Tricked or Treated?

Happy Halloween, it is hard to believe that October is over and Thanksgiving and Christmas will soon be upon us.  

We had a great time at our church's Trunk or Treat Event on Friday night.  The event is free and it continues to get bigger each year.  I would estimate that there were over 2500 people strolling around this year and filling their bags with candy.  

Very Creative Trunks

Crowd Scene

Tracy and I were working the photo booth again this year, which keeps us out of the crowds and gives a great opportunity to enjoy the very cute and creative costumes!

Two of our Photo Booth customers!

Tonight is Halloween and we never know how many kids we are going to get in our neighborhood.  We live at the end of a cul-de-sac and I have the feeling that the kids are either too scared or too lazy to walk to the end of the street.  This is the first year that we didn't carve a pumpkin. I was shocked at how the prices had gone up, so we elected to just use our plastic pumpkins this year.

Maybe my pumpkin scared them away?

Or our Scarcrows?

 

Hopefully the plastic pumpkins will work!

The treat for us this year will be to give all of our Halloween candy away, while enjoying the kids costumes.  The trick will be having candy left over, which of course, Tracy and I will be forced to eat! :-)

Either way it will be a fun evening and the ASU Sun Devils will be on TV besides, so if I don't have to get up to answer the door, all will not be lost.

We are excited to get up to McDowell Mountain Park for the weekend with our friends from church.  We have our favorite spot reserved and the weather is supposed to be perfect at 80+ degrees.  

If you happen to be in the park this weekend, we are in Space 70, so stop by and say hello.  

Well I better start getting things loaded up for the weekend, so I will wish you all safe and enjoyable travels and thanks for the visit!

Back In The Saddle Again!

Well I will have to say that our time in Oregon was the best time away that we have had in a long time.

I'm not sure if it was the fantastic weather, being away for an entire week, the wonderful Fall colors and beautiful scenery, spending great times with family and friends, or if it was all of these things combined, but it was truly memorable for sure!

It was great to get home Saturday night and have a day to prepare for the week ahead. The weather here this weekend was great and we spent as much time as possible outside yesterday.  

But today we are both back at it and looking forward to our next short getaway to McDowell Mountain Park in November.  

There were so many wonderful pictures that we took that it was hard to narrow them down to our top picks, but below are some of them.  

I hope that your week is off to a great start and we wish all of our Canadian friends who are heading South safe and enjoyable travels!

Tracy and Steph at Lincoln City, OR

A beautiful Sunday!

A clear sunny Portland day!

Cold Day at Multnomah Falls

Colene Clemens Winery - Lunch on the patio!

Wonderful Fall Colors!

 

Oregon Parks!

Well our days here in a Oregon are quickly coming to an end and it will be time to head back to our Arizona home tomorrow. 

We have sure enjoyed our week here and have covered a lot of beautiful ground. Yesterday we had a wonderful lunch at the Chart House on the top of the hill in Portland with our SIL Randy's Grandparents. It was a real treat with great food and beautiful views of the city and mountains in the distance. 

We have sure enjoyed the parks here in Oregon, they are beautifully manicured and the facilities are second to none.  Tracy and I enjoyed exploring a park on a hill near Old Town Sherwood and then yesterday we visited George Rogers Park in Lake Oswego, which was set right on the river with great hiking trails and beautiful surroundings.  I would highly recommend it!

Old Town Sherwood was a little disappointing because the businesses have closed due to renovations in the area as well as the tough economy.  We spoke with one business owner who said she had been there for 20 years and was struggling to keep her doors open. It is always sad to see an area struggling financially, I hope they make it!

Many of you know that Tracy is allergic to onions and garlic, which makes eating out a little challenging. I saw the sign in Sherwood announcing the Great Onion Festival and couldn't resist taking a picture of it for Tracy. I can assure you that she won't be attending. 

