Retirement Day 3,665

Linking this post today with Talking About It Tuesdays hosted by Joanne

There was a blog link up yesterday that a lot of bloggers I follow participate in, but I didn't have it together to make that happen which, let's be honest, is par for the course here. 

The link up is called Share Our Lives and this month's prompt was A Day In the Life. The way it works is you choose any day in your week (usually the week prior to the linkup), and then share in words and pictures what you've spent the day doing, hour by hour.  

I love to read these posts and enjoy seeing all the ways we're different, but mostly how we're the same. People everywhere are doing laundry, making meals, solving problems, managing the everyday ordinary bits of life. 

Ten years ago (plus a couple of weeks) my hubs retired. I looked back at my blog and found three posts with similar titles to today's-Thoughts On Retirement Day Six, Retirement Day 47, Retirement Day 183, and then one entitled Five Minutes of Today written at the five year mark. 

And suddenly another five have passed. 

Retirement isn't anything like I thought it would be. 

Well, maybe a little bit but mostly no. 

I imagined every day would look a lot like the one before and instead every day is different. I read the Day in The Life Posts and the bloggers who participate are mostly people who are still working and raising their families. Their days and weeks are defined by jobs and children's needs and activities so their weekdays especially are by necessity fairly scripted. 

In retirement you can be all over the map if you want to be. You can stay in your pajamas all day every day, skip dinner because you went out for a big lunch, go to bed at 8 PM or stay up all night, see a movie on a Monday afternoon, go out to dinner last minute, invite friends for dinner last minute without wondering if your house is a mess because in all likelihood it's not. You can fill every hour of every day or none at all, and just let the day take you where it will.

You are the boss of your calendar. Mostly. In retirement while you do get to decide how much or how little you want to do every day, some of that will depend on your health. A lot will actually. So you make a conscious effort to take care of yourself, because if you don't have your health it's going to affect you in ways you never gave a passing thought to at age 40. 

Or maybe you did, but when I was 40 I was young lol. Back then if we were out with friends the topic of conversation was never about our knees or the ache in our shoulder. We try not to be those people now, but we are not our 'parents retirees'. We're golfing, hiking, kayaking, playing tennis and Pickleball, and truthfully sometimes just sleeping wrong. 

I imagined in retirement I'd spend a lot of time chilling on the couch watching hubs nap in his recliner, and instead I'm going here and he's going there and we synch calendars and he texts and asks 'where are you now, do you want to meet for lunch?' 

We are definitely not the people who stay in our pajamas all day, and I have absolutely no idea why I thought my hubs of all people would suddenly sit still and retire in his recliner. 

I imagined less 'paperwork' and instead there is an awful lot of paperwork. The business of life carries on in retirement much like it did in the workaday world. There are finances to manage, bills to pay, insurance to understand.  

There are still meals to plan, clothes to wash (why still so much laundry???), rubbish bins that need to be rolled to the curb on the appointed day, cars needing repairs, floors needing mopping, haircuts, mail, dust, and yadda yadda yadda. You know the drill because we're all in this particular boat together. Retirement does not erase the house-yard-life maintenance that keep the wheels of home spinning.  

There's time to travel, explore the beauty and history and fun quirky things that exist right where you live. There's time to volunteer, grow your hobbies, have long conversations with your spouse, dig deep into your faith and prayer life, and invest time and energy in your grandchildren if you're fortunate enough to have them. When I count my retirement blessings these things are all near the top. 

So what does an ordinary day look like in retirement? 

Well, today (Monday) it was coffee with the sunrise. Read my Bible. Shower and dress for an appointment with the dermatologist in the city. No makeup because he likes you to come in fresh faced. I had a bowl of Special K with Red Berries, then put coolers in the car for the Costco run I'll make after the dermatologist. 

My daughter, who is temporarily living with us (along with her hubs and three children), had plans to go to story hour at the library so I gave her my books that are due today. Winning! 

I left the house at 9 am and drove almost an hour to my appointment, which was fine. Country roads for the most part and I always have a book going on Audible so I listened to that while I drove. I spent about fifteen minutes in the dermatology office getting my annual skin check, then made the five minute drive from there to Costco. It was mobbed and I bought way too much. It's the law. 

