Happy Centennial NPS!

The Natioanl Park Service officially turns 100 on August 25. As of today, there are 413 designated NPS units in the United States and territories. I am a huge fan of the parks. Each is unique. Each is special. Someday, I hope to visit each and every one. To date, I've only been to 77.

Southern Oregon Weekend

Labor Day weekend in Southern Oregon. We spent the weekend at Valley of the Rogue State Park so we could just relax. Of course, we found ways to entertain ourselves as well.

On Saturday, we spent the day in Jacksonville. It's such a great little town. The weather was beautiful, so we spent a few hours wandering through the shops. We even ran into some friends. And we had a wonderful lunch on the patio of the Jacksonville Inn.

Sunday, we headed into Grants Pass. We had a specific goal. Once upon a time, I lived in Brookings, Oregon and frequently enjoyed eating at Wild River Pizza. There are actually four locations, so we opted for lunch at the Grants Pass location. The pizza was excellent. And so was the beer. They were out of my usual favorite, the Kolsch, so I went with the Honey Wheat Ale. It was a good choice.

Food and Wine

Another awesome weekend at Taste of Ashland has come to an end. We had a fabulous time, ate lots of yummy food and drank some lovely wine, beer and cider. This year we missed taking our fabulous group shot, so this one taken at the K&R in Rice Hill (enjoying a traditional Sunday afternoon Umpqua ice cream stop) will have to stand in.

Spring Break

A few photos from our Spring Break at the Oregon Dunes. It's Spring in Oregon, so we had beautiful weather and then the stormy set in. It was good to hang out with family and friends.

Israel Family Reunion 2013

This year's destination was Pleasanton, California. Living in Oregon meant we were going on a .....ROAD TRIP! Two weeks and 1000 miles. Here's a few highlights.

Shasta Lake...We used to vacation here when I was a kid. Went back to check out the campground we used to frequent in the O'Brien Inlet and found it gone. There is still a marina, however. And the water level is very low this year.

The Sundial Bridge (Redding, California)....We took some time to wander around Redding and were pointed in the direction of the Sundial Bridge by the cute guy selling tomatoes at the Farmer's Market. We walked across the bridge. It's pretty cool.

Winchester Mystery House (San Jose, California)...I talked the parents into visiting the Winchester Mystery House. I knew they would enjoy it's quirkiness. We invited the Indiana cousins to come with us, taking the Grand Tour. The estate is such s interesting place.

San Francisco, California....We had a fast paced tour of the city. It was a nice overview, but San Francisco like most cities deserves to be explored. We visited Pier 39, had some amazing fish and chips for lunch at The Cod Mother, and finished off the day with dinner in Chinatown at the Empress of China.

The Niles Canyon Railway (Sunol to Niles, California)....We rode the Niles Canyon train from Sunol to Niles, which is part of the original route of the Transcontinental Railroad. This is a great little excursion train. We spent the time visiting and catching up with the cousins. The weather was beautiful.

Reunion Dinner...we were a small group this year, but it was wonderful to see everyone. Dinner was catered by Armadillo Willy's and was very yummy.

Crater Lake (Oregon)....Our trip home included a visit to Crater Lake. We hadn't visited for many years, so it was nice to see the lake. We had lunch at Crater Lake Lodge, and then drove around the rim. The views were hazy due to the smoke from a wildfire to the east.

Collier State Park Logging Museum (Chiloquin, Oregon)...We spent a couple nights at Collier State park, and had the opportunity to visit the Logging Museum. It began as a gift of the Collier Brothers as a tribute to their parents. The museum covers the history of logging from the 1800's to modern day, and also includes a collection of pioneer buildings.

This disc is from the "Clatsop Tree". It lived from 1420 to 1962 when it blew down in the Columbus Day Storm.

Sisters, Oregon....We spent the last couple days of our trip in Central Oregon. We visited my cousins at their new house, and then accidently ran into some other cousins on the streets of Sisters while doing some antique shopping.

DAR Continental Congress

I left on the redeye, June 23 for Washington DC. The Daughters of the American Revolution Continental Congress was scheduled for the end of the week, and I had the opportunity to be a page. Pages dress in white and work as volunteers in a variety of ways during Congress. I have been a page at our State Conference for the last three years, but paging at Congress is bigger.

