Travel Tuesdays: Family Fun

 

Part of the fun for me of heading south again is the stop along the way in Oregon to visit extended family. Parked at my nephew's place, one morning I was greeted with this quiet misty vista. I love these towering oak trees. They aren't indigenous farther north where I live in the summer. This is the area I grew up in and I miss these beautiful trees. Although listening to the acorns drop on the roof of the RV is perhaps not my favorite part!

This time I chose to focus on one branch of the family to keep from spread myself too thin visiting all my nieces and nephews. I love them all, but trying to see everyone in a few shorts day can get crazy and exhausting. Planing a group gathering can be challenging when we don't know how long we'll be there. To all of you that I didn't see this time--I'll catch you next time through.

I managed to get in on a quick trip to Eugene for tea and shopping with my sister Sue and her daughters. When it was discovered that the targeted shop didn't have the right herbs and wasn't open to the public anyway, a plan was hatched to get together a couple of days later and order the herbs online while I was there to make sure of the right ingredients. Some years ago I made up a special blend for Sue of calming herbs that she likes. Her daughter has taken on the task of making sure she has a good supply. This get together turned into a tea party complete with treats, different kinds of teas, and historic family albums making an appearance. 

My grandmother Vera camping in jodhpurs. Brewster Valley. Circa 1920

 We stayed long enough to visit my nephew's church for two Sundays and a Friday night prayer service. We thoroughly enjoyed that. It was so refreshing to be in this group of people who love the Lord and love people so much. Love Jesus, love people. Simple concept, much harder to implement. They are doing this well.

We enjoyed seeing my other niece's property they recently acquired. It will be fun to return and see what they have done to improve things. Big plans. We had a great walk down to the Calapooia river that runs along one edge of their acreage.

The Calapooia River dressed in Fall colors.

 

We stayed a bit longer than planned because of two big storms that blew through, one right after another. We were thankful to be parked on the other side of the barn from the wind. Although, before leaving, I had to get up on the roof and sweep off the equivalent of a large garbage bag of oak leaves. I was amazed at how many had swirled around into piles up there. Since we no longer have the slide topper, it must be swept before the slide gets pulled in. After days of rain, it was plenty soggy up there and took awhile to remove all the leaves
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