Checked out and pushed my very full cart all the way to my car in the pouring rain, unloaded said cart in the pouring rain, returned the cart to the cart return even though it wasn't close and it was still pouring. 

Broke in to the Pirate Booty for the car ride home. It was necessary.  

I got home about 1 o'clock and unloaded the Costco haul. Made three trips up and down the stairs to put various items in the lower level frig and deep freeze because all this food has to go somewhere. I'd made a small salad the night before because I was thinking ahead and topped it with left over tuna for my lunch. I also made hubs a sandwich because he'd been to the real estate office and hadn't had lunch either. 

By now it was 2 PM and I made a cup of hot tea and turned on the fire. It was still wet, gray and cool and I sat by the fire and sipped my tea. I worked on this post while my daughter sat beside me and scoured Pinterest for home decorating inspiration. 

She and I plan our weekly meals ahead because with seven people in the house, three of them children who need to eat on the regular, we don't want to leave meals to chance. If it were just me and the hubs we would definitely wing it on occasion, which is one of the nice things about retirement. Anyway, today she put chicken, salsa, black beans and corn in the crock pot while I was out which was super helpful. 

While hubs and I had lunch she was working on school with the boys, and when they finished up I read a couple of books to them and chatted about their trip to the library. Little Miss was 'napping' and the boys went to their room to play with legos for a while. I then spent thirty minutes with hubs listening to today's Bible reading and The Bible Recap podcast we do every day. Hubs and I committed to it on January 1 and so far we have stayed on track. Even through Leviticus. And Numbers. 

Afterwards I got all the fixings out for our 'taco bowls'. Not sure if that's what they're called but I made some Mexican rice, we topped them with the shredded crock pot chicken-bean-corn mix, grated cheese, black olives, sour cream, guacamole, tortilla chips, and a squeeze of lime. They were delish and so easy! 

My daughter did most of the dishes and the kids played before going to get ready for bed. They are full on during the day, but go to bed early and sleep like teenagers which is a blessing. Little Miss is up earlier in general but she's super adorable so we're always happy to see her first thing. 

I filled the tub and threw in one of my rejuvenation bath bombs that I love and finally got rid of the chill I'd had since getting soaked in the Costco parking lot. I put on my pjs and wrapped up this super interesting blog post. 

That was today. Tomorrow will be completely different. I have to finish taxes, do a grocery run for all the things I don't buy at Costco, there's book club in the afternoon, and then I play Mah Jong with neighbors tomorrow night. It will be another crock pot meal because my son-in-law is working, hubs has a dinner to attend, and one grandson has baseball practice late afternoon. 

So how would I characterize retirement on Day 3,665?

Not boring. 

I feel like there's more I want to say about it all, but I've run out of steam. Does a trip to Costco wear you out too or am I the only one?  Have a nice week everyone!  

A Ragtag Post

We finally had a quiet at home weekend doing a whole lot of very little which was long overdue. Also not much to blog about, but of course I'm blogging anyway. C'est la vie. 

Hubs had been duck hunting all week and didn't get home until very late Friday night. His trip meant I had four whole entire days in the house by myself which, if you're livin' the retired life, you know is rare. And also appreciated now and then.

Hi hubs! I'm glad you're home. 

It's okay, he gets me lol. Celebrating 40 years of married life this June so yeah, he gets me. 

Back to last week...I'd naturally made a lot of overly ambitious plans (in my head) with hopes of completing some small organizational projects, and got exactly none completed. Oh I did plenty, I just couldn't quite get to my mental list which is still there, still rolling around my brain. 

Here are my excuses...

I said I had the house to myself but that's only partly true. The little brown dog was here keeping me company, pining for his favorite mister, racing to the window every time someone pulled down the driveway thinking maybe it was him, needing to go outside in the ridiculous pouring rain which meant I had to go outside in the ridiculous pouring rain, and then I had to get out the towels and the brush and the dryer and do all the things hubs normally does when it rains and the dog needs tending

Hi hubs! I'm glad you're home. 

What else....hmmm...here's something...I talked on the phone. A lot. Not a bad thing as a friend I hadn't spoken to in about a year and a half called and two hours later we were almost all caught up. Then one daughter called, then my mom called, then another daughter called and before I knew what was happening the clock said noon and I was still in my jammies. 

