Sean & Sarah Come to Oregon!

Sean and Sarah drove up from Sacramento and arrived at our door just past 11pm. They unloaded their one bag and we chatted for a bit before heading to bed. Saturday we hopped into the car and drove two hours to Tillamook Cheese Factory. They had a free self guided tour. It wasn't quite what we were expecting, but somewhat interesting all the same. The center of attention at the cheese factory was their ice cream and grocery outlet. Ready to move on we headed to Cape Meares lighthouse since it was close by. It was a pretty small lighthouse in of itself. It stood about 200 feet above sea level. Unfortunately the lighthouse keeper's residence was torn down some time ago (after 1963 when it went automated). The parking lot is now were the houses once where.
We had a great view of the Oregon Coast line. It was raining on us off and on, typical Oregon weather. The sun peaked out for just a short while. Ready to head back, we trucked it back to Salem. For dinner we went out to the Best Little Roadhouse and later to the cake restaurant for dessert. Later that night we played Password and Catch Phrase. We had some good an hard laughs.
For Sunday, their last day visiting, we walked very briefly downtown, went to Bush Park, DeepWood (which of course both were closed), then to lunch. At which time we said our goodbyes and they drove off back to Sacramento. We really enjoyed their visit and look forward to Jason's visit, who currently is the only family member who has not yet come. Till then...

Carpenney Halloween 2009!

Phew! Boy, once it's over, it sure is a weight off the old back. Mary-Frances and I have planning and looking forward to this years Halloween for months, weeks, and even days! For this years costumes, Mary-Frances and I were going as Coraline and Wybie. Preparations for our costumes kind of went as follows: Mary borrowed Sharon's blue wig, and had our neighbor (a stylist) cut it. I bought a black trench coat at the good will. Mary ordered yellow rain boots, which were canceled cause the delivery date was going to be in Nov. We both went to the mall to get shoes. I ordered my gloves and welders mask online. Mary bought the stripped shirt on sale at old navy. I heated up the welders mask to form it, bought 'extra' parts at the hardware store, glued them on and painted it. I bought the reflector tape at the fabric store, ironed it on. We both pulled the rest of the items out of our drawers and wham bam, we were done.
This year we had the Halloween Party at the Carpenters new home. They have a very nice two story home with a good sized back yard in a recently built neighborhood full of kids. They were estimating around 150-200 kids to come to the door. I don't think it was quite that many, but it was a lot. Mary-Frances and I arrived early so that we could set up some of our decorations and hide little clue envelopes around the house for the scavenger hunt game that we planned. Once we were done and ready, we just sat back and waited for guests to arrive. They started to trickle in at 6:30pm. First guests were Roger Radcliffe and Anita from 101 Dalmatians who brought their reverse Dalmatians (black dogs with white spots. Over time food was brought, and more guests fully costumed all arrived. We had Jerry Seinfeld and Elaine Benes, Harry Potter and Preggers Hermione Granger, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Abby Sciuto, Dwight Schrute and Angela Martin, Visa Eagle and God's Gift to Women, Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, Grapes and Guy from MTV, and OSU grad and a Beavers Fan, a Nudist on Strike and a Dr. Pepper Shaker. It was a good turn out and a lot of great costumes and creativity.
Around eight, we started our game. Mary got everyone’s attention while all the lights went out in the house. Then the unthinkable happened, a Murder! Mr. Pumpkin was killed and now we had to split up and find the murderer in the house. So, we split up into nine teams, each armed with flashlights to search the house. We gave each team a set of cards that contained a list of suspects, possible murder weapons and crime scenes. By following clues and riddles they find, it would lead them to their next card/clue. By collecting them all they would be able to determine who the murderer was. If you haven’t figured it out, we played 'full-scale' Clue. The game lasted about 45 mins before we had a winner. After the game we voted for best costumes and pet costumes. The winner's were Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Abby Sciuto, second place went to Jerry Seinfeld and Elaine Benes, and third was Roger Radcliffe and Anita.
Everyone had a blast and it was a lot of fun. The party wound down around 11. Great decorations, good food, and fun company. Looking forward to next years Halloween Party! Check out the rest of the costumes and pictures in our shutterfly.

Eureka!

