Greetings of the Season from the Left Coast!
And it
was an adventure! We first thought we had to race to the Coast to beat the
movers,
which would, they told us, take nine days. Turns out, we need not have
worried. Our stuff was first on the van so it would be last off. We put Roy
(our cat) into a crate – he was a perfect gentlemen the whole trip – and loaded
the crate, several suitcases, a vacuum cleaner, a cooler, and much more into
our new 2016 Prius, and began the 3,000-mile journey, staying at Motel 6’s
along the way because they allow pets to stay, too. Things went smoothly for
us, but the movers were not so fortunate. The van broke down in Oregon (so
close!), so they (and we) waited for a tow truck and a mechanic. The movers
finally arrived at our new home at 11 pm on April 3 and were here until 2am
April 4, moving furniture in. (That’s 2am and 5am East Coast time!) We never
knew unpacking was so much work, but it’s sort of like Christmas every day – “I
forgot we had that!” or “What were we thinking?” So it has been an adventure,
and we are finally settled in – in a 3-bedroom house rather than a 5-bedroom
house. We have some really nice neighbors. And both Rob and Matthew (and their
significant others) have come to visit. Except for having to return to Maryland
to take care of some details with the sale of our house in Monkton, life goes
on .… [sigh] And it’s nice to be in the same time zone with our sons. (When Ed
went East to tie up some loose ends about the sale of the house, Barb, while
waiting for appliances to be delivered, lived out of a cooler and a microwave.
Hallelujah! The sale of our house in Monkton was finally completed in June.)
And we’ve learned about the weather out here. Although it was an early spring
when we moved in, we’ve since learned about the ferocious coastal storms that
are common during the late fall and winter – when the wind howls and it seems
as though your house will blow away!Unfortunately, we weren’t here very long until Roy disappeared – last seen headed East with his overnight bag and a PB&J sandwich. (A recent news story featured a cat who found his way “home” after a decade – hope springs eternal). In the meantime, we adopted Tuffy (in honor of a previous Fishel cat) from the local animal shelter. He seems to be a cross between a Persian and an orange tabby. He’s a real sweetheart and very curious; Barb once caught him in the freezer drawer of the refrigerator! He’s also quite the athlete – jumping from pillar to post and back again. Is there an Olympic event for kitties? Tuffy is quite the adventurer and ever ready to escape. As soon as we’re near a door – any door -- Tuffy is there, too. As the song says, he’s always on the wrong side of every door. He found his way under our porch (it was easier to get in than to get out, he discovered), and Ed had to remove the lattice before we could retrieve him. We’ve also adopted some birds as “pets.” It’s interesting to see the difference between East Coast and West Coast birds, but they all chow down at the bird feeders! Red-wing blackbirds, a Steller’s jay (like a blue jay, only black and blue instead of white and blue), finches, and hummingbirds have visited. As have the ubiquitous crows, mourning doves, and sparrows. And we saw a bald eagle on one of our exploratory trips – just sitting on a tall post looking regal. We’ve even seen some honeybees buzzing around our yard!
Farmer Ed was not to be denied. Although the ground is
not great for growing vegetables, Ed planted four different tomato plants as an
experiment, based on our friend Art’s recommendation. We’re happy to say that
we didn’t have to rely on store-bought tomatoes this summer.
