Leftovers

 

HOMEWARD: Last Friday, our beach getaway came to an end. We pointed the car toward home, about four hours away. We did make a quick detour, however. In Astoria, we stopped by the famed "Goonies" house.

Perched on a hilltop overlooking the Columbia River and downtown Astoria, the house was made famous by the 1985 movie, "The Goonies." The film was directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by Chris Columbus, and was based on a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg.

The house, pictured above, is of great import to the movie, because its plot involves a group of misfits (Goonies) who fight a property development company that has its sites set on destroying the home for a new development. The movie has a cult following, and fans have been making their way to the residence for 35 years now. 

It might not surprise you to know, this has not always sat well with the people who live in the neighborhood and in "The Goonies" house. It has had a number of owners over the years, and I have read and heard that in recent years, the current owner has had her fill of visitors, to the point she obscured the home and put up no trespassing signs. 

That being the case, we were surprised when we stopped by to see a hand-painted 'ok to walk up' sign next to the steep, gravel drive leading to the residence. There was no parking nearby, however, so Christian circled the block while the kids and I went up. We were quiet and stayed less than a minute. There's now a donation box next to the house. I wish I'd known that before leaving my purse in the car, I would have dropped a couple of bucks in.

We also completed one last puzzle for the trip. This one was fun, as it pictured the covers a a number of classic children's books.

Most of them were familiar, but there were a couple I'd never heard of (I'm looking at you, "Good Night Gorilla," "Everything on a Waffle," that Toucan book in the lower left corner and the book about pancakes, as well.

A TASTE OF JAPAN: Christmas continues, to some degree, here at MPA. Just yesterday, CJ received a present in the mail. His brother Kennedy bought him a Snackcrate subscription as a gift. So, each month he'll receive a box of snacks from another country. This month's treats are from Japan.

We're looking forward to the surprises in the months to come.

Now that we're back home, we're right back into the routine, full time college for CJ (and Annabelle, who's auditing the classes alongside him), college application stuff, reno-ing the kitchen, and so on. It's like we never left. ...