7/23-24/09 John, Harold, and I went to the property on Thursday and spent the night. Dave, Bill, and Cam joined us for the day on Friday.

This was a special week. I didn't do any work at the property, but the six of us had a very pleasurable get-together.

John flew in to Seattle on Monday. We headed directly from the airport to Oregon in my truck. We picked Harold up at the Portland airport and the three of us proceeded on to Hood River. John had two pretty good days of windsurfing, we toured the Bonneville Dam, hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls, saw some other falls and other sights, had some good meals, and a lot of laughs into the night.

On Thursday, we drove past Goldendale and saw a huge wind farm that must still be under construction because none of the blades was turning. We proceeded on to Yakima where we had lunch with Harold's son Jim and daughter-in-law Sarah. From there, we went to Leavenworth where we spent time looking at woodcarvings and nature photos.

Then we proceeded on to the 59'er Diner where we had a great dinner and more laughs. We proceeded on from there to the State Park where we got out and walked on the beach and looked at Dirtyface Mountain. Finally, we drove to the property, arriving at about 7:00, where we were met by Bert and Ernie and hordes of mosquitoes. We kept most of the mosquitoes out of the cabin using the fan by the front door. Once the bunks were set up, we spent the evening enjoying some Guinness, some scotch, and maybe a Bud or two until the wee hours. We also had a sample of a delicious strawberry rhubarb cheesecake Ellen had made.

On Friday morning, we slept in until quite late. I called Bill and learned that he, Dave, and Cam were only 5 or 10 minutes away. We decided then to have breakfast at the 59'er Diner so Bill turned his rig around, John, Harold, and I hopped in my truck, and we all headed for the 59'er Diner.

Having a senior moment, I forgot to close the tailgate of the truck before we left. So when I backed down the driveway, the cooler, a bucket of sand, and some other stuff I had back there worked their way to the back of the bed. Then, unbeknownst to me, when I pulled out onto Highway 2, those things fell out onto the road.

About as soon as we were all seated in the diner, some guy came over to me and asked if I owned the Ford. I said, "Yes", and then he told me what had happened. He said that he had stacked the stuff off the side of the road.

Since there was nothing of much value there, (the cooler was an old one held together with duct tape) I decided I'd pick it up on our way out. But the guy who had stopped and moved the stuff went back, picked it up, brought it back and loaded it into my truck bed. What a guy. Of course this provided for a huge amount of ribbing and laughing in the diner by us and our waitress. We did a lot more laughing.

After breakfast, we all went back to the cabin and had a lot more discussion and laughs. At one point we got brave enough to put on insect repellent and go out on a tour through the sequoia tree trail. Some of the guys brought buckets of water so that they could water their trees. All the trees were still thriving, although I decided that I probably should give them all some more water from time to time for the rest of the season. I also plan to make bigger protective sleeves for them before winter.

Originally John, Harold, and I had planned to spend another night in the cabin, but since Harold had a flight out the next morning, we thought it would be more prudent to leave with Bill, Dave, and Cam and spend the night in Seattle. So, with the new plan, we all decided to head back to the 59'er Diner and have dinner together before the trip home.

We had a nice dinner, more fun and more laughs before we finally headed for the pass shortly before 8:00 PM. It was a great, fun week.