Well, here we are, on our pumpkin lot in Walnut Creek, CA. As soon as I have updated it to where we are today, I will tell you all about our first week at work. Meanwhile, back to our travels....
We stayed in Long Beach, WA, from
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| Our campsite in Long Beach |
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| Trail to beach, about 1/4 mile |
later.After coming from sunshine and warmth, it was a little disheartening to get there to cool weather and overcast, but, we
were at the beach, after
all. I figured I could put up with clouds, fog and cold,
if I could be near the coast. After we got set up, Ron
decided to walk down  |
| Looking back on the trail to campground |
We had read on our online Boomer
Bulletin Board that another Boomer couple, Frank & Dianne Gruelle, were supposed to be coming to Ocean Park,
(about 10 miles north of us), to stay with friends for the annual rod run they have up here. We were hoping we'd be able to get together with them, as well as Bill & Diane.
On Wednesday morning, Bill came to the door to ask us if we'd
like to have him drive us around, showing us where
everything is. Diane was busy elsewhere, so we said, why
not? He showed us the little town of Ilwaco where they
have a farmers market down near the docks, then, driving
around the peninsula, I was surprised to see they had
cranberry bogs as well as a cranberry museum. Apparently,
this is one of the bigger producing areas of Ocean Spray
cranberries.The peninsula runs between the ocean and the
bay along the southern coast of Washington with state
parks that dead end at each point. In the bay is where
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kite festival) and
places to buy fresh fish and shellfish. Now that we knew
where everything was, we could go back at our leisure and
see it more closely.
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| Downtown Long Beach |
We didn't waste any time, so, the next day, Thursday, we decided to walk through the small town of Long Beach. They had lots of nice shops and the
sun was trying to come out.
Round glass floats from Japan, that the residents find
along the beaches here after big storms are very popular
items for sale. They find these for free, and end up
selling them to tourists for a lot of money. They charge
more if they are the bigger ones, are of amber color,
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| Murals of catching crabs or clams? |
Ron found two of them when he was stationed at Midway Island while in the Navy back in the day. One of them, a
very large round amber one, he practically drowned himself
trying to bring it in to shore....and then, ended up
giving it away to good friends. We still have one, he made
a macrame covering for it so we can hang it. 
While walking around town, I decided to call Dianne to see if they were in town yet and she told me they had gotten in the night before. She was apologizing because they didn't have a tow car to come meet us anywhere, but, if we wanted to come to them to visit, that would be fine, so that is what we
planned on. Bill had told us about this
little place with really good clam chowder, but, darn it,
it wasn't open until the next day... We even went out to
the beach to take a picture of some old whale bones. As we
were getting our of 
our Jeep at the beach, we ran into
Bill & Diane. I told them we were planning on going to
visit Frank & Dianne a little later, so they should
come too.  |
| Old whale bones on beach |
I must say, the whale bones were a bit of a disappointment. We know how big a whale can be and our thoughts of what we were going to see and the remains of what we saw was quite different, it was really quite laughable.
On our way to Ocean Park, we stopped in at Jack's, which is a combination hardware store/grocery store/camping store all rolled into one. Lots of things to look at, but, we didn't see anything we needed or wanted to buy. Leaving, we headed on over to where Frank & Dianne were staying.
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| Our hosts, Bruce & Sue |
It's really in a convenient area to the car show...right across the street, so they don't have to drive anywhere and get in a big traffic jam. Their friends have a very nice area surrounded by trees and the property backs up to the bay. Every year, both families with children, grandchildren, dogs, etc, descend on them with tents and trailers to stay in. Everyone kinda does their own thing during the day and then they get together at night for meals. There is a big firepit with temporary tents for tables to set the food on.
While we were there, we got to meet
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| Sue, Frank and Dianne on the right |
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| Diane Meldt, Bill Joyce, Dianne and me, Sharon |
It's always nice to put faces to names after you hear them talking about their family when we meet up in the desert in the winter. Now, I'll know who it is they are talking about.
We ended up having dinner with them, really didn't plan on that, but, they insisted and we had some yummy salmon, (especially for this girl, who doesn't usually like it, because I think it tastes too fishy), but, this stuff tasted great! We finally left with the promise of coming back on Saturday to park at their house and walk over to look at all the pretty cars and maybe share a potluck meal with them.
The next morning, Friday, dawned sunny and warm, a welcome change from the first three days we were there. We decided to drive over to Astoria and see what there was to see. On the way over there, I wanted to stop at the bead shop that Diane's aunt owns & works at. Unlike other bead shops I've seen, she also does a lot of glasswork, making her own beads, as well as fused glass creations. I actually bought a small fused glass vase that I can hang on the wall and put flowers in, it's beautiful. I would really like to come back here again, and stay longer so I can come in and do some classes in glass fusing, it would be sooo much fun!!!
