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Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Summer Trip to Portland Oregon, Our way there ... and Back Again

Last week was the first week I missed posting on my blog in I can't remember when. So if you missed me this is why:

Fred's a great driver. I sit back, enjoy the scenery, draw him driving, read, and draw some more ...


We stopped in Yreka for lunch. We found this Brewery on an earlier visit and liked the menu. No beer for us, but this time I had a spinach wrap that was huge and delicious. He had a burger!


Next stop was Ashland. We met up with Elizabeth and Michael Flannagan, (Elizabeth and I met through Sketchbook Skool)  We love our art/music evening with them so much.

 
Elizabeth and I draw and talk; and the guys talk and play music together.

 

Earlier in the day we stopped to visit my cousin Betsy for a while. She recently got an iPad and she is having fun learning how to use it. (no previous computer use ever!) Betsy has a great sense of humor and we always enjoy talking and laughing with her!



The next day we set off for Portland, stopping at Starbucks for his coffee and my oat meal; and McDonald's for his food ... I drew this old Hudson in the parking lot while he was fueling himself up!


Lunch time was a stop in Eugene at a dynamite café called Yummi Café. It was yummy too! The salmon burgers were top notch! Juicy and delicious.

I drew this picture of Fred later in Portland. I have no idea why it says he's a little cat, I think it was probably something our grand daughter said and I wrote it over his head for some reason! ???


Oh that's probably why ... Allie Bel had painted her face to look like a cat! Note that she asked about my hearing aides and made sure I got them into the drawing. She wears two Cochlear Implants and identifies with me and my difficulty hearing too without aides.


My son came home from work and took a little nap on the couch with the bear and Allie. She saw the picture later and asked why her face wasn't showing. I said "You were looking the other direction!" She said, "Well, draw it NOW!" Sorry too late!



We had a visit from my former husband, Michael, and his wife Marsha, and then our grand daughter's beau, another Michael dropped by as well. We were celebrating Allie's 4th birthday early (it's later in August, but we won't be there) and Michael's, who turned 81 the day we were there!


I also hit several art stores while we were there ... and this is a partial list of things I picked up!


We took a trip to Colton to visit Kaeli, our 21 year old grand daughter and Michael there, as they have new jobs at Colton Camp. It's a gorgeous area, we walked some of the grounds. I put the waterfall behind Kaeli's head. It was really somewhere else, but I wanted to be sure I got the picture of it there for memory's sake. She is a lovely young woman. I am so proud of her. She is in her second to last year of nursing school!


We also got to visit briefly with our eldest grandson, Mikiah, at the house in Portland! I love that my grand kids let me draw them each visit. Both he and Kaeli said I was getting better!
 

 Kaeli, our eldest grand daughter is filing for financial aide for her second year of nursing school and our daughter in law, Jackie was helping her ...
We had such a good time with family! We always do!

Then the family had a festival to go to, and/or back to work; and we
moseyed on to do some traveling on our own ...
 


We stopped at a Butterfly sanctuary in Elkton, Oregon and saw butterflies popping out of cocoons and flying around in this warm enclosed area. Just beautiful and wonderful to draw (and color later in the car).


We also got to see Elk for whom this little town was named. Big beautiful animals walking and lounging on the grass.

 
We stopped at Edgewaters for lunch, Grilled fish (rock cod) sandwiches, that were good! The lighthouse could be seen from our window seat, but I drew it from the car after lunch from the car window. I don't know why it's a bit tipsy. Perhaps a big wave came up just then.


That night and the next we stayed at Tanya Werher's Air BNB in the woods in Bandon. A beautiful wooden house with big wood beams inside and out; a stone fireplace (see my reflection in the glass door); simply and tastefully decorated, she a minimalist, so everything in it's place impeccable and oh so clean; comfortable bedroom and bed; our own bathroom, use of the kitchen and main rooms. Friendly. A great stay! Very reasonably priced as well.


What a disappointment the Let's go out to Breakfast the next morning was at the One Minute Café. It must have taken an hour to be served. Fred said hold the cheese on his Denver omelet, but it was smothered in cheese! He never got offered a second cup of decaf coffee. My "decaf tea" was NOT decaf!


The beauty in Bandon well made up for the mediocre breakfast. Someone had carved out a labyrinth on the beach sand and people were walking it. Fun to be up on the rocky overhang watching them and the beautiful ocean!


You probably know by now that I travel with my own personal troubadour and his guitar. He put on a wonderful song fest for Tanya, her dog and cat! I enjoyed it too, have been for 38 years now!

 
All good things must come to an end,
and we headed home 11 days from whence we started!
 
Whew!
 
Enjoy! We sure did!
 
Have a creative week!
 
Thanks for your visits here and your comments, they keep me drawing!

11 comments:

  1. Wonderful sketches from your trip to see friends and family!!! I was off traveling too, but due to a wedding I wasn't quite as prolific as you. You are an inspiration.

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  2. Thanks Joan, I always appreciate your visits and words here!

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  3. Love reading about your travels from your perspective! Aunt Betsy is so cool on the ipad...how fun that must be for her!! Wish my mom was still alive to enjoy it! She would be ninety now and I would have shown her long ago how to use a computer! Oh what fun she'd have had! Love all the drawings good job. Your own style is always prevalent no matter how much you improve! Thanks for sharing!

    Hugs Giggles

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    1. Thanks Giggles. I'm sure your mom would have loved learning technology from you! My 96 year old Uncle Harry is very adept at all of it!

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  4. Oh wow, that's a wonderful journey!! I wish I could draw aspects of the day like you do - I 'm in awe! Its so fun and memorable - love the line drawings and the colourful paint - fabulous!

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  5. Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for sharing!

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  6. What a fabulous trip you had. I love how you can draw while traveling mine would be all over the place but the roads here are a bit too bumpy for drawing.
    Happy PPF
    Sandy :)

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  7. Well, Lynn, you made up for lost time with this wonderful post. I really enjoyed meeting your family and seeing what you did on your trip to Oregon and back. Delightful illustrations, all of them.

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  8. Sounds like you had an amazing trip! I just love all of the sketches and paintings. What a fabulous way to remember a good time. There's so much life in your art. I love it!

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  9. Fantastic! I love following along with your art, it's like going on the journey with you.

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Thanks for leaving your comments as I love hearing from you. Your words of encouragement are why I continue to draw!