Way Too Long
A Synopsis of Our Oregon Visit
~December 28th thru January 2 , 2023~
Days 928 to 933
On December 28th, we were in great shape with completing 95% of our projects at mom’s, just in time for our departure to Oregon (without the trailer) to visit our dear friend Mimi and her loyal dog, Lucy, in Newberg and my sister Tracy and brother-in-law in Lake Oswego. We will, however, be back to my mom’s in a few weeks, to tie up loose ends before hitting the road, once again, with the trailer.
Our visits never seem to be long enough, so we packed in as much as we could into the week’s time we were in the Beaver State. While at Mimi’s, it took a few days to get over our exhaustion of working so hard at mom’s and the long drive to Oregon, but were never tired enough to get caught up on the latest news. Mimi offered us a beautiful stay in her spa-like bed/bath guest quarters, delicious meals and a special visit to her daughter and son-in-law’s wonderful housewares/gift shop called Cedar and Stone Mercantile in
Sherwood, OR. Make sure to check it out if you’re ever in the Portland area. They’re also in the beginning stages of opening a cafe next door to the shop, so we can’t wait to see the finished product on our next visit. Mimi also entertained us with a little wine tasting in stunning Willamette Valley. She’s a wine club member at Hawks View Winery where we were treated to a delicious charcuterie tray paired with quite a variety of whites and reds. We couldn’t remember the last time we went wine tasting, so it was quite a treat.
On December 30th, we drove about 25 miles to Portland to meet up with Tim (Tracy had to work) for a yummy breakfast at one of Tim’s favorite breakfast places called the Tin Shed Garden Cafe before taking a hike at Mt. Tabor Park. It felt good to get some hiking in with Sadie after being on the road so much. It was terrific being back with my sister and brother-in-law. We really DO have a wonderful time together.
Per the plan, all of us made a 40-minute drive to Tim’s sister and brother-in-law’s home in Dallas, OR for ringing in the New Year!
Gorgeous sunsets, bonfires (the biggest I’ve ever seen in person anyway), delicious food, a little too many libations, football, pin-ball and board games filled our time and yay!!! no COVID this time around.
Giving Linda and Steve a break from all the entertaining they’d done lately, Jeff and I headed back
with Tim and Tracy to their place, where we spent New Year's Day watching football (the 49er’s barely beat the Las Vegas Steelers) and relaxing, or was it an excuse to recuperate from the prior night’s festivities?
The final day of our visit, we managed to do some apartment hunting for my mom and felt encouraged about what we found, and all in close proximity to Tim and Tracy. Hopefully, mom will be able to do one more visit to decide on what really suits her. After our tours, we made the 1-½ hour drive to Silver Falls State Park.
I have wanted to go there for some time now and am the only one in the group that hadn't been yet. I’m just glad everyone was willing to go back, but why wouldn’t they? It has, by far, the largest concentration of waterfalls and some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Not only is there a vantage point from the front and side of them. There’s a few that allow you to view them from behind. The gem of the park is South Falls near the beginning of the trail. It was certainly a great way to end our visit with fresh air, lovely scenery and just being together.