Back In Arizona for the Winter

“When did you get back to Arizona?” We’ve been asked this about a dozen times, and I must confess, we’ve been here since the first of October. With all good intentions, my plan was to post our last travel blog soon after we arrived home. But what do they say about “good intentions” – I think it goes something like, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”  YIKES!

We seemed to get caught up in the unpacking and putting away of all the stuff we travel with each summer, then cleaning up and storing our fifth wheel trailer – that took at least a week. Then we needed to straighten up the house and yard, clean up the dust and dirt (and dead bugs) that had accumulated from the summer – another week. Back to church and all the other social events (such as a neighbors’ get-together at our house to welcome home those of us that get out of town for the summer and catch up with the summer happenings of those that stay here all year long) – one more week spent. Then add doctor and dentist appointments that we had scheduled before we left here last spring….well I’m sure you’re getting the picture! “Life” seems to get in the way of writing a travel blog.

This brings to mind a small booklet I read many years ago by Charles E. Hummel. It’s called “Tyranny of the Urgent”. The author starts out by saying, Have you ever wished for a thirty-hour day? Surely this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure under which we live. Our lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks. Unanswered letters, unvisited friends, unread books haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate what we have accomplished. We desperately need relief.

But he goes on – Would that longer day really solve our problems? Wouldn’t we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our twenty-four-hour allotment?.....When we stop long enough to think about it, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically a problem of priorities. Hard work doesn’t hurt us. We all know what it is to go full speed for long hours, totally involved in an important task. The resulting weariness is matched by a sense of achievement and joy….Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.

So, I have decided to let the penning of this blog become the important thing for the day. (By the way, I highly recommend “Tyranny of the Urgent” to you.  Hummel has also written a Bible study guide to go with the booklet, entitled “Priorities” and a full length book, “Freedom from Tyranny of the Urgent” that  offers time-tested principles from the Bible, from today’s experts and from the author’s own experience about managing not only your time, but your life.)

THE TRIP BACK TO ARIZONA –

On Tuesday, September 3^rd we left Tacoma in the pouring rain – destination the Oregon coast for a week of sightseeing. Both of us were soaked by the time we got the fifth wheel all hooked up. Oh joy…looking forward to a wet week! But by the time we reached Olympia, 30 miles south of Tacoma, the rain had stopped and the drive to our first destination (Ft. Stevens State Park near Astoria, Oregon) through Raymond, Washington on Hwy 8 was fantastic - sunny bright blue skies,  temperatures in the mid 70’s - a gorgeous Pacific Northwest day. 

The drive to Ft. Stevens was a short three hours, so after set up and dinner we took a drive to the park’s wildlife viewing area. On the way there we spotted a family of elk crossing the road. Sunset over the Pacific at the mouth of the Columbia River was spectacular. 

We love this state park – we’ve stayed there many times, both on our own and with a group of our Washington friends that have camped together for years. The pull-thru sites are roomy, and besides camping the park offers beach-combing, freshwater lake swimming, trails, wildlife viewing, a historic shipwreck, and a historic military fort, making Fort Stevens a uniquely diverse park. The park also boasts a network of nine miles of paved bicycle trails and six miles of hiking trails that allow you to explore a variety of habitats including spruce and hemlock forests, wetlands, dunes, and shore pine areas. The local lake has two swimming areas, a picnic area, restrooms, and a boat ramp. Two neighboring, smaller lakes are great for fishing and canoeing. During this stay, we discovered they have added 11 two-bedroom cabins along with the 470 RV sites, 15 Yurts and 6 tent sites available for rent. This is certainly a possibility for a family vacation in future years.

The next day the morning was a little overcast, but that did not stop us from taking a drive back across the Astoria Bridge to the Washington side of the Columbia and up the coast about 11 miles to Cape Disappointment State Park. Formerly named Fort Canby State Park, it is a 1,882 acre camping park along the Long Beach Peninsula, fronted by the Pacific Ocean. The park offers two miles of ocean beach, two lighthouses, an interpretive center and hiking trails. We hiked some of the trails and out onto the jetty to see where the Columbia River merges into the Pacific Ocean.

