Okay, even though I don’t usually like “year in review” news stories, I couldn’t resist the latest blogging trend of putting a review of the year using pictures. Thank you, Merikay and Craig , for starting this trend. Here goes:
Happy New Year!
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Merry Christmas from Pismo Beach!
Yes, Dave and I are here in beautiful Pismo Beach, California, for a few months. We arrived a week ago after an uneventful trip south. We stayed at Seven Feathers Casino RV Park in Canyonville, Oregon, the first night, and Rolling Hills Casino RV Park in Corning, California, the second night. Our final night on the road was spent at Sommerville Almond Tree RV Park in Coalinga, CA, chosen because it was only a couple of hours from Pismo Beach which made for an early arrival at Pismo Beach last Thursday.
Mount Shasta had more snow this year than last year when we drove down I-5.
We quickly settled into our spot at Pismo Coast Village RV Park. We’ll move to an even better spot on January 4, but for now this is home. The park is festive with the park and many RVs decorated for Christmas.
Pismo Beach street view
Pismo Beach Pier with the Christmas tree of lights at the end of the pier.
The weather has been in the low-70s for a few days, but today it’s barely 60 degrees, with the sunshine making it feel warmer.
Last night we drove around looking at Christmas lights, and saw a house that had rigged up a snow-making machine, with the “snow” being bubbles. That arctic-themed house looked a little out of place here at the beach, but it was fun to see their creativity.
View from Spyglass Park—those dots in the water are surfers!
Today we went for a walk at a park that was new to us, Spyglass Park, located at the north end of Shell Beach. This small gem of a park afforded us wonderful views of the Pacific Ocean.
Before we left home for Pismo Beach, we had some excitement at home when a windstorm on Veteran’s Day knocked down about ten of our Leland Cypress trees and with them, took out the fences between us and three of our neighbors. The trees are gone now and the fence repair will have to wait until we get back home in March. Luckily, our neighbors were very understanding.
We celebrated an early Christmas with Tim, Kiersten, and our granddaughters, Sophie and Anya, before we left for the winter. And a couple of weeks before that we celebrated with Jonathan and his fiancee, Brittany.
Anya, 1 1/2, Sophie, 3 1/2
I may not blog as often as I used to, but I still enjoy reading the blogs of others and occasionally putting in my two cents worth.
Merry Christmas and Happy 2015!
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
2014 Cranberry Festival, Long Beach, WA
Once again, I am about a month late with this post. The annual Cranberry Festival was held in mid-October. There were cranberry sales, a craft show, cranberry food items for sale, and my favorite event, a cranberry harvest demonstration.
Washington State University maintains cranberry test fields in Long Beach and this is where the demonstration took place. All throughout the Long Beach peninsula there are cranberry fields owned and harvested by farmers who are members of a cranberry co-op which is connected with Ocean Spray.
At the museum, the demonstration showed wet harvesting of cranberries. First, the cranberry field is flooded with water.
That loosens the cranberries from their vines so that they can be harvested.
The cranberries are pushed up and onto a conveyor belt where they are loaded into a truck.
The debris goes into a big pile by the side of the conveyor.
Here’s a picture of one of the test fields.
The cranberry museum and gift shop is open year-round.
The first time I ever saw cranberry bogs was when I visited Cape Cod in 1976. Little did I know that I would eventually be spending a lot of time on the Pacific Northwest coast where cranberries are a big business!
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
South Bend, WA
I visited South Bend, Indiana, home of Notre Dame University, in 1975, but yesterday’s day trip was to South Bend, Washington, located on Highway 101 about forty miles northeast of Ilwaco’s Safari Park. Dave and I have zipped through the area numerous times, but this time we stopped, went for an hour-long walk, and had lunch before heading back to our cabin.
This small town is the county seat. The historic Pacific County Courthouse was built in 1910. We didn’t take time to go inside the building, but we enjoyed the view peaceful view of the courthouse and the view back down the hill to the river.
This is a fishing village. The Willapa River flows into Willapa Bay which flows into the Pacific Ocean. We saw several boats taking in and putting out their nets across the river. Oysters are also big business in this area.
