Strawberry Shortcake For All

Was a pretty nice weekend in the land of Org (Oregon) and the start of another wonderful week.  This weekend marked the 107th running of the our annual Strawberry Festival...

and the World's Largest Strawberry Shortcake...

shown above in 1955 and below in the...

1960's. 

Here the modern day Shortcake shown below....

with the commencement of serving after the parade...

The Strawberry Princess' were nominated...and a queen was selected...

It was a hot day with temps in the high 90's so one of Lebanon's finest was out cooling down the parade participants..

and the crowd.

Bands played...

and folks danced.

The Grand Parade was filled with entrants this year that included a great looking

Texas Longhorn...

Marching Bands...

Race Cars...

and Cowgirls too!

We have the Strawberry Cup Races...

at Willamette Speedway, where dirt trackers from around the western states 

vie for the coveted Strawberry Cup honors.

Jet boat racing located just west of the Willamette

Valley Speedway was part of the action as well years past.

The Festival ends on Sunday, but Saturday is the day to attend all the activities including the Strawberry Festival Carnival.

where if you stay long enough, you can watch the sunset from a wonderful and exciting vantage point.

Strawberry Fest....

I miss the days spent with
my girls at the Festival.

If He Quacks Like A Duck...

He must be a Duck.  An Oregon Duck!

A huge congrats to ...

Mr. Marcus Mariota

for his win of the 2014 Heisman award

and the first

Duck in history

to bring one

H

M

E

Now on to Pasadena for the first ever

 playoff round towards the

NCAA

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!

GO DUCKS!

A Special Thanks To You

My kids wanted me to post a something special for those quiet, unsung, behind the scenes folks who help hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail.  As most of you know by now that my Daughter and Son-In-Law completed nearly 1500 miles of the PCT this past spring and summer.  This post is a tribute to those who help hikers by means of water, food, and shelter.  Following in no particular order is a pictorial of some of these folks they call...

TRAIL ANGELS

"We are so grateful for all you do for the hikers on the PCT and forever thankful for having the pleasure to have made your acquaintance"

THANK YOU ALL!

Legs & Powerhouse

All Good Things...

Must come to an end as the saying goes and unfortunately for our hikers Legs and Powerhouse, the saying comes earlier than anticipated and with much sadness.  The wildfires of Northern California were the first to detour the pair as they lost hundreds of miles of the PCT to the north.  Being forced off the trail the pair had to hitchhike west in hopes to move further up north and around the wildfires.

Catching a ride off the PCT 

***********

My last post found the hikers coming out of Yosemite Valley and on their way north.  Here are some shots as they made their way along the trail north to Tahoe.

Having to detour the trail in northen California, our hikers hitched a ride into Oregon where they took up the trail again heading north to Crater Lake.  Spot fires kept them moving north with some hikers being forced off the trail entirely.  Nearly 4 months and having hiked nearly 1500 miles of the PCT at Big Lake Oregon, and reports of fires ahead in the Breitenbush area, Amy and Allan are forced off the trail.  Below are some pics of the camp spot we met up with them at Big Lake in the Willamette National Forest about 50 south of the wildfires at Breitenbush and where it was decided to postpone any further attempts to continue the hike.

Fave pic of my granddot!  She's growing up soooo fast!


We're sad they had to end their trip soon, but very proud of what Amy and Allan have accomplished.  It's also nice to have them home!