We still
have many places to explore. We took a trip to Tillamook, a dairy co-op where
they make really good cheese and ice cream. We visited the rain forest in
Washington State courtesy of Pegg and Sue, Ed’s sisters, staying at Lake
Quinault Lodge, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited during a
fact-finding trip in fall 1937. He enjoyed lunch there in the later-named
Roosevelt Dining Room. Nine months later, he signed a bill creating Olympic
National Park. We enjoyed the stay – complete with a bed the size of a football
field, a fireplace in our room, and many, many hummingbirds! And we first heard
of marionberries
(no, not Marion
Barries); they’re like blackberries, only bigger. Peter Iredale. We
visited the Lewis & Clark salt cairn (where the travelers boiled ocean
water in “kittles” to extract the salt used in preserving food). On the way home,
we passed several houses that would cost $2 million or so back East, but
probably cost less here because the PNW is economically depressed. In June, we
visited the Scandinavian Festival (aka ScanFest) in Astoria. It was a lot like
Baltimore’s Kennedy Krieger Festival of Trees
without the trees –
vendors, food (featuring Swedish meatballs, Danish pastries), and music. One
difference is that ScanFest also featured trolls and the organizers advertised
for young blond females to help get the Viking ship to the East Coast. We
visited Fort Clatsop, where Lewis and Clark holed up during four dreary months
while it RAINED during their trip west. We checked out the Seaside Aquarium,
which is reminiscent of the aquarium in one of the
government buildings
in D.C. where Barb took the boys 35 years ago. Seaside’s aquarium is small but
has seals that are nothing if not clowns, clapping when visitors throw fish to
them. We ooh’d and aah’d at fireworks on the beach. They were so amazing even
an elk came to enjoy the show.
We explored Fort Stevens
State Park near Warrenton, site of an 1860s military fort and near the
shipwreck of the
We checked out a restaurant featuring exotic meats, took
a ride on the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad (which reminded us of the Cass R.R.
in West Virginia), and visited Ecola State Park (not Ebola and not E.coli),
where painters painted and people picnicked. We also visited Newport, which has
a wonderful aquarium (thanks to Matt and ML, we visited it) and is home to an
historic lighthouse. On the way, we saw some signs for gluten-free and
free-range crabs (wha-a-a-t?). It turns out Seaside (the next town over) is the
end of the Hood to Coast relay – in which runners and walkers run or walk from
Mount Hood to the coast (198 miles). We’ve been keeping up with movies, usually
once a week. Thanks to Matthew and ML, we have a 500-page guide to Washington,
Oregon, and the PNW, which has hundreds of suggestions of places to visit.
We’ve only scratched the surface. We’re slowly finding medical professionals. A
small hospital is not far away; we’ve found a doc and a dentist―next on the
list, an optometrist. We joined the local pool, so we can swim two mornings a
week. We found a good vet for Tuffy, and we found a good pedicurist. And let’s
not forget the rose gardens and the Japanese Garden in Portland, which are still
among our favorite places to visit.
A big vacation was out of the question
for this year (we had our trip), but a trans-Canadian rail trip, a partial trip
of the Mississippi River on a paddle boat (Barb mistyped paddle board first – and spell check didn’t
catch it. Can you imagine traveling the Mississippi on a paddle board?), and
possibly a cruise along the Pacific coast north or south are still on our
bucket list. We’re looking forward to a cruise on the Columbia River next April,
when we’ll see Mount St. Helens, visit Multnomah Falls, and check out the
Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum.
We miss you all – our friends at
Epworth, the book club, our wonderful neighbors (Come visit! We have two spare
bedrooms, and the Oregon Coast will be the best place to view the total eclipse
next year), the chickens, cantaloupes and sweet corn from the Eastern Shore (but
we did finally find good cantaloupes at Fred Meyer and sweet corn from a local
farmer), Maryland crabs, Wegmans (although our “neighborhood” Safeway is a very
close second), watching the O’s and the Ravens in real time (Barb ran into a
guy wearing an Orioles shirt at the local grocery store; he’s a transplant from
Harford County), and the friendly people at the p.o. We have to remember to go
to the mailbox every day, because it’s a block away – none of this mail
delivered to your mailbox at the end of the driveway stuff. We DON’T miss stink
bugs! Or 100-degree weather and high humidity during the summer!
Rob and Vera will likely marry when she is finished with
med school (two more years for naturopathic medicine and three for integrative mental
health).
And that, friends, is all the news
that’s fit to print this year. We wish you all a happy, healthy 2017!
Best
wishes,
Ed and
Barb
No comments:
Post a Comment