In 2006 we were lucky enough to visit England. Janet had been doing genealogy for several years and discovered that she had some cousins living in Lincoln. We spent about a week of our time in Lincoln where we met Thelma and John. They took us around to a number of interesting places and at the end of our visit, we invited them to visit us in Oregon. They said it would probably be in 2008. In early summer, we wrote them and suggested they might like to come in September so John, who is a 10K runner, could run in the Prefontaine Memorial 10K. They took us up on it and arrived here on September 12th. We picked them up in Portland and promptly deposited them in a motel as they had been up for almost 24 hours straight.
Once we got home we planned out a fairly extensive itinerary of sights to see. After only a day of rest we headed out to visit Crater Lake, the Redwoods in northern California, have a rendezvous in Klamath with Janet's brother Jim and his son Trevor, and finally a trip up the Rogue River on a jet boat. We were gone 4 days and covered almost 600 miles. John and Thelma didn't realize how big Oregon is though they sure found out before they left for home!
Crater Lake Panorama - there is always a color variation - I wonder how Kodak does these?
Thelma & John at Crater Lake
Family dinner: Back - John, Trevor, Jim, Janet
Front - Thelma and June
Thelma, John & Janet in front of the Brotherhood Tree, Trees of Mystery, Klamath, CA
We're in the 3rd row from the front -
left hand side
A wee bit wet after one of those quick turns the captain loved to make.
Lunch in Agness, OR on the Rogue River
The Prefontaine Memorial is a 10K race held during the Fun Festival in September. Steve Prefontaine was a local man who was a famous track star and tragically killed in an auto accident. This was the 29th running of the race. There were over 1000 people entered - all ages and skill levels. Some were from high school track teams, others were older runners like John who is seen here (left) at the beginning of the race and (right) at the end.
Thelma and a new friend rooting John across the finish line with Lincoln (England) flags. This appeared in the World newspaper on their website.
When we went to one of the Myrtlewood Factory/Stores Thelma made friends with these young men who were riding the dunes on their dirt bikes and 3-wheelers. She asked if she could sit on one and they insisted she and John be properly outfitted.
Our friends Mary and Leo called unexpectedly to invite us to go sailing on their boat. Janet was a bit under the weather but John, Thelma and I had a lovely afternoon visiting with Mary and Leo at their home in Glasgow and then at the Yacht Club on Ten Mile Lake.
We also took a few day trips to Shore Acres State Park, the Umpqua Discovery Center in Reedsport and finally to the Bandon Wildlife Park as well as downtown Bandon and the lighthouse.
To the far left we have Thelma and John petting a cougar cub who was about three weeks old at the time. Next to that we have John, Thelma and Janet exiting the Coquille Lighthouse. This was the first time we have been to it since it was repainted in a new color scheme. It's been that way for a little over a year now and we have come to like it. It was quite controversial at first.
The night before we headed back to Portland we went out for a "Last Supper" at the Coach House. This has become one of our favorite restaurants and this was our first time in the garden. We didn't even know they had a garden for the first nine months we went there! It's quite nice.
The next day we headed for Newport where we toured the aquarium and took a quick peek at Old Town. Then on to Lincoln City where we spent the night. The next morning we went to the Outlet Mall there where Thelma was able to find a lovely dress on sale for a wedding they were going to right after they got home.
We went back to the motel where we stayed the evening after we picked them up in Portland. Deja Vu or what? We found a lovely restaurant on the other side of I-5 for our dinner and the next morning, bright and early, we dropped them off at the airport for their flight home.
We may never see each other again, but there have been a few emails since we all got home again and we will certainly keep in touch.
