Trip to the Oregon coast

I love water; any bodies of water.   I love rain, streams, creeks, waterfalls, rivers, lakes and the ocean.  I feel at home when I am near by the water. If I lived in the Avatar world I am pretty sure I would belong to the water tribe.

Our family loves taking a trip to the Oregon coast for a few reasons.  It takes about 12 hours by car, including lunch breaks and a little sight seeing on our way.  We love long drives; we use it as time to reconnect as a family.  As our children get older and busy with jobs and schools we don't see them often as we would like to.  We love sea foods and it is hard to get good fresh sea food where we live. So, yes, we do travel for food.  We love not having a schedule so we can relax and enjoy each others company.     


This is the view from the Vista House.  We took the historic highway along the Columbia Gorge to enjoy the waterfalls.  At the end of the historic highway there is a cute little town called Troutdale and they have a really good Italian restaurant.  Did I say we travel for food?  

After our lunch stop we drove through Portland.  The traffic was so bad It was more like crawling than driving.  But I was able to take a picture of the Portland temple while we were stuck in the traffic so that made it all better.
  

We had a really good dinner by the ocean and while we were driving we saw this light house.  This was the first time I actually saw a light house at work so that was very cool.  

The next morning we went on a hike to the beach. It was about 5 miles round trip.  The trees were beautiful and green, plenty of wild flowers.  But when we got there all we could see was a sand hill in front of the ocean.  We were a little bit disappointed but it was still a lovey hike.

Time to play.  The water was cold and it was a little windy but that didn't stop us.

We saw about 5 whales hanging out by the tide pools.  It was a very successful, unexpected whale watching.  A few years ago we went on a whale watching boat with a local company and only thing we saw was a black shadow for a few seconds.  They said it was a whale but I wasn't sure if it actually was.

It is always fun to check out the tide pools.

Sunset.  It was so cold and windy we had to wait in the car while waiting for the sunset.  In the end we send Mike and Rhiannon (our photographer) out to take some picture for us.
She did an amazing job.

Weekend Camping

We took our daughter and her friend camping over the weekend.  Her friend Ana had never been camping before.  How can that be true? After all we live in Idaho where camping and hiking are normal family activities over the summer.  I am pretty sure most people have some sort of camping story to share.  Boy scout camp, girl scout camp, church camp, or family reunion, there are always plenty of opportunities to go camping.  It was that way with our family, anyway, but somehow Ana never had that.

I found out that there are different kinds/ideas of camping that depend on where you are from or how you grew up.  For example, our sister-in-law used to think anything without room-service is camping (since then she has been reconditioned to the Idaho way of camping). I also found out from a friend who moved to Idaho from New Jersey that camping means sleeping in a tent.  It doesn't matter where, in your back yard or in a resort that comes with room-service, as long as you sleep in a tent, then it is camping. 

So I thought I will share how we do camping in our family. This was a very easy (beginner) camping trip.  My daughter picked this campground, and it had water pumps, outhouses, and waste service.  It was about 30 minutes by car to a store and where we can get signal for our phones.  A perfect place for the first time camper. 

  
We cooked dinner over the camp fire.  We call it a "Tin foil dinner". I know some people call it a "Hobo dinner".  We had steamed salmon with vegetables and some home made bread toasted on the grill. And s'mores for dessert.

  

Nobody was awake enough to take a picture, but for breakfast we had chocolate chip pancakes with bacon, onion, and summer squash cooked over the fire. 

For lunch before we took down the camp we had chicken stir fry with vegetables and baby carrots with hummus.  Ana has a diet restriction so she survived on a lot of steamed broccoli, home made bread, carrots, hummus, and crackers. 

There were plenty of wild flowers to enjoy around the camp ground and on our hike to the nearby hot springs.

We went on a little hike.  There was a great view of the river and the hot springs. 

There are about a dozen small hot pools in the area.  Temperatures range from very hot to lukewarm.  It gets cooler as it gets closer to the river.

This one was my favorite. Under this pretty water fall there is a big enough space for five or six people to soak in the natural hot spring.

When it gets too hot from sitting in the hot pool you can always go by the river to cool off.

Ana had so much fun that she asked us to take her camping again.  Maybe we can take her backpacking next time and show her the real wilderness of Idaho

Learning to read again: thoughts on reading part two

When  I moved to America I had six years of useless English education.  I knew my alphabet and a few phrases like, "How are you?" and "I am fine, Thank you."  We spent a lot of time learning grammar and spelling.  I could read a little bit, but I didn't know what I was reading. Speaking was even worse.

