LivingOurDream

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Heading East

Hi All,

Yesterday we finished our stay on the Oregon coast with a blizzard of errands and shopping in Newport. We had a fabulous dinner with Bob & Cindy and their Colorado friend Virginia.

Today we drove east through the mountains to Burns, OR and camped behind a small casino.

Carl had an ooops moment when he dropped his phone. The glass front shattered but remarkably it still works fine, though reading small text through the cracks is tricky

Cindy's blueberry pie tasted even better than it looks

Love,

Sandy & Carl

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Monday, August 13, 2012

Hi All,

We told the lighthouse restoration supervisor, Bob, that we were leaving and convinced him to give us a tour of the work in progress. We climbed the beautifully restored stairway and marvel led at the rich ochre color of the exposed brick. At the top we admired the solid brass door frame to the restored catwalk. It will all be fantastic when completed later this year.

National Registry Plaque

Beautiful brickwork and stairway, even with the plastic tread protectors

Carl climbed a scaffolding ladder to get this photo of the painted roof and new vent ball (all 400 pounds of it!)

Bob shows us some of the restored pieces

Old and new stonework

Not only did we see some of the beautifully restored lighthouse but we gained an appreciation for just how demanding this worksite is. The gusty wind tearing at the plastic made a racket and the slight movement of the scaffolding made it seem like the whole lighthouse was swaying.

BTW: If you know anyone associated with Oregon State Parks, please don't tell them about this tour. We wouldn't want to get Bob in trouble.

Love,

Sandy & Carl

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Faugust on the Oregon Ciast

Hi All,

There is frequent localized fog here when the interior valley heats up and the rising warm air is replaced by air from the 55 degree ocean. Some residents call this month Faugust. Today was like that.

Most of the day there was nothing to see in the scopes so we showed folks the murre eggs and talked about the eagle attacks.

After work we relaxed in the coach then drove to Florence for dinner to celebrate our 44th anniversary. Waterfront Grill- very nice.

One more day at Heceta Head and we are on the move again.

Faugust on Central Oregon Coast

Love,

Sandy & Carl

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Whale of a Day

Hi All,

Yesterday we saw lots of whales. Six to eight gray whales were swimming and spouting in the ocean off Heceta Head for several hours.

Today was even better. Many whales spouted near the horizon and a few were in close. Several juveniles breached repeatedly and sometimes just rose part way out of the water, reminiscent of humpback whales when they race to the surface to swallow a school of fish. On several occasions a diving whale lifted their tail out of the water.

We spotted the first animals about noon and when we reluctantly left about 3:30, there were still a few whales around.

A big crowd gathered along the fence to get a look at the whales. Nobody was interested in looking at birds ;-).

Love,

Sandy & Carl

Living & Traveling in our motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Whales and Sunset

Hi All,

Wednesday evening, most of the volunteers gathered at the Adobe Inn along the beach in Yachats. The food was so-so and the service was terrible but from our table we could see whales offshore and we were treated to a beautiful sunset.