Posted a day ago so be sure to read that first.....
Wednesday, December 1st., 2021…… We are ready to go! Our reservation is for one night at The
Oregon Garden Resort. Both of us have been there several times for the
Christmas lights. We talked about it and discovered that we may even have been
there at the same time! But neither of
us have ever stayed at the resort, which we were looking forward to. I had
booked a room and found out we would be in a cottage building! We thought these were out of our reach but
that’s what we got! Score! But first up was a stop at her trailer for
the washer part install. The (same) guys texted that they were ahead of
schedule and could be there ½ hour early so we got the dogs walked and fed and
headed over at 8:30am. Penny would be by later to let them out and would come
back later to spend the afternoon and night there as well. Once they showed up
at the trailer, Cathye headed out to get us breakfast, and I stayed and hung
lights outside and got them wired up while the guys did the install. They were
done pretty quickly and were on their way. We left around 9:30 or so and made
the drive north through the backroads. Check-in time was 3:00pm so I thought it
would be a good time to go hike the Silver Falls area. We made the detour and
drove to the parking lot and paid the meter fee ($5.00). We had bought Cathye a
telescopic hiking stick and she was anxious to try it out. The weather was
really nice – no rain in the forecast for the next few days – and the sun was
out and warm. We dressed accordingly and headed out the trail. There were only
a few people out today and we had the trail pretty much to ourselves. We
started down from the rim of the trail and walked to the falls. The water was
flowing and the falls were spectacular!
I got a couple of shots in the mist and then some down by and under the
falls themselves. Pretty nice hike! And
Cathye liked her ‘walkin stick’!
We left there and went to lunch in
Silverton. The place we wanted to try was no longer in business so we went to a
Thai food place downtown. Eeh! We drove
around town after that for a few minutes then headed to check in. No worries,
they had our room ready. It was super nice and even had a fireplace. We laid
around and relaxed for an hour or so, then headed off to the restaurant bar to
have a drink before our 5:00pm dinner reservation. I have to stop here and tell
you that this was dinner #2 or #3 of my all-time favorites! I chose the Coulotte Steak (no, I don’t know
what it is either!) & Mushroom Ravioli entrée. She got the Grilled 12 oz.
Ribeye & Shrimp entrée. OMG! It was delicious! We left there and walked around the corner to
the entrance to the Christmas Market and light. We had a wristband so we went
right in. As I said, both of us had been before. We both thought it was very
nice, but more compacted this year. They have nice level paths to walk, with
different vignettes, and it was well organized. I think both of us preferred
the old layout, which was more spread out. You’d think, with covid, that they
would want it more open to all. But it was still very nice. The one-way path took us back out close to
our cottage, but we continued on to have another drink at the fireside lounge
before heading back to our room and ending a wonderful relaxing evening.
Thursday, December 2nd., 2021…… We slept in and showered and packed and headed off
to breakfast. Now this wasn’t as nice as the dinner last night. But it was
included in our package so we took advantage of it. After that, we checked out
and headed back home, stopping at Costco on the way. Penny called as we were
driving and said that Jama was sick to her stomach. I won’t elaborate on the
details. Let’s just say Penny had some cleanup in aisle two! We thought about it and decided it must have
been the new food that she got for Jama that wasn’t agreeing with her. When we
got back home, I dumped most of it, but did put several handfuls in Rylee’s
food as a mixer for her. We did laundry and went off to get some more shopping
done. We did ok and got a few items but still have more on our shopping list
for friends and family. Cathye is mailing three boxes out to the kids in MO, AZ
and NH, and needs to get those in the mail asap. Later in the evening, we
headed out to go see the Nativity displays at Kirk’s church rectory in
Corvallis. I had been before and I was anxious to show Cathye. We both enjoyed
the experience. I’m not sure what the count was, but it had to be in the
several hundreds, each one set up and shared by their respective owners.
Friday, December 3rd., 2021…… Weather here is changing
again! They say it will be a little
colder next week but just rain is expected. Temps expected in the low 50s and
then moving to the high 40s. When we went out to walk the dogs, it was just beginning
to sprinkle, but we have raincoats so we were good to go! We got the NH box done and shipped today. Two
to go! We had bought mushroom ravioli at Costco last week and we had pasta
sauce so that was dinner. Tv until bedtime.
