More crabbing

We went crabbing again this morning. We caught a limit (12) in about two and a half hours, got them cooked and cleaned and then back to the trailer to crack them. Here's three short videos that will show you what crabbing in Bandon is all about.

That's me doing the work. You leave the ring in the water for about 10 minutes and then pull as fast as you can.

Once you get the little critters on the pier you have to deal with them. Be careful..... they bite.
Pinchers are the issue and you need to handle them with care or you will get pinched.

We have had a great time in Bandon as we always do. Tomorrow it's off to Redding, Ca and home on Sunday if all goes well. Tonight however, we feasted on crab fresh from the water. It doesn't get better than that. This is all for this trip so happy trails to all.

Another crummy day in Bandon

It's Thursday evening in Bandon and it was just another day at the beach.

We did some beach walking again today in addition to a visit to Coos Bay. A little windy but still a great day at the beach.

When we first got here we met some folks.... turns out they are friends of friends and now we consider them our friends. Ray and Marsha shared stories around the fire for four nights and what a unexpected blessing. Great folks to visit with!
We just sat by the fire and shared stories of kids and everything else. They live about 40 miles from us so we'll see more of the we hope.



Well, tomorrow we'll go crabbing again and Saturday it's head for home time. Again the trip has been too short but had it's ups and downs.  We'll be glad to get home to the usual routine. Maybe one more post ..... let's see how we do at crabbing tomorrow morning.

Crabbing in Bandon

Today was crabbing day so we hit the pier at 6:45 am.... too early for us retired folks.

This is the public pier in Bandon where we do the crabbing. We hit Tony's crab shack for a license, crab ring and bait ( a whole $20) and headed for the pier,





Here's me doing all the work again... We use a crab ring which is baited with chicken and allowed to sit on the bottom for about 15 minutes then is pulled to the pier with the crab in the ring.

After pulling the crab ring you size the crabs (must be at least 5 3/4 inches across the shell and must be male. One pull resulted in three nice crabs.

After two hours we had 12 crab (my limit) so off to the crab shack to get them cooked and cleaned.

Back at the trailer we set about cracking the crab. It took about a hour to get the job done and this is what we had when we were done.

We had almost three pounds of crab meat when we finished. We're eatin good in the neighborhood tonight!

Bandon

We made it to Bandon... a favorite place... yesterday and today was a walk the beach sunny day with temps in the high 60's. I did break the trailer a little yesterday.... no big deal .... just frustrating when I do something dumb. So today I got to fix it ..... and I did. We did a little over town thing this morning.

Sharleen found a buddy down on the water front (that's Sharleen on the left). I'm thinking a new pet like this is just the ticket to replace Patches.

The Coquille lighthouse was impressive across the harbor entrance. Lots of boats fishing for Salmon in the mouth of the harbor.

We were watching a guy clean crab and looked up and this is what we saw. This big Pelican was just sitting about 5 feet from us waiting for a handout. He chased the Seagulls away and just sat there waiting.

A walk  on the beach completed a spectacular day. Tomorrow is a do chores day and then Tuesday is..... well I don't know and I don't care.....it's beach time. Hope to eat crab one of these nights.

Tillamook Cheese

We spent a couple of days in Nehalem, Oregon just seeing the sights, shopping(gotta love that) and visiting old friends who live there. Tuesday we headed to Tillamook to look around and visit the Tillamook Cheese factory again. Seems we do it everytime we get close.

Since we eat lots of Tillamook Cheddar (Costco carries it) it's fun to see where it comes from. The large bricks of cheese come down the conveyor and are cut and packaged with minimal human intervention. It happens at a unbelievable rate of speed. We have a gallon of Tillamook ice cream that will go home with us. We think it's the best ice cream made anywhere.


Tonight we're in Bandon, Oregon and will be here for the next week. It's just a fun place with shops and lots of beaches to walk. Did I mention the fresh crab we find here? More down the road.

Westport, Washington

It's now Tuesday and today will be a "take it easy" day. Some errands to run before we head South tomorrow.

Grayland Beach State Park is a super place to camp. As you can see the sites are huge and lots of trees separate the sites. Wood for the campfire is available and there are full hookups so it's a great place.

Long walks on the beach are mandatory so off we went. Kris has her required shell bag with her. It was a pretty walk for about two miles.

 This is the only beach I have walked where the sand dollar shells are so prevalent that you just look at them and don't bother taking them home. We assumed that there was a sand dollar colony offshore and the shells wash in with the tide.

The Westport lighthouse is still there and is as pretty as ever. I take a picture of it every year and still love it.

After the beach hike we went to Brady's oyster farm and bought a dozen oysters, put them on the grill and this is the result. We cracked a crab and feasted on crab and oysters. What a day! We enjoyed our time with Kris but she had to head back to work yesterday so we are alone again. Tomorrow it's off to Nehalem, Oregon for a couple of days as we make our way toward home. More down the road.

