not working, which precluded checking e-mails, E-bay, MySpace and Facebook pages but we managed to survive it quite well. After a couple of games of SET, all of us but Tucker, headed back to room for the night. I went out looking for Tucker at 10:45 pm when he hadn’t returned to the room yet to find him sitting out on the lawn talking with someone on his cell phone. Needed to have him back in the room so that I could go to sleep knowing that all my chicks were safe and sound.

FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2009

Soooo…we had our combined 50th birthday party on Friday night (June 26, 2009) at The Blue Pepper Art Gallery and Internet Café in downtown Salem. We were both a bit nervous, afraid that no one would show up. Instead we had a GREAT turn out and there were a few people who showed up to celebrate with us that we had not seen for a number of years, so it was a great opportunity to catch up. Scott & Heidi Grew, a young couple who went to the Vineyard for a short time after moving to Salem from Chicago came and we remembered why we enjoyed them so much. Heidi is an artist and an art professor at Willamette University who is a very intense person who is very curious and interested in people, while Scott is a total character….very eclectic for someone so young. April & Ernie Felguth also showed up. Ernie is nearly housebound due to some serious and chronic back problems, but they rallied and came out and joined us in spite of that. I used to work with April many years ago at the Oregon State Pharmacists Association. We
hung out with these guys quite a bit years ago because we shared a mutual interest in music. Both April & Ernie had filled in working shifts at Tom’s Guitar Store a number of times and April came over and was a great help to Tom many years ago when I was in the hospital with a ruptured spleen. It was really wonderful to catch up with both of these couples and promises were made to not let so much time go by before connecting with them again. Promises I will do my best to keep.

Tom and I put together a “photo board” with old photos from our pasts (like high school ID cards, photos from Tom’s Navy years and some photos from my theater years). We also brought the scrapbooks and spread them around for people to enjoy.

It turned out to be a truly delightful evening shared with many friends, old and new and made us both realize how fortunate we are to have such people in our lives.

Saturday, JUNE 27th

Saturday morning saw us getting ready for our Olympic Peninsula vacation. We ran a bunch of errands, had Joe’s girlfriend, Miranda, come over for her tour of the house and list of things that we would like for her to take care of while she is housesitting for us in our absence, packed up and left the house at about 11:30 to start our adventure. Our first stop was the Great Wolf Lodge. OH MY GOSH!! WHAT A GREAT PLACE!





This has to be the closest thing to a Disney experience that one can get in the great Northwest. It is a giant resort hotel with a HUGE waterpark with some of the best waterslides that I have ever had the pleasure of sliding on. My favorite was one called the Howling Tornado. We were all able to get onto a four person intertube and take the wild ride together. We all climbed into the innertube, grabbed onto the handles and were shoved off by the friendly water park attendant. The hole we were shoved into was a bit dark and after swirling around a couple of curves we were facing what appeared to be a big drop off into the great unknown. We dropped over the edge into a big bowl like area where we were tossed back and forth, from side to side while dropping toward another dark tube. More curves in the dark tube, banking high on the sides and getting splashed with water until the splash landing at the bottom. VERY COOL and LOTS OF FUN!!! Smiles all around…….although Megan said she was scared and was not at all interested in doing it again. Tom, saying he felt a little tossed around, opted for the hot tub and we all decided to join him there. After some hot tubbin’ we decided that we were ready to wrap it up at the water park and head to the room for some R & R and computer time, TV time, etc….. We ending up watching the movie “Inkheart”, based on a book that I had read to Megan a few years ago. It was pretty good. After that it was lights out for Dad, Tucker wandered off to the room with computers and stuff while Megan went and took a few photos of the water slides from outside the building and checked out the gift shop. I “computered” for a while on my laptop in the room, Megan read, then we all got some shut eye to rest up for the next day’s activities.
Sunday, June 28, 2009

I was the first one up on Sunday morning at 7:00 am with visions of Starbuck’s (they have one in the lobby of the building) and waterslides in my head. The waterpark didn’t open until 9 and I wanted to let everyone else sleep in (it IS vacation, after all) so I grabbed the laptop and the card from the digital camera and headed down to the lobby so I could start journaling about the trip while indulging myself with my morning mocha. While I was typing away, a little show started up in the middle of the lobby where they have a “cabin” with animated talking/singing creatures for the younger generation to enjoy. Looked and sounded very Disney’esque…..thought I was in Disney World for a moment. Around 8:30, I went back to the room, where Tom was in the shower, but the kids were still in bed. I woke them up so we could all go to the waterpark again before checking out (I know, I know….it IS vacation, but this place was WAY expensive and I wanted to make sure we got our money’s worth out of it!), only to find out that no one else was really that interested in getting wet. So we discussed our options and decided on breakfast and then hitting the arcade. We did just that, had some fun, Megan came away with a small wolf purse that she traded all of our collective tickets in for, then we hit the road for the second leg of our trip.

TP'd!!!

So I got up early this morning, before anyone else thinking that I would have a cup of coffee and check out the morning paper and my e-mail before getting ready for church. However, when I peeked outside the front window on my way past, I saw what looked like toilet paper in one of the bushes right under the window. Opened the front door and saw toilet paper EVERYWHERE!!! On the front porch, I found not only the Sunday morning paper, but an empty bottle of body wash..........which led me to believe that it had been emptied out onto something........the most likely target being Joe's car parked out at the curb, which Tucker has been using since he got his drivers' license. Sure enough, this proved to be the case. So, instead of my quiet morning cup of coffee, I spent the better part of an hour picking up toilet paper and hosing the soap off of the car. Made me kind of grumpy. I was able to get ALL of the toilet paper except for that bit that you can see on the roof above the garage. I tried to have a fairly good attitude about this whole thing, but I have to say that it really is a giant pain in the a** cleaning up this kind of vandalism and if I ever find out that my own kids have been party to something like this, they will be grounded for an extended period of time.

Hope all of you reading this got to have a cup of coffee with your morning newspaper :-).

Finally got to see WICKED!!! Last time it was through Portland, I dilly-dallied around too long making a decision about going, only to have it sold out by the time I made my decision. This time around, I bought the tickets through an on-line pre-sale event to be sure that I wouldn't miss it. Somehow, though, the date on my calendar was one AFTER the date on the tickets, and when Jill, Megan & I showed up to go to the show we found out that our tickets were for the previous date!! I haven't done anything that ridiculously stupid in a VERY long time.......I truly hope that this is not the beginning of a trend! :-). I was so determined to see the show, that I went ahead and bought tickets for the next week (even though the seats were not NEARLY as good) and we went to Powell's bookstore for the afternoon instead!! The show, once we finally got to see it, was wonderful! Megan liked it so much that she downloaded a couple of songs onto her iTunes. This is one I will see again, should it come back through Portland.

Fun with Digital Art!

Just messin' around with Paint Shop Pro and wanting to create something to put on a stretched canvas for a birthday present for my Mom. This is what I came up with!!