Seeking Shade

Well, we now have more sun and heat than we could ever want! Perhaps too much...
We woke up to sunshine after our night on the coast, had a leisurely breakfast and flew the kite on the beach. After that we took a trip to Tillamook to check out pretty much the only thing there - the Cheese Factory! On the way we stopped at a run down looking building which housed a fish smokehouse - we'd seen it advertised as having the most excellent hot smoked salmon. We warily went in and found trays of freshly smoked fish and no one in sight - until we heard a bloodcurdling scream... Anyway, long story short, we got our hands on some very reasonably priced totally excellent treats.

The cheese factory was pretty epic, snuck through the tasting section twice, yum, and had some ice-cream too. Spent much of the time just watching the factory floor. Also stopped by the Blue Heron French cheese factory where there were more free samples although most were not cheese... On the way out of town saw the Tillamook Air Museum and had to stop in there too if not just to check out the gigantic pillar-less blimp hangar it was housed in.

Eventually we got on the road to Salem, our next stop to visit and old friend of J's and his new family. Had a great time catching up/learning about the other half's childhood. We pulled in to Champoeg State Park rather late for a well earned rest.  We had a leisurely morning, cooked up a tasty breakfast, showered and marveled at the fact that it felt like we were at an RV park as opposed to a state park.

After that we headed up to Portlandia to catch up with friends/neighbors from our previous address.  We were well fed and watered several times over, had a great catch up and stayed for 2 nights of luxury.  In the middle of this we made it out to our storage unit, put the Weekender on a tow dolly and moved all our junk into a smaller unit.  Well productive!

We hit the highway on Saturday after a delicious pancake breakfast and a return to the storage unit to pick up something we forgot.  It was not a fun drive... towing a large vehicle on a dolly which is wider than the Jeep is no easy task.  My darling husband did an awesome job and we made it into California and back to base camp without any hiccups.  That night was also the arrival of the team from Kansas, they arrive in the early hours so we had to wait until the next day to see everyone another 5 years older and/or wiser than the last time we had seen them!  That evening the rest of the crew arrived and the gathering of the maternal side of the family was complete.

The next week ensued with much talking, swimming and adventures to castles; photos, food and fun for all.  Two of the grandkids stayed a week longer for some quality time, more swimming, adventures and arts & crafts.  Then it was time for some work before the mystery guests arrived.  Shoveling, painting, cleaning, grinding, swimming, etc...  And arrive they did, in style, all the way from chilly NZ, and we proceeded to hang out and some imbibed and had a tremendously good time for the next few days.  Now we are recovering for a week or so until the next guests arrive for a grand birthday.

Summer is HOT!  And we have much to do... not exactly a good combination trying to work (or even move) outside in 35-40 celsius blazing sunshine.  But we shall get there, albeit at a leisurely pace...