New Home

I bought a house today. That still sounds kind of surreal to me. It's a old house (older than I am), and I am only the second owner.

Buying a house is an interesting experience. When I first mentioned that it was time to my cousin on Mother's Day, I thought it would be a long process, with hours of showings. That. Did. Not. Happen. Instead, I looked at two houses, and made the offer on the first one I saw. I think that freaked out my family a bit. Of course, they may be thinking about what I missed by not looking further. I was thinking about what I would miss if I passed on this house. Bottom line....it felt right. And it evoked some memories. This house, my house, is very much like the house I grew up in. It's a bit smaller, but it met my very short list of requirements. I can even hear distant trains from my yard. Yes....a yard. I have a lawn to mow and water. Apple trees and rhodys to care for. It's going to be awesome!

The down side....trying to move during the first month of school is going to be ugly.

Willamette Country Music Festival

This past weekend was the Willamette Country Music Festival in Brownsville.  Three days, eleven concerts and some big stars. We had a fabulous time! Unfortunately, my camera doesn't like taking low light photos and I had to resort to snapping pictures of the jumbotron. :)

Hunter Hayes

Carrie Underwood

Cloverdayle

The Ranch

Brad Paisley

Eli Young Band

Darius Rucker

Parents

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.

Wedding Day!

Happy Wedding Day to Erin & Morgan!

Otter Beach

We took the kids to Otter Beach in Corvallis on Friday. They had a blast with the fountains, water cannons and slides.

4th of July

I came home from D.C. on the 30, and headed to the Lake to be with my family the next morning. We had a nice, quiet 4th of July week. Due to fire hazards, we didn't set off any fireworks, but others camping nearby provided an illegal show. It was beautiful and loud, but you always worry about the possibility of a forest fire. Either way, it was good to spend some time with family and friends, sun and water, and no agenda.

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.