Which is fine, but it's not me, and it throws off my mojo aka my enthusiasm to begin a project. Let's watch HGTV instead, k? 

I still had my usual weekly to-dos like groceries and laundry and bible study on Wednesday and volunteering on Thursday and I got my nails done because priorities people. And I did manage to get beds changed from the last set of houseguests and some lingering bits of Christmas put away with the exception of two nutcrackers whose boxes have to be hunted down. 

Yes. Christmas. I told you, it's been a whirlwind. 

In other news I didn't kill any plants while he was away. Hubs babies the plants here in his efforts to keep outdoor plants alive indoors throughout the winter and I did not let him down. 

I put down a book I was reading and picked up another. Life is too short to read books that are just eh. Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson. I enjoy her writing but I was not getting this one at all. It's a series of stories which I thought were going to be related somehow but I was four stories in and it just wasn't happening. Moving on to Demon Copperhead  by Barbara Kingsolver, which is our March book club selection. 

Hubs and I are also listening to an audible of The Wager : A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann (author of Killers of The Flower Moon). We started this one on the windy curvy drive to Tennessee a couple of weeks ago and had to turn it off because the description of the rough and rolling sea and the conditions the sailors lived in was making me car sick. It doesn't take much. 

Back to my excuses...I cooked. A lot. I didn't eat what I cooked but I did freeze three meals to take to my daughter. Her friends are wonderful and I know will bring food in the early days, but these meals are for that day down the road when the baby is fussy and the toddler needs his momma, and she cannot face making dinner. 

I guess I did more than I thought. 

Hubs spent the weekend getting his hunting gear cleaned and put away and then I washed all the hunting clothes and got my own stuff organized so I'm ready to go to my daughter's when it's time. We had a rainy Saturday so we finished watching the second season of Reacher. We liked it, a bit corny and totally unbelievable in spots, but still we liked it. I'd booked us a date night dinner for Saturday at a restaurant we'd never been to and it was a lovely night out.

Question-when you're retired empty nesters do you still need date nights? 

Yes. Yes you do. We go out all the time, but often it's with other couples or groups of people or to events of one kind or another, and date night is dedicated let's talk about us time. 

We watched all the football today and I guess Taylor Swift is going to the Superbowl lol. What a year she's had, of course she'll be at the Superbowl. Personally I think everyone should calm down about Taylor and direct their outrage toward things going on in our own country and the world at large that are genuinely worthy of outrage. 

I didn't take any pictures all weekend but here's a snapshot of hubs plants, blooming and growing and bringing joy on the grayest of days. 

May we all do the same. 

More Stuff I Was Going To Tell You But Never Did

I could probably start a weekly series here with that same title, but for the time being let's move forward. Actually backwards to finish the two week catch up I was supposed to finish last week. 

Guess I'm back to being two weeks behind. Hmmm.

One nice thing about the cities my girls are currently living in is their proximity to hubs family, specifically his mom. It's not too far out of the way to go by her house on our way to/from Daughter1's, so we made plans to pick her up on the way back to the lake when we left the kids. 

We have not spent a lot of in-person time with her this winter, mostly because she made a move in December, everyone's calendars are so busy (hers maybe most of all-true story!) and the comings and goings have just not gelled. 

This time we intentionally made it happen, breezed by her house, met hubs brother and sister-in-law for lunch (the pup always so so happy to see my sister-in-law), then drove on to the lake to spend the week together. We had such a nice time working puzzles, playing cards, talking about how cute and completely precious her great grands are, and we squeezed in a couple of fun outings too. 

On our first day home we finally took the inaugural boat ride of the season. The only boat ride so far, but technically it's not summer yet, right? Boating on a weekday here is the way to go, especially early in the season. The lake is calm, quiet, and gorgeous. 

Hubs had appointments all day Thursday so we girls went to lunch, then rode up to a nearby waterfall to see what we could see. My mother-in-law is always game for everything and was wishing she had a different pair of shoes with her so we could climb down to the bottom. 

I was happy she did not have a different pair of shoes with her. 

It was a spectacular day weather wise, the trees were every shade of green God created, and so many beautiful plants were in bloom. 

On Saturday we had tickets to go to the Scottish games in the nearby small big city. They're actually held every year on the university campus where my girls went to school and it's a gorgeous setting. The Memorial Day weather was not the best, but we had a fun full day there, leaving just as the rains came. 