Mary-Frances and I made plans to visit the Romo's and Grandma this past weekend. We left after work on Friday and drove all night. Oh man, it was so foggy, raining and dark that it made for unpleasant driving conditions. But we made it in around a quarter to two. A guest bed room was set up in Nate’s old room. The worst part about going to bed after a 6 hour drive is the ringing in your ears that is keeping you awake as you now lay in a quite room . But we did fall asleep at last. When we woke up Mary hit the shower while I went to the grocery store with Joan to pick up some milk and hotdogs. Nate and Shelly came over and they wanted to go out for lunch (since that was around the time we finally got up). When we were ready, we went to a bagel shop. Afterward we walked around the town admiring the architecture. I wish I brought the camera with me to lunch, but I thought to myself "oh you don't need it, we are just getting bagels". Boy did I regret not having it. We headed back to the house, picked up Monte then headed to a park. We hiked around a bit, this time armed with the camera, snapping pictures left and right. We got to see Montes home (were Dan and Katelyn used to live) and Nate and Shelly’s home. Grandma's Mercedes is being stored at Nate’s. Unfortunately the engine seized up a long time ago and has been slowly falling into disrepair. It's a sad sight. Some year, with the right amount of time, attention and money, I would love to see it fully restored (sentimental reasons).
Grandma treated us all to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was very good. We met Monte's wife, Julie, for the first time but someone forgot to introduce us (bad Monte). After dinner Mary-Frances went off with Shelly to their place and Grandma, Joan, Nate, Monte and I all sat down and a long heart to heart talk. We chatted for a couple of hours and I think the outcome was pretty positive. We went to bed really late again. The next morning Monte, Nate, Shelly, Julie, Mary-Frances and I all went out to breakfast before we had to leave. We came back to the house to say good-bye to grandma and Joan. Grandma expressed how grateful she was that we came down to visit her and look forward to us (personally) as well as anyone else to come visit her anytime. We are thinking about going back for thanksgiving or meet half way at Shannon’s, but we'll see how things work for everyone as time gets closer. We both had a fun time and it was a nice spending time with grandma and the cousins. I was trying to deduce the last time I was in Eureka. I recall that the last time I was there, Shannon was moved into Nate’s room, Nate was in both Monte’s and Shannon’s room (as the wall between the two rooms was removed). Monte’s Mustang was sitting in the driveway, and Monte was somewhere…where? I cannot recall, he was either away to school, or (at least I thought) was serving somewhere in the armed forces. Perhaps he was just out duck hunting. Don't recall. How long ago was that exactly? Not sure, but I think around 15 years.

Dale

I got a call yesterday that my Hen, Dale, past away during the night. Since my rooster disappeared she was the last hen that remained from the batch I received back in '99 (or was it 2000?). For the past couple of days she had been very lethargic and inactive. I was hoping that my rooster and hen would live long enough to when I got a house that I could bring them up to Oregon, but it just didn’t happen in time. Goodbye Dale… =(

The Marta Visit

Sharon and Jake originally called us asking about coming up for Christmas, but since they were on their vacation here in October, that they wondered if they could move it up to now. Taking the opportunity, Sharon, Jake, and the kids drove up from Sacramento. Friday after work they headed over from a friends house. Isaac came in already chanting how excited he was to see the Spruce Goose. They unloaded and I started dinner. We got to hang out and just relax the first evening. The next morning (the 10th) after I came home from work, we got the kids ready and drove up to the Evergreen Aviation Museum where the Spruce Goose is being stored. We walked around and saw all the planes and helicopters, military vehicles and the Space Museum next door. The kids had a blast. We snapped tons of pics (see our shutterfly page). On Sunday, we took them to church, afterwords Mary had an appointment with some friends to take their family pictures. We then went to the park while we waited for her to finish. Upon Rebecca's recommendation, Jake and Sharon wanted to take the kids to the Discovery Museum. A short history is that the homes there were either built on location or moved there at one time to make this kids park. Each house has different rooms in them where the kids can 'discover' different things. They have a train room, a safari room, China room, bubble room, dinosaurs, shopping, recycle rooms, and more. They had a huge play area too and a maze of slides. A lot of fun for kids. Well, seeing how the homes were built in the 1800's they had their old style stair cases. Coming down the stairs I made the comment that I liked the odd steep style, while Mary-Frances was thinking "why, people get hurt on these stairs..." and that's when she missed a step, lost her balance and came down on her ankle, spraining it. Crying out in pain, one of the employee’s came over, asked if he could help, went and got a bag of ice and we filled out an accident report. Regaining her composure, we stepped outside to sit down on one of the benches. Feeling bad, the manager came out and gave us 4 free passes for our next visit. We came home and Mary put up her leg for the rest of the evening. Sharon and Jake packed up and got ready to head back to Sacramento. We ended the night watching The Office. The next morning, bright and early they headed out. We enjoyed their visit and look forward to the next one. Sean and Sarah were planning on coming up the following weekend, but had to postpone. Mary-Frances went to the doctor and got an x-ray. They said it wasn’t broken and gave her an aircast splint to wear.

Surprise B&B Get-A-Way!

