What I did on my summer vacation-

I drove- a bunch! I've already mentioned the 1800+ mile trip so I won't bore you with that. I did see the bravest, (or dumbest) driver ever while passing through Idaho. I saw a guy driving a mid-70s vintage Fiat X-19, a 1300cc bundle of Italy's finest 2-seater fury across the desert in 100 degree temperatures. He was 30 miles or more from the nearest exit which seemed to me to be a perfect opportunity for breakdown, heatstroke and frustration. But there he went. I wonder if he got where he was headed safely.

Fishing was lousy at Coffenbury Lake in Ft. Stevens State Park where we were camped. I caught just 2 trout that were worthy of killing and cooking for dinner, 1 on 2 different days. Noah and Cecil didn't catch any fish! It really was slow and not really worth the $40+ cost for each of the fishing licenses that I purchased. But it was a fine time killer. The hatchery bred fish weren't as tasty as the ones we have here in Utah but everybody seemed to enjoy a few bites.

Noah and I took the guided tour through the underground portions of Battery Russell, the Columbia River defense fort and that is a very interesting place. I returned later with the BSU to see the memorial rose gardens and we had a nice time and even spotted a mama raccoon and 4 offspring out for a jaunt across the grounds as we were leaving. We also drove down to Seaside to see the aquarium and to laugh at the seal antics as they begged for food from the spectators. That was great fun! We also had a seafood dinner at Norma's before returning to the campground for even more food.

Another day, Noah and a brother-in-law and I drove down to Tillamook to visit the Naval Air Museum. It is housed in a WWII vintage blimp hangar that is worth the trip all by itself. Tillamook was an active coastal defense base with numerous blimps and crews stationed there operating up and down the coast watching for enemy ships so there is plenty to see and we had an informative and interesting afternoon. One of the weird fact about the blimp hangar that we learned was that the roofing contractors, when they placed bids on the roofing job, (galvanized, corrugated steel), bid by the acre! There is 11.5 acres of roof on the hangar! And there would have been twice that amount when they did the work because there were 2 hangars originally, 1 of them burnt down in 1982.

So we visited with family, ate too much, enjoyed the cool temperatures and groused over the lack of cell phone and internet connectivity. I've decided that Ft. Stevens State Park has a distinctive sound- that is the sound of kid's bike training wheels scraping along the camping loop roads from sun up to sunset. One thing you must realize about this very large park- everybody brings their kids and their kid's bikes and the kids circulate around the loop roads non-stop. So the sound of training wheels is everywhere while you are outside. Next year I think I am going to have to have bikes for the BSU and myself so we won't feel so left out. Maybe I can avoid having to install training wheels for either of us.

There's no pictures to post as I took only a few and most weren't very good. I'm back to work, got the lawn mowed already and almost everything has been put away until the next time. The BSU wants to get out camping a weekend or two in August so we will see how that goes. The boy scurried off to Logan to see his old friends the same afternoon that we arrived home and we haven't seen him since so I suppose he is having a good time. Maybe he and I will get out fishing again this weekend if he shows up at home before time to return to Colorado.