Susan caught my error in my Wednesday post regarding lake homes along Wilsonville Road. She was absolutely correct that they are not lake homes, but rather beautiful homes along the river that unfortunately could not be seen from the road, at least the road we were on. :-(

Today we are off to Colene Clemens Winery with Steph and Randy. Both were able to get the day off, so we are looking forward to having a great day amongst the grapes. 

Hope your week had been great and thanks for the visit!

Great Day With Friends!

I was going to use the title of "Great Day With Old Friends" because we haven't seen our friends Bingo and Sharon for over 15 years, but I didn't want anyone to mistakenly think I was referring to them as old!

We have been having an amazing time here in Oregon and yesterday was no exception.  We connected with Bingo and Sharon who live in Troutdale, OR for breakfast and sight seeing.  Although we haven't seen them for over 15 years, it was like we had just seen them yesterday and the conversation flowed easily. 

Bingo was a great tour guide and took us up the Columbia River Gorge and to Multnomah Falls, he even lent us heavy jackets and beanies to wear, because he knows we are wimps from AZ when it comes to cold weather. :-)

From there we went to the Bonneville Dam and fish hatchery to visit Herman, the seven foot Stergeon. He and his friend gave us a real show. 

Then it was time to head south as Bingo was off to work where he teaches Drivers Education. We headed down to see Stephanie's classroom and to have dinner with she and Randy at a local Mexican Restaurant.

Today we are off to have lunch with Randy's Grandparents in Canby, followed by a drive by the lake homes on Wilsonville Road and maybe even a visit to Camping World if time permits.  

I am really starting to enjoy this lifestyle, it will be hard to get back to reality next week. Thanks for stopping by and be safe out there!

Amongst The Roses And A Near Miss!

Yesterday was another perfect day here in Oregon. We set out to see the International Rose Test Garden in Portland and boy were we glad we did.  

The garden is set in the middle of Washington Park and has a beautiful view of the city.  Although we were a little late to see the roses in their full beauty, we did see many award winners.  

The day was so nice that we decided to visit the Japanese Garden just up the hill which opened at noon.  After a brief snack, we headed up the hill, paid our $9.50 per person (no senior discounts yet) and headed into the garden.  

The gardens were absolutely beautiful and I would recommend a visit if you haven't already seen it. We covered the entire park ourselves and as we were getting ready to exit the garden, a free tour was assembling, so we joined them.  This having no place to be and nothing really to do, is fun!

Our tour guide was excellent and showed us things in the garden that we had missed our first time through.  She also provided us with the history and meaning of things within the garden, which took our visit to a whole new level.  Our hour with her was well worth the time and we hated to see it end.  

On the way home I had a call from my business partner and noticed a motorcycle cop with his lights on behind me.  Tracy said I don't think you are allowed to talk on the cell while driving...shoot, I didn't know that!  About the time that I was pulling over to the side of the road, he went around me and pulled a van over that had pulled in front of me as we were merging onto I405. Whew, what a break and I will be using the speakerphone from now on!

Had a nice dinner with the kids at home last night and watched several episodes of My Cat From Hell! This show is about a wild looking guy named Jackson Galaxy who is a band member by night and deals with cat behavior issues by day. This show is pretty wild, if you haven't seen it. 

We are off to see friends that we haven't seen for 15 years in Troutdale today and then off to Steph's school in Canby this afternoon, so the adventures continue!  Thanks for the visit and we hope your day is going great as well!

Beautiful Day On The Oregon Coast!

Wow, we have been spoiled since arriving at our daughter and SIL's place in Wilsonville, OR. Saturday was raining and overcast, but then the rain stopped and we were able to enjoy a street fair in Lake Oswego. 

Our SIL Randy was working on the coast and called to tell us that the sun was shining and we should head west, even though it was cold and overcast in Wilsonville. 

So with our Venti Starbucks in hand, we headed to Lincoln City and boy am I glad we did, what an absolutely beautiful day!

We stopped at Bob's 60's Diner where we had wonderful burgers and chocolate shakes, yum! (Sorry no pictures).

