Yachats, OR

Jessica's sister, Chelsea, was graduating from Oregon State after taking classes online, and was getting married in the same trip. So her family rented a house in Yachats, OR and Jessica and I made the trip.


I met Jessica in Reno on Wednesday and we made the 12 hour drive up on Thursday. It could have been shorter, but we took the route with only ten miles on the interstate. On the way up we stopped by Crater Lake, but it was a cloudy.





Chelsea and Doyle have an adorable son named Aiden. The first day we all went down to the beach and played in the sand. Aiden had a great time, but couldn't stop himself from wanting to taste everything including eating the sand.




Friday we ran errands in Newport and stopped by the Rogue brewery. Saturday was the graduation, that I didn't make the trip for, and Sunday was exploring Yachats.




That night we went and watched the sunset at Devil's Churn as the tide was coming in and it was beautiful. We even saw a seal come up and give us a look in the churn.




Then Monday was the big wedding day. It was a lot of fun having the entire wedding party staying at the same house and hanging out. It certainly made scheduling a little easier. Aiden got a tux that was all kinds of wrong sizes for him, but I guess that's what you get for a two year old. The girls hung out in the master room getting their hair done and drinking champagne.



But in the end it came off without a hitch. Chelsea and Doyle chose a most perfect spot to be married. It is an over look on Cape Perpetua in a stone hut that was first built by the CCC. It has great views of the coast line and overlooks the ocean. The ceremony was officiated by their brother Jonathan and the entire thing took about ten minutes. The views were gorgeous and the pictures were fantastic.






And Aiden was adorable.



From there we went down to the seaside to take a few more pictures.



Thankfully the professional will have a better pictures then me! The reception was at a restaurant that overlooked the bay. They opened just for us to be there, it was fun having the entire place to ourselves and the food was delicious. Afterwards we went down and had a fire on the beach, Chelsea was still in her wedding gown.



So Tuesday was the last full day together. We had a terrifically lazy morning, then went exploring to the south in the afternoon. We checked out some tidal pools with crabs and starfish. Then went down to where another river met the ocean, and finally we went on a hike. Aiden demanded that we push im in his stoller like a racecar. It wore out all the guys pretty fast.







The next day we all went different ways. Jessica and I headed south on the 101 for a five day road trip home.


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Backyard

When Jessica and I moved into this house, the backyard was destroyed. The previous owner had two dogs that dug holes, and it was covered with weeds. So this spring, I decided to replant it. Now that it's looking good, I thought I would share the progress. I planted it in mid-May, now it's about six weeks later.

Here are the initial shots. That rusty coffee can had been sitting out there for the first five months we lived here.


Getting rid of the weeds was an improvement.
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Then came the tilling.


I raked it all out, put down the grass seed and covered it with straw.


After a couple of weeks you could see it start to grow!


Now here it is after six weeks, and right after it was cut for the first time.


There are still a few holes, and some weeds to get out, but it feels great to walk on! A little fertilizer and more watering, I think it will be good.
One more look at those before and after pictures

4 Runner

I got a new car!


I was in Reno for a week for work and I came out to my car one day and my car wouldn't start. It was a bummer and I wasn't sure why. I got a ride home and came back the next day and it started. I took it in and they said that they couldn't figure out the problem because the computer system was toast. They said it would take half a day to fix the computer problems, if they could be fixed and that would be 400 bucks. And that probably wouldn't actually solve the problem, but help identify it. I could tell there was a long road ahead to go down that path.



So I went over to the Toyota dealer and left with an '07 4 Runner. It's been great. It was sad to say bye to the old blue Explorer. I took that thing across the western United States and got some good use out of it. In the end it only had 126,000 miles on it, which seems low for the number of trips I went on. When they were parked next to each other at the dealer the door of the Explorer gave the first nick to the 4 Runner. Seemed appropriate.



It was great to have AC again in a car. And I love 4 wheel drive. It makes driving much more fun and lots more access to the back country. I see much more exploring in the future. I took it for a turn along some dirt roads behind town.

Rendezvous

Memorial day always means the Black Rock Rendezvous. They even did a story about it in the Reno paper and used a picture with Jessica and me in it: http://rgj.com/article/20090516/LIV/905160314/1089/Celebrate+the+Black+Rock+Desert+Playa It is always what really kicks off summer for me.



This was my third time and I didn't take nearly enough pictures of people. But the sunsets were amazing, and I got plenty of those shots. Friday was pretty low key. We brought out the cornhole game that Adam left us last summer.




Saturday was the expo day. I had seen much of the stuff before so I wandered down to the little park. I met a couple from Bern, Switzerland who got a Harley and were driving across the country. Then I ended up making several trips to the bar for the delicious bloody mary's.

Saturday night had an amazing sunset that just kept getting better.







Then there were some rockets. They launched a few Saturday night that had strobes on them. Sunday they launched the bigger rockets, but it was hard to capture on film.



Sunday night was the big party. There was food, fire and music, as well as the famous Will Rogers margarita. I had a good time and collapesed in the tent when I went to bed.




Can't wait till next year!


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