Oregon Trip Chapter 2: Reunion Day

 On Saturday, July 16th, we had time in the morning to visit one of our favorite Oregon nurseries, Al's in Woodburn. They have good plants but we like it mostly because it's so pretty.

New sun impatiens in the parking strip.

Plants outside and on the perimeter fence. 

It's hydrangea time. 

Wow!

What I bought, great big succulents to be divided, for only $5 each. 

"Orange" ya' glad you came? 

The Molalla High School Class of '62 Reunion was held in the foothills north of the Willamette Valley in land that is now mostly Christmas tree farms. It was in a private venue with a wonderful log picnic shelter.

It is called Ringo Pond because the original homestead belonged to the Ringo family. There is a lovely little pond. See the young trees planted beyond the pond? 

I served on the Zoom meeting planning committee and assigned myself the job of manning the sign-in table. It was so much fun greeting everyone, saying "Who are you?", studying their faces, and then saying "Yep, now I see" as I began to recognize that once young classmate. I live 200 miles away and have not kept in touch with my HS classmates. 

Out of a class of about 120, 43 of us were present, 35 are known deceased, 17 could not be located, and some just didn't come. 

We visited, ate good food catered by the local Grange, a rural thing for you city folks, and it was my job to organize and take the group photos. 

That was an experience. It is often said that organizing kids is like herding cats. It's no different for a bunch of 78 year-olds. When the guy insisted that he hang off the end of the row, and he wasn't going to fit in the photo, I asked him to move. "I don't want to!" So I laughed, moved down the row, found a gap, and individually directed each person to move over a bit, and then he fit. We all just laughed at my directing traffic. Tom helped with the set up and the camera shutter on a timer, and we managed to get one good photo each of the classmates and then the whole group. 

After all of that, I figured if you can't see their face, it's their fault. :-)

The reunion was a wonderful experience for me, and I am still feeling the glow of it. I was an extreme introvert in school, practically invisible, and I'm sure the classmates who remember me wonder who this animated, outgoing, even bossy person was. I just laugh at the transformation. Life changes us. 

On the way home we passed my maternal grandparents former home. The Hofstetters were neighbors of the Ringos. 

Grandma would not be happy that her large, well weeded and productive vegetable garden is now a weed patch. Grandpa would not be happy with all of the brambles around the house, but he would like that the rest of the farm, obviously in other hands now, is a beautifully tended Christmas tree farm. 

We also drove past my mother's former house in Molalla, and then the small farm where she and Dad raised us six kids. These places are kind of sad looking now, but it's OK. We are done with them. We all moved on.

Reunion Day was a great success. 

Birthday Pageant Weekend, Chapter 1

 Vancouver, Washington is a city on the northern banks of the Columbia River. Mighty and vital for shipping, hydroelectric power, and irrigation, this river forms the border between Oregon and Washington. 

As many times as we have driven by on the freeways and over the bridges, we have never stopped there. On this trip I decided we needed to explore new places while we still can.

When there is a McMenamin's restaurant in a place you want to visit anyway, you go there for lunch or dinner. McMenamin's is a chain of brewpubs, historic hotels, music venues, and theater pubs in Oregon and Washington, most often in restored old buildings, and furnished with wonderful old stuff. The food is good too.

This McMenamins sits on the northern bank of the Columbia River, conveniently located between the two bridges over the river and close to Fort Vancouver, our next stop. 

Mt Hood looms to the east. Some small ship yards still exist, but during the war years there was a huge shipbuilding site here. The women who worked in the shipyards are honored. 

After a good lunch and a short stroll we drove over to Fort Vancouver. 

Archeology digs are on going as they sift through layers of history. Fort Vancouver opened as a Hudson's Bay trading post in 1825 under the governance of Chief Factor John McLoughlin. The site, located on a broad natural terrace on the river bank was rich in resources: Salmon in the river, trees in the dense forests, and soil for crops. Before the fort it was home for ages to thousands of native Indians.

The US Army arrived in 1846 to quell the Indian uprisings, as Oregon Trail settlers took their lands. The Hudson's Bay Co left in 1860. The Army stayed. In the WWI War years it became a vital airplane production spruce mill and using the millions of spruce trees in the region, produced 120,000 airplanes. The area of the Fort is much larger than this stockade area. The fort became a National Historical Monument in 1948. 

The Chief Factor's House.

The Cook House

We saw most of what there was to see, enjoyed talking to the archeologists, and learned some history before wearing out walking in the sun. 

We were glad we finally stopped to see and learn. 

Visiting My Homeland

 July 15th , 16th, and 17th was a special weekend.

On the 15th we explored some places we had not been before on our way to Oregon. On the 16th we attended my 60th high school reunion. July 17th was my 78th birthday and we spent it exploring "my valley", the Willamette Valley in Oregon, and then more new stops along the way as we worked our way home back through Washington State.  

There will be several posts, but today I am starting with an overview.

As many times as we have driven from Seattle to my childhood home in Oregon, we have never stopped in Vancouver, Washington, along the Columbia River. We did this time. 

It was Friday, July 15th, and of course we had breakfast as always with our friends before making the drive south. Our destination was McMenamin's on the banks of the Columbia River, where we had lunch and a stroll. 

Then we decided it was about time, after more than 50 years, that we checked out Fort Vancouver, also on the Columbia River.

I got lots more walking in before we continued on, crossing the Columbia River into Oregon, greeted by Mount Hood. 

We were in heavy traffic the rest of the way to our hotel in Woodburn, out in the valley. Dinner and a stroll through an outlet mall there completed day 1. 

Saturday was reunion day but we had time in the morning to explore so of course we visited one of our favorite nurseries there. Al's is always beautiful. 

Then we drove a few valley roads and found a farm store.

They had cane berries just picked from their field across the road. We bought a pint each of Boysenberries, Marion Berries, and Logan berries. This is Marion County, where Marion berries come from.

I had brought a small cooler and some Blue Ice, so I managed to get the berries home two days later. I had berries on my cereal this morning. 

I'll be posting more about some of these events later, but for now, it's enough to say that my reunion was just a lot of fun in a lovely setting in the hills above my high school town, Molalla.

On the way home we drove past my mother's final home in Molalla and then out to where I grew up  on our little farm before arriving back at the hotel to live stream the rest of the Sounders match going on in Chicago. We lost again. Then we got a little something to eat before settling in. 

Sunday was my birthday and I celebrated it first off with breakfast at Elmer's, where one of their specialties is the German Pancake with lingonberries. Yum. Tom did help me eat it.

We had an agenda for exploring some of our favorite places. Some worked out and some didn't, but we started with the lovely Seabright Gardens.

There was more exploring before eventually we crossed back into Washington and ended up back on the Columbia River for birthday dinner at another McMenamin's.

 Where dessert was warm "Purple Haze Marion Berry Cobbler with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream". 

We still had two hours to drive, but my wonderful chauffer handled it well. We made it home by 9:00, tired but happy. My birthday pageant was wonderful.