Welcome to Malia Rose deMetropolis – Born 10-09-2014

The day has been long as we were updated periodically about Lindsay’s progress in labor.  Then…………at 7:52 pm came Andy’s text….. It’s a girl!   Wait a minute……I predicted it was a boy!   Never, never take me to Las Vegas.   Janice says she looks just like her big brother, Dylan.   We can’t wait to see her.   With the miracle of texting, we ALMOST feel like we are there.   For those of you that aren’t in and around Long Beach,  Andy is my youngest son and Lindsay is his wife.   He is a Long Beach fireman and Lindsay is an RN and works in the ER at Long Beach Memorial Hospital.   This sweet girl weighed in at 7-14 and is 20″ long and HEALTHY.

Every year I start looking for stocking stuffers on January  1st.  It can get expensive when you are filling 16 stockings!  I saw some Chinook Salmon that I thought the boys might enjoy but it was $14 a can at the museum store.  My quest……..to locate this item at a more reasonable price.  This led us to this small cannery on the Skipanon River.  It is referred to as a micro- cannery.   These are quickly disappearing from the coast.  Josh, the manager,  greeted us and gave us a great personalized tour.  Fridays are busy for them as they get ready to go to Portland for Saturday Market. The canning machine they use was built in 1917.  He says it works perfectly but he is finding it difficult to get parts and a mechanic that can actually work on it.  I think he said he has to fly in a mechanic from the mid-west.  Besides learning about the hand packing and smoking process, I was fascinated by their best butcher ( is that what you call someone that filets fish?).  She is 81 years old.   She is also the chief  sharpener of all the knives.

I saved a little at $9.50 a can.  Merry Christmas boys.  Please don’t feed it to the dogs.

Today Doug and I are waiting on word of the birth of Andy & Lindsay’s second baby. It has worked out by design that Janice (our other daughter-in-law) will be taking care of her at Long Beach Memorial. Sweet anticipation! We feel very comfortable with her under Janice’s watchful eye.

Yesterday we visited the Maritime Museum here in Astoria. What an educational day it was. We learned a great deal about the Coast Guard and the vigorous and dangerous training. The area here where the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean meet is considered one of the most dangerous in the word calling it the “Graveyard of the Pacific” with over 700 ship wrecks and countless loss of life. What makes the Columbia River so important is its ability to provide transport of goods to inland America as far as Lewiston, Idaho. Imagine! Today we are going to learn about the discovery of this area by Lewis & Clark.

Looking back at the pictures Doug has posted, it looks like we are always wearing the same thing….it is true. When we left Redding it was 100 degrees and we packed accordingly. It had been so long since we saw temperatures below 80, we couldn’t imagine needing anything but flip flops and shorts. Lesson learned.

One of the things I love about Oregon is the GREEN. It actually rains here. We have several umbrellas, but not a single one in the RV.

I don’t really have an obsession with Costco. When I meet someone that lives in Redding, I will often ask what made them choose Redding as their home. One of the answers I found very interesting was from a fellow hiker, Linda Katlin. They have travelled extensively around the US (looking for a place to settle in retirement). Gary is an engineer. They narrowed their search to only places that had a Costco, believing that that community would have the level of goods and services that they felt necessary to establish a home. They built their own home in Cottonwood. They live in the country but know that civilization is just down the I-5.

The Art of Racing in the Rain…..recommended read on many levels. I now can’t look at a dog without wondering what he or she is thinking. I know more about race car driving than I ever wanted to know & never ever give up.

Bonny and I visited The Lewis and Clark Center which is located at the site of the log fort built built by the  U.S. Army Discovery Corps led by Captain Lewis and Lieutenant Clark.  The group had departed St. Louis in May of 1804 and arrived here in November of 1805 at the Pacific ocean. This fort was designed and built from local trees in a few weeks to provide needed shelter from a bitter winter. It is magnificent to see and appreciate what these  remarkable individuals accomplished.

At the dusk at U.S. Army installations world over the U.S. flag is lowered and  correctly folded. The entire event and the bugle played is called “Retreat” followed by “To the Colors”.  The staff noticed my U.S. Army hat, the Park Rangers honored me with the opportunity to fold the flag. It has been a long time but my memory kicked in and I pulled it off. Whew!

Astoria has an interesting hill overlooking the town and the Columbia River. There is a tower that Bonny and I climbed (164 steps) and the view is amazing. I will stop with the words but here are the pictures. Click on them to see full size.