Saturday, December 4th., 2021…… We ordered the wedding invitations
today. I thought it might be a little too soon but Cathye says it’s ok because
we already have the date booked. We went online and designed them and also
ordered rsvp and thank you cards. She was rather intimidated by the design
process so I was happy to help out! That done, she went to work on boxing up
the MO package. Today was Rylee’s turn to go through the stomach thing. I’m
convinced it was Jama’s new dog food. Remember, I had mixed it in with
butthead’s. She had a rough day to say the least! I dumped everything from Rylee’s bin and we
started back with their old food again. So, needless to say, we didn’t make it
to the post office or UPS before they closed and now it will be Monday before
we can ship. Cathye made some homemade mac and cheese that I like and we
watched some of our taped programs before calling it a night. We stayed up later than usual to keep an eye
on Rylee and saw she was feeling better and was settling in and sleeping, so we
headed off to bed.
Sunday, December 5th., 2021…… Not much on the agenda
today. Oh yeah, my ring came in! We made the drive up to Woodburn (53 miles)
to pick it up. We had a break in the weather so we enjoyed some nice sunshine
on the drive up and back so it was a nice day. I even got off the main highway
so we could take our time and check out the scenery. Ok, back to the ring - she
had it engraved and had to pay for that but I wasn’t allowed to see it when I
tried it on! No worries. It was fine so now
she can keep it safely stored away until April. When we got back home, we
rested for the day and watched tv. My auctions were back on and I had several
hours to watch. She likes her Hallmark Christmas movies so we split up for the
afternoon. We had leftovers for dinner.
I chose the ravioli and she ate the mac and cheese. I’m happy to share that
both dogs are back to normal again. Yaay!
Monday, December 6th., 2021…… Once we had the dogs walked and fed,
we hit Appletree for breakfast and then went to the post office first thing for
the MO box. We’re now working to get things arranged for our next adventure! We leave on Sunday for a 6-day excursion.
We’ll be taking the train to Seattle and then going east to Leavenworth, WA. Leavenworth is in the Cascades and there is
expected snow (thus the train) so we are thinking about a warmer wardrobe. More
details on that later. Cathye and the girls headed over to Albany for a
shopping trip. Today was my day to work on the furnace door at her trailer. I
needed to cut the door to fit the new frame that the contractor had installed
so I took measurements and brought it home to work on in my shop. I got it cut
and sanded and we went back to fit it after Cathye got back. It worked fine and
only needs a magnetic latch and some touchup paint. The only item remaining on
my list for her place is the icemaker. We needed to make a run to Walmart and get a
few things for lunch. Aimee was coming over and then we are going to go look at
her trailer. Aimee is my realtor and we are asking her to check it out and give
us an idea of what it’s worth and what the market is doing now. We will be
making a decision about what to do with it going forward. As I have mentioned,
she is here now and the $600.00 + space rent and the internet, and a few
utilities are being paid but going unused. Sure wish we could rent it out but
that’s not allowed at this time. The park has recently been sold and we are
waiting to see if things change. But at least we’ll have a head start with Aimee’s
help.
Tuesday, December 7th., 2021…… We had a few items on the agenda
for today. Aimee texted and asked if we
could postpone. She is still under the weather.
But Lilly and Brandon are coming over for dinner and to make Christmas
cookies with us. We will take them to the other Christmas display in Albany
this year. They do a Christmas Storytime display every year at the Linn Benton
Fairgrounds. This year it will be a
drive-thru so we’re going to check that out. Cory dropped them off and came
back later to eat with us and go to Albany. We loaded up in the Acadia and got
in line for the 6:30pm opening. It was smoothly orchestrated for the entry and
drive-thru, but it quickly slowed to a stop because the indoor display area was
super packed with scenery every inch of the way!
It was fun but it’s not made for
driving. It’s got to be experienced by walking it at your own pace. Hopefully,
next year…
We got back and the kids headed
home tired and happy. We were pooped out and went to sleep quickly after an
evening of tv!
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