For now, it is only the kids, but I'm working on a family shot
This year's summer was a busy one. It started with a trip to see Keiko (star of Free Willy) before he left for Iceland in September '98. He was at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Next was a trip to move at a very slow snail's pace in a line of thousands to board the USS Missouri. The Missouri is the ship that the treaty ending WWII in the Pacific was signed on. Immediately following that, Philip graduated from Tiger Cubs to Wolves in the Cub Scouts. The rest of the summer we never stopped. Two trips to California, a camping trip, and a lot of adventure. On this page are a number of pictures from our summer. At the end of the summer, Philip turned 8 years old, and Patrick turned 4.
Philip and Patrick had the priviledge of boarding the USS Missouri at the beginning of the summer. She had been docked in Bremerton, Washington for many years. Now, She's been decomissioned and will be part of the permanent memorial of WWII in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She deserves the rest, but, it was still rather sad to see Her being towed, instead of sailing under Her own power. She was in port at Astoria for just 4 or 5 days, four of which the public was allowed to visit Her. By the day we got there, on the last day She was open, the crowd control was very good. The first day, though, was disaster. So many people showed up, that those putting the event on were overwhelmed.
The first trip to California, to visit Grandma and Grandpa, and various aunts, uncles and cousins, had yielded a LOT of pictures from various places we took in. The following pictures are from those places.
Babe, Paul Bunyan's blue ox, at Trees of Mystery in California.
"The Trail's End" ... also at Trees of Mystery
Fort Ross on the Northern California Coast
Philip, Abri and Patrick at Portugese Beach, north of Bodega Bay, which is best known for its role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. This beach usually has small dead Portugese Man o' Wars scattered out across it. But, this year, the beach had none. AND, it had been rearranged. Just behind the kids in this picture, about 5 feet behind that log, the beach drops about 5 feet. There is a rock that we used to crawl through, as teenagers. The opening where we crawled through, was completely covered up (up to about 2 feet above the top of the opening) by sand. It seems that El Nino was not very nice to one of my favorite beaches.
I happen to have a "thing" for hippos, and I collect them. Of course, I couldn't collect this one. It is made of bronze and is permanently imbedded in its spot at the San Francisco Zoo
For nearly 30 years, I lived just 50 miles north of San Francisco. I always considered it to be sort of like my backyard. Although I've lived in the Pacific Northwest for over ten years, now, when I see the Golden Gate Bridge, I always feel like I'm home. And, at the ripe old age of 40, I finally saw just what is meant by "Golden Gate". I was on my way to a dog show in Hayward, on this trip to California. The sun was just coming up over the bay, and I'll be darned if it didn't turn everything a deep, rich golden color. It was stunning, and a sight I will always treasure. Anyway, this day, on the Golden Gate Bridge was a typical one .. foggy. :)
In between the two trips to California, we all went camping .. including Abri. The next couple of pictures are from that trip
This was Philip's first time fishing. The fish were not biting that day, though
This is an amazing "eye-to-eye" view of Mount Hood from a place called Lost Lake Butte. It was a VERY steep hike, but the view over the area was fantastic. On a clear day, you can see at least four mountains, including this one.
The second trip to California, took us to a place called Lake Alpine. You saw a great picture of Duck Lake on the front page. Here's another shot of it, with Philip and Patrick in the picture.
When we got back from this trip, we had one weekend where not much was done. I went to Seattle to meet some friends from Australia, and to pick up Vani. But, the next weekend, Bryan took the boys camping and gave me a much needed breather - a whole weekend alone to recharge my batteries. These next pictures are from that camping trip.