This year was an election year, with a new President General and Executive Board being chosen. Over the course of Congress, more than 3800 people attended various functions, and there were more than 250 pages from around the world on hand. You get the idea that it takes many hands to make everything run smoothly.

The official Congress hotel was the J.W. Marriott on Pennsylvania Ave. That meant about a 15 minute walk to Constitution Hall and Memorial Continental Hall. These two buildings were built a hundred years ago, and later were "joined" by the administration building. The DAR National Headquarters sits on a city block that is entirely owned by the DAR. It's pretty amazing that the founders and early members had the foresight to purchase the land, build the buildings and keep it in working order for so long.

It was such a busy week that I didn't do much sightseeing. The Washington Monument is surrounded by scaffolding due to earthquake damage. I think it looks pretty cool.

But we did tour the National Cathedral. It's really beautiful.

The Moon Rock Window

It was a great week. I met lots of people and had lots of fun. And came home very tired on June 30.

Spring Break

The family spent five days at the Honeyman State Park over Spring Break. Our goal was to ride the dunes and we did.

Solo Boston - Day 2

Today was my second solo day in Boston. I decided to take it easy, and sort of made it difficult. I didn't plan very well, so I spent some time retracing my steps.

I slept in so my day started a bit later than yesterday. I took the T into the city and walked over to the Paul Revere House. It was interesting, and they have big plans for the future. As I was walking back down Hanover street I stopped in for lunch at Piccola Venezia where I had cheese ravioli with marinara sauce. It was very yummy.

From the restaurant I wandered over to the King's Chapel, then the Granary Burial Ground. Boston Common, and then into the Boston Public Garden. I decided to take part in a Boston tradition, and rode the Swan Boats and took pictures of the Make Way for Duckling statues.

My next stop was the Boston Public Library. It's beautiful.

I had planned on walking the Black Heritage Trail, but only made it part way. I got a bit sidetracked when I ran across the sign for Louisa May Alcott's Boston homes. And at that point my feet were done, and back to the hotel I did go.

Solo Boston - Day 1

I padded this trip with a couple extra days to do some solo exploring and that is what I did today. I started with an early trip out to Brookline to visit the John F. Kennedy Birthplace. The Kennedy's lived in this house from 1914-1920 when they were expecting their fifth child. Jack was three at the time. The house tour was very interesting, and really gave some insight into the family dynamics.

From Brookline I took the T back into Boston and walked through Boston Common before it got too warm. Then I wandered back to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market for a slice of pizza. Then I caught the water shuttle near the aquarium out to the Charlestown Navy Yard.

The Navy Yard is the home of the USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides"). Since the ship is still an active military vessel, you have to present photo identification and walk through a metal detector. When I got there in the early afternoon, it was a fairly quick process. When I left, there was a rather long line.

The ship is pretty cool. She's the oldest ship in the Navy, having been commissioned in 1797. Her service in the War of 1812 is being commemorated until 2015.

After touring the ship I visited the USS Constitution Museum. It's really good, and has some great hands on activities for kids.

Then I took a ranger led tour to the Bunker Hill Monument. It was really interesting, but I declined to climb the 292 steps inside the obialisk. It was just not going to happen in today's heat and humidity. Instead I booked back down to the harbor to catch the boat back to downtown Boston.

I then spent some time wandering the shops to haul stuff home for the family, and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Quincy

Goodbye to Concord. I hauled my bags to the depot and took the train back to Boston this morning. The weatherman predicted rain, but it didn't happen.

Since I arrived at my hotel too early to check in, they were happy to hold my bags so that I could do some exploring. I walked back to the subway and took the red line to Quincy Center where the Adams National Historic Park is located. I have to say I have visited many NPS sites, but I really liked this one.

At the visitor's center I paid for my tour, but had to wait for about an hour. There was plenty of time to wander across the street to the United First Parish Church (Unitarian) to see the crypts of John & Abigail Adams and John Quincy & Louisa Catherine Adams.

The trolley takes you out to the birthplaces of both presidents. John Adams was born in this house.

John Quincy Adams in this one.

The trolley then takes you to the Old House, where John & Abigail lived at the end of their lives, and was occupied seasonally by family members until 1926. When it was turned over to the government in 1946, it was left intact by the family.

One of my favorite things about the house was the library. Unfortunately, you can't take photos inside. This was built specifically for John Quincy Adams' books. It's not an "official" presidential library only because the Adams' papers are not stored here. They are at the Massachusetts Historical Society.