A Weekend in the Oregon Mountains

Every year at this time, there's a show in downtown Joseph, Oregon that is put on in conjunction with the Oregon Mountain Cruise. People come from all over for it, even though it rains and pours nearly every year. This was my first time going to the show, and Andy's first time having a car in the show.
We drove over with Aaron - it was his real maiden voyage for his 'T', so we followed him the whole way and could barely keep up with him! His car ran like a dream, although he complained of the minimal padding in his homemade seats. There was no overheating on the grueling Rattlesnake Grade, and that was a huge relief!
Forrest had reserved a cabin for us in Wallowa since we had a non-camper with us and hotels were booked up. It turned out to be a very nice place to stay - almost too nice! But we got to use the full kitchen to make some meals to cut down on eating out, and we played some frisbee in the yard with the friendly deer roaming around in the middle of the game!
It turns out that the deer in Wallowa are so tame, that Fish and Game have to paint the non-friendly ones with an orange stripe so you don't approach them like a domestic animal. Pretty ridiculous, huh? It was cool to see them up-close and completely comfortable in their environment though...Dottie decided to see how friendly they really were and ended up feeding one out of her hand for awhile.
We wandered around Wallowa a little and saw this old, deserted lodge. Forrest actually remembers staying in it when he was a kid and his family visited the area. Looks pretty haunted now!
We spent Friday night in the small town of Enterprise. Some car-buddies of ours live there and decided to throw an impromptu car show on their main street, so we showed up for that and had a good time! There was even a little rainbow to dress up the main street as the sun was going down. And, the restaurant there had live music that just happened to be this young kid (out of high school for a year) who played amazing piano and sang really well too. He played all sorts of classics and put on a good show. Needless to say, I was content.
On the way to the car show on Saturday morning, we pulled off the road so Aaron and Forrest could uncap their headers and make some noise rolling into the show. It turns out that we picked a beautiful place for this - I couldn't help but wander off and take some pictures!The show itself was quite good. There was some variety, even though the majority at this show tends to be realllly nice street rods with 'please don't touch' signs. We met some friendly people, and some famous people, and the rain held off until the afternoon!
Here's a sampling of cars in the show. The purple and silver truck on the grass actually belongs to the owner of a company called Chevs of the 40s. We were walking around the day before the show and stopped by to check it (and his wife's car next to it) out in an RV park along the road. He came over and talked to us for a good long while, opened up the whole thing and described every detail of it to us. Turns out that his company tries all products on their own vehicles before guaranteeing their performance to customers. If they fail, they don't sell the product. I was really impressed by that.
Here, I am having a lesson on painting methods...
And, here is the most exciting part of the whole weekend for Andy...
The guy with the mustache is Dennis Gage, from the My Classic Car television show. He was there to make a show about the show, and chose 3 cars to feature. When we rolled in - in fact, when we were still registering - he showed up with his crew and started talking to us. Forrest's car really caught his attention and he scheduled an interview with him for later in the afternoon! It will air on the show sometime next year. Look for our Buick in the background!Then, he posed with our group so we could say we'd met him. He's a very energetic and really personable guy. And, he shares another hobby of Andy's...when we were leaving town on Sunday morning, we passed him and his camera man walking up the road all suited up for backpacking! They were headed to a lake somewhere up in the mountains there to camp for 3 days.
Aaron left really early the morning after the show, and we opted to caravan back with Forrest. That turned out to be a good plan, as Aaron told us later that he drove back home in torrential rain.When we went, it was still a little rainy and a bit foggy in the valleys, and there were rocks all over the road! It felt like an obstacle course going thru the grade this time!But, driving in these cars was fun as always and we made it without any breakdowns...
...and came home to our first handful of sweet strawberries!