The thing you need to know about my mother-in-law is she knows someone everywhere she goes. We saw a woman wearing a Tennessee hat at the festival and next thing you know she and my m-i-l are chatting like long lost friends. Turns out the woman's husband had played the bagpipes at a funeral the week before in my m-i-l's church so of course they had mutual friends. 

Also, hubs did not fall far from the tree when it comes to never meeting a stranger. Just sayin'. 

We watched a lot of the athletic events including the caber toss and the sheaf toss, both of which are pretty impressive. We also spent some time watching and listening to the pipe and drum competition which was fun.

A drummer in one group was blind and had someone standing beside him (maybe his dad?) to assist with direction. 

People are just amazing, aren't they? 

There were lots of Scottish and British treats and while we opted not to have the haggis, we did have some really good fish and chips. We wandered the many vendor stalls, found my son-in-law's clan, and just enjoyed the festive friendly atmosphere and all the people watching. 

On Sunday we went to church, then to lunch at a local 'landmark' which is one step up from a dive but is very, very well loved. It's always busy, and the 'meat and three' on their Sunday menu is  good. Do you have meat and threes where you live? We did not have those where I grew up, but it's a thing here. 

Hubs and the pup (where hubs goes he goes) drove his mom back to Tennessee on Monday and I stayed  home to regroup here. It's a rare day where I'm alone in my own house and I gotta say I didn't hate it. Hubs will laugh when he reads this and declare that an understatement, but whatever. I enjoy having him home and I hope he knows that. I am also someone who needs space and I know he knows that lol. 

Okay, we're all caught up. 

Almost caught up. 

Halfway caught up which is something. 

Have a nice week everyone! 

Life In The Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered this week's questions, add your link at the end of my post. Be sure to leave a comment for the blogger before you so the blog world keeps on turning. Here we go-

1. Do you (or did you used to) watch talk shows? Which are or were your favorite? 

I don't watch any talk shows currently. I was never a die-hard fan but (going to date myself here) I did watch some Phil Donahue back in the day. I also liked Regis and Kathie Lee in their early years. 

Hubs and I used to love The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but late night talk shows today are just another excuse to rant about politics so we don't tune in. 

2. Would you describe yourself as resilient? If so what do you think made you that way? If you answered no explain why? 

Yes I would describe myself as resilient. I've moved a lot and that's probably the biggest contributor, particularly living outside of America. Growing up with three siblings I'm sure plays a part too. 

3. What parts of life have surprised you the most. Explain. 

I'm going with retirement. It takes more figuring out than I imagined. I don't really even know what I imagined exactly...when I was a kid it seemed like everyone who retired played golf and lunched with friends. Life is so much more complicated than that. 

4. Why do you live where you live? 

Well it's beautiful for one thing. We're retired and can live wherever we want, we love the south, we wanted to be on the water, and you just can't beat the view-

5. A memory from this week that made you smile? 

Pumpkin patch pictures courtesy of these cuties' Momma-

I mean, seriously....

How can you not smile? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Raise your hand if you've ever cooked pheasant? If your hand is up and you have a great recipe send it my way. Vegetarians look away-

Hubs has been in South Dakota with some friends and former colleagues and also his brother who was able to make the trip this year too, so extra fun. 

They'll bring home some birds and while I've cooked them before I'm always interested in trying something new. For the record I only cook them...hubs is in charge of plucking off any feathers that have to stay on through the airport checkpoint.  

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Five Minutes of Today

My blog always needs a jumpstart this time of year, which is why I signed up for a ten day writing challenge beginning today. The challenge is hosted by Kate Motaung and you'll find details here.

In a nutshell...Kate emails participants a one word prompt every day for ten days, then we write for five solid minutes on the day's prompt. Or more than five solid minutes if that's what works for you. Personally I enjoy the five minute challenge because I tend to be an overthinker. Off we go-

Today's prompt is-TODAY

Starting with a toughie. What to write isn't obvious, at least not to me, and I usually like a theme to keep me on track. Will I figure out a theme? Stay tuned. I did glance back at some old calendars for inspiration and realized we are currently five years and a couple of days into retirement.

Five years and a couple of days out from the routine of work life.

