sharp!

David's band teacher had them wear tuxes for their fall concert.  Ni-i-i-ice!

Doesn't he look sharp?

time out!

At the beginning of November, I got to go with two of my favorite people, Lennae and Whitney, to Time Out for Women.  On the way we stopped in Aurora, a delightful little town, noted for its colorful history and its antique stores.  You can read about Aurora here and here.  Next summer I want to take my family, if we do any more summer wanderings.

And of course, Time Out for Women was fabulous.  We heard from Jenny Oaks Baker, Virginia Pearce, Sheri Dew, Hilary Weeks, Mary Ellen Edmunds, DeAnne Flynn, John Hilton, Wendy Ulrich, and Laurel Christensen.  Lots of uplift, lots of tears, lots of laughs.  I was especially moved by the violin music of Jenny Oaks Baker.  Sometimes I felt a deep emotional connection, even though the music wasn't something I thought was exceptionally "pretty."

Lennae has a "thing" for old posts and architectural work.

Whitney's "thing" is diamond glass.

My "thing" is being with my friends at an interesting place.

Even "Honest Abe" was there!

What a fun pair!  (BTW, that little house to their right is a chicken coop.)

The sign warns you that the bell might ring without warning, but we heard nothing.

Mother-Daughter Duo.

a couple of silly jacks

The ward held an "Autumn Festival" (read "Halloween Party") in mid-October.  They held a pumpkin-carving contest.  Guess who won?!  Guess who submitted the only entries?! 

This is supposed to be an alien.  It didn't turn out quite like I expected...

Here's looking at you, kid!

BIG BAND SOUND...itty bitty venue

David's band was invited to play at Noodles and Company for a fund-raiser.    They sounded great.  Unfortunately, Noodles and Company is not a large restaurant, so they sounded INCREDIBLY LOUD.  WE COULDN'T HAVE A CONVERSATION.  WE HAD TO USE SIGN LANGUAGE TO ORDER OUR MEAL.  HURRAH FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL BAND!!!

They don't look as loud here as they sounded.

David does a good job on trumpet.

summer wanderings 7

Okay, okay, I know this is way late.  But I want to finish documenting our summer outings this year.  Our final outing was in August.  We took Aaron, David, and David's friend Xander to Crater Lake.  The last time David was there, he was an infant, so he doesn't really remember too much about it.  ;-)

The Buick decided to act up, and there were forest fires in the area, which made things smokey, so it was an interesting trip.  Nevertheless, we had a fun day.

Guys and their gadgets on the way up, waiting for the car to cool down.

  

On the wall around the lake.

Some nice person volunteered to take a photo of all of us.

I told you it was smokey.  The longer we stayed, the more obscured the view became.

Ranger Bob gave a lecture on the history of the lake.  Neat scale model in the center.

Even though it was August, there were patches of snow.  Look out!

David did get even.

 Our summer wanderings came to an end, but they were great memory-makers.  I'd love to do it more another summer!  There are lots of things to see here in Oregon.  Lots of quaint little towns.  Lots of amazing scenery. 

summer wanderings 6

Drain was really fun!

It's the home of some old Victorian houses.  One now houses a chocolate shop.

One is the home of the school district office.  We found wild parsley next to that one.

Driving out the other side of town, we found what looked like a wild west series of store fronts.

We had awesome hot dogs and ice cream at The N Zone.  Mom and David shared a Cougar Dog, while Nelson and Aaron split a Wild Bear Dog.

We saw yet another covered bridge.

We come home by way of the Lorane Highway, which was very pretty.

  Near Eugene we came past what looked like a public garden, but turned out to be someone's home.

summer wanderings 5

Oakridge and Dexter!

We were tired the day we drove up to Oakridge, so we didn't get many pictures, but did rest at a near-by rest area.  First we played near the river.  The guys all took turns skipping rocks.

The surrounding mountain sides were beautiful.  We drove among the houses on the town's hill sides.

We also drove through Dexter, although we didn't take any pictures.

summer wanderings 4

Jefferson, Scio, and Crabtree

We found out that Jefferson has a museum.

And a quaint little downtown with old-style facades.

We stopped at the Jefferson Market and picked up a picnic lunch, which we ate at the park next to the middle school.

Then on to Scio, "the covered bridge capital of the West."  You can read about it here. (Nelson decided to edit the Wikipedia entry on Scio to add this factoid.)

Here are two bridges we found:

By chance we stumbled upon Camp Morrison, which is where Nelson had many leadership camps and did his Wood Badge training in Scouts.

We also drove through Crabtree.  Yup it was that exciting...