Well our weekend didn't end the way we planned it from the start. It was a typical Saturday morning at work while Mary-Frances was at home doing some chores. Around 12:30pm I got a call from her telling me that I had to call Dave Lilley (her co-workers husband) as soon as I could 'cause he had a proposition for me. "OK...", I said to myself.
Well, a little hesitant I called him. He answered and proceeded to give me the low down. He said that he and his wife had made reservations at a Bed & Breakfast near the coast for this weekend, it was already paid for and ready to go. Unfortunately they were no longer able to go due to family complications and the trip was non-refundable, so it was going to end up going to waste. So, he ask if Mary-Frances and I were interested in going instead to take their place. The catch was that we had to check in by 3:30pm or risk the possibility of being marked as a "no-show" and loosing the reservation. So, I called Mary-Frances and asked if she was interested, and she said sure. So, I had her start packing while I drove home to pick her up. We then drove 40 mins down to Corvallis to pick up the reservation papers (needed at check-in), then headed out to the town of Yachats, where the B&B was. Now, we've never been to Yachats nor heard of the Bed and Breakfast. We really didn't know were we were going nor what was in store. Our new GPS came in real handy.
We had Dave and Kay call ahead to inform the B&B that we were coming and that we would be a little late. We finally got there at 4pm. Boy were we in for a surprise. Our stay was at the Heceta Head Lightstation. And yes, the house you see in the link is the home we stayed in. In fact, we stayed in the upstairs room that is the second window from the left in that very photo. Just gorgeous. We had our own little private parking area in back away from the public parking. Normally, the house is open from noon till about 5pm most days of the week to tourists. They closed off the upstairs to keep our rooms private while we stayed there. We entered through the guest kitchen and found our way up the second stairway to our room. We stayed in The Mariners II Room. We had our own bathroom with shower and there was the option to connect to the adjoining room if we were a larger party. And of course our view was the ocean.
We unloaded our stuff, took some photos and headed out to Florance for dinner. After dinner we came back to the B&B and to walk around a bit and enjoy the ocean. We walked up to the Lighthouse once the sun started to do down for a private viewing. If we planned it right we could have had a great view of the sun setting, but we just missed it. It was nice to be there after hours with no one else there but us ‘special guests’. The grounds and the house were for us the rest of the evening. It was totally cool. Mary wanted to explore the house a bit and look at all the photos and items out for display. That’s when I discovered a small binder with newspaper clippings and letters written from other guests. As I started to read I learned that the lighthouse is considered haunted and is on the top ten list of most haunted lighthouses in the US. So I read through the binder learning about the “ghost" resident "Rue” and the stories that have been told over the years.
There were 5 other couples staying there with us. Most, we didn't see till breakfast, when we came down the next morning. Set up in the dinning room was a place setting for 12 guests. We were all called to the table by a ringing bell at 8:30am. Once we were all seated, our seven course breakfast was served. First was chopped apples, pears and strawberries with a honey sauce, toppped with whipped cream and a mint leaf served in a desert glass, with a side of tomato bread. Next came Fresh Crab Cakes with Remoulade, then a Blueberry freeze with White Chocolate to clean our pallet. Afterwards we were served an Egg patty w/melted cheese and broccoli. Our Meat course was home made sausage links with maple and honey glaze. For desert was a black berry upside down cake, then finally a fig with cream and brae cheese.
After breakfast we packed up and loaded the car. We didn't have to check out till 10:30am to allow them to clean the rooms before they opened to the public. We took the short hike back up to the lighthouse and took the official tour of the interior. Walking back down we stopped at the gift shop that used to be the old carriage house. We picked up a souvenir for us and a small gift for Dave and Kay Lilley as a "thank-you" for the weekend get-a-way. I was hoping that we could take the official tour of the house, but they didn't open till after we had to leave back to Corvallis for a Young Marrieds baseball game that we signed up to bring food for. Unfortunately our camera battery died the first night so we didn't get as many photos as we would have liked. In our haste to get out the door we forgot to grab our second, fully charged battery. Guess that means we will just have to go back some day and take more pictures. Full set of pics are in our Shutterfly library, click the link in the right column.

Oregon State Fair 2009

The last day of the Oregon State Fair we just had to go. We left in the morning and arrived an hour after it opened. Tons of carnival rides and games and of course, carnies. Mary wanted to ride the Farris Wheel. Well it cost 8 tickets per person, and tickets where $0.50 ea. So, it would have cost $8.00 for the both of us to ride it. We changed our minds.
We spent most of the time walking around and looking at all the animals. We got to see sea lions, goats, cows, rabbits, lamas, and pigs. We caught a couple 'best in show' shows. It was interesting seeing a line of Lamas being judged. Very nervous animals. It sprinkled on us a little, but not much to get in a tizzy about. We caught a glimpse of some performers walking on tightrope and doing the hula-hoop balancing thing. Lots of venders inside selling all kinds of infomercial items. Heard a lot of '...if you act now, you will get, not one, not two, but three bundles. Now that's a $100 value, yours today for only $20..."
We passed the jerky hut and they were handing out free samples. Now, I couldn't pass up free jerky. So I asked for Hot, and ate it. Hmm, not hot, it had no tingle at all. So they gave me Habanero hot. Hmmm, again, still nothing. I said give me HOT. So they gave be the double habanero. Finally, a jerky that I would classify as 'hot'. Not inferno, but hot. So Mary bought me a pack and we moved on. When we were ready to head out we stopped by the black and white photo booth and got our traditional set of pictures. We ended the day relaxing at home watching Avatar: The Last Airbender.