Five years and a couple of days removed from job commitments and employer expectations.

In this current season 'today' quite often feels like a giant canvas crying out for paint. But how much paint? And what color? And which brush to use?

When you work full time or you're in the throes of raising children from toddler to teen you don't have a lot of blank canvas to fill. More like the back of a used envelope if you're lucky. Your todays are pretty well laid out for you, and if you do nothing but get a child fed, bathed, and tucked safely into bed at night you've managed a small masterpiece.

Retirement on the other hand means every day is Saturday and it's up to you to throw as much or as little paint on life's canvas as you wish. Dare. Dream.

In the year 2020 my todays nearly always start here.
I watch with awe as the world's best artist turns the charcoal night sky into watercolor day.

It's where I read and think and plan and pray.

Where I prep the canvas of a brand new today.

Monday March Madness

Good Monday afternoon. I intended to say Good Monday morning, but it is Monday and when I sat down to blog I got distracted by
Pinterestall the things on my desk. There's still a pile, but it's smaller.

So anyway who is loving the madness of March? By madness I mean the NCAA basketball tourney, and not the crazy winter weather that's around. Not around here of course because our weekend weather was gorgeous. We text friends up north pics of us sitting outside in shorts and they text us pics of their patio furniture buried in snow. I do not miss the March snows.

Basketball! You don't even have to follow college hoops to enjoy the NCAA tourney. So many underdogs pulling off upsets and ruining my brackets but still so exciting to watch. I love it because any school can pull off a win and so many games have gone down to the wire.

Question-are you running heat or a.c at your house? It got warm here last night and I informed hubs I was not going to be able to sleep without opening some windows or turning on some air. We're trying to keep the windows closed until the pollen settles down and he informed me we don't run the a.c. in March. Huh? When did that become a rule?

I say when it's 77 degrees in the house we run a.c. no matter what the calendar tells us. I like it about 57 for sleeping but hubs thinks that's nuts so we meet in the middle some where. Also I turned on the a.c.

The view from my pillow first thing in the morning-

The post in the center is one side of a window frame but I didn't take the time to pretty up the shot. This is sunrise au natural.

Friday hubs and I drove to Asheville for the Vintage Home Show. It was a beautiful day for a drive and look whooo we saw en route just hanging out on the power line.

He looked me right in the eye and I gotta say it was a little creepy. I had my window rolled down and it felt like he might swoop right on in. He flew off instead and had an enormous wingspan. So cool!

In my opinion the Vintage show was just okay. It was really crowded and I did get a few ideas for the house but we didn't buy anything. We went over to Sierra Nevada for lunch instead because lunch is always a good idea.

If you've never been and you're in the Asheville area Sierra Nevada is worth a stop, even if you're not much of a beer drinker. They spared no expense in the build and it's absolutely gorgeous. Their food is wonderful too, and the setting makes it even better. Since it was such a nice day we ate inside then hung out for a while at the ginormous firepit out back.

Saturday Daughter2 and her boyfriend came out to the lake for St. Patty's Day and we went to a local favorite spot that was having live music and a food truck featuring Irish fare. They have one of those shuffleboard games, not a court but similar to an air hockey table, and it's my new favorite. I think I've talked hubs into getting one for the house.

Sunday afternoon daughter2 and I attended a fun event near the small big city which I'll talk more about later. Today let's discuss this picture she snapped-

My baby girl is sooo photogenic. Why do my eyes look so tired? I blame the pollen but I'm sure it's nothing a week at the beach couldn't fix. Or a heavy concealer. Or a nice pair of sunglasses. And also maybe a smallish nap. We had a splendid afternoon and not to sound like a broken record but this weather! Fantastic!

We watched a lot of basketball all weekend long, and the 'kids' played a little cornhole too. You have to zoom in to get the full effect, but my daughter's face in this picture makes me smile. She takes her game playing seriously.

Definitely her mama's girl!

Now I need to wrap this up...hubs and I are off to see a movie because it's Monday and we're retired empty nesters. Ha! Take that Monday!

The End Of The Oregon Trail (Post #7)

Remember how I went on a trip a month ago and how I was going to tell you about it?
I'm almost done.

Almost.

