End of Summer 2015

Grandma Joanne had the pleasure of  helping surprise her son-in-law!  He had an unexpected birthday retreat to Las Vegas planned for MONTHS by daughter Melissa.  While they were away I had the pleasure of staying with my grand daughters...the twins and their big sister...for three days.  

Fortunately for all, daughter Michelle stopped by after work  each day to help with the evening routine!

Dear friend Lynn spent an afternoon with us helping with the "entertainment".

Upon the return of  the parents, all were delighted to visit the nearby park.  Now this is one "full" swing!

Before leaving the Portland area I had the pleasure of visiting Robbie in King City...what a perfect new home for my dear friend!

That last eve, grandson Adam performed in a Beaverton South Ridge High School scrimmage.  The cheering section for #89 was definitely in force!

The route home to Eastern Oregon included a wonderful luncheon in Washougal, WA with Oregon State U. sorority sisters and other members of the bridge group in which I use to play.  Yes...we've all aged but these ladies are as lovely as ever!

Within hours of arriving back in La Grande, the Parsons left for a fishing trip to Painters Lodge in Campbell River, BC.  It was 25 years ago this Sept. that we met.  This Canadian location was where we went on our honeymoon!

The package vacation included flying from Vancouver, BC  to Campbell River, two nights at the lodge, and two 4-hour guided fishing excursions in Boston Whaler boats.

Would you believe our guide, Richard, was the brother of the guide we had on our honeymoon way back in the 1990's!  Here Richard holds the 22 lb 4 oz salmon that Ken caught...the largest of the four fish we caught.

Ken (and some observers) gets some extra giggles out of pulling down on the scale :-).

The facilities at Painter's Lodge are super!  Here Ken stands in front of the Cortez Bldg. that included our suite.  Our room with a loft could have slept 7 people!

Part of the vacation package included the staff cleaning our fish and sending it home with us in a special box with frozen gel packs.  Since we have limited freezer space in our motor home, once we arrived back in La Grande we spent part of Friday and Saturday smoking and canning fish!

 

Therefore, friends in Arizona...you will have plenty of smoked salmon dip at happy hour this winter!

Oh my goodness...never in my xx  years of life have I seen snow on Mt. Emily in the Grande Ronde Valley on Sept. 3rd!   At least this weather is greatly helping control the forest fires in Oregon and Washington.

We have  now headed out on our fall 2015 trip.  The first stop is in Kennewick, WA.  This afternoon we enjoyed watching grandson Carter in a football game between Sunnyside and Pasco, WA.  #56 played defensive end for Sunnyside.  When we had to leave at half time,  his team was ahead 28-0!

We are currently at the Columbia Sun RV Resort for the Retired Washington State Patrol Fall Gathering for the remainder of the week.  How about this sign at the park entrance?

We've had a great day "catching up" with friends we've worked with in the RWSP over the years!