I know this will seem like a lot of pictures of our vacation, but just know that I actually took 361 pictures! I've been looking forward to going to my 40 year (yikes!) class reunion for a long time, and LaVerl was sweet enough to want to take me! We visited lots of family and friends along the way and had a great time!
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We went through Utah first, so of course we had to get a
picture of Wilson Arch, one of our favorite stops with the kids! |
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| We stopped in Provo, UT to visit with Aunt Nan & Uncle Denny. Kristen and her 3 kids are there for the summer and it was fun to see Lara and little Silas! |
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| We had a 12 hour drive to Powell Butte, OR and stayed 2 nights with my cousin Vicky & Paul. It was so fun to see their place and I've been inspired to try a little harder to grow beautiful flowers! |
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| She toured us all around and in Bend she took us by this creamery that is owned by our relatives! Swiss Gma's husband's brother, Uncle Jack started this and now its ran by his kids. |
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Paul showed Dad how to make this awesome
bread, it was delicious! Dad wants to try it! |
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| Our first stop in Tillamook was to my Mom's 1st cousin's house. Alma is the same age as Mom. She has the most amazing yard, a vegetable garden and flower garden! She works hard in both! |
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| Some of her flowers! Then we stopped by my cousin Billy's and his wife Gail, who was in my class. He's a lawyer in Tillamook and we visited over an hour with them. |
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| We drove out to Oceanside to check into our room I had reserved online. I go into the office of the Oceanside Inn (a pretty nice place) and they tell me that I don't have a reservation there! I ask, "Then where did I book my room?" She said, "Try down the road at the Oceanside Cabins" (a kind of sad little place!) We still enjoyed our stay at the beach. We got ready and hurried down to the first event of my reunion, 'the bonfire'. Just like old times, we met at the beach for some food and great visiting. We had to endure some heavy misting, but it was still fun! |
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| We had about 35 of our classmates come! I thought after 40 years, we all looked pretty well preserved! I recognized most everyone! |
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| The next morning we took a walk on the beach. It was low tide so we got to see lots of sea life! |
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| Did you know these also come in bright orange? |
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| Our lovely little cabin. It was great opening the window and listening to the ocean waves all night! |
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Saturday morning we drove to Garibaldi to ride this old train. It starts in Garibaldi and goes to Rockaway Beach, a half hour ride.
While in Garibaldi I looked for the lumber mill I worked at, but its gone now, how sad! |
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| There was a half hour lay over, just enough time to go eat some clam chowder! It was possibly the 'best clam chowder on the coast'! Yummy!! |
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| Every time we drove past the cheese factory, we had to go in and sample the cheese and get ice cream! |
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At 4:00pm the 2nd event of our reunion started out at the old grange hall, now Alderbrook Hall. There was about 55 people of our class there, it was so fun seeing everyone and getting to visit with them all. We had a great catered meal and enjoyed the evening!
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On Sunday morning we went to church at the Tillamook Ward. I had a hard time finding it, so much has changed, lots more houses! The first person I see in the parking lot is Nancy (Spencer). She doesn't recognize me, until I say, "Nancy, is that you?" She looks at me and says, "Sonja?" The only other person I recognize from the old Tillamook Branch is Sister Josie. However, the new Bishop of Tillamook Ward happens to be from Eagar! Russell Zaug and his family lived here about 6 years, he was the music & band director. Small world!
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| From Tillamook we headed to Yelm, WA, about 4 hours away. Dave & Mary bought some land there because Kristina and family live there and its beautiful there! They've been clearing their land and getting some berry plants going. They've put in water and electricity so far. Can't wait to see it next time! |
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| I found out my cousin Kathy lives only 35 miles from Yelm, so we had to see her! They have a gorgeous house right on a lake. |
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| On the way back to Portland, we stopped to see Aunt Nita & Uncle Darold and my Aunt Vi and cousin Heidi that I haven't see in 20 years. We hugged and cried a long time! Aunt Vi and Aunt Nita made a great lunch! |
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We wanted to stop and see our good friends, Mike
and Sigrid Jones. She's the one that introduced
LaVerl to me at BYU! She happened to be going
to a 94th birthday party for Betty Spencer, one of
the members of the Tillamook Branch that I still
remember! How lucky was that, I got to see all
the Spencer boys and their families! |
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| The Portland Temple was closed, but we enjoyed the Visitors Center. |
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On the last leg of our trip home, we stopped at Crater Lake!
Wow! What a beautiful and amazing place. |
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We were 5 hours from home when we had a little car trouble!
We had just got onto the I-40 at Kingman, AZ and LaVerl saw that the temperature gage was pegged over into the HOT! We took the first exit we came to and coming off the ramp the car died. He got it started long enough to get us into old ran down gas station that happened to be a mechanic shop that is the best in town and that was open on a Saturday! When I think of all the barren, desolate places we'd been through on our trip of 3500 miles, I knew then that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers and that He was watching over us! |
So that was our trip, a shortened version. I had a wonderful time seeing family and friends and I'm so lucky to have a husband that was willing to take me and who also had fun visiting with my family! Who knows when we'll go back? I think next time we'll fly!
