The Road South Fall 2012

By the end of Sept. 2012, we spent a week at Chinook Bend on the Siletz River. This RV park is about three miles inland from the Pacific Ocean so we get definite tidal action.  The sad story...no salmon in the Parsons's boat.  No can say we didn't try as we were up at the crack of dawn and tried every different method we knew.  Some fish were being caught but the run definitely was awaiting rain to entice them up the river.   

While visiting the coast we did get to visit grandson Trevor who is in the job corp program located  at Yachats, OR.  We had a wonderful visit learning all about life in this educational program.

Another highlight of the week was watching a fishing family catch this 40" salmon. We were trolling right beside them when they hooked this fish.  We videoed the action and were able to share the DVD of this memorable day in their lives.

Upon leaving the coast, we came inland and headed south via Eugene, Klamath Falls, northern CA, Reno, the west side of NV to Las Vegas, and finally to Arizona.  

Among the friends visited was Joanne's cousin Sharon...one has to follow the family tree back to approx. the 1840's to identify our mutual relatives!  But...how fortunate Joanne is to have Sharon's friendship. 

We thoroughly enjoyed a couple days at the Hults home in the Cave Creek area.  Sharon and Ivan always amaze us with the creative additions to the beautiful home site that is ever emerging.  The artwork, sewing projects, and garden sites keep invigorating the imagination.

1000 miles from NE Oregon who would one rather meet up with than friends from "home"!  

As we ventured on south through Phoenix area, friends Linda and David who have a second home in Buckeye met us for a memorable lunch and mini-shopping spree at IKEA.

By late afternoon we ARRIVE at our AZ home!  Our winter home was full of surprises  including this tree.  Mid-May we had a call from our neighbor that this tree in the background had snapped off!  All we could do was flip the limbs over the fence into the back yard.

Can you imagine that a tree trunk would come back with this much foliage in as little as five months?  We knew Palo Verdi trees were fast growing but nothing like this would happen in Oregon!

Then there are the not so joyful surprises!  This is our back yard.  Notice not only what adorns the  concrete block fence but also the gate that enters the back of the property.  These are Volkswagon-size weeds!  Evidently the magical green thumb works on both some trees and weeds!