Days 5 and 6-Newport Oregon to Cannon Beach ( 121 miles)

Let's first discuss the weather. It was abysmal. But we didn't complain because we had fabulous weather most of the trip and we'd come prepared with the proper outerwear. When we got to Washington State it was gorgeous again and no we haven't gotten to Washington in the recap yet, but it's coming. In fact that's next and then it's back to everyday ordinary life here on this side of the pond.

 

Before leaving Newport hubs and I had a hearty breakfast (we could easily have split an omelette they were that big!)  at a spot recommended by Josh over at California Through My Lens. It was called The Coffee Shop and is right on the harbor in Newport. I'm so glad we didn't miss this wonderful little cafe with friendly service and delicious food.

Our server very helpfully pointed us to the best lookout for sea lion watching which we so appreciated because y'all...

These sea lions!

So adorable and so adorably noisy.



About eight miles up the road from Newport you come to an area known as The Devils Punch Bowl. As we pulled up we debated about getting out for a look because the weather was that bad, but oh wow!

So worth getting drenched and blown by the wind. The waves churn and swirl in this natural rock 'bowl' which scientists believe was formed when two caves collapsed. As we were sitting in our car a couple pulled up beside us wondering what to do and we said definitely go for it.

Also, they were British so we had a lovely little chin wag there in the parking lot at Devil's Punch Bowl, which is what we do whenever we run into travelers from across the pond. We let ourselves feel all the feels.

We braved the weather a little further up the road for a stop at the Rocky Creek State Scenic Viewpoint. Hubs kept telling me not to back up for fear I'd be blown into the wild sea.

It was a distinct possibility.

If you drive the Oregon coast road do not miss this lookout. Here you stand in quiet awe at the mighty power of the Pacific. It's absolutely incredible! If you're here at the right time of year you might even be lucky enough to see gray whales as they travel south to warmer waters.

We left Rocky Creek and carried on up the road to the village of Depoe Bay. What a cute little town with equally cute shops that were fun for browsing. We did a little of that here too. While it's reported to be the world's smallest navigable harbor the manner in which the surf crashes is anything but tiny-

Standing on the bridge is a little like the feeling you have on the log flume at Disney, and almost as much fun.

Not gonna lie. We were ready to get out of the rain and anxious to get to our hotel and warm up. We arrived in Cannon Beach mid afternoon, so happy to see a fireplace in our room. We kept it running the two days we were there and it was wonderful.

We loved this hotel- The Ocean Lodge... I mean they have homemade cookies and a complimentary glass of wine upon check in so really what's not to love? The Ocean Lodge is charming yet modern, with so many darling nooks and crannies and comfy spots for sitting, reading, and breakfasting.

The beach outside your door is none too shabby either.

If you're familiar with the movie Goonies (also Point Break and Twilight) you might recognize this locale. These Haystack rocks are magnificent and pictures do not do the crashing surf justice. It pounds over these rocks as if they were tiny pebbles.

We spent two nights here, relaxing, running out to the beach between rain bursts to gawk at the beauty, shopping in the charming village, and eating some wonderful meals. People we met while traveling had recommended The Bistro so we ate dinner there the first night.

We loved the cozy, intimate French atmosphere and the food was delicious. On Friday we had a nice pub lunch (and break from the rain) in town at Bill's and that evening had reservations at a popular venue called The Irish Table, which definitely lived up to it's reputation.

Before dinner we popped into the little place next door to The Irish Table, also well known and well loved by the locals in Cannon Beach. It's called The Hardware Store and is part hardware store/part pub hence it's affectionate nickname The Screw and Brew. It was a fun place and we were almost wishing we could stay for dinner, but in the end were glad we didn't miss The Irish Table.

From Cannon Beach we drove another 80 miles into Portland which I wrote a little bit about here, and from Portland drove another 126 miles to my grandson. I mean Washington. I'll wrap up with that tomorrow.

You're relieved I know.
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Fly Me To The Moon (Post #6)

It was raining hard when we arrived late afternoon at our hotel in Newport Oregon. We stayed at the Hallmark Resort there and I loved the property. Our room overlooked the beach and even though it was raining we could enjoy the view thanks to the comfy chairs placed in front of our sliders.

There's a nice restaurant called Georgies Beachside Grill right next door and that's where we had dinner. Call ahead is suggested and while it was crowded we didn't have to wait long. Also, order the seafood saute-yum!