 

This is a video of our walk down the jetty

We visited the park's two historic lighthouses. The Cape Disappointment Lighthouse was constructed in 1856 to warn seamen of the treacherous river bar known by then as "the graveyard of the Pacific." This is the oldest functioning lighthouse on the West Coast. On May 16, 1898 the North Head Lighthouse was put into service as the primary navigation aid at the mouth of the Columbia River. The Cape Disappointment lighthouse had served this function since October 15, 1856; however, ships continued to run aground, so due to the sheer number of shipwrecks, it was determined a second lighthouse was needed on the northern spur of Cape Disappointment. Today, the North Head lighthouse still stands as a sentinel overlooking this treacherous body of water, the confluence between the Columbia River and Pacific Ocean. The North Head Lighthouse is still an active aid to navigation, although the lighthouse keepers who once tended the flame have been replaced by an automated beacon. The lighthouse offers sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean, Long Beach Peninsula, Columbia River Bar and the northern Oregon Coast. 

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

North Head Lighthouse

North Head Keeper's Home - Now a vacation rental

That evening after dinner, we took Zoe out to the beach at Clatsop Spit at the end of Ft. Stevens Park and let her off leash to run in the sand. She loved it!

On Thursday we awoke to rain. The forecast called for heavy afternoon rain and thunder, so we stayed in until it cleared in the afternoon. Then we took a drive down the coast to Seaside, Oregon for a short walk around the town and a visit to the small, but interesting Seaside Aquarium. The evening brought thunder for about an hour, but very little rain. Another good Pacific Northwest day.

Seaside is the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail

Feeding the seals

One of the aquarium's displays

On Friday we left Ft. Stevens and traveled on to Lincoln City, Oregon. Although it was only a 115 mile trip, it took as long as the 248 miles from Tacoma to Astoria. It’s slow going through the little coastal towns along Hwy 101. The RV park we stayed at was on the Siletz River, a few miles inland. The park was a little “seedy” – it’s a fishing camp with several long-term residents. Some of the sites backed up to the river, but we saved a whopping $5/night by taking a site two rows back. The sites and the roads were all dirt, so it was soggy and muddy because of the previous days’ rain. If you are a fisherman, I would recommend the park – but we don’t think we’ll stay there again. We booked it because it is part of the Passport America discount parks we are a member of. 

By the next day the weather cleared and it was a beautiful sunny day both at the park and on the coast. We took a drive into Lincoln City and walked along the beach, ate lunch at the famous Mo’s Restaurant and did a little shop looking.

Sunday we took a drive down Hwy 101 to Newport, Oregon (22 miles south of Lincoln City) with stops along the way to view the coast, the wildlife and two more lighthouses. We spotted a gray whale at Boiler Bay State Park near Depoe Bay. The coast was a little foggy, so picture taking was at a minimum. We ate lunch at Nye Beach historic district in Newport, and then went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

Very unique sculpture in Nye Beach

On Monday we continued our trek down the coast from Lincoln City to Florence. We stayed at Honeyman State Park, a really nice park situated half way down the Oregon coast and three miles south of Florence on scenic Highway 101. It is the second largest overnight campground in the state. There are two miles of sand dunes between the park and the ocean. Two natural freshwater lakes are within the park. Cleawox -- which is great for swimming -- and Woahink, which has a public boat ramp, is used for all water sports.

We spent the remainder of the day at the local laundromat and finding an optician who could repair the broken eye pads on my glasses – which proves not all of our days are full of “wild adventures”! 

The following day we took a morning drive to Clewox Lake and took pictures of some people sand surfing the dunes. It really looked like fun and we found out later that we could have rented some boards in town and tried it ourselves. (Next time!) 

We finished the morning drive to the South jetty where we saw seals, cranes and a Coast Guard helicopter on a rescue mission. Back to camp for lunch, and then we headed out in the afternoon to check on a dune buggy ride for the next day, followed up by a walk around Old Town Florence.

On the last day of our stay at Honeyman we had hoped to take a dune buggy tour around the sand dunes, but the weather was cold and the wind was blowing – so we decided to put that adventure off for another year when we are back in Oregon. We spent the day visiting with fellow campers, packing up for the continued journey south and working on a gift for our grandson, Caleb.  

