Halloween Candy

BORN LOSER

This is me!  Has this dilemma happened to you, too?  ;-)

American Stonehenge

Yesterday we visited the not-so-famous Stonehenge near Maryhill State Park.  It was built as a memorial to the young men who lost their lives fighting World War I.  It was raining while we were there and we were the only ones visiting at that time. 

Stonehenge Memorial

This Stonehenge, an almost identical copy of the more famous English Stonehenge, was built by Sam Hill, a road builder.  Dedicated in 1918, the memorial wasn’t completed until 1930. Hill passed away soon after he finally saw his masterpiece completed.

The dedication plaque on this American Stonehenge reads:

"In memory of the soldiers of Klickitat County who gave their lives in defense of their country.  This monument is erected in the hope that others inspired by the example of their valor and their heroism may share in that love of liberty and burn with that fire of patriotism which death can alone quench."

      

Some of the memorial plaques

From Stonehenge, we had an excellent view looking south across the Columbia River to Oregon.  The bridge at the far right is the bridge at Biggs Junction which we crossed to get to Maryhill.  A closer view of the bridge, looking over the trees of Maryhill State Park and the nearby orchards.  The view to the north of Stonehenge

Sam Hill’s American Stonehenge, as well as his mansion, are now part of the Maryhill Museum of Art.  Tomorrow I will post pictures of the mansion and the gardens of the Maryhill Museum.

Day Trip to Wasco and Maupin, OR

While staying at Maryhill State Park, we decided to drive south on Highway 97.  After leaving crossing the Columbia River and leaving Biggs Junction, we drove through a canyon area.

The scenery soon changed towheat fields and then range land.  We had excellent view of several mountains:  Mt. Hood,  Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, a small view of Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Jefferson, as well as the Three Sisters.

This dilapidated windmill shows off the scenery.

In the small town of Wasco, we saw this former school. 

When we got to Maupin, we crossed the Deschutes River.  Maupin City Park is the "take-off" place for rafting in the summer.

Site #29 at Maryhill State Park--home sweet home for the next few days.

Be sure to read Dave's blog if you want to see more pictures and information about our trip today.

Maryhill State Park, Washington

We arrived early this afternoon for a stay at Maryhill State Park.  It's located across the bridge north of Biggs, OR, about 20 miles east of The Dalles. 

This is a first come, first served park during the winter months.  There were about eight rigs already here, so we had many open sites to choose from.  We picked pull-thru site #29, with a view of the Columbia River out our front window. 

We paid our nightly fee of $6 (senior off-season discount price) and plugged into the 50-amp service and the water and sewer hookups.  The downside to this park is that we are only able to get low-speed Verizon cell signal for our internet.  It's like having dial-up service, which works fine for phone calls, and for email, but not as well for reading blogs and other internet sites.

This is the view out our front window.  The I-84 interstate highway is across the river.  Freight trains run fairly frequently to the north of the park, so it's not the most tranquil park.  This part of the river does not get big ship traffic, but we saw several barges this afternoon.

One of the trees just outside our door has already dropped most of its leaves.

Fall Color in Vancouver

Welcome to two new blog followers, Amy, and Judy and John, who write a blog called Tire Swing Travels.

Vancouver, Washington does not have a lot of fall color.  After all, we are called the Evergreen State for a reason.  I was able to take a few photos of some pretty trees in our neighborhood.

  

The last two trees had more leaves on the ground than on the tree.  We have had a lot of rain the past couple of days, so even more leaves have dropped.  Now the leaves are plugging up the street drains, which makes for some very big puddles on some of the streets.

A Musical Weekend

While we were at Cape Disappointment State Park last week, I was surprised to see how many of the yurts were rented.  I snapped some pictures of some of the empty ones.

This yurt is located near the tsunami warning siren.

 

We've never been to this park when the siren has gone off. 

One of the reasons for camping at this park was to attend the 26th annual Water Music Festival in Ilwaco, which is always held the third weekend in October.  The concerts were held at two venues, Hilltop Auditorium which is part of the high school, and the Inn at Harbour Village, a historic chapel turned into a bed and breakfast and event center.  In 1928, this was a Presbyterian church.  It was fully renovated and now offers ten guest rooms and a venue for weddings, concerts, etc.

I attended all five concerts, which featured everything from "baroque to ballads, and beyond".  I am already looking forward to attending this festival again next October.  In the meantime, the group is offering a "Tuba Christmas" concert in December which sounds like a lot of fun. 

Reflections

I still expect to see Margie's blog pop up each afternoon.  I was happy to see her daughter, Stephanie, post an update yesterday.  My tears are starting to dry up but I am fully aware that the emptiness is just beginning for Margie and Bruce's family members. 

Many of us knew Margie through her blog, but we weren't as familiar with Bruce.  I was surprised, when we visited with Margie and Bruce in person, to find out that Bruce was just as interesting and captivating as Margie was.  Bruce had a lot to say!  So even though Margie's voice and personality was the one that came through on the blog, Bruce was right there with her. 