We were seated in a booth and shortly after we sat down two couples were seated in the booth opposite ours, an older gentleman and his wife and a younger gentleman and his wife. We noticed the younger man was wearing an obviously well-loved flight jacket covered in patches and we wondered about his story. We weren't eavesdropping (not exactly anyway), but the booths were close together so we couldn't help but overhear snippets of their conversation. We heard NASA mentioned several times and also the words Mercury 7, Gemini,  Mars and a few other space related terms which peaked our interest. We convinced ourselves the older gentleman had been an astronaut and were determined to figure out who he was.

So we did what everyone does in 2017 and started googling images of astronauts from the 1960's. I discovered pretty quickly the original Mercury 7 are all deceased and he didn't appear to be one of the Gemini crew either. We were stumped.

At this point I might have carried on wondering and might have left never knowing, but Hubs LOVES all things space related so was not going to let it go.

As we were eating and googling they handed something small to our waitress and we heard them say it had been to the moon. English was not our servers first language and it seemed she didn't really understand what was happening but we did. Ha! When she came over we asked her if she knew the customer's name and she didn't but she did very helpfully walk back to their table and say 'Those people want to meet you.'

So we got up and introductions were made and we shook hands and y'all it just turned into the most fun thing. Hubs point blank asked the older gentleman whose name turned out to be Norman Chaffee (no relation to Roger Chaffee) if he was an astronaut and he said no, but that he did work in the space program. If you read his online bio you'll know that's a bit of an understatement. He was a very important part of the space program and was the engineer who designed the thrusters on Apollo 11. He worked on additional missions to both the moon and Mars and what he had shown the waitress was a piece of the heat shield that, as he put it, was 'just behind Neil Armstrong's backside' protecting him as he rocketed to the moon.

Really what happened was, we made introductions and someone mentioned the space station and hubs whipped out his phone and showed them the app he follows that tells you when the space station is passing over your head, and that's when they said, 'Ah, you're a science geek...pull up some chairs and join us.'

So we did because, of course.

The second man at the table was Jim Loftus, son of the former Assistant Director of the Johnson Space Center. He runs a museum now near Salem Oregon and was accompanying Mr. Chaffee the next day to speak to high school students from around the state. Jim Loftus' dad was at one time Norman Chaffee's boss, and was instrumental in selecting the original Mercury 7 and also later program astronauts. When Mr. Loftus saw hubs had that app on his phone he said, 'Wait right here, I'll go get his baby'. I wasn't sure what he meant, but he was back in a flash carrying a rocket thruster. Absolutely made hubs day!

In a funny coincidence Mr. Chaffee (who lives in Texas) has a daughter living not far from us here in the Palmetto State. Hubs did what he always does and invited him to visit us at the lake next time he's in town. They've exchanged emails since and we certainly hope he takes us up on it.

As we were leaving Mr. Loftus said to my husband how impressed he was that we spoke up. That people miss out on so many wonderful things in life because they don't seize the day.

Hubs is a master at seizing the day.

The Oregon Trail (Post #5)

Yes I'm still recapping our trek up the northern California and Oregon Coasts. Catch up by following the links here-Post 1 (San Francisco To Mendocino), Post 2 (Mendocino continued), Post 3 (Mendocino to Eureka), and Post 4 (Eureka CA to Brookings OR)

Day 4-Brookings Oregon to Newport Oregon (233 miles)

Hubs suggested today I not take ten times longer to write about the trip than we actually spent on the trip, but finding time to blog these days is a real challenge. Life is so busy, but I'm determined to take you all the way to Washington with me. Figuratively speaking I mean.

When last we spoke we were crossing the California State Line into Oregon, aka The Beaver Sate. For the record we did not see any beavers, but we did see plenty of seals and sea lions which more than made up for it.

Also, this day may end up being two posts. We shall see.

Before we leave Brookings let me back up and mention our hotel there. We stayed in the Best Western Beachfront Inn and enjoyed the view from our room and the fact that we could walk across the street for a seafood dinner while watching the sunset.

We're all about seafood, sunsets, and great views no matter where we roam.

We had breakfast at the hotel, but took our coffee out to the beach so we could watch the waves crash and rage. The Pacific Ocean packs a punch and the rocky shoreline helps.

