Catching you up is a job!

July 24, 2017

Yesterday, after streaming my church service, I left Myrtle Point, Oregon for Bend, Or.  It was a spectacular drive!  Beautiful green mountains, winding road along rivers with white water, waterfalls, just down right Amazingly wonderful.

Before I tell you about the rest of the trip to Bend, I want to catch you up on the trip to the Coast with my Sister.

Wednesday, July 19th, the third day we were there, one of her best friend's from High School, Carol Summers, came to pick us up.  She took us to an Art Exhibit in Florence, Ore. where she had some water color paintings, she is very good!  Then we went to a local library where there was some art hanging from the ceiling.  The decor was made from felt.  An octopus, star fish, blow fish and Jelly fish, very well done, I got some pictures. There was also a display of Oregon Covered Bridges and a map of where they all were.

We then visited a quilt shop which was fascinating, very well organized and colorful. (Carol does quilting too)  Then Carol took us to lunch at an English Tea House called "Lovejoy's".  It was in the tradition of the tea rooms of Great Britain and it had been providing a warm and friendly atmosphere for tea since the 1990"s.(So the literature said, and they were right!)

Carol had reserved our table, which was a round table in the corner with two wing backed chairs.  It was very cozy with all kinds of English Tea Pots and Cups on the wall as decor.  We had "Blooming Jasmine tea",  and cucumber sandwiches for an appetizer.  The tea was served in clear, glass decanters with the dried Jasmine bloom in the bottom, which actually "bloomed" as it hydrated in the hot water. (What fun!).  I ordered Shepherd's pie, (made with lamb), it was good. 

After lunch we walked along the water ( a marina and an inlet to the Ocean) and watched the herons and the Egret's fish.  I got some great pictures.  Carol said she would paint one of my pictures, I was so honored.  We went to dinner at a great Chinese food place.

We headed back to the RV Park and went past it, to see the sand dunes.  Dune buggy's (ATV's) go up and down the dunes, looks like fun.  We also saw the South Jetty.(A strip of man made rocks that stick out into the ocean to break up the rough water so boats can come and go safely over the "bar")

The next day, July 20, Carol took us to Yachats, Or., where she lives.  The trip up the coast was beautiful, could not ask for better weather, for the whole trip! 

We stopped just beyond the Sea Lion Caves.  This is a tourist attraction, that required a long walk down some stairs or an elevator ride down the cliff, into a cave in the rocks, right off of the ocean.  All three of us had been to the caves years earlier and we did not care to experience the "smell" again, We chose an over-look, so we could look down from a cliff, on some Sea Lions that were lying on rocks, sunning themselves.  We got to see them move from the water, laboriously, hunching themselves up onto the rock and playing "King of the rock" as others would wiggle their way off the rocks when a bigger one would arrive. 

After watching a while, we moved our position to be able to see directly down onto a rock, that was white with bird droppings. There were hundreds of black birds nesting there.  But the greatest thing, was that right off from that rock were two bull Seal lions, who got into a fight!  We could hear them bellowing at each other and lunging at each other in the water.  A short while later, they resolved their conflict and swam off.  It was great!  Right off from where we were Seal watching was a lighthouse, and I took some more pictures, it was amazing. 

We moved on up the Coast and the road was very curvy as it followed the ocean.  Every turn was a wonderful scene of the rugged coastline of  Oregon, wow!  (You must understand, this was quite a miracle, as usually it is cold, foggy or rainy and windy, even in the summer).  We were so blessed!  We went through the town of Yachats, a quaint little Sea town with lots of little shops with banners on each side of the light poles, along the street.  One banner said Yachats and the one on the other side of the light pole was a rendition done by a local artist.  We saw Carol's, she had one of a fish. (Very nice) 

We went by Carol's house and saw her husband's wood shop that he had built by himself.(With Carol's help).  He had an interesting set up that allowed all of the sawdust to be sucked out from every machine and delivered to barrels in the next room to be hauled out. Cool!  It was very neat and tidy.  I saw a lot more of Carol's paintings and she gave me an original!  I love it!  I found a perfect place to put it in the RV!  She also gave me some prints that I will hang up also.  She does such great work and she has only been painting about 10 years.  

You can see her work on Facebook.com, in the upper left search space type in: yachats arts guild summers album,

Scroll down and you will see her pictures and then it says "See All"
You will see all but her latest art which she hasn't posted there yet.

After that, we drove up to Walport to the Pacific Sourdough Bakery.  We got there a little before noon, and there was a line.  WALPORT IS A SMALLER TOWN THAN YACHATS AND THERE WAS A LINE!!!  They didn't have a lot of left, but we were able to get what we wanted.  They have a big glass window in the front where you can watch them make the bread etc...  They said you had to get there early (they open at 10 AM)  and there is always a long line accross the parking lot, before they opened and a line inside at anytime. WOW! It was good, wholesome bread with little if any sugar and lots of choices of nuts, seeds etc..., great stuff.

We left there and went to a fabric shop that also sold Carol's Art.  She was excited because her Art-on-fabric was in, she hadn't seen it yet.  They had printed her Art on fabric, making 8"X8" squares for quilt making.  Carol said she would quilt a pillow case for me with a piece that she painted; it will fit so well in the RV.

We had packed a cooler with lunch so we took it down to the ocean on my Sister's deluxe walker (with a seat, that would hold it).  It fit perfectly and she pushed it along the trail, until we found a bench right along the shore.  We Iate salad (we forgot the dressing) and cantaloupe. It worked, and we enjoyed watching the seagulls fishing, the waves and boy's playing Frisbee on the beach.  It was overwhelmingly great!

We left the beach and went to a quaint little shop called "Toad Hall".  There was a lot of unique gifts and Carol's Art too.   I was able to get a gift for my Sister and Brother-in-law's Anniversary.  Then we went to another little tiny shop called "Just Local", and my Sister got a gift for her husband.

Carol took us back to the RV and we decided to unhook so we would be ready to go in the morning. 

Friday,July 21, we left South Jetty RV park ad tried to get the RV looked at for the former "flap, flap", noice,  It was running smooth and nothing else worked out so we headed back after getting a Subway sandwich.  We stopped half-way back to eat the sandwich, and got back in time to park the RV at my Sister's and take their car to get my nails done.  As soon as I returned we were ready to go to Camp Myrtlewood for dinner at the Church of the Brethren Church Camp which was going on.  The Church of the Brethren was my home church, as I was growing up, and I knew some of the people there.  Some I hadn't seen in years.  It was great to catch up too.  I got a Camp Myrtlewood Tee shirt, (my very first one.)

Now you are caught up, except today, I didn't even go outside, (busy doing my blog),smile.  Oops, I didn't tell you about Bend and the trip up.  OK, you will have to wait until tomorrow.

I did get my tickets to go back to Maryland on August 1, arriving Aug 2. (Red Eye).