Summer's End

Well, I needed one more photo to conclude my reflections on my trip to the Pacific Northwest. It took a while to get the final shot, and I had to drive to New Orleans to obtain it, but I guess it means I’m officially back in the land of hurricanes and safely out of danger with respect to volcanoes or tsunamis!

If you can't read the signs, try clicking on the image.

The following was on my sidebar while I was posting entries about my trip, and it’s time to move it to a more appropriate spot:

How I came to find myself so far away from home and in such grand company is a tale to tell, but I will try to tell most of it in photos. Since the fall of 2007, my husband and I had been trying to plan something special in celebration of our 20th anniversary. More than a year later, we were on our way to the PNW to visit SHH, Triple T, and their beautiful corner of the country. Unmatched hospitality awaited us, and though this was billed as an anniversary trip, it was so much more.

When I first read about letterboxing, I never dreamed that a simple interest would eventually bring me to this lovely area – but that’s not really the thing that is most significant or fascinating to me. The big surprises have been the sincere friendships that have emerged from that shared interest. Liz and Lisa, you gave us the welcome of a lifetime and made us feel absolutely at home. There is no way to thank you enough.

For friends and family who missed the earlier posts, here are the links to the plethora of pics and anecdotes:

Buckle Up!
Making My Day
Perilous Beauty
I Luv Foxglove
Shore of Discovery
Walking on a Mirror
Bedtime Story: Once upon a Murphy Bed . . .
Zora and the Tide Pool

I could have shared so many other special things, but I have run out of summer, and you may have run out of interest in this altogether. ;-) If I can ever figure out how to describe my “stamp fest” in SHH’s craft room, I’ll write again. That was more special than I can say.

There is one little item that I thought I could include, though . . .

Last spring when the SHH/Triple T crew drove through on their “Biggest Field Trip Ever,” they were without one of their number on the stop here; Cowgirl was spending some special time with her grandmother that day. I was genuinely thrilled for her grandmother, but I was sad for me. Consequently, when we began to plan our trip to the PNW, I consoled myself by thinking I would have another chance to meet her. I was pretty satisfied with that until I realized that our trip coincided with the time she was not going to be at home this summer! *gulp* What a disappointment! Imagine my surprise when we drove back to Washington State to find that she was coming home for the weekend! See that shoe? I’ve got proof! I met Cowgirl after all. What a sweetie!

I need to change my AQ profile interview now. For months is has read:

Time to close, I guess. I’ll conclude with a little slideshow of the flight home and some thoughts on long-distance friendships. I'll spare you the ". . . priceless" commercial.

[Click here for a better look . . . from the Cascades to the Rockies!]

A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?
~ Kahlil Gibran

I am learning to live close to the lives of my friends without ever seeing them. No miles of any measurement can separate your soul from mine.
~ John Muir

No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth.
~ Robert Southey (my favorite of the four)

Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.
~ Henry David Thoreau

I am so thankful for you all!

Zora and the Tide Pool

“You’re trapped!” I heard, as the wave slid around my patch of sand and encircled both the mussel-covered rock and my feet.

I looked up to see an expression of sincere concern on the face of a little girl. Realizing that she had been warned of the dangers associated with the tides, I asked, “What should I do now?”

“Well, you’re trapped,” she repeated, and I gave her another look of helplessness.

Seconds later the water receded toward the ocean, and she called, “Jump! Now!” So, I leapt across the tiny stream of water.

Safely beside this sweet child, I thanked her profusely for being so kind to me.

From that point on, my husband and I were met with question after question about all of the beautiful creatures that covered the rocks among the tide pools. What a curious little companion she was!

Zora and I have some pics to share with you:

[They look so much nicer if you click here.]

Tying the Celtic Knot, part 2

In an earlier post, I wrote about a special stamp I carved for my sister, who is getting married very soon. I mentioned that I was going to prepare a box to house the stamp, and I thought I'd share the final project with those who are interested:



All done! Ready to deliver to the bride & groom! ;-)

Bedtime Story: Once upon a Murphy bed . . .