We ate outside on the patio at the Highway 101 Public House. No oysters for us, though. I had clam chowder and Dave had his usual hamburger. The weather cooperated for our outing. When we left Ilwaco the weather was cool and foggy, but half-way to South Bend, the sun came out and the temperature reached the low 70s. It was almost too hot during our walk, but perfect as we sat on the shady patio enjoying our lunch.
There’s a walking/biking path between South Bend and Raymond which was our intended destination, but we stopped before we got to the path and walked along the river and around South Bend instead. We never did get to Raymond—we’ll save that for another outing.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
September Highlights
I had better hurry and write about our September activities before we turn the page on the calendar. On September 20, Dave celebrated his 66th birthday. We celebrated by going out for lunch and dinner that day.
Fall is officially here and so is fall weather. We’ve had some sunshine but also some rain, and there’s a crispness in the air that always reminds me of fall and football season.
Dave and I spent a good part of September enjoying our time at our cabin at Safari Park. When at home, Dave has been evaluating and observing high school varsity football games on Fridays and some Thursdays and Saturdays, and playing golf on all the nice-weather Friday mornings. I have caught up on appointments, grocery shopping, and tasks around the house.
Earlier in September, the annual “Rod Run to the End of the World” was held on the Peninsula. While Dave was at home at his football game, I wandered down to the Ilwaco Port and took some pictures of the “Slow Drag at the Port”. I wasn’t able to stay long, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed seeing the variety of cars. Here are pictures of some of my favorite cars.
Next year we’ll have to pay more attention to the Rod Run and all the festivities involved!
Our son, Tim, wife, Kiersten, and our granddaughters, Sophie and Anya, came out to the Long Beach Peninsula to visit us one Saturday afternoon. We showed them our new place and then went out for lunch with them at Chico’s Pizza Parlor. We always enjoy seeing them and spending time with them!
Sophie started her first day of 3-days-a-week preschool earlier this month. Last year she went two days a week. She has grown up a lot now that she is three!
Friday, August 29, 2014
Kite Festival, August, 2014
Kites and banners fly on the beach, Bolstad Street is closed and vendors line up on both sides of the street. Many items are kite-related, as you might expect. Food is always a popular item, and this year sweatshirts were popular since the weather was cool. Childrens’ sand toys were also featured prominently. My only two purchases were a new pair of kite-shaped earrings (purple!) and my annual elephant ear (delicious!).
Dave and I attended the kite festival every day except the last day, when we had to head for home because Dave had two doctor appointments the next day. We usually take a walk on the boardwalk when we are at Long Beach, so attending the kite festival was just part of our usual walk. The parking was a bit harder since Bolstad was closed, but we didn’t have trouble finding a spot any of the days.
One day, Tuesday, there was no wind, so very few kites were flying. No wind is a rare occurrence at the beach! A couple of other days, morning fog meant that my pictures weren’t as clear. The kites were still flying, however. Fog is not rare at the beach, especially in the mornings and evenings.
Grounded kites due to lack of wind
The weekend before the kite festival started, our good friends, Tom and Cindi, joined us at the beach. They camped at the Ilwaco KOA and we stayed at our cabin at Safari Park. We got together for a few meals and for campfires behind our cabin.
Dave and I went to another vespers service at the historic Oysterville Church on that Sunday. This time the Oysterville moment presentation was good, the music was excellent (Celtic harp and mandolin duo), but the pastoral message left us cold. This was the last vespers that we were able to attend this summer. It’s a nice way to spend an hour on a summer Sunday afternoon.
Foggy morning at the kite festival
This weekend is the third and final Safari membership meeting for this year. Some new board members will be elected at Sunday’s meeting, and on Monday morning we’ll attend the annual breakast, originally cooked by the men, but now an equal opportunity for both men and women.
Mass flying of Cody kites in the fog
Luckily most Long Beach residents don’t feel the same as this local!
Dave (somewhat reluctantly) poses for the picture.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
