Farewell Rockaway, Goodbye August

 While we have been back from our little Oregon Coast vacation for a few days now, there are a few more pics to post.

We enjoyed several short walks on the beach, about a mile each, but enough to enjoy the sand, the surf, and our Twin Rocks. 

Sunsets, which we could enjoy from the porch of the cabin,  were nice too.

Even after a rainy afternoon the clouds parted enough for the sun to say "Good day".

Our cabin sits right beside the railroad tracks along Highway 101. During the summer the tourist train runs between Garibaldi and Rockaway. Sometimes the engine is an old diesel, but sometimes it is an older steam engine. If we are around we like to catch a glimpse of it. 

As it approaches the street crossing, it blows its whistle, but then I have to get out of the cabin and through the trail through the bushes. I am not very fast these days.

Well, that might have been close enough anyway. As you can see, it is right there! And I still got to wave at some of the passengers. 

Our time at the beach came to an end, but we still had more to do.

Saturday we drove inland, over the mountains and through the forests, to Vernonia, Oregon, where my late sister Ilene and her family lived. Ilene had for years hosted the family picnic, and this time her sons took on the job in her memory. 

There was lots of good food, lots of good visiting, and or course the kids played. 

I'm still working off this plate of dessert, but who can pass up lemon trifle, chocolate cake, peach cobbler, and wild black berry cobbler. Not me. 

The park is in a lovely setting and I enjoyed the greenness of the river.

Here we all are. There are a few missing, and of course we missed those we lost in the last year and a half, but it was a good day for reuniting.

And now, it is August 31st. I just payed the bills, I have done my Physical Therapy, I walked my mile and a quarter, and I am ready to go have lunch. There will be home grown tomatoes. 

Good bye August, hello September.  Be safe everyone, and keep good thoughts for all those kids and staff going back to school.