This month's calendar Archives
September 24, 2004
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
I'm baaack!!
When I last wrote in my journal, we were getting ready for a week-and-a-half "get away" trip down the Oregon coast, to Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival and then on down the Northern Coast of California to visit my cousin. But before we left, we took the steamboat out of the water for the winter. We washed all the barnacles off her and polished up some of the brass before we put her away. She is going to need some major repairs during the winter if we are going to be able to use her again next year. She needs her keel fixed, a new boiler and her engine overhauled. We will have to decide whether we want to sink any more money into a 43-year-old boat.
Saturday, September 11th was our 39th anniversary and we exchanged anniversary cards over breakfast and then Dave took the hazardous waste to Cart'm while I packed for our trip. We left Wheeler around 11 o'clock and arrived in Lincoln City around noon where we ate lunch at the Chinook Winds Casino and donated $20 to the Indians. I usually enjoy playing the one-armed bandits and having my money last a couple of hours but it wasn't any fun this time. I didn't win anything and it was gone before I knew it. It's not that I mind losing, but the machine ought to let you win at least once! After that, we decided it wasn't our "lucky day" so we headed for the outlet mall instead. At least there you get something for your money!! We shopped for a couple of hours there and bought a few things. We got checked into our hotel room with a fantastic view of the Pacific Ocean, but the fantastic view turned out to be a fog bank and we couldn't even see the ocean!! The next morning wasn't much better but at least we could see the ocean!
Sunday, after breakfast, we visited with an old friend who lives in Lincoln City and then checked out of our hotel and headed south on 101. Our next stop was at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. There we walked through an underwater tube with sharks, rayfish and all kinds of sea creatures all around us. We also saw an interesting exhibit on bats. Don't ask me what bats have to do with fish, but it was educational.
We continued down the beautiful coast and I couldn't help but notice all the wonderful state parks along the way. Oregon is very lucky to have free access to its beach area. It is so beautiful. I didn't realize that the Siuslaw National Forest ran from south of Tillamook all the way down the coast to Reedsport. Over the years, we have met several people (mostly from California) who can't believe that the entire 300 mile coastline of Oregon is open to the public! As we have traveled around the country we have found that statel like California and Florida have much of their coastline in private ownership. Not here in Oregon! Thank you Governor Oswald West
Sunday and Monday, we stayed at the Heceta Head Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast. We checked in around 4 o'clock and were given a wonderful tour of the lighthouse by the volunteer guides from the state park. The fresnel lens is one of the biggest in the world. The light from the lighthouse rotates at 10 second intervals and casts its beacon to ships at sea as far as 21 miles out. Monday evening after dark, we took our flashlight and hiked up to the lighthouse. There was just enough moisture in the air that the 8 rays of light rotated straight out from the light. We could see them for miles! It was all so magical as we sat there with our backs to the lighthouse and watched the marvelous beauty and listened to the sounds of the ocean. We even saw a ship on the horizon.
Our stay at the bed and breakfast was really fun, and verrrry relaxing! These two cats are permanent residents, and have this "relaxing" thing down to a science!
We stayed in the Lightkeeper's room and we had a view of the ocean crashing on the rocks with the lighthouse in the distance from our window.
We had a pretty rough night the first night...in more ways than one! Dave's cough was worse and he kept both of us awake a lot. I just got settled down (after Dave spilled his glass of water all over the floor) when I was awakened by a beeping noise followed by a few notes of music. I also could see a soft glow of light in one corner of the room. Now this house is said to be haunted, and I thought to myself, was it Rue? She is the legendary ghost that has been spotted by a few guests in the past. I had never experienced a ghost before and found it very exciting and scary at the same time. The next morning I was talking to the innkeeper about my experience and he explained to me that our room used to be the nursery and that Rue had lost her baby there. Anyway, being the logical and rational person that I am, I later discovered that it was Dave's cell phone that was making the noises. If the cell phone is not holding a charge and the battery is going dead, it makes the same beeping noise and plays a little tune. That is what I heard during the night and as far as the glow...well, that could have been the lighthouse beacon...or ???