In memoriam

We're in Grayland, Washington at the moment. Kris joined us yesterday for the weekend and we had a great meal of BBQ ed oysters, salad and some homemade zucchini bread that kris bought with her. We sat by the fire and caught up on events since we last saw her.

Patches (AKA Bubba) our faithful traveling companion of 15 years became very sick a couple of days ago and after a day at the vet we were told that there was nothing that could be done. So..... we had to have him put to sleep. A tough decision but the right one for him. We'll miss the little(?) guy a lot as he was one of the family and what he said was law. So,Patches, RIP!


We hope today is a better day as yesterday was a struggle. Off to Ocean Shores this morning to ..... guess what..... go shopping! Think I'll stay home.
More later.

Anacortes Washington

We've been in the San Juan Islands for the past 5 days so it's time to catch you up.

The islands are beautiful with lots of hiking trails to explore. We hiked to the top of the mountain at Deception pass state park and were rewarded with this great view. Sharleen is using her poles and did the climb in great shape. What a great spot!

This is the view from cousin Jen's deck. We had dinner every night looking at the islands. She and Chris.... and Julia (7months) are indeed fortunate to have such a wonderful home.

We spent some cousin time.... Ginny and Arnie joined us for a couple of days from central Washington. Left to right from the back row it's Jen, Dad Fred, Arnie, Me. Jane (cousin), Ginny (cousin) and the lovely and talented Sharleen.
Can't forget the star of the show 7 month old Julia.
She is just as cute as they come. We missed seeing Chris (Julia's dad) but he is in Guam serving in the Navy. God bless our service men and women!

Another hike took us to the top of the hill overlooking Anacortes. It's a small but vibrant town that serves as the gateway to the islands.

This one is for Ella, James and Claranna. This is how we got the truck from Anacortes to Orcas island today. We put it on a ferry and rode for about 45 minutes then drove it off on the island.
We explored Orcas Island for the day, then drove it back on the ferry and after another 45 minutes we drove it off at Anacortes. What a great way to travel!

Over the course of the day we were treated to spectacular views like this one. The scenery is wonderful in all directions.Tonight we are back at the trailer and looking forward to going to Greyland beach state park South of Westport Washington tomorrow. Kris will join us there for three days. There is no Internet service there so I'll catch you all up in a week or so. In the meantime I hope all is well with everyone. See ya in a week.

Woodburn Oregon

Time to catch up on a little blogging. We're in Gig Harbor, Wa at the moment heading to Anacortes this morning. But before I get to that here's a little Oregon catch up.

Saturday was the day for "Saturday market" in downtown Portland. It's a fun street fair with lots of "stuff" to look at from the vendors, food and street performers.The guy in the foreground is actually playing the pails... plastic pails that is.... and he was good. A fun way to spend half a day!

Saturday evening was time for a family BBQ at Tony and Korrin's house. From left to right is Sharleen's sister, Ruby, her husband Jerry, Sharleen's niece Korrin, great niece Paige, Sharleen, Sharleen's great niece Madelyn and Korrin's husband, Tony.

Sunday I got in touch with my feminine side..... shopping at the outlet mall and a flower show. I will admit that the flowers were spectacular and the beautiful weather was a huge bonus.

Monday (labor day) I and Jerry cut wood to guy up a little after Sunday. Nothing like a chainsaw to get you straight.

This is what we looked like after four days in Oregon. The picture is courtesy of my sister-in-law Glenda. Thanks for the great job! Great fun with family and Tuesday it was off to Gig Harbor near Tacoma, Washington.

Yesterday we toured the area North of Gig Harbor with stops at Port Orchard and Port Gamble shown here. We took in the little town of Kingston and Bainbridge Island before heading home.

Today we're in Anacortes for 5 days of family (my side) fun. We hope to visit the San Juan Islands one day.

More from here later.

It's September again

Well gang, another summer is in the books and it's September again... well almost. One day of August left.
As is our custom we are headed North to Oregon and Washington to spend September visiting loved ones and doing a little beach time. Looking forward to the fresh Oysters and Ahi.
Tonight we're near Grants Pass Oregon at the Valley of the Rogue State Park. Tomorrow we head to Woodburn, Oregon and Sharleen's sisters and family but for tonight it's kick back time.

Just to catch you all up, it's been a really busy summer. First lots of work at the cabin.

The work started with a deck repair job and progressed to replacing 15 panels of siding. After that was done it was scraping, brushing, priming and then painting. 16 gallons of paint later we have a green cabin. Friends Wally and Heber were a great help. To finish the summer off I replaced the stairs leading to the car port. Still some work to do but that can wait till next year.