Then it was off for a walk on the beach. I was not familiar with the area, so I randomly pulled down a street and there was a beach entrance, a perfect parking space and a bathroom, doesn't get any better than that!

We enjoyed a long walk on the beach in the sunshine, explored the sea life amongst the rocks and checked out a few future rental possibilities on the hills above the beach. 

We met up with Randy at the outlet mall and were able to get some early Christmas shopping done, buying them both jackets that they wanted.  Tracy and I didn't do too bad ourselves with a new pair of Under Armour tennis shoes for me and a purse for Tracy!

So our kids are off to work today and we are off to explore some hiking trails.  The sun is up and it is supposed to be in the 60's with no rain, so we are thrilled.  

We are having such a great time in Oregon, I am starting to get a feel for what many of you experience every day, and I have to say that I like it a lot!  

Glad to see that our Canadian friends had wonderful Thanksgiving feasts with their family and friends, sure made me look forward to our feasts next month!  

We are off, thanks for stopping by and have a safe and wonderful day, I know we will!

Nice Rack!

Bike rack that is...sorry, I just couldn't resist.:-)  It was time for a new bike rack for IRIS.  Since we are now towing the Tin Can, we lost the use of our bike rack and have had to carry them in the motorhome, which was no fun.

I did a lot of research online at Camping World and Amazon and found this ladder mounted bike rack at Amazon for $65, with free shipping, what a deal!

I like this rack because it not only holds the bikes out of the way when traveling, but it also folds to the sides to enable me to use the ladder once the bikes are removed.  

Lock Arms Into Position

Arms Swing Out For Ladder Use!

When I received it yesterday, it appeared that it may have been installed and returned, but all of the parts were there with only a couple of minor scuff marks, so I didn't go through the hassle of returning it, although I know Amazon would have had no problem if I did.  

Bikes Secure And Ready To Roll!

So I can't wait for our next trip, which isn't until November, to really give it a try.  I am just glad we don't have to see and hear the bikes moving side to side within our rig as we go down the road and it will be great having them along on our next trip.

Tracy and I are off to Wilsonville, OR to visit our daughter Stephanie and SIL Randy for a week and can't wait to see the Fall colors.  More to follow from there and we hope you are all having a safe and enjoyable week!

Scalped!

Well its that wonderful time of the year here in Arizona when the days become shorter and cooler and the nights start to get down right cold! (Well we say that its cold anytime it gets below 50, so we are wimps when it comes to cold weather!)

Along with this change comes the decision each year as to whether I am going to put in the time, energy and money to scalp our summer lawn (which actually stays green until the end of October) and plant winter rye, so that we can enjoy the green grass all year long and continue to mow :(. 

Before Scalping, Actually Looks Nice and Green!

After Scalping, Brown and Ugly!

Well the one year I didn't plant a winter lawn in the last 20 years, our house became the site for a family Christmas celebration, with family coming in from all over the country.  Well we had an ugly, brown, dead lawn with the kids and parents complaining about being covered in dead grass.

So this weekend, I worked for several hours scalping the lawn followed by my annual trek to Home Depot to spend $89 for 50lbs of perennial ryegrass.  I spread the seed night before last and the birds are having a field day eating it.  I thought a few were going to fall over dead or at least not be able to fly, because they were so full of my expensive ryegrass. 

So, now that the lawn is in, it will be guaranteed that no one will want to come for Christmas this year, even though our yard will look beautiful.:( 

I know many of you are reading this and saying thank goodness we don't have our sticks and bricks anymore and don't have to deal with planting grass each year.  I feel the same way and look forward to not having to do it for too many more years!  

So I will continue to chase the birds away and make sure that the water is coming on four times each day to keep the seed wet, and hopefully I will have some pictures of nice lush green grass to share in the near future.  

Thanks for the visit and hope you are somewhere where the weather is as nice as it is now in Arizona!