Camping in the Redwoods

I did a long solo drive (around 8 hours!) down I-5 last week to meet brother Justin, Lil, Lil's mom, and my mom, who had flown out from Michigan for a visit! After mom spent a few days with Justin and Lil in Chico, they all met me in the Redwoods for a few days of wonderful camping.

We spent one night at Patricks Point, right on the coast. Gorgeous. We hiked down to some tidepools in the morning and discovered seals, sea anemones, clams, and a rubber boot!


At Patricks Point:

We drove about an hour north to Jedediah Smith State Park--also gorgeous. On a pre-dinner hike, we wandered through an amazing grove of Redwoods. These pictures do not come close to capturing their size and beauty.




Oh, man. Cheese tortellini, fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and marinara sauce with shredded cheese melted over the top. We licked our plates after this one. Every single one of us did.

The next day, my mom and I headed north and Justin, Lil and Judy drove back to Chico.

Fall already?

We've hardly seen Mat and Leah since they've gone back to school (both are teachers), so it was especially nice for me to join them and Freya for a run and dinner Friday evening. We roasted hot dogs and not dogs over their new backyard fire pit, consumed huge amounts of corn on the cob and watermelon, and Freya experienced rice cereal for the first time. The judges are still out...

That same evening, Eric had Ian, Jon, and Bobby over to our place for a poker night. I was amazed that they were still playing...long after I got home and got into my jammies.

Mondays are our day off together, but I had an appointment related to my job with the adoption agency in The Dalles, so Eric joined me for the trip through the Gorge. We left early enough to have lunch and walk around in Hood River beforehand, which was nice. I can definitely imaging living in Hood River someday. Between the Columbia River and Mt. Hood, there are tons of outdoor activities and lots of cool stores, breweries, wineries and coffee shops. And it was a gorgeous day to be wandering.


Tomorrow I leave for the Redwood National Forest, where I'll meet brother Justin, Lil, Lil's mom and my mom, who will then drive up the coast with me after a couple of days of camping. Eric will be staying behind to work, which is too bad, but I'm looking forward to some time with my mom on our journey north. The drive down will be the longest road trip I will have taken by myself--about seven hours!

Eliser

Eliser has been back in the US for a few months and we are so happy to have him nearby again. Back when we lived in Woodburn, he came from Tualatin (half an hour away) nearly every weekend to stay with us and go to church with me. Even though we're now an hour from Woodburn, Tualatin is still half an hour away and he's come to visit quite a few times. Unlike at our old house, where he slept on the couch or the floor, he now has his own room with a bed when he comes!

A couple of weeks ago, we stopped by La Estrella taco bus for some good Sunday afternoon food.

Last Sunday, Eliser helped me at the Community Table Food Pantry booth at Fiestas Patrias, the big Mexican event that celebrates Mexican independence day each year at the fair grounds. It was fun to talk with people and enjoy the traditional music and dancers that performed throughout the day. And we ate the most incredible pupusas...

New old neighbors

Dan, a good friend from seminary, was appointed in July as pastor to a United Methodist Church about 10 miles away from us and moved here from eastern Oregon, and we finally were able to get together! It was so fun to see Dan and Karen again and to meet twins Jeremy and Nathan, who will soon be 4, and Peter, who is almost 2. Jeremy and Nathan greeted us with hugs and let us know first thing that they like us. These are some sweet guys! I'm excited that we live so close again!

Labor Day

After sleeping in, enjoying a pancake breakfast with Goose and some lounging, I was heading over to my office, still in my jammies, to check e-mail. When I came around the corner of the church, three guys I've gotten to know from the day labor site were there. Eleuterio, Salvador and Arturo had gone to their usual spot seeking work, but it was a slower-than-usual morning that they wandered over to see if they could do anything to help. Eleuterio asked if he could mow the church lawn. We pulled out the old mower and began to mow. I visited with Arturo and Salvador for a bit, then decided to get out some tools and do some weeding in the garden. These guys volunteered their time the day we first broke earth for this garden.

We talked as we worked and I learned that Arturo plans to return to Veracruz, Mexico next month. He has been in the US for two years and has had so little work in the past several months that he is struggling to get by. He misses his family and his little village where the warm river is wonderful to swim in and where sugar cane and bananas are abundant. Where mango and peach trees are found in yards and beg to be picked like the apple and pear trees here in Western Oregon. He misses doing electrical work, his specialty and something he can't practice here without a license. Arturo has grown to care for his neighbors the people he sees each day at the day labor site but there is longing in his voice when he describes his family. He doesn't say it, but he seems lonely.

So many of the day laborers I've talked with in these past months have considered or are planning on returning to their home countries. Better to be without work and be with family there than to be without work here, alone. I am saddened that our country has not been more hospitable to them and that they have suffered without regular employment for so long, but I am also selfishly sad that they are leaving. I have come to care so much about these guys and I believe that their presence really contributes to our community. But I am so happy that those who choose to leave will soon be home with their families.

As we weeded and picked ripe tomatoes, it suddenly began to pour. So we leaned the tools against the building, grabbed Eric from inside and headed out to the taqueria that just opened four days ago. It was great to spend the afternoon these guys on Labor Day. We were enjoying the day off. They desperately wanted to work. And so we did some work and we rested and we ate together. It seemed like an appropriate way to honor our friends who are workers. And I feel challenged to find other ways to honor those in our midst who work so hard.

Eleuterio:

Salvador and Arturo:

The Beavs

Ron and Cathy got some free tickets to see the Portland Beavers play, so we joined them for their game against the Las Vegas 51s (who know what the name means), though we didn't know anything about the AAA team. Well...turns out they are pretty bad. We had great seats (the picture above was taken without zooming in at all) and access to field-level suites just behind the plate. I didn't care if they won or not, but I would have appreciated more hits by anyone.

PGE Park is right on the MAX line, so we took the train into the city and stopped at the Goose Hollow Inn on the way for drinks and vegetarians Reubens--they are the best!

Soon the Beavers will move to somewhere else in the area and PGE Park will be made into a pro soccer stadium. Maybe that team will be better than the sorry Beavers.

Creation Vacation video

In July, I deaned (=coordinated) a family camp for low-income Latino families on the coast. It was so wonderful to accompany the participants during the three day camp and to see the relationships developing within families and between families and Family Friends (volunteers). Some folks from UMTV came and did some filming for a short video about Creation Vacation and it was recently posted on UMC.org along with a nice article.

Here it is.