17.10.03 - 17.11.11. Newport OR

I returned to Newport, OR and South Beach State Park for two months camp hosting this year. While there were a lot of memories of being there in prior years with Mike, the memories are good and I was happy to be there to relive them.

In September 2013, we did not know Mike was not 100%.  We were yurt cleaners that year.

When we returned in the fall of 2014, we were starting to be concerned about Mike's vision and balance, but he was still on duty with me as site cleaners in the primitive campsites loop.  Here is Mike cooking salmon at our campsite for lunch one day.

2014 was the year we met camp host buddies Kathy and Rod ( see August 2017 Eclipse entry) and we enjoyed watching a couple baseball games in their Airstream.

because we did not have TV in our rig at that time. That was the year the Giants won World Series
#3.  Fun times! 

We did not return to Newport in the fall of 2015 because Mike was not feeling great, and we stayed close to home so he could take it easy and receive physical therapy treatments in Roseville. We had a visit from Mike's sister, Chris from Austin and went to San Francisco to enjoy the memories of our time there an pay a visit to where we spread Mike's brother Fritz's ashes over 20 years earlier.

Then in October, 2016, we returned to Newport for another month of camp hosting.  This time, Mike stayed in and I hosted alone.  It was a very rainy month and it was PERFECT for us.  Lots of time to stay indoors - reading aloud, creating music playlists, watching baseball and planning our very short future together.  We also had three sets of camp host friends come by for a night or two.

We hosted dinner in our motorhome since Mike did not enjoy going out to eat any more at that point.  Here we are with Ed and Sharon who we met earlier in the year in Southern California at an Escapees RV park.

 And here we are with Pat and Keely who we know from hosting at Martis Creek in Truckee.

This year I returned alone and was happy to be here.  This is a good shot of the rear end of the motorhome in the distance in a camp loop closed to visitors because it is mid-week in the fall.  I had the place to myself.  Very nice!

I enjoyed riding the bike Connie gave me.  There is a nice bike patch access to the Yaquina Bay waterfront, and smooth park roads for a quick spin for exercise.

 

  This is the fishing pier which attracts crabbers and other fishermen in the shadow of the bridge that takes Hyw 101 over the Yaquina Bay.

 I spent several nights at the campfire of fellow camp hosts Scot and Diane.  Here is Scot on duty one day tending the burn pile controlled burn.

This is the same burn pile where I took the scotch broom that I extracted from all over the park.  I chose my own work spots based on whether I though I could make a difference in the time I had.  Scotch Broom is an invasive species that is pretty easy to pull by hand when small, and easy with a tool I used for the larger plants, but if left unattended for a while, the plants can grow to tree size. 

 I left those alone

When I was off duty, I spent time at the ocean.  I liked to go to the dunes on the north jetty where I could get protection from the wind for some late fall sunbathing while watching the fishing boat traffic on the Yaquina River.  

This is the spot where, on a windy day, I let some of Mikes ashes go and watched as they flew together in a ghost-like formation up into the sky and disappeared.  

That was a beautiful and knee buckling experience!

The Yaquina Bay, the bridge and the land north and south of the bridge on the ocean side 

remind me very much of Marin county, San Francisco's lands end and the Golden Gate Bridge.  

On a smaller scale, of course, but very beautiful, also,

 and I know that Mike and my love of San Francisco transfers well to Newport, OR. 

I will return to this spot, for sure.

Until we meet again, my love.

17.09.27-10.02 Five nights in Iowa

My maternal grandmother, Bertha Johnson Randall was the oldest of 12 siblings.  The last of her siblings, Ollie, passed away recently and his nieces and nephews  (my mom's cousins) gathered to remember their parents and to honor Ollie's inheritance gift.  I was an oddball in the gathering, since I was a member of the next generation, but was warmly welcomed as my mom's representative.

I was received at the DesMoines airport by my mom's cousin Dave and his wife Diane

( here we are with their daughter Shanna and grandson in the family town of Decorah 

having ice cream after lunch the first day)

 and I stayed the first night at their house in Madison County Iowa, famous for being John Wayne's birthplace, and was the set for the movie "Bridges of Madison County".   

Dave is a rancher and trains horses. You can never have too many sunset pictures, right?

Next day we attended a family birthday party for Einer, 102 years old.  He sang for us in front of Buck Hollow Band who's female singer is my second cousin, Teresa.

On day she took me to see her very unusual home in the country.  She and her husband John ( also her band mate) lived off the grid for several years as they were working on turning an abandoned cabin into a nice home.

The main event, a gathering of the Johnson family cousins included a three cemetery tour to visit gravestones.

Here is my mom's cousins Denny ( who I also visited in Bend in August while there for the eclipse) and his sister Diana who lives near Portland. 

Here are my mom's cousins Joanne, Jan an Lorrie.  They were the brains and brawn behind this family gathering, who planned and provided meals and housing for the entire group which included 28 people at its largest meal.  These ladies also taught me how to play pinochle on my lat night in town.  Fun night!

This mom's cousin Lorrie and her husband Chuck, who's house I stayed at two nights.

This is my mom's cousin Gloria whom I shared transportation and a bed with for three nights (lodging was tight and we were both calm sleepers, so we got along just fine and enjoyed getting to 

know each other😏)

This is Jan who hosted the first stop of three with her two sisters for progressive breakfast the first morning.  I wanted to show the cornfield in her backyard.  

This is mom's cousin Joanne and her husband Justin.  

Joanne is the family historian an was the lead planner for this event

The larger group gathered on the property in northeast Iowa near Wadena where all their parents were born.  The current landowner build a beautiful lodge near the old homesite where 12 of us slept and which hosted the family gathering for two days.  

I am happy to be reconnected with my mom's cousins and to hear their versions of family tales that I remember from my childhood.