A Day in the Spotlight

Lonnnng hours, time off of work, weekends locked away in the shop...Andy really put the time in to get the Dodge ready enough to put it in our annual Spring BBQ and Hot Rod Gathering in Palouse, WA. The last couple of days before the show, everyone was calling or stopping by to see how it was going and wish him luck. The night before the show, it was just he and I assembling and loading it up for the short trip to Palouse. The morning went really smoothly, unloaded it at the show and set it up in the semi-circle with the other club cars. It really looked sharp!The show was a huge success! The live bands were really good, there was a really good variety of cars in all stages of construction, from Andy's nearly-there hot rod to some nice, please-don't-touch street rods. And, as always, good people watching ;) We stayed really busy all day, being in charge of the show. I was stationed at the T-shirt booth, where I learned some selling tactics from Lumpy, a friendly fellow from Salmon who had all sorts of experience as a salesman and wanted to sit in the shade and use his skills. Andy was in charge of parking the cars pulling into the show, but was able to break away from his parking duties to talk to people about his truck and even fire it up for a little crowd! As the show was wrapping up and cars were leaving, two of the pinstripers working the show approached Andy about "cleaning their brushes" on the Dodge! You usually pay a pretty penny for their talents, and since he still plans to paint it he hesitated. They insisted that they wanted to do it as a favor "to add some interest to it", so he relented and they went at it. Tim started it, and then was pulled away on another project and John picked right up where he left off and did an awesome job! This is a hobby both and Andy and I are interested in trying our hand at, so we watched closely. Once most of the crowd left, it was time for a potluck barbecue at Marc's. Colleen joined later in the evening as we were settling in for a night of entertainment from the wildest of the bunch, pies and ice cream, slapping mosquitoes, and rollerskating down Main Street in the middle of the night. As always, a thoroughly enjoyable day and night. Looking forward to next year, when we can actually drive the Dodge there! Photos from above courtesy of Nick B, Photos of Dodge before striping courtesy of Colleen, and roller skates courtesy of Google.

Memorable Getaway

School's out for the summer, and it's a 3-day weekend...what should we do? There's the BIG family reunion in as-south-as-you-can-get Idaho or there's a mini-family reunion taking place in Portland at Suzie's house. Hmmmm....
Beth and I and our trusty driver, Marie, opted for Memorial Day's weekend in Portland. Less time on the road, more time with family and Suzie was promising good food and fun adventures.Day 1: Stacks of pancakes for everyone and off to the coast! As you can see here, the little kids knew exactly what to do when they hit the sand, while the "big kids" concerned themselves with more serious matters.
But, it wasn't long before we all remembered how to play. First on the list, bury every dripping, shivering kid in warm sand...
And, of course a picnic, treasure hunting, running, and sand-castle building! Joe The Builder really knew what he was doing!
After enough hours in the sand to make the kids happy and not too many to make them tired, we hit the road to Tillamook. There was a cheese factory there we'd heard a lot about. So, we line up caravan-style with the GPS-led driver in front and away we went. There was much to see on the way! 'ave u ever wondered how people come up with street names?
We are in green, rural country having seen all of the above, wondering like crazy about those fields blooming red everywhere...(turns out it's crimson clover. see Margaret's blog for better pictures. I think she actually stopped to take hers ;)...and the lead car pulls off the road. So we lean out the windows and ask what's up. The answer? "The tom-tom says we've reached our destination!" Well...there are fields, and a house with a barn and sheds, and....no factory.
So, we continue on, hoping we didn't somehow miss a famous cheese factory along the highway!

Fortunately, we didn't and soon arrived. It is very busy, even though there isn't much to watch on a weekend. They only have a couple of people working the floors. The kids still were fascinated and had fun posing in the farmer set-up, and seeing the education posters about the crabs they'd seen shells of on the beach. We all enjoyed sampling cheese and eating sorbet and ice cream.
Brandon eventually got the ice cream cone idea figured out...ya don't lick where it's dripping, you lick IT!!
Day 2: a nature hike, delicious lunch, and just playing around the yard. The kids found a snake and some snails, cooled off in Suzie's new kiddie pool and sprinklers, and herded dogs in and out of the back yard. Who needs toys, anyway?Unless, of course walkie-talkies fit in that category....I had no idea how important it was to communicate while herding dogs! Craig is announcing that he has located Jersey here...rounding up the troops!
Day 3: Departure Day for most of the group. There was just enough time while the parents packed up for the kids to play a little more walkie-talkie and scribble their story on the driveway. I started with a "Come Again" that they could see as they backed out of the driveway and let the kids take it from there. Craig quickly added "Relly Soon" and then they all drew pictures of who was there, the snake and snails, the coast, butterflies, etc. At one point, I looked over Craig's shoulder and could not agree more to what he wrote:
I think they just might have to visit again :)

After we sent them on their way, it was time to help Suzie do a few things around the place. The biggest task: building garden beds so she can fill them with real soil instead of the hard-packed clay there now.

Before and After

It was a perfect little getaway, and only made me more excited to see everyone else at the end of this month!