Jenna and Egeus

My sister has named her lymphoma Egues. Earlier this summer we were both talking about how we both thought we had a hernia and we should go get it checked out. Since then she has had a whirlwind of doctors visits since she has been diagnosed and received her first round of chemo yesterday. 

It’s been heavy on my mind. It feels wrong to be having fun but I am thankful for everyone taking care of her this week Dirk, Knox, and Pam and of course Mom and Dad. I love you and wanted you to know I’m looking forward to our next adventure after you Kick Egeus out.

Hickory run State Park

We left Hammonasset heading across Eastern pa to hickory run State Park. With late check outs (3pm) PA ranks high in my state list. Hickory run is right in the middle of an awesome rails to trails and boulder fields with nice little streams worth exploring (shades of death trail)

We truly enjoyed the lehigh gorge rails to trails. The gorge was lined with historical River locks that raised the river 600 feet in 26 miles.

Then to top it all off it’s got this random boulder field.

It was an awesome  day

Hammonasset Beach State Park.

We arrived Wednesday night and have been doing beach things since we arrived. Working in the mornings, but I’m the evening we’ve enjoyed more lobster rolls (campground chef), beach walks (check out the guy with the trident), 2 stand up paddle board rides, sunsets, beach hikes to meigs point, severe weather advisories (campground storm watching), and lots of level paved biking paths. We are on our way now to Pennsylvania.

More Cape Cod fun.

The past two days, I’ve had to work but we’ve had a great time bumming around after work. The first evening we went to Nauset Beach and Cape Cod National Sea shore. We saw seals, multiple light houses, slanted beaches and intimating jaws signs. We capped off the evening with delicious campground chef lobster rolls.

The next day we grabbed our bikes and took a tour of p-town. We had some oysters, jumbo shrimp little neck clams, and tuna tartar at a beachside restaurant. Then we wandered through p-town.

It was incredibly clear when we got home and we sat outside and looked at stars, satellites and watched shooting stars. No pictures. You’ll just have to trust me.

I’m off today and we headed out of Nickerson State Park towards Hammonasset State Park which is in Connecticut. Before leaving, we got on the Cape Cod rail trail and dipped my feet in every pond along the route (Sheep, Seymour, Long Pond, & Flax). We had beers and pizza for lunch.

Life is really good.

Damascus to Boston to Cape Cod

We started our journey last weekend, as we visited Damascus with Mark and Cheryl and their wonderful group of friends. I’ve been slow to post.

George headed out to a guitar camp in New York (‘band camp’ according to George’s sister and ‘divorce dad’ camp according to our kids). I think it’s probably more like ‘retiree camp’.

Since  George was already upstate, I flew into Boston and we stayed at Wompatuck State Park. There, we ran into Craig, Jessica and Oskar. We  even got the pleasure of car pooling and lunching with Jessica and Oskar on the way to the Cape.

At Nickerson State camp ground check in, we won the ice lottery and grabbed as much free ice that would fit in our cooler. We cried when we left it to melt but there was nothing we could do to save it.

Then we drove to Brewster flats and found hermit crabs and relaxed and the beach.

Life is good.

Coos Bay to Depoe Bay

We stopped at Heceta head and took a walk about the rocks

We continued up the coast for a picnic lunch and some more beach time.

Then we stopped at thors well, but since it was low tide the kids missed the big event. We did have a sneaky wave surprise James and Fiona which made the stop worthwhile. Fiona really took a hit, she’s always been the lucky hand. We also stopped at devil’s churn and devil’s punch bowl.

We stayed at the Trowler’s Lodge in Depoe Bay and saw a lovely sunset after dinner of halibut and Sadira’s world-famous orzo. Depoe Bay is the smallest harbor in the world and is home to grey whales. We didn’t see any spouts this evening. (Fore shadowing).

Coos Bay

The next morning James had to work so we made our way to hike at Sunset Beach SP,  Shore acres SP and  Cape Arago just south of Coos Bay.

From Sunset Beach we could see the lighthouse, and we got surprised by a bunch of harbor seals with their babies.

This is a picture of the pile of sea lions through the telescope at Cape Arago. They were crawling all over each other.

We finished the day with some pepper jelly tasting.. so very difficult to decide which one was best

Brookings to Coos Bay

We started the day right by going on a low tide run and serving up a big breakfast. So far I have failed to mention the Brookings rental has  Pac-Man. Check out is 10 o-early-o-clock and the pac man high score had not been beaten. Right before 10 and before my bags were neatly packed, George started a two man game. I got closer than any other game but eventually killed myself on my bonus life because the house keeper was waiting outside. Sadly,  I ended up leaving my toiletries and had to circle back after dropping everyone at the first hike (Cape Ferelo) but sign me up for the Mouth of the Pistol River Beach access. It was amazing.

Next stop was otter point, but we didn’t see any otters, seas lions or seals. Just cool trails

After traveling and hiking we decided to hit 7 Devils Brewery – Where The Oregon Coast Meets The Tap https://share.google/0z8F8emmd4lBkK2By

We had dinner there and called it a night.

Redwoods

This morning after a beautiful beach run at low tide with sea stars and fog we hopped in the car and traveled down to redwoods national Park. We started with the lady bird Johnson trail which was dedicated by Nixon (r) after Johnson (d)left office. We spent a good amount of time discussing how far we’ve sunk regarding the civility of our current president. Now we have a thug posting petty insulting narratives under the past  presidents portraits. Alas, back to the trees. Here are some lovely pictures.

We couldn’t get passes to Fern canyon. We didn’t know that was required in advance. Our last visit here, we hiked the 10 miles to get there and  realized when we got there that people could just drive in. So instead we took the James Irvine to cathedral trees trail right out of the prairie creek visitor center which was truly amazing.

Sadira and James made shrimp tacos when we got home. It’s good to be here in Brookings.

Admin completion

We signed Fiona’s and Ashe’s paper work for their new Portland apartment early on Sunday morning and got busy having fun.

Picture from the new Portlandians on their front stoop.

After the admin work was finalized we leapt into fun mode. We started towards Mount Hood, but had to stop and wait for some clouds to pass. We stopped again at mcmenamins for a picnic lunch and arm wrestling before heading to the Timberline Lodge.


 

The timberline Lodge was built during the great depression and is a testament to American history. It’s an awesome hotel that is open to the public from our history when we all worked together to lift Americans up. It contrasts so much to the gaudy gold decor ballroom that the molester in chief is going to build and make us pay for and I’ll never get a chance to step foot in (don’t get me started). It is also where the shining was filmed. It’s beautiful  with a rich history and unique craftsmanship and has an amazing view.

After the lodge we stopped by the international rose test garden. It was founded in 1917 as a safe haven for roses from wwi. It now showcases over 600 varieties of roses and has views of Mt Hood. Sign me up