Now, where were we?

Oh, yeah . . . I remember.

“Later, after we arrived back in our room, we discovered two handles on the wall near the fireplace. Hmmm . . .”

Now, for the record, we were perfectly content with our accommodations. However, on the following evening, when SHH inquired about the day along the coast and eventually asked about the hotel, we told her that the room was fine and began to describe it. When I mentioned all of the door handles along the wall and then our pulling the bed out of the wall, her response . . .

“A Murphy bed!?”





. . . well, it was pretty funny, to say the least. The idea of sleeping in a bed that could have shut us up in the wall, while a perfectly good bedroom and bath were waiting on the other side of it, is amusing, I will admit. The word “suite” continues to surface in conversation.

So, let’s change the subject for a minute, shall we?

Fast-forward to the next morning. Would searching for the letterbox, “A Place to Embrace,” make my readers feel like our anniversary adventure was more romantic than it sounds at this point?


Being a woman of few words *cough*, let me just say that we followed the instructions in both the title and the clues. The stamped image will trigger sweet memories. ;-)


What a beautiful and fitting spot for such a letterbox.


Now, before I close this entry, I need to tell you the conclusion of the matter concerning our bed.

After being teased greatly by SHH and Triple T in the car, and again by many in the pity party chat room, I wanted an answer to the burning question, “Did we really pay for a bedroom that we never saw?”

So, I called the hotel.

You are not going to believe what we learned! There was a bedroom behind one of those doors -- yes, it gets worse: there were actually two bedrooms behind those doors!! As you might imagine, the hotel clerk was getting a kick out of this.

However!!!! (There is more!) While the suite did contain the option of having more rooms, we had only rented the “studio” portion of the “suite.” (i.e. all we paid for was the Murphy bed and the AWESOME BALCONY VIEW!)

How’s that for a bedtime story! I know; it's a bit anticlimactic. You all wanted me to end the story having paid for the two adjoining rooms, didn't you? *grin*

Walking on a Mirror

We arrived at our hotel just before sundown; and upon entering the room, we noticed right away that to our right, along the hall, was a solid line of doors with handles that were flush with the wall. Odd, perhaps, but we didn’t want to waste time thinking about it. The sun beginning to set!

We had originally booked a room with a “mountain view,” but at the urging of our friend, we upgraded to “ocean front” instead. So, there we were, overlooking the Pacific Ocean from our balcony. Romantic, eh? Before heading down to the beach, we spent a little time enjoying our view:


Down to the sand we walked to follow the sun to its day’s end!


I suppose I could have deleted more of these (they may seem redundant), but . . .


. . . as the sun set, the pallet of colors kept changing and changing, so I have kept nearly all of them -- at the risk of losing your attention.

Watch as we walked on the mirror:

[Better viewing with a click here.]

Later, after we returned to our room, we discovered two handles on the wall near the fireplace. Hmmm . . .

Shore of Discovery

". . . the grandest and most pleasing prospects
which my eyes ever surveyed, in front of a boundless ocean"
~ William Clark




After three wonderful days in the lovely state of Washington, my husband and I drove south to spend a little time on the Oregon coast.

We stopped at Ft. Clatsop to see the replica of Lewis & Clark's winter encampment, 1805-1806, and continued south to Ecola State Park to hike a trail “forged by Native Americans and followed by members of the Corps of Discovery.”

Those few miles were replete with terrific views of the Tillamook Lighthouse, our first peek at Haystack Rock, and quiet paths through the dense forest.

We missed our kids but were glad not to have the little ones walking that close to the edge of cliffs.


No letterboxes on that leg of the trip – we just didn’t have enough time to devote to more than a quick look to them. *pout* We needed a bite to eat before sunset . . .

[The photos are enlarged and annotated if you click here. ;-)]