While hubs was checking out I managed to set off the car alarm in the rental vehicle which I'm sure was a treat for all those non-early risers. Sorry! Good morning sleepyheads!

Let me preface these next few miles by saying this stretch of highway has to be one of the prettiest stretches in all of America. It's called the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor and is twelve miles of lush green forests and rugged coastline. There are many well marked view points here and it was hard not to stop at them all.

The skies were foggy early on and we worried we might miss some of the natural beauty we'd read about, but eventually the fog lifted and we didn't miss a thing. I thought the early fog made everything feel ethereal.

Natural Bridges-

Reminded us so much of one of our favorite spots on the English coastline, Durdle Door. Sigh.

Arch Rock-

Pretty much just walk out to the overlook and let your jaw drop. Stunning!

When you reach the end of the scenic twelve mile stretch there is still plenty of scenic highway in front of you, it's just not part of the official Samuel Boardman State Scenic Corridor.

Sometimes you feel like you're going to drive right into the Pacific.

We spent quite a bit of time at a place called Pistol Rock feeling like the only people on earth.

The size is positively staggering...makes you want to stay all day.

We didn't.
But we definitely could have.

It was real rain (our first in five days) by the time we arrived in the town of Port Orford, so we opted to have lunch at Redfish. Now let us pause for a moment and give this clam chowder it's due-

Hubs and I agree this was the best clam chowder we have ever eaten ever ever ever. They drizzle it with a little chili oil (I think), and it's garnished with whole fresh clams in the shell that were so good. Definitely one of my favorite bites of the 1057 miles we traversed.

We took a short six mile route off the main coastal road in order to visit the Cape Blanco Lighthouse.

A guide takes you inside and up, and shares a lot of information about both the lighthouse and the life of a keeper.

Can you tell it was windy?

Did you know there are sand dunes in Oregon? Miles and miles of dunes that go on for what feels like forever, but in reality is only about 40 miles. Of course 40 miles of sand dunes is nothing to sneeze at, but since the weather was rainy and really windy we opted not to get out and explore. Hubs especially would have loved more time here, but we tended to linger a little long in some of the earlier places, and we didn't want to miss the Sea Lion Caves.

Our road trip philosophy is this-don't be in such a hurry to tick things off a list that you miss taking in all that is right where you are. We said from the start that if we were somewhere and loving it we would stay as long as we wanted to stay and that's what we did. Mostly what we were seeing was nature showing off which has no operating hours to work around, but there were a few things that required arriving before closing time, and the caves were one such spot.

The Sea Lion Caves sit at a literal bend in the road, with a parking area across the street. Not much traffic so you just run across to the entrance.

Now y'all know that no trip of mine is complete until I've been forced to endure some sort of small confined space that makes me breathe a little too fast, be it a gondola hanging over the tea plantations of Taiwan or an elevator inside a mountain taking you down into the dark where sea lions nest.

So that's what we did. We rode the elevator down down down through the mountain and stepped out into this amazing sea lion cave, a privately owned wildlife preserve and bird sanctuary. This is the largest (known) sea cave in America, and home to the stellar sea lion, although they aren't always present. This isn't a zoo and the animals are free to come and go at will. If the sea lions aren't in residence you're given a discounted entry price and a rain ticket for a return trip within the year at no charge.

It was hard to get good photos from under the mountain! plus they have a guard fence around the rocky ledge so nobody accidentally goes for a swim! but we enjoyed our visit.

 sea lion fossil 

You really need to see this spot in the spring or summer when there might be hundreds here, but the cave itself is cool. Definitely worth the slow ride down on an elevator that gives you zero frame of reference as to how many 'floors' you've traveled and how many you have left before the doors open and you can breathe again.

Also, you get a fantastic view of the Heceta Head Lighthouse from the depths of this cave.

And bonus, the fog was back so we caught the light as it made it's way around and around, warning boaters of the dangerously rocky coast.

We're almost to Newport so I'm going to stop here for now. We had a really interesting dinner in Newport and I want to say more than a line or two about that. This was our longest day of driving, but we agreed we wouldn't change the itinerary. The stopping points worked well for us given what we wanted to see along the way. Some of the little towns you pass through lack accommodations so we were happy with our mileage plan.

Tomorrow-Newport Oregon and close encounters of the Apollo kind.