Teresa Got Hitched

Click on title to link to wedding photographer page Judi went to Auburn, Alabama on July 20th to attend Teresa and Brian's wedding. Teresa was the maid of honor in our wedding. Teresa married an Auburn business man and a War Eagle fan. The couple went to Charleston, SC for their honeymoon. Brian and Teresa we love you and wish you the best in life.

Up With The New (Part II)

Here is an update on the fence project. Jerry and I have worked hard building the fence. Dr. Ron Palm helped us work on saturday. We constantly challenged by the weather (sunny and 105 degrees) and the contour of the land. This is the first time either of us have attempted to build a fence. Is not rocket science, but not a walk in the park either. So we are learning as we go along. Two more weekends of 10 to 12 hours days and we should be done.

Meet The McMullen

This is Jerry's family and our next door neighbor. We were invited for dinner and had a delicious meal of smoked RIBs (excellent), potato salad, baked beans and corn on the cob.

Up With The New

Mike, Jerry and I began our fencing project by digging 2 feet deep holes around the perimeter with an auger (not sure about spelling), a shovel, and a pick. The clay was hard as rocks; and some times we actually had to deal with real rocks. We struggled, but we overcame the obstacle. Once Jerry and I began to set the poles in the ground, we quickly learned how hard it is to work on a side of a hill in a hot sunny (not quite like Alabama, but hot in the mid 80's) weather, bringing rocks by buckets to set the poles, setting the guide lines for the poles, leveling the poles, measuring the poles, adjusting the ground holes, and how heavy those poles become after few trips up and down the hill. We now have deeper respect for those men that have chosen a more physical line of work; but we still refuse to pay for work we can do ourselves. It does not matter how much we cry and lick our wounds at the end of the day.

Down With The Old

On July 8th, Judi and I went to Mike & Mary Ann's to help them bring a deck down. Work was hard, but a lot of fun. After all what is not to love about breaking stuff by brute force alone? After a day of work, we were treated to ride the City of Salem carousel and dinner at Geppetto's Italian Restaurant.

Oregon Trail Interpretive Center

Click on title for access to link.

Judi and I read a book called "It happened in the Oregon Trail" a copilation of short stories about trail adventure. We went to visit the interpretive Center in Oregon City, the oldest incorporated city west of the rocky mountains. Oregon city was Oregon capital for a short period of time and is the official end of the trail.

Cannon Beach (Sandcastle Day)

The picture does no justice to the sculpture There are two bears in this sculpture, the wide angle lens was not wide enough to get both bears. Bi-polar, Get it? On June 17th, and on an impulse, Judi And I jumped into the car and drove to Cannon Beach. Cannon Beach was recently voted one of the ten best beaches in the United States. On this date, it was hosting a sand sculpting contest. Of course, I took the route I thought best which happened to be the long way; and I mean long way. Thank God it was also the scenic way, along the coast. The event happens always in June and this was it 42nd annual. Judging by the participation, the event seem to be dying down. Since I expected more entries and therefore more sculptures. Here are some pics of the day.

All Videos Finally Fixed

I believe all issues about the video clips have been solved. Enjoy the clips.

Detroit Lake

This island will be explore this is how close we have come to it so far; God bless the invention called "zoom". I used my time machine to snap this pic of the road to the lake. It is not that far from shore, but I ain't (for my southern friends) swimming to it. Click on title to open link. Today was one of those days when we just woke up and hit the road in search of adventure. We went to Detroit Lake without doing any research as previously done with others sites; so, we missed all the trails and amenities that we later learned about. The Lake is awesome as you approach it driving down the road. The water is crystal clear and surrounded by wilderness paradise. You come across couple of dams as you get closer to the Lake. There were several locations to stop and snaps some pics. We will return to Detroit Lake to explore the area from the comfort of our Kayak. We left the lake area and stopped at another park with the dogs (see previous post).

North Santiam State Park

As I said: "He is the boy".

Campeon is looking for a rock that I threw in the water. They do love the freezing water. Come on Morena!!!!! Morena kept the search alive after Campeon lost interest in the rock. As I said before: "Morena is just a shy girl".

Click on title to see link. Today we went to North Santiam State Park. We took Campeon and Morena along. They had a great time running like wild animals as you can see in the pics above. It is June 8th and the water is cold, very cold, painfully cold. We are thinking about investing in dry suits to go kayaking, or getting seat in style kayaks, or both. Today was a little cold, temperature was down in the 60's, and partly cloudy. This is a picnic and fishing type of park, lots of tables and a trail by the water.

Oregon Trail Part I (Video Clip) Revised Twice

Click on the title to go to the link and see the video clip. Here is yet another shot at correcting the malfunctions on the previous post of the same title. I hope you will be able to see the clip now, if problems still happening drop me a comment and I will try to correct the problem. The clip is silent as mentioned before, and some of the video quality was lost in the transferred. I will solve this problem in the future as my knowledge increase. The clip begins few minutes prior to departure in Mobile, Alabama with a 360 view of the front of the house and Michael, Holly and Judi talking about their trip readiness. Then is morning time in Richmond, Louisiana leaving toward Santa Fe, New Mexico. We had a stop break in Texas, and then picnic style lunch in Texas at another rest stop, and then is the next morning from Amarillo, TEXAS. The clip ends on our first rest stop in New Mexico.

Wine Tasting Weekend

Mike and Mary Ann getting ready to taste some wine.

Judi just tasted the chardonnay.

The Joy of wines and friends.

Click on the post title to access the link.

This are pics from our first wine tasting in Oregon. We went with Mike and Mary Ann and we had a great time. According to Mary Ann, this happens twice a year when the wineries open their doors to offer food and wine. Some winery offer wine tasting all year round but no food. Our first stop was at the Mystic Wines; They had an excellent chardonnay. This is a small operation but you can tell they love their art. I got a bottle of it.

Wine Tasting Weekend Part II

The power of Pinot Noir.

Click on title to view the winery home page.

Here are pics of our second stop. Crimstom Wines seems to specialized in Pinot Noir wine. They were the more sophisticated winery we visit this weekend. The wine was excellent but a tap expensive.

Wine Tasting Weekend Part III

Wine, wine, and more wine.

So much wine I began to feel creative.

Bad light composition, but good wine.

Click on the title to access the link.

These are pics of our third stop. I am feeling "no pain" by now, several shots of wine are doing the job. The winery RedHawk had the most variety and best food selection. Their Pinot noir "Greatful Red" was excellent; Mike adquired a bottle of this wine. To be fair, I couldn't tell the difference on most of their selection either because the food was rich in flavor or my taste buds were already overpowered by previous samples. Maybe, I was just tipsy and couldn't tell the difference. Either way I sample them all.

Wine Tasting Weekend Part IV

The great life of dogs, life in a winery and laying around waiting for a beautiful woman to pet you. Lucky Dog!!!!!!

Click the title to gain access to the link.

These are the pics of our last winery. This winery was the only one to offer a sample of desert wine. I found it to be of great taste, however Judi thought it to be a tap sweet. The winery is a small operation but the wine master is proud of his creation, and I believe he should after drinking his wine. The wine master also let us sample a Port wine which has not been bottled yet. The Juice is amazingly soft for a Port. I had to put my name on the list to adquire at least a bottle. I did get a bottle of Pinot Noir Reserve to be enjoy in couple of years and a bottle of Pinot Gris to be consume soon.