Sunday, June 29, 2008

Our Oregon vacation

This past week Marc's mom came to visit from Florida. She's 77 years old but still runs her own retail business (with Marc's brother). Born in the US, she's 100% Greek. But her parents took her back to Greece when she was a toddler, where she lived through WWII and lost her mother to cancer at age 13. She returned to New York City, when she was 16 to claim her US citizenship. Not knowing English when she arrived, she worked her way up from secretary to entrepreneur while raising two sons mostly alone. She's been through a lot and doesn't take any crap. But she also has a heart of gold and is a lot of fun to be around.

She's visited Oregon about four times since the little guy was born. We've visited Seattle, British Columbia and the Oregon coast on her various visits. This time we decided to take her on a mini Oregon tour. We stayed at Hood River, Bend, the Crater Lake area, Yachats and Cannon Beach. Fortunately, summer finally arrived so we could show her the wonders of Oregon. Below are a few pictures from our trip.

The Gorge

Fun in the Hood River Valley



Still lots of snow at Crater Lake



Having a bad day - sometimes its tough being nine and having to hang out with the old folks


The Rogue River gorge - can't wait to go back for a trail run on the Rogue River Trail!


Wildlife Safari near Roseburg
Not really my thing to see the animals out of their natural habitat. But still kind of neat in its own way.



Lunch at the Salishan Lodge


Typical Oregon coast


Don't worry....we didn't take the starfish!

15 comments:

sherri said...

Very cool pix! I am so jealous of the natural wonders you have to explore. B is looking more like his dad to me.

Jamie Anderson said...

Sounds like a fun time. You guys visited some beautiful areas, nice pictures. I love looking for stuff in tidal pools.

Darrell said...

You gotta love a gramma with spunk!

Love the pics, too. Such beautiful country.

Carrie said...

I love the 'bad day' picture. Amanda has had many of those lately. Looks like summer did arrive in Oregon!

Anonymous said...

wow, how gorgeous!

Jen in Budapest said...

great pictures! thanks for sharing your vacation. :d

Backofpack said...

Beautiful pictures Sarah! Marc's Mom sure looks young. Yeah, it's tough to be nine, and they all have bad days. It's good for them! Builds resiliency.

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

Very beautiful pics & Greeks are tough, don't mess with granny :-)

You all look great!!!

Now kid give me those fries!!!

Olga said...

OMG, what fun! OMG, a hippo! I wanna go!

Rick Gaston said...

Great pictures, especially the ones of Crater Lake. Things looked so crisp and still. Your mother in-law looks younger than 77!

Joe said...

How cool to spend that time with your Mom!!

She has quite a story to tell...you have benefited much, Sarah.

Great post, thanks!

Unknown said...

Beautiful photos! Looks like a great trip.

Barbara said...

Wow Sarah, what gorgeous pictures! I love the "bad day" pics .... B is such a cutie even on a bad day.

Adelyn said...

wow...what great pictures! Those ones of crater lake are fabulous :)

I had a student last year who took a starfish home in a plastic tank to show off at school :(. She didn't know that they needed to be in a special environment to survive. Glad your son has such an awesome teacher about nature!

Anonymous said...

Oregon is gorgeous! great photos! Hey- just curious- which method did you use to get into the NYC marathon?