"Explorer Spirit…Servant Heart…"
Nov 5th, 2024 by leigharev2
This is a lovely little waterfall at the Nehalem Fish Hatchery. It is one of my favorite places to be. I enjoy taking a camp chair and reading with the sound of the falls in the background. I will occasionally look for crawdads in the water; just to observe, not to catch. It’s neat to see this place during the different seasons.
Nov 5th, 2024 by leigharev2
Portland’s Downtown hosted a Bloom Tour. Local merchants teamed up with floral artists to display flower art in front of or inside their stores.
We began our tour by visiting the Lan Su Chinese Garden, the followed the map to find the 20 something exhibits. It was a terrific way to spend the day with one of my longest held and dearest friend, get some decent exercise, and be inspired by the beautiful displays.
We ended our full day with a fantastic eastern european dinner at Kachka. What a delightful and delicious place to visit. This is a must return!!
Nov 5th, 2024 by leigharev2
More precious moments and memories created with girlfriends. My Cali friends Stacy, Elyse, and Jodi flew up to Portland. I picked them up and we enjoyed a three fabulous nights in Manzanita. Included massages at Spa Manzanita, a walk through Nehalem Bay Park (we saw elk), visit to Hug Point and Ecola Park overlook, and a long beach hike out to see a deceased humpback whale.
I dropped Elyse off at the airport, then reunited with Stacy and Jodi at McMenamin’s Edgefield for an additional two nights. We enjoyed the property, soaked in their pool, played pool, and hiked up Multnomah Falls. I then met up with Matt, Meghan, and Montana for dinner and spent the night at their place in Portland, before heading home the next day.
Jun 23rd, 2024 by leigharev2
Elyse, Kelly, and I got together to hike the Flower Farm Trail. We will all be doing a part of the Camino Frances in September. After the Flower Farm Trail (I don’t know what it’s actually called, that’s just what we call it), we had brunch at the Flower Farm Cafe.
Jun 23rd, 2024 by leigharev2
I had hoped to get all the USA Camino friends together for a Spanish potluck and movie, but two had to cancel, so it was me, Kelly, and Tina. We still had a wonderful afternoon of good food and watching the movie, The Way, with Martin Sheen.
Jun 23rd, 2024 by leigharev2
Time with some of my favorite people on a favorite trail…
Stacy and I hiked and she treated me to lunch at a cute Italian restaurant in Auburn. For my birthday, David, Ryan, Kat and I hiked and then went out to lunch at Lazy Dog.
Jun 23rd, 2024 by leigharev2
The Grand Canyon has been on our bucket list forever. David went once as a child. I never have been. We decided to road trip for a six day trip to the Grand Canyon! The photos do not do it justice so I just posted a couple here. We went in early Spring and it was perfect. There were hardly any other people and no lines/traffic. First night, we stayed at a corporate property in Barstow. Then, for three nights, we stayed at the Grand Canyon Plaza Hotel. The property is very dated, but the service was excellent in all the areas, the suite was large, it was pet friendly, and it was located in Tusayan, close to the South Rim entrance. We both are glad we ended up staying outside of the park because of the other amenity/dining options available nearby. We spent a full day driving from one end of the south rim to the other. We did not do any hiking because the dogs were with us, but we did hit up a bunch of the viewpoints. We also went back one evening for star gazing. Beautiful!! Cold!!
We spent another full day playing tourist at the attractions near the Grand Canyon. I love the offbeat, unique, and quirky!
Flintstones/Bedrock City/Raptor Ranch is an attraction in Williams, AZ. It is a combination of a re-creation of Bedrock City from the Flintstones, and a mini zoo that has a variety of raptors, goats, and alpacas. We had the whole place to ourselves. The place could use some updating and the raptor cages are way too small for my liking. We had a really neat surprise upon arrival. On the admissions counter were two plastic bins that had baby raptors. I did not record what kind, but one set was a kind of owl, and the other, I think was a falcon! We bought some packeges of goat/laama chow and fed them. The goats stuck their heads through a staged mural.
Driving home, we had a bit of a scare. A metal cylindrical object was rolling down the highway and bounded toward us, hitting our car and windshield. I was covered in tiny shards of glass, but it did not break through. I am grateful for modern glass technology! We sustained significant windshield damage and some body damage, but the car was still drivable and we were able to complete our trip as planned.
Stopped off in Santa Barbara for a chack in/walk on State St./dinner with our boy. We ended up going to Holdren’s Steak and Seafood and enjoyed a terrific meal. The lovely lady neighbors next to Alex’s apartment offered to watch the dogs for us. In gratitude, we gifted them turkish delight from Lokum, one of the prettiest shops I have ever seen. While David charged the car, Alex gave me a little tour of where his classes are on campus and where he likes to hang/study.
Our last night was spent in the adorable town of Solvang, the ‘Danish capital of America’. We arrived lat in the evening to a town aglow in white lights. If I was not so tired, I would have taken time to walk the town and take photos. We spent the night at Wine Valley Inn and Cottages. The room was a little wonky, but overall, a decent property, and pet friendly.
The next morning, we walked through the town, and shopped some of the shops. We ended up buying a piece of art for our Manzanita place from artist Chris Pavlov/Pavlov Art Gallery. At the end of town is the California Mission Santa Ines. We walked the exterior grounds together, then David stayed with the dogs while I toured the mission and interior grounds. So beautiful and serene!
Jun 23rd, 2024 by leigharev2
Alicia runs a women’s group called ‘Fun Times with Roseville Girlfriends’. What started out as a small group to help connect local women has blown up to an online group with over 3k members!! Regular outings and events are listed. This was one of them. Quarry Trail. The group was actually larger than the group photo here. The group kind of naturally divided into two different pace groups.
Jun 23rd, 2024 by leigharev2
Date night with David. We went to Grass Valley to see ‘Breabach’ a Scottish Celtic Folk Band. A very nice night. <3
Jun 20th, 2024 by leigharev2
We were in Manzanita over David’s birthday and celebrated him with our friends, Matt and Meghan 🙂
