Thursday, Aug 29th, 2019……
It rained on us last night. The weather forecast was for rain in the
Portland area and not much anywhere else. Well, that wasn’t true! It started in
the early morning hours and only lasted through the morning. And then the sun
came out and it warmed up. But, it’s all good – we need whatever rain we can
get! Of course, I had just turned the sprinklers back on after picking up the
grass clippings yesterday!
We needed
a few more things for Frances and Raymond so I hung around the house and waited
for the lighting guy, while Lydia headed off to Walmart to get everything.
Clint showed up and for the most part, we talked about the house and the
neighborhood. I showed him around and then he went in and took a look at our
present bath lights. He knew we had to leave to go to Eugene but he left us
with a huge catalog to look through. I was surprised that he didn’t have any
sales pitch or pressure us at all. He left and we took off a bit later. We
drove to the airport in Eugene to meet their 1:20pm flight but first we stopped
off at the Eugene Costco on the way. The Albany store had their bathroom
fixtures in stock but none on display and we thought we’d see what the Eugene
store had. Turns out they had one fully lit. I was ok with it – just not sure
if it’s our style or not. The big boss will tell me that, I’m sure. We made it
to the airport and cruised around a couple of times and they walked out to the
street just as we were driving by. Good timing!
We headed home and listened to Raymond’s stories about the day. I think
he’s happy to be here finally. We played with Rylee outside in the water and he
got to sit on the tractors. We will drive them later. They didn’t have lunch and we skipped ours so
Lydia got dinner started early. We had tri tip, baked potatoes with cheese
sauce, corn on the cob, and salad. It was our first meal at our new dining room
table! Yaaay! I cleaned up the dishes while they headed off to Big 5 and/or
Kohls looking for shoes for Raymond. Once
they returned, everyone settled in and Raymond got his teeth brushed and headed
off to his bedroom. I think he was sound asleep after only a few minutes. It
was a long day! We made plans for tomorrow and settled in and watched tv and
talked until bedtime.
Friday, Aug 30th, 2019…… The plan today is to go to The
Enchanted Forest. It’s on the kind of scale of Santa’s Village, if anyone
remembers that. But we thought we’d go check it out and see if Raymond would
like it. Sis dropped Quincy off here and then we loaded up and stopped at Shirley
May’s on the way for breakfast. Raymond had one pancake!
After the
nice meal, we headed up the 25 miles or so to the park. The weather this
morning was super nice and all of the schools up here started this week, so we
thought it would be a good day to go. We
parked in real close and went in.
They have a regular admission price (adult,
senior, children) and then you can either buy ride tickets for $1.00 each or
you can buy a bracelet for unlimited rides. I paid the admission and then got
only Raymond the bracelet. We went in. First, you go through the storybook
path, which takes you to nursery rhymed dioramas. This park has been here since
1971 and is a nice place for kids but it shows its age just a little. It’s cute
the way they have interactive displays that you can walk through or view from a
window. The path takes you through a western street then on to the amusement
area. Raymond rode the bumper cars a few times and the carousel but wouldn’t go
through the haunted house! I was coaxed into buying a ride ticket for the log
ride. It was similar to Knott’s Berry Farm but on a smaller scale. Then I
bought another and this time Frances went with him on the bobsled. After that,
he got back in line and rode it two more times by himself! He also rode one other ride with another
little boy and his family and they then all went back up to the log ride to go
together! I think he had a great time
and so did we!
We headed
back home with the idea that we would let Rylee and Quincy out and then go to
the carousel in Albany and then to dinner. I changed the plan and it worked
better. We went to Pizza Schmizza in town and saved the drive for another day.
We got back home and fed monkey butt and Penny took Q home. We settled in for a
while and rested, and then went out to take the tractors out. Raymond is a
little too short to hold the brake to start the tractor but once I started it,
he was off to the races. Frances got on the other one and they did a few laps!
I think we ran out a few gallons of gas today!
Saturday, Aug 31st, 2019…... I got up and got going early and walked
monkeybutt. Today we were headed to Silver Falls. We thought Raymond would like
hiking the trails and walking under the falls. Our plans were to go Kevin’s for
breakfast first but sis called and said when she got there, they were closed
for the holiday weekend. So, we went to Appletree and had a nice meal. Penny
left to go get Quincy to bring to the house, and I left Lydia and Frances at the restaurant, and
Raymond and I went home to get drinks and pick up Rylee and sis. We went back
and got the girls and headed off. It’s about 40 miles or so and it’s a nice
drive through the country and then into the forest above Salem/Silverton. Rylee usually whines in the car but with
Raymond back there she did ok. Everyone walked to the top viewing area of South
Falls and then Lydia took Rylee back to the visitor’s center (dogs aren’t
allowed on the canyon trail) and the rest of us headed down.
Even though there
wasn’t too much water in the creek, the falls were still pretty impressive. We
did the downhill just fine and took all of the pics we could. We even took the
loop trail this time on the way out. I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one who
got winded on the uphill! We made it out and found Lydia and the mutt and
headed back. But we weren’t done! I detoured to the next adventure. I had told
Frances about how much the grandkids enjoyed their ride on the Buena Vista Ferry
on the Willamette River and she had said Raymond would love that! He was
surprised when we pulled in line facing a river! The ride only lasts a few
minutes but we decided to just turn around and ride it back. This time we all
got out of the car and checked out everything.
There were several float tube
groups heading downriver and they looked like they were enjoying their day. We
got back home and rested for a while before starting dinner. We had salmon with
mac and cheese and a salad. After dinner, we all sat out on the front porch and
had ice cream cones for dessert.
My sister left and we came in and settled in and
watched a bit of tv before calling it a night. Long day!
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