I remember the first time I went to the public library with my husband.  Looking at the shelves full of books, I painfully realized that I couldn't read any of them.  As long as I remember I was always able to read whatever books I chose.  But there I was in the library with endless possibilities of stories, adventures, and knowledge that wasn't for me to take.  I am not sure what I felt at that moment: frustration, hopelessness, maybe anger about my limitation. 

I spent time studying English at home and I even took a class to help  with learning the language.  I checked out some children's books from the library to read.  I loved Aesop's fables when I was kid.  I mean, how hard can that be; I already knew the stories. But whenever I picked up a book to read I had to keep looking for words that I didn't know in the dictionary.  It wasn't fun to read anymore.  It was like doing homework and it seemed like I wasn't going anywhere learning the new language.  I was very unhappy with my progress.

After about a year of struggle I decided to try a new method.  Instead of looking for the meaning of every word I didn't know I decided to focus on the overall story of the book. This way I knew what the story was about and I learned to enjoy the book again.  I still had to look up some key words in the dictionary, but I was no longer worrying about knowing every word in the book.  As time went by I could figure out the meaning of the words by context.

My very first book I read in English was Winnie the Pooh.  I know it is a children's book, but it gave me a great feeling of accomplishment.  I was so happy because I knew that the door was finally open for me to join the world of reading. I have come a long way since that first book.  Now I read an average of 50 books a year.  Happy reading to you all.

I will face the ghost: thoughts on reading part one

My friend from Korea brought these books for me to read when she came over for her daughter's graduation.  What a thoughtful gift!

My earliest memory of reading is when I was three or so.  I carried with me a baby formula can full of word strips that my mother wrote for me to read.  I would read the words throughout the day and my mother would write new words for me from time to time.  I remember that some of the adults of our village would stop me and test me and give me candy if I read them without a mistake.  

I think I was a second grader when I discovered that there was a library in our school.  It wasn't a much of a library, actually, just a small class room with a few bookshelves.  But I had never seen so many books in my life until then.  From then on I stayed after school to read.  I read most of Anderson's fairy tales during that time. I still remember the empty feeling I felt after the little mermaid turned into sea foam.  I loved to stay in the library.  I loved the smell of the books.  I loved the soft light that came through the window in the late afternoon.  I loved the quietness of the school after all the kids had gone home.  Then I remembered that I needed to head home before dinner time.  Then I started panicking because of the ghost of the lady that might wait for me on my way home. 

Our house was on the top of a mountain and the school was at the bottom of the mountain. We had to walk to school every day.  It was about a mile or so.  From the top of the mountain you can see three tall pine trees all in a line.  The story goes that there was a woman who hung herself on the third pine tree and they never took her body down so her bones were still hanging there and whenever the wind blew you could hear the creaking of her bones.  And she still hung around the pine tree to haunt kids.  We always walked home in a group so we wouldn't get caught with her ghost alone, and even during the daytime walking with friends you never, never look toward the third pine tree. 


I remember crying all the way home, terrified that the ghost will come and snatch me at any time.  Crying, I turned my face away from the third pine tree and decided that I would not stay after school to read again.  It was too much. I could almost hear the bones creaking against the wind.  But the next day I couldn't resist the adventure that awaited me at the library. The terror of yesterday was forgotten and I went on to new fun and exciting stories.  Then, without fail, the fear creeps into me as it came time to go home.  I would cry all the way home again.  I did this day after day.  I am pretty sure I read most of the books in that library.

Here is a picture of my home town looking down from the mountain.  Years after we left the village and after we were all grown up, I was visiting with my family and the story of the three pine trees came up.  We kids all knew about the story, but my mother had no clue what we were talking about.  After 20 years we came to the realization that probably the whole thing was made up by some kid.  But it didn't matter what really happened because all of us kids who walked that mountain knew the story and it was real to us.

I did take the chance of getting haunted by the ghost by staying late every day, but, boy, what a treasure it was for me to be able to read.

What to do with cherries

Last weekend we went to the Emmett cherry Festival.  It was about a 30min drive from our home.  The weather was good and I heard that they had a really good crop this year and there would be plenty of cherries for everyone. I was planning to buy a cherry pie for Mike. It was the day before Father's Day and cherry pie is his favorite.  I was dreaming of all things cherry while we were driving out there. 