We know from Margie's blog and pictures that Bruce was a very active grandfather.  He seemed to have infinite patience with the "Grands", even though he sometimes pretended to be reading or sleeping so he didn't have to play one more game of beauty shop or restaurant!  The pictures of him playing chess with Mackenzie on the computer were precious.  Margie was the scrapbooking grandma, and both grandparents played a lot of games with the girls.

Together, Margie and Bruce were quite a team.  I really can't picture one of them without the other, so in a way, maybe it was a blessing that they entered heaven together, just as they spent their lives here on earth together.  I'm sure it was harder on their family to lose them both at the same time, though. 

So carry on we must, even though one of the lights in my life has burned out!

Margie's last comment to me referred to the logo pictured above:

"Cute logo, Carol, and it really would be great for your blog. Congrats to Dave on the re-election results. Hope you enjoy a lovely weekend."

sent October 15, 2010 7:04 PM

Margie and Bruce

Photos taken in Astoria, OR, June 16, 2010

I have been trying to make sense of the tragic deaths of Margie and Bruce Mallin in Pismo Beach, CA on October 16, 2010.  I have taken this loss very personally, and can't even imagine the horror and sense of loss that their family is going through. 

Margie, I hope you know how much you meant to so many people.  Bruce, I know you shared in all of Margie's blogging and comments.  You two had a special closeness that was obvious to all.  I know you were high-school sweethearts, and it's only right that your end would come together.  But what an unfortunately early exit you two made.  I'm so happy that you made that decision to retire early.  You traveled together to some fabulous places.  You spent time caring for your parents, and for your children, and for your grandchildren.  You made so many memories together!

And now I know you are together in God's presence.  As believers, you had the assurance of eternal life to come after this earthly life ended.  Those of us left here will always miss your cheerful, optimistic, calming presence. 

My heart goes out to your children and grandchildren.  Selfishly, I pray that my own grief over your deaths will abate.  I thank you for you friendship.  See you again someday!

Bruce and Margie's Full-Time Journey

Newspaper article about Margie and Bruce's death

Life's a Journey

An online friend of mine, Pidge, who writes a blog called The Frugal Travelers, recently posted the following picture of a shirt that she bought in Story, Indiana.  I like this shirt!  This could be a logo for me and for my blog.

 

Dave left this morning to go home to officiate his football games.  The officials go out for pizza after their games, so he's all set for food tonight.  Congratulations are in order for Dave because he was recently re-elected by a large majority for another two-year term as secretary-treasurer of the EFOA (Evergreen Football Officials Association) board.  This position requires a big time commitment, so I didn't know whether to hope that he won or that he lost!

I don't mind spending time by myself in the motorhome as long as it's only for a couple of days.  It seems very quiet here without Dave, though!  He will be back tomorrow evening.

A Rainy Day

This morning we planned to go for a bike ride, but when we stepped outside the motorhome, it had begun raining a fine mist.  We changed our plans to a walk around the campground.  As we walked, the mist turned heavier, almost looking like snow.  It wasn't snowing and the temperature was in the high fifties but we got quite wet by the time we got back. 

We went out on a couple of errands and then came back and had a quiet afternoon inside.  Around 5 pm, the rain had stopped and the sites were starting to dry up.  The sun tried to come out but didn't quite make it.  We took advantage of the dry weather and went on the same walk we took this morning in the rain.

The Cape Disappointment campgrounds are arranged in loops, with ten sites in each loop.  This picture is looking towards the back loop.  There isn't much fall color here yet. 

Each loop has trees in the middle of the loop.  Children like to play and hide in the trees.

How would you like to tow this little Smart Car? I wonder why it carries two spare tires?  The vehicle towing it was a small Winnebago View.

Friday morning Dave will head back to Vancouver to referee a high school varsity football game and two youth football games on Saturday.  I will attend the first concert of this weekend's Water Music Festival in Ilwaco.   A chamber ensemble will perform "Mozart's Magic Flutes".

Back to the Beach

Dave was able to leave his football officiating duties for a few days in order to come with me to Cape Disappointment State Park.  We were here in August for the kite festival.  Things are cooler and quieter here this time of the year, but many of the full-hookup sites are filled even though it is midweek.

We happened to be walking at high tide.

Part of the reason that there are so many people here is that seniors (62 and over) can get an off-season pass which is good from October through most of April.  We paid $50 for the pass and can camp for free at any state park standard site and for $6 for a full or partial hookup site, which we have at this park, including 50 amp power.  Dave turned 62 last month, so this is the first time we've had a chance to use this valuable pass.

Site #1

This time we have site #1, and we can get better internet at this site than we could get in August at site 11.  Using our "Smooth Talker" cell phone signal booster, we can get 2-3 bars of Verizon signal instead of no bars without the booster.   We turned on tethering on my cell phone and Dave's phone always has tethering, so we can use both use the internet at the same time.  If a park has free wifi we use it, but this state park does not have wifi. 

We hope this bird wasn't injured, but we were able to get very close to it which was unusual.

After we arrived yesterday, we went for a long walk on the beach.  Today we went on a day trip to Ocean Shores, Washington, which is 97 miles north of here.  We are going to stay at the state park there in November and wanted to check out their sites. 

Driftwood

Footprints in the sand

A church we saw on our walk in Ocean Shores