June and July are busy months for swimmers, leading to league and city meets in early August. Naomi and Ethan continue to enjoy their swimming, each progressing at her and his own pace. Ryan continues with his swim lessons.
Here are some photos from the past month.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
2008 Summer Trip - Part II
With about 300 miles of driving scheduled for the day, we woke the morning of Day 2 with the aim of being on the road by 9am. We are not the most driven traveling group, especially with three kids in the mix. After the usual hotel continental breakfast fare, we were on the road by 930am.
Now, southern Oregon is one of our favorite parts of our trip to Seattle. We have gotten to know Medford, Ashland, Grants Pass, and Roseburg quite well over the years. One of our finds from the 2007 trip was the Grants Pass Pharmacy. It still has one of those old fashion soda fountains that serves phosphates. This was going to be our first stop of Day 2. Although the downtown was not as festive (there were no bear statues), the pharmacy did not disappoint.
After wandering around Eugene for a bit, we decided on World Favors for lunch. It was right next to the Lane County transit station. Although their menu featured mostly pastas, pizza and salads, they did have a few out of the ordinary items like cream puffs on their menu. The place had a college hole-in-the-wall feel to it. When we were leaving, there was a band showing up to set up for live music.
Eugene, self-proclaimed Track Town, U.S.A., was once again hosting the U.S. Olympic track and field trials on the U of O campus. We saw a sign that said that entry to watch the trials was free to the public. Only if we would've had more time and the kids were older, we would've stayed to take a peek. Oh, well, maybe in four years.
As a substitute, we held our own family track trials around a water fountain in downtown Eugene after lunch. See below.
Could've spent more time in Eugene, but we had to shove on. One thing that we all noticed was that there was something in the air in Eugene that caused our allergies to flare up. By the time we left, we were all sneezing.
Our final stop before Gresham was the outlet malls in Woodburn located about 40 miles south of Portland. We had stopped before, but never had much time for shopping. We actually had time to shop this time.
Here are photos from this leg of our trip.
Now, southern Oregon is one of our favorite parts of our trip to Seattle. We have gotten to know Medford, Ashland, Grants Pass, and Roseburg quite well over the years. One of our finds from the 2007 trip was the Grants Pass Pharmacy. It still has one of those old fashion soda fountains that serves phosphates. This was going to be our first stop of Day 2. Although the downtown was not as festive (there were no bear statues), the pharmacy did not disappoint.
After wandering around Eugene for a bit, we decided on World Favors for lunch. It was right next to the Lane County transit station. Although their menu featured mostly pastas, pizza and salads, they did have a few out of the ordinary items like cream puffs on their menu. The place had a college hole-in-the-wall feel to it. When we were leaving, there was a band showing up to set up for live music.
Eugene, self-proclaimed Track Town, U.S.A., was once again hosting the U.S. Olympic track and field trials on the U of O campus. We saw a sign that said that entry to watch the trials was free to the public. Only if we would've had more time and the kids were older, we would've stayed to take a peek. Oh, well, maybe in four years.
As a substitute, we held our own family track trials around a water fountain in downtown Eugene after lunch. See below.
Could've spent more time in Eugene, but we had to shove on. One thing that we all noticed was that there was something in the air in Eugene that caused our allergies to flare up. By the time we left, we were all sneezing.
Our final stop before Gresham was the outlet malls in Woodburn located about 40 miles south of Portland. We had stopped before, but never had much time for shopping. We actually had time to shop this time.
Here are photos from this leg of our trip.
2008 Summer Trip - Part I
Although this year's trip to Seattle was shorter than the norm and there was no scavenger hunt this year, it was memorable just the same.
Our first day of traveling featured the usual bathroom breaks, pit stops for food, and refueling stops. We detoured to the AAA office in Redding (Ext 678 on I-5) to pick up an Oregon/Washington tour book. Our copy was back at home, not so useful there. With the book in hand, we were ready to book a room for the night. We decided on Medford as our stop, but were chagrined to learn that the Windmill Inn was no more. It was now called the Quality Inn and Suites. We were assured that they had maintained many of the same features of the Windmill Inn so we paid for a room.
After about 333 miles of driving from home, we drove past the sign welcoming us to Oregon. Not soon after, we passed through Siskiyou Summit which at an elevation of 4310 feet is the highest point on I-5.
At the Quality Inn, we were greeted by a large banner that said, "Under New Management." The place did still have the decor and feel of the previous Windmill Inn. None of this mattered too much to the kids. Their main interest was the pool. So while they swam, I went out to get a pizza for us. The first stop was the local Costco's to refuel. The price was $4.19 per gallon, about 20 cents less than at other nearby stations. The pizza was from Kaleidoscope Pizzeria and Pub. Later we learned that this was award winning pizza for the Rogue River Valley area and that the owners are transplants from Alaska. With the swimming, the late dinner and baths taking up time, this was only the first of many late nights on this trip.
Our first day of traveling featured the usual bathroom breaks, pit stops for food, and refueling stops. We detoured to the AAA office in Redding (Ext 678 on I-5) to pick up an Oregon/Washington tour book. Our copy was back at home, not so useful there. With the book in hand, we were ready to book a room for the night. We decided on Medford as our stop, but were chagrined to learn that the Windmill Inn was no more. It was now called the Quality Inn and Suites. We were assured that they had maintained many of the same features of the Windmill Inn so we paid for a room.
After about 333 miles of driving from home, we drove past the sign welcoming us to Oregon. Not soon after, we passed through Siskiyou Summit which at an elevation of 4310 feet is the highest point on I-5.
At the Quality Inn, we were greeted by a large banner that said, "Under New Management." The place did still have the decor and feel of the previous Windmill Inn. None of this mattered too much to the kids. Their main interest was the pool. So while they swam, I went out to get a pizza for us. The first stop was the local Costco's to refuel. The price was $4.19 per gallon, about 20 cents less than at other nearby stations. The pizza was from Kaleidoscope Pizzeria and Pub. Later we learned that this was award winning pizza for the Rogue River Valley area and that the owners are transplants from Alaska. With the swimming, the late dinner and baths taking up time, this was only the first of many late nights on this trip.
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