I was a little disappointed when we got there.  Looking around at classic cars, going to a quilt show, and checking out the mini train village was all fun, but where were the cherries?  There were rides for the kids, and all kinds of fair food for the hungry people, but where were the cherries?  We only saw one stand selling cups of cherries.  No cherry pies for Mike.  

   
We left all the crazy fun behind and headed to the orchard.  They were selling u-pick for $1.50 per pound.  Mike had great fun picking them and we got plenty of cherries.  

This is what we did with our cherries.

1. We gave some to our friends

2. Our sister-in-law makes the best ice cream in the world.  So we gave her some cherries and fresh eggs from our chickens. 

3. I found a cherry chocolate blondie recipe and it was the most amazing thing.  It was so good I made them two days in a row.  

4. Mike makes some great shakes.  We had cherry shakes last night and it was better than any store bought ones.  I pitted the cherries and measured 2 cups in each bag for future shakes.

5.We love to hike and go backpacking.  When we go we usually take some sort of dry fruits with us. I dried some cherries the old fashioned way.  We do not own a dehydrator. I knew I could use my oven to dry them but I didn't want to heat up the house.  I just left them on my picnic table with cheese cloths on it.  It was done in three days. 

6.It is not cherry pie but I did make cherry crisps for a Father's Day dessert. I served them with a scoop of ice cream.    

 Going to the Emmett cherry festival was a one time thing for me.  I checked it out and don't need to go again.  But I am sure I will go back to the orchard next year for the cherries.  They were delicious to eat fresh and who knows, maybe I will learn how to bake a cherry pie.

My garden after the rain

I love checking out my garden after the rain.  It smells so nice and everything looks fresh and healthy.  I always liked having a vegetable garden. Even though I am a hobby level gardener it gives me great joy and comfort to know that I have my very own dirt to play with.   

I had a bunch of petunias left over after my daughter's wedding.  You can not see them all in the photo, but, trust me, I have an abundance of petunias all over my yard. 

I planted four different types of beans this year.  I have green beans, yellow wax beans, purple beans, and runner beans.  I canned three bean salad two years ago with beans from my garden and it was really good.

Here is my lavender I planted last year.  I have many different herbs growing in my garden.  I use some of them in my cooking but mostly I grow them because I love the smell of them.

I usually start my tomatoes from seeds in February, but this year I had other things to occupy my mind.  I bought three plants from the store and they are doing okay so far. 

My friend gave me horseradish two years ago.  I don't know what I am doing wrong but they are not doing so well.  Like I said, I am a hobby level gardener and it is a good thing that our family's life is not dependent on me and my garden.

I am growing kale for the first time.  They don't look very good either, but maybe this is what kale is supposed to look like this time of the year.  when I go for a walk around my neighborhood I see other people's kale and they look about the same as mine. 

I love growing onions.  I have been growing them for more than five years.  They are easy to grow. 

Our weekend adventure

This weekend my husband and I went on a little adventure.  We wanted to go check out The City of Rocks and on our way we took a little detour through Camas Centennial marsh.  I saw some pictures of Camas lilies on the internet and also one of my friends suggested that I should go check it out.  It was a lovely place and we saw a lot of birds but I think we were too early for the Camas lilies. 

  

 While we were there we realized that it was going to take us about three hours to get to The City of Rocks.  It was getting late so we decided to stay at a camp near by instead of driving all the way to The City of Rocks.  The first camp sign we saw was just after we passed Fairfield and we decided to check it out.  We drove awhile but didn't see any sign of a camp ground.  We were getting a little worried and stopped on the side of the road and studied the map.  Our phone wasn't helpful because it couldn't accurately locate where we were.  We ended up staying at the camp ground by Magic reservoir.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

   

This morning we drove to The City of Rocks.  The wind was a little cold but overall it was a lovely day.  We saw people on horse back, people riding ATVs, and people doing rock climbing.  There were 60 plus camp sites and some picnic areas.  We hiked to Box top rock.  I was surprised to see so many wild flowers and wildlife there.

By camp rock

I thought the yellow flowers growing on the rock was note worthy

By register rock

I thought the middle part looks like an elephant's head

Popular with rock climbers

There is my handsome guy