Thursday Scenes

HOME AWAY FROM HOME: Another low-key day for us as we enjoy some time away from our usual digs.

We did a couple minor repairs on this place. Home improvement is kind of our idea of fun. ;)

I do love the porthole windows on this place. 

At one point today, Annabelle was working on an art project and CJ was sitting in on a Zoom call with Evergreen State about how to apply for scholarships. Streaming if which, he received a letter from Evergreen offering a $1500 scholarship for kids first year thanks to his strog grades to date.

NEIGHBORLY: The place we're staying this week is sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and a sprawling golf course, Gearhart Golf Links, the oldest golf course in Oregon. At the end of the road is a McMenamins' hotel and restaurants establishment. 

Their main dining room is called Sand Trap Pub. 

On its menu is a little history lesson about the golf course. 

"Opened in 2007 on the Gearhart Golf Links, the hotel and Sand Trap pub that McMenamins inherited and expanded upon was a reincarnation of the links’ first clubhouse built in the mid-1920s. The course itself is even older, having been laid out in the 1890s, making it one of the first on the West Coast. As The Oregonian remarked in 1923, 'There is perhaps no course in the United States that is so truly similar to the famous home course of modern golf, that of the Royal and Ancient Golf club, at St. Andrews in Scotland.' That makes sense, since the links’ original surveyors were a group of Scotsman rehomed in Oregon. They included one Robert Livingstone, whose grand residence was in NW Portland, where McMenamins Rams Head Pub is today."

We head home tomorrow. It has been a really nice change of pace, and I hope get get a chance to come visit the place again someday. 

Crazy Day

WRECKS: We woke up today to the big news that Georgia had elected two new senators, bringing the Senate to a 50-50 tie, D vs. R. However, coverage quickly shifted from that big news to what was going on in Congress, with the House and Senate set to certify the election today. Usually (like, always, it's just a formality). But not today, because, well, nothing seems normal any more.

Just a few minutes after Sen. Ted Cruz questioned the authenticity of Arizona's electoral votes (without citing any evidence for doing so), a mob of radicalized, white domestic terrorists invaded Congress, while countless Capitol police and FBI stood by and watched. We couldn't believe what we were seeing.

We watched the 'trainwreck' until a little after noon, and then decided to go see a shipwreck. Specifically, the wreck of the Peter Iredale. We timed our visit for low tide, when we could walk right up and touch what's left of its rusty ruins.

Below, the Iredale is pictured in much better times. The vintage photo was taken in Seattle around 1900, per Wikipedia.

Below, the kids and the dogs from Seattle head toward the Iredale's remains, 120 years later. 

Back in the day, Peter Iredale was a four-masted steel barque sailing vessel. It ran ashore October 25, 1906, on the Oregon coast, where Warrenton is now. The Iredale was trying to make its way to the Columbia River, but fell four miles short.

The photo below shows the shipwreck shortly after it happened. 

What's left of the wreckage is a popular tourist attraction, as it's so accessible compared to other. shipwrecks in the "Graveyard of the Pacific." You can walk right up to it during low tide.

It was a nice, quiet spot to be on a day where things were more than a little crazy.

Here's hoping our tomorrows, as a nation, are a lot more peaceful than today.

Piece by Piece

PUZZLED: A blustery day at the beach, so what did we do? A whole lot of nothing. (Well, other than chase down a power supply for Annabelle's laptop. Unfortunately, her charger was left in Seattle.)

We sat by the picture windows, watched frothy, foamy whitecaps crash, listened to the roaring winds, and worked a couple of jigsaw puzzles.

The one above is a 500-piece puzzle with an illustration depicting Seaside, Oregon, just a couple of miles down the road from where we are.

Last night, we pieced together this fun one: "Where's Bowie?"

It's very colorful, and there are lots of 'inside' jokes for David Bowie fans like me. It was a Christmas gift from Rick and Rachel. Thanks, guys!

NETWORKING LUNCH: Come noontime, Annabelle took a break from 'arting' and CJ took a break from his school work for a Zoom presentation from The Museum of Flight folks.

Called "Lunch with Staff," it was for Museum "Connections" members (middle and high school students). The email I received a couple of weeks back about it described the session as "staff members ready to share what they do at the Museum and answer YOUR questions. First we'll let each guest tell us about their job, the schooling and skills it took to get there, etc...then we'll open it up for questions from you. This is a great opportunity for students of all ages to learn about new career paths, learn more about a career they may already be considering, and learn how they can combine a passion of flight or space with a career that isn't pilot or astronaut!"

It was exactly as advertised, and so very interesting! Participating today were Amy Heidrick (collections), Chris Smith (information technology), Dave Longmire (facilities), and Mandy Faber (exhibits). 

The guest speakers were engaging and gave great details about their various jobs at the museum. At the end, there was an opportunity for questions. Annabelle and CJ asked how people can find out about internship opportunities at The Museum of Flight. The moderator of the luncheon gave a shout out to the kids, saying she recognized their names from pilot pilot ground school and other Museum of Flight programs. 

Listening to the museum staff's interests and career pathways was like listening to young CJ and Annabelle. Maybe someday they'll wind up working for a museum. 

The Museum of Flight has a couple more lunch Zoom sessions scheduled. We'll definitely be signing up for them!

Field Trip

OCEANSIDE: MPA is on the road this week. After dropping of our latest cake this morning, we headed south and west, destination Gearhart, Oregon.

Why Gearhart? Well, because there's a house with our name on it there, literally.

The beachfront house was built in , for Christian's grandpa, a dentist in Lake Oswego, Oregon, at the time.

Christian's dad and aunt spent many happy times at the house as kids. A few years ago, the house came up for sale, and Christian's aunt and her husband bought the place, so now it's back in the family.

It's a really solid place, three stories with a 180 degree view of the ocean.  We ventured shoreside right at sunset. We had to wade through lots of grass, avoid elk droppings, and endure some wind and rain, but it was worth it. It has been too long since we've seen an ocean.

Hopefully tomorrow it will be nicer, but even if it's not, it's nice to have a change of venue for a few days.

SPECIAL DELIVERY: Before we left home this morning, we had a cake to drop off at Birthday Dreams. 

The birthday girl in a local homeless shelter wanted a rainbow theme. After doing the Google and getting some ideas, we decided to go with a double barrel (stacked) cake. We needed it to be tall so we could get six good sized stripes on it. We measured it and make marks where the color bands would go.

After we piped the colors on, Annabelle spun the cake board while I used a tool to smoosh the lines flat.

After the first pass, we had to do some touch ups. 

The stuff we scraped off kind of looks like an explosion at a Play-Doh factory.

The cake filling featured rainbow sprinkles, of course. 

Once the stripes were done, it was time to pipe a big 'cloud' on top.

The homemade marshmallow icing we made tasted really good and was plenty puffy!

The glittery star candles in rainbow colors seemed like the perfect touch atop the cake.  We hope she liked it! 

We hope she liked her cake (name on cake board is obscured for anonymity).