We departed Reno at our standard time of about 0900 to head north up to Oregon via HWY 395 and 89 via Susanville. Part of the drive was through the Lassen National Forest as we wended our way towards Shasta. This is a very picturesque drive well worth another look one day. Lots of at this time inactive volcanoes along the route to view. Stopped by in Shasta for a few provisions, back into the land of organic food consciousness and west coast prices. Back onto the interstate up to Medford to spend the night at a KOA campground...consistent services, but not a special spot to stop. The evening was mild, so Elaine got to serenade us for a while on the guitar before turning in for the night.
October 20-21,2011
Last night cooled off down to about 3 degrees, but no ice in the water pail; the air bed stayed inflated and nice and toasting and warm until we had to roll out the rack. We stopped in Eugene to pick up a few items for our travel to take advantage of 0% sales tax and some good pricing on our way to Lincoln City on the coast. We must be back on the Wet Coast as the clouds have dominated since our arrival to Oregon and the rain threatens....not to worry we have a Yurt booked for the next 2 nights at Devil's Lake State Park. What a cool idea at a reasonable cost to give you some decent comfort with the whole camping experience....warm, dry, and funky. Holey smokes, wine is a bargain in Oregon...a $21 dollar bottle in BC goes for about $6.50! We were happy campers. The first night in the Yurt a group of wild University students partied to the wee hours and kept the entire camp up...this was remedied for the next night. Elaine got her fill of wandering the various crafty shops and factory outlet stores. The beach here is a great stroll. A short drive from town brought us to a series of artisan glass forges that were making the most incredible pieces.
The drive up to Vancouver via I5 was an insane white knuckle trek with pouring rain, heavy traffic and 75 mph. Entry into Canada was a snap, feels good to be back on home soil. We spent the evening with our fiend Dianne, with a wander through Granville Island and dinner. Our travel stories of the summer were exchanged--our and hers from Greece....another place on the list. We made plans to have her join us in Portugal next year--likely with Mina.
October 23, 2011
On our way to the ferry, we stopped by to see Uncle Herman and Aunt Sadie in Surrey to get information on Grandpa Schuetze's hometown of Joinville, Brazil. We are not likely going to bump into any long lost relatives, but they encouraged us to make the stop. They are both looking and sounding very well and had a nice visit.
October 24-31,2011
Our timing to be home for what ever reason, proved providential. Tony's father had taken a turn for the worse at the care home with a bout of pneumonia and passed away early Tuesday morning. All the family was able to see and be with Gilles before his passing, so although it was a very sad day, he is now at peace after many difficult years with dementia.
The week was very full of all the details of my dad's affairs, along with all the visiting of friends and family and the last details of our onward travel. Wendy and Rick were the most amazing hosts--even pulling together a golf game and a campfire/BBQ. We will really miss them when we head off on Tuesday.
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