Caleb's Gift:

We got some shells in Florence and reproduced an “old friend” in Caleb’s life - Clammy the traveling clam. The original Clammy was a character Jim made up when we vacationed with Eric and the kids on the Oregon coast in 2001. Caleb was not quite 7 years old at the time, and over the next few years Jim would send letters to Caleb and his siblings from Clammy telling them of his travels all around the world. As the kids got older, Clammy was all but forgotten (even though Erica, our granddaughter says she kept some of the Clammy letters). Since we were close to the places along the coast where Clammy began, we decided we would “find” him at the beach in Florence waiting to be reunited with Caleb. 

                              (Yes, I know….this just shows how “strange” our family is!)

On Thursday, the 12^th we headed inland to Interstate 5 and on to Redding, California where Caleb is attending Simpson University courtesy of a baseball scholarship. It was a long day of driving (340 miles – 7 ½ hours) over the mountains from Oregon into California. We got to the Redding RV Park in the early evening. We had hoped to see Caleb that evening, but scheduling conflicts with his baseball practice put the visit off until the next day.

On Friday we had planned to take Caleb out for breakfast, but again scheduling conflicts – he had to meet with one of his college advisors. So we made a dinner date with him then drove to the campus to see what it looks like.   

Simpson is a Christian University, founded in 1921 as Simpson Bible Institute. We researched the school and found out that it is a small liberal arts school that started in Seattle, Washington, eventually moved to San Francisco in 1955 and relocated to its present location in Redding in 1989 where they began building a new campus, which is still a work in progress. Since the move, undergraduate enrollment has grown from less than 200 to more than 1,200. Caleb is enrolled in their business program, but as many freshmen do he may change his mind. He has 26 bachelor's degree programs to choose from. Class sizes are small, giving students an opportunity to interact one-on-one with professors in a personal learning environment. We are so thankful that he is at this school. Its size and vision reminds us of Cal Baptist University, our son, Eric’s alma mater.

After checking out the campus, we went into town to check on replacing a well-worn tire on our fifth wheel. FINALLY we picked Caleb up for dinner and spent some time back at our rig visiting with him and presenting him with Clammy.

Saturday morning we got up bright and early, checked out of the RV park and spent the morning at Les Schwab getting the tire replaced. Then we headed out from Redding to Grass Valley to see our son and his family (a short 146 mile trip).

From the 14^th of September until the 27th we visited with our son Eric and his family. They had recently moved into another home in Grass Valley. The property came with a major PLUS for us - an RV pad with a sewer hookup. The pad sits just below their house. They had an electrician add a 30 amp electrical hook up for us and it is close enough to the house to run a water hose from their house to our rig. The challenge was to back the rig quite a distance from the road and onto the pad. Eric and Lydia had to make sure there was no traffic coming down the road in either direction, and then Jim did a stellar job of backing the rig off the street, up the driveway and onto the RV pad. 

A great RV spot for us at Eric's house!

The house sits above the RV pad

This was the driveway Jim had to back up to get into the RV spot

While there we had the opportunity to spend quality time with the kids and grandkids.

We stopped by our granddaughter and grandson-in-law's little house. We hadn't seen it since they moved in after their wedding last December. Erica has done a great job of decorating. It is a cozy little place and she and Wes seem to be very comfy there.

  

Erica celebrated her 21st birthday while we were there and we went out to dinner with Wes and Erica and Eric and Lydia. Later that week us ladies did the manicure/pedicure thing as a birthday gift.

 I helped Lydia with some homeschooling - but mostly watched (in awe) at the great job she does teaching the five youngest kids. 

Reading time with six-year-old Haddie

8 year-old Levi getting a book from the family school "library"

Isaac (2nd oldest boy) graduated high school last year the same time as Caleb (even though he is only 17) and now attends the local junior college when he is not working at a local gym. 

 Isaac was so busy with school and work, it was difficult to get any pictures of him.

15 year-old Jacob (son #3) and 13 year-old (soon to be 14) Rebecca (second oldest daughter) attend the local high school as sophomore and freshman.
 

Becca was invited by her good friend, Carson to attend his homecoming dance.

She assured us it's not a "date"! They're just friends!! Not sure if her dad will allow her to wear this dress...WOW!

 

12 year-old Nathan plays on a select team. He's very good - and like his older brother Caleb, a college baseball scholarship is likely.

