July & August – Utah, Washington, & Oregon

After being at the Ranch in June, I returned to Utah for my sister Kaytie’s wedding. 

Grandma & Grandpa Favero at the wedding reception. I caught Grandpa dead asleep & Grandma was in the middle of putting on her sweater – but she struck a quick pose for me just the same.

Ben, me, Kaytie, Justin, and Joe (all the Favero kids except 3).  Darling Abigail Dursteler (my older sister, Emily’s, daughter) at the reception – what a cutie. Here we are as pleasant as pumpkin pie on a cool fall evening.

Then, soon after returning home to Portland, I decided it was about time that I visit Mount St. Helens. It was about 2 hours north then 1 hour east of Portland to get to the northwest side of the mountain where the huge hole is right in your face.

 

I look pretty happy, despite the fact that I got a flat tire at the last viewpoint right before the mountain. Oh well, took a few minutes to replace the flat (nobody offered to help!) and I was back in the car and at the mountain in 2 minutes.

I couldn’t help but think of Brian Regan when I passed through this “Blasting Zone!” (shouldn’t that read “ROAD CLOSED”??).

 

 

 

Here is gorgeous Teresa the day of her newer (and even shorter!) haircut. We were enjoying the warm day in the grassy courtyard area of our apartment complex – a water & sun type of birthday party for Bethany’s son (she is on the right).

And finally we reach August. I had a scout camp for my 11 year olds, Teresa and I celebrated our 7 anniversary of when we met (8/22/02), and I went to the Oregon coast with my good friend Chris Bentley from Ogden who was working here for the summer. 

Overlooking Cape Lookout State Park and the gorgeous Netarts Bay.  Us down on the beach after having thrashed in the cold Pacific Ocean waves for quite a while. That was a fun day. And these were a couple of awesome months!

Silver Falls in June

After finals were over at WSCC, we headed south to Silver Falls State Park. Unfortunately, I (Jeff) found out the 2 bedroom cabin I had booked was actually for the week before - oops! But we found a nearby cabin and paid again for somewhere to stay for the night. The next day we hiked the "Trail of Ten Falls". It was 9 miles and wore us out!

Here are pics of 6 of the 10 beautiful waterfalls:

Upper North Falls, 65 ft.

North Falls, 136 ft.

Middle North Falls, 106 ft.

Lower North Falls, 30 ft.

Lower South Falls, 93 ft.

South Falls, 177 ft.

Ranch in June

Before Teresa joined me in Utah for Kaytie's wedding, I came down and drove over to the 7F Ranch for a few days! Here are a few pictures I took to help me remember some of my well-loved spots.

The first field below the log home.

Log home in center.

Jeff at the third river.


Lower yard and ponds.


Ponds and lodge.

Bigger pond at sunset.

Ranch silhouette.

March/April (catching up 2 months at a time!)

Here I am back in March.

This is Chandler & Benson playing on our banana chair on a Sunday evening.

Cape Lookout State Park in Oregon.

For spring break I went to the coast with a couple friends - we stayed in a yurt!

The yurt was just a walk away from the beach. I actually stayed there with Daniel (Benson's dad) & Brandon (Chandler's dad). We played a few games of Settler of Catan!

The middle car is my pinewood derby car (yes, that is a can of potted meat strapped to the top).

Here is Teresa back in April (of course, now her hair is EVEN SHORTER!).