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| The bridge over the Columbia River to Astoria, OR |
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| Talking about Lewis and Clark |
We couldn't believe what a beautiful day it was and we walked through some of the shops in downtown Astoria, then, went out to a dock to look at the ships on the Columbia River. Not much was going on, a couple of empty freighters were anchored out
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| Clever idea for use as trash cans |
One of the shopkeepers told us about the Astoria column,
with steps to the top to look about. Around the outside  |
| The Astoria Column |
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| River Pilot boats to guide big ships from ocean into river ports |
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| Looking from the river back into town |
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| We even saw rods here, from a car show in Seaside, OR |
We saw lots of old cars driving around, because not only was there a car show
going on in Ocean Park, but, also one in Seaside, so they were driving around,
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| Looking out at bridge we crossed over and out at sea |
showing off their
cars and enjoying the day. |
| Close up of Astoria Column |
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| Spiral staircase going up to top (167 steps) |
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| Me, in my hat, looking down on Ron |
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| Pictures around the column depicting early life on the River |
1949
and when there was a car show scheduled and there was even
a hint of rain....they never even bothered to show up...On our way over to see Frank & Diane, we got into a traffic jam, the more north we went. We decided to go the back way in and found there was a lot less
traffic. It
sure is nice to be able to park in a friend's yard and not
have to pay lots of money to do so. We didn't like just parking and walking away, so we went over to the firepit where some young people were standing about, introduced ourselves and told them why we were parking there and found out Frank & his son were over at the show already, and
Dianne was in the motorhome. So,
I went over to the rig and visited with her a bit, then,
we parted, she would come over later. That whole entire area was packed with old cars, trucks, some with roofs, some
without and even if it rained, they
would have had to drive in the rain and get wet and it
didn't bother them! Washingtonians are a way tougher  |
| Ron's next Jeep....NOT!!! |
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| 1936 Chevy |
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| Okay, where are the surfboards???? |
We walked up and down every single
aisle and saw ONE '36
Chevy two door master deluxe touring sedan. That's what
kind of car we had and now 
belongs to our kid who lives in
northern Illinois. We were surprised, because of all the
car shows we have attended, that is the only  |
| Loved the etching on the windwings! |
After all that walking, I was ready to sit down and veg for awhile, so we sat
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| And this is?..... |
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| Another view |
to head home.On Sunday, we just sat around and vegged, two days of non
stop walking and we needed a break, and besides that it
was raining outside. I procrastinated about updating the
blog then and now, here I  |
| 1936 Ford |
Monday morning, we got ready to head out to Seaside, OR. It was fairly clear when we left and as we drove across the bridge into Astoria, it decided it wanted to rain, so Ron turned on the wipers. Back and forth they went and then, suddenly, Ron's side quits....right in the middle of traffic, great! So, we pull over into a parking lot and Ron gets out to see what's amiss. Couldn't find
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| Campsite in Seaside, OR Thousand Trails |
The next day, Tuesday, dawned sunny! All those days, with the exception of one, in Long Beach, cloudy and cool and we get here, also near the beach and it's sunny! We met up with our good friends, Jim & Norma,
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| Our good friends, Jim & Norma |
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| The very nice indoor swimming pool & hot tub |
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| Ron enjoying a good soak! |
Ron didn't waste any time and went out to try and figure out what had happened to the wipers, Jim was right there with him, helping in any way he could. Turns out, it had just come undone from another thing that makes it move, hey, I don't know the names of these things! Now it works fine, so glad it wasn't something complicated. Being on the coast of Oregon, you never know when you might need the use of the wipers....
On Tuesday morning, we went to downtown Seaside and the beach, which were both about a mile away. On our way into town we passed a bunch of people on a local bridge doing some crabbing. We've heard from friends that the crabbing season is exceptional this year, so I'm sure they were getting their limits in short order.
We had decided not to take the camera because we had been there before, but, then, I thought, "What am I going to put on the blog? Our friends are going to expect to see pictures of the place", so on Wednesday, we went back to town
for pics and brought Jim & Norma with us. This
time we went walking on the beach, because believe it |
| Ron & I in front of statue of Lewis & Clark |
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| Jim and his dog |
or
not, it was a lot warmer than the day before and was a
delight to be near the water, with hardly any breeze at
all. They have a cute little dog who is a poodle mix and
she was having a great time running on the beach and into
the surf. After we got done walking on the sand, I think
she was ready for a nap. We people watched for awhile on
the boardwalk,  |
| Walking down what was the original Oregon Trail |
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| Ron, Sharon, Jim & Norma at Dooger's |
crab sandwich,
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| We split an order of a crab sandwich...yum, yum!!! |
1 comment:
Wow! Have you been busy! And hope you're having a great time in Walnut Creek. We'll be watching for your next post. Hugs, J&C
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