The highlight of the summer was a visit from Kevin and his lovely lady Beth. We visited with them and got to know Beth a little in a short visit. We look forward to more visits and getting to know her better. For now, they are living in San Diego and are still speaking to each other(we think). Maybe Christmas will bring another visit.


So..... we start another trip after a busy summer. We'll do a little blogging along the way and let you know where we are and what we're doing. So long from the Rogue River.

Lunch Snowbird style

Another not to be missed adventure is a trip to the Gila Indian reservation for that epicurean delight, Indian Fry Bread.

After a short 8 mile ride to the little town of Scacaton on the reservation we found this palace of fine food. As you can see the ambiance was 5 star as was the kitchen staff.

Once you have ordered and are served your Fry bread, seating options are limited. Here, Mark enjoys the view of the truck bed while partaking of his lunch

Janet, Dell, Bob and Sharleen are more fortunate finding a place at the table we brought along. As you can see the food was plentiful and good tasting as well. It is a base of a round, thin tortilla like bread, fried in hot oil and topped with a variety of goodies including beans, onion, steak or chicken, sour cream, cheese and tomatoes.
 
 

 
 
 
 
After lunch we sat around and did what we do best....... talk. Another great adventure and no one got food poisoning!

The Ostrich and the jumper

I have a couple of minutes so time for more Casa Grande news.

At the base of Pichacho Peak sits Rooster Cogburns' Ostrich farm. It's about 30 miles South of Casa Grande and we have driven past it many times on the way to Sierra Vista but never stopped. So yesterday we just drove down there to see what it was all about.

After getting up close and personal with them, I have determined that the Ostrich is a aggressive, fowl ( pardon the pun) tempered critter that looked at me like I would make a fine lunch. I might try a Ostrich burger sometime just to see if they taste better than they look.

In addition to the birds there were deer that just loved to eat out of your hand. We didn't even loose any fingers!

There were Boer Goats that just needed to be kissed. I tried to get Sharleen to do it so I could take a picture but she indicated that she kisses a old goat every morning so this would be nothing new. I don't understand her comment so can someone help me with it? It wasn't bad so I did it several times.

Our last stop at the farm was the Lorakeet enclosure. As soon as we stepped inside they landed on us..... guess they have done this before.
At one time I had 5 birds sitting on me and they too get a little aggressive looking for the food you have.
Lots of fun in a little spot along side interstate 10.

From there we headed to Eloy about 10 miles away to a world renowned sky diving site. We were entertained by a huge number of sky divers with as many as 16 jumpers linked in formation as they free fell before opening the chutes. There was lots of activity with four planes ferrying the jumpers in a continual operation.
Lots of fun sit and watch.

Desert fun

I am finding it hard to get time to do the blog thing. Seems we are busy everyday doing something fun and sometimes it's just laundry!

Eating is a favorite pastime down here. One evening there was a fish fry so we all joined in and did our part to consume the fish. Talking and eating are the favorite pastimes and sometimes we do them both at the same time.

Last Thursday we took a road trip into the mountains (about 225 miles round trip) and ended up on a dirt and gravel road called the Apache trail. It can be seen in the distance as it weaves it's way through the Superstition mountains. We drove for about 25 miles through spectacular scenery taking nearly a hour and a half to go 25 miles. We ended up in the little town (really a wide spot in the road) called Tortilla Flats where we had a late lunch before heading home.

Does Jack look happy or what?  He always seems to have his arms around a girl or two. Not much different than high school.

This was the view in all directions from Apache Trail. It looks like a miniature Grand Canyon with deep cuts and box canyons. From here we headed back to Casa Grande and some rest after a hard day of having fun.

Arizona in winter

It's about time I did a little blogging just to let you know we are alive and well and living in Arizona. We left home on 8 Feb and had a good trip to Sierra Vista with a little tire hiccup as seems to be the norm on trips lately. We spent a week in Sierra Vista visiting Sharleen's family and seeing old friends in Sonita.

On Sunday Rick ( Sharleen's brother), Ryan (her Nephew) and I went to a motocross track near Tucson where Ryan practiced his riding for a couple of hours. Here Rick and Ryan get ready for his first run.

Ryan (16) has been riding forever and is really good moving quickly around the track and taking the jumps. I had a great time just watching and thinking I'd kill myself if I tried it.

We're now at Foothills West in Casa Grande. The time here seems to just fly. 2:00pm is pool time and we gather to swim ( mostly talk while sitting in the pool). 4:00pm is happy hour with more talking. Maybe that's why the weather here is warm...... lots of hot air from all the snowbirds! I suspect I won't be doing a lot of blogging because of our busy schedule but rest assured we are alive, well and having a great time with all the young folks down here.