Levi, 10 year-old MyKayla  and Poppy were Nathan's "fans" at one game.

I did some running around with Lydia and four-year-old Josiah on the one day a week the other four home-schooled kids go to a local school with other homeschoolers in the area to take additional classes. I think we wore Josiah out on this day!

Game time at Lydia's brother's house - playing BananaGrams

 Caleb drove down from college for a short weekend visit. His siblings really miss him.

Just down the street from Eric's house is a place called the Biblical Gardens. Built and maintained by the owners of the property, there is no charge to hike around and look at the various Bible scenes they have built over the years. The kids have been there several times and they love it. Lydia tells me she brings ladies from her church there for a one-on-one Bible study - wonderful setting for it.

Nathan, Jacob, Becca, Haddie, MyKayla, Levi and Joe

We are extremely proud of all our grand kids. And even more so of our son and daughter-in-law who are raising a wonderful bunch of young people.

In addition to the visiting, schooling, hiking and shopping, Jim was also able to put his "handyman skills" to good use, helping Eric and Lydia with some home repairs. And we had the opportunity to visit with our daughter-in-law’s brother, Nate and his family. We've known Nate since he was a kid - he's like another son and we are very proud of him. He is a California Highway Patrolman - so he and Jim always have a lot to talk about. He and his family recently transferred from Riverside to Grass Valley. Nate arranged for Jim and I to tour the new CHP office in Grass Valley. A lot has changed since Jim and I were on the Patrol over 30 years ago!

The 22 uniformed officers, 3 civilian employees and volunteers of the Grass Valley Area CHP office moved into this new office in April of 2013 – about the same time that Nate transferred to Grass Valley. Although we had not seen the previous office, this facility is a big improvement from the old 2,000 square ft. building the CHP shared with the local DMV. It is a state-of-the-art 15,600 square foot building located on 4.87 acres. Fleet maintenance services now take up approximately a third of the building, complete with fueling station, car wash station with recycling tanks for the water and a covered parking area for the cruisers, with solar panels on top. One of the things that impressed us was the massive generator outside the facility that can generate enough power to run the county fairgrounds across the street from the office if the emergency need ever arose. If you are interested in reading more about this office, link to an article written about it on Yuba.net at  

 http://yubanet.com/regional/New-CHP-Building.php#.UngGsRCFusg

Our visit in Grass Valley was sweet and ended sooner than this Grandma wanted – but on our 14^th day there, we pulled out and headed for home.

Normally we have taken Interstate 5 south from Eric’s when traveling back to Arizona. This time, however we took a different route east from Grass Valley on Interstate 80 through Reno, Nevada then south on Hwy 95 to Las Vegas. Although this route is rather desolate, through the Nevada desert, there is a lot less traffic issues than I-5 and the grades not as steep. It was a three-day trip with two overnight stops (the first in Mina, Nevada and the second in Las Vegas) before arriving back in Sun City – 810 miles total driving.

 

Our summer adventures and projects were good – no vehicle problems, no health issues and lots of volunteer work accomplished. God protected us and blessed us with a lot of memories. Now we are settled in for a winter of house projects, catching up with church friends, neighbors and other friends who either live in Arizona or who plan to come to our house for a visit.  Added to that will be some part-time work for me (back at H&R Block for the tax season.) Then off again – God willing – to another summer of GREAT ADVENTURES.

 

This is one of the many winter projects we are tackling. After removing the big old tree in the front yard last year, we are now starting to landscape. We put in a dry river bed (a 2 day back-breaking job for both of us with help from our friend, Linda who lives next door.) We added the palm tree and Jim has several other succulants and grasses he will add soon. I can hardly wait.

 

As a conclusion, let me share more from the little booklet, “Tyranny of the Urgent” – Nothing substitutes for knowing that on this day, at this hour, in this place, we are doing the will of our Father in heaven. Only then can we contemplate in peace so many unfinished tasks. At the end of our lives, whether they are short or long, what could give us greater joy than being sure that we have completed the work God gave us to do? Then we can look forward to seeing our Lord and hearing Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21)

Until our next blog update (most likely next summer) we pray that you all will receive blessings only God can give….the best for us according to His plans. We look forward to whatever that may be. His will – not ours.