Monday morning, we got to meet the other guests at breakfast that consisted of a 7-course meal served over an hour and a half. Not only was the food delicious but we also enjoyed meeting other people. Since breakfast started at 8:30 a.m., and we needed to be on our way early Tuesday morning, our innkeepers prepared a special sack lunch to take with us for our journey. We were also concerned about the delay we might encounter due the tunnel construction but as it turned out, we got right in to the end of the already-moving construction line as we left the driveway of the B&B. We never did have to wait!
We turned inland at Reedsport and headed for I-5. As we passed through an elk preserve, we decided it was a perfect place to stop and eat our sack lunch that the B&B had prepared. There must have been 50 head of elk right alongside the road. After leaving that beautiful spot, we drove along the Umpqua River and headed for Ashland. It was a beautiful drive and there was just a hint of fall in the air with a few trees showing their colors.
We pulled into Ashland around 11:30 and our room was ready. Our friends, Des and Donna were about an hour behind us, so we decided to wait for them before picking up our tickets. Our first play that afternoon was "A Raisin in the Sun" and then we saw a comic takeoff on the Barrymores called "The Royal Family" that evening. On Wednesday, we gave our backstage tour tickets to Des and Donna as Dave was still feeling pretty sick and spent most of the morning in the room resting. We met them for lunch and then headed for the afternoon play, "Humble Boy". That night we had a real nice dinner at "Beazy's" on Ashland Creek and then we made our first stop at the outdoor theater for "Much Ado About Nothing". Since there had been a few rain showers and clouds in the skies, we came prepared with our rain gear, but didn't need it. Dave's health continued to deteriorate and after crawling in bed after the play, we decided to take him to the emergency room at the local hospital to see if they could do anything for him. After an examination, they decided that he had either bronchitis or bronchial pneumonia. The doctor prescribed some powerful antibiotics and some codeine-laced cough syrup and sent him on his way. By now, it is about 12:30 a.m. and on the way back to the hotel, we decided we would see if there was a store open so I could get some juice for him to drink. We pulled into the Safeway parking lot and checked the store, but it was closed. I got back into the car and started back to the hotel. BUT...I forgot to turn on my headlights and got stopped by a cop after a couple of blocks. I explained to the nice police officer that I was a little distracted by all the happenings of the evening. I guess he agreed and decided not to give me a ticket. Thank God...that would have really made our day!
Thanks to the codeine, Dave stayed in bed until noon and I did a little shopping. I love to browse in the shops around Ashland. They are sooo artsy. While I was out shopping I ran into my former boss, Ed Lewis. It sure is a small world! He was on the "Bicycle Oregon" Tour and they were having a "day off" in Ashland before they were going to continue their trip to Crater Lake. Back to the theaters, in the afternoon we saw "The Comedy of Errors", had dinner at Thai Pepper and then wrapped up our stay with "King Lear".
Dave was so sick for most of our trip that we cancelled the rest of our plans and Friday morning we left for home. I drove most of the way as Dave was under the influence of drugs!
That was last week. This week was a trip to the doctor for both of us. Dave still has a lot of congestion and laryngitis and will have to cancel his announcing job this weekend. I found out that I have fluid behind my right knee which has been giving me a lot of pain and will have to go back to the surgeon that did my knee surgery in March to see what can be done about that. Meanwhile, I have gotten a real bad inner ear infection and sore throat. I got out of bed yesterday and about fell over from Vertigo. Is this a taste of what winter is going to be like?
We also had a nice visit with Dave's Aunt Louise and her husband George from White Salmon, Washington. They are both in their late eighties and drove the 4-hour trip down here to see us. They spent the night and were on their way the next day.
Office construction continues. Walls and insulation are in, as are the new windows. Next week should bring sheetrock with carpet the week after.
Well that about wraps it up from here. We are going to just lay low for a while until we are well again.
