THANKFUL FAMILY 11/22/2012

After packing our bags, walking to Hwy 101 and waiting at Kissing Rock wayside, Ann and Wayne hitched a ride to Brookings, where we rented a car.  Ours was trapped, due to the road being washed out, in the RV Park where our trailer was parked.
We drove to Medford, OR and joined Ann's brother's family for Thanksgiving Festivities.  Later, Wednesday evening, we joined Wayne's brother's family at an Italian restaurant for dinner with all of them and two of our sons (Jared and Jed) and their families for an evening together.  Unfortunately, the camera was left back at Ann's brother's house, so there was no documentation of the gathering.  You, the reader, will have to take my word for it that there was lots of visiting, conversation and food accompanied by little kids running all over the place.  Luckily we were in a banquet room to ourselves!
The next day, Thanksgiving, the preparations began for the soon to follow feast, with many busy hands contributing in the preparation.

 Ann has always been the real cut up of the family!

 A niece and grand-niece add their part.

 Some of the men monitor the children and the TV.

 Ever wonder who the favorite uncle is?????

 Ummmmmm?

 The turkey cooker prepares to make gravy.

 And all chip in.

 More family continues to arrive.

 Cousins spend time comparing notes on child rearing.

 Keeping the little ones happy while the food is prepared is a full time job!

 Auntie Ann is always one of the favorites!

 So many kids!  Good thing Ann's brother and wife have a really big house!!

 The matriarch and patriarch of this gathering, Ann's brother and his wonderful wife.

 Ahhhh, we are getting closer to eating time!  Time to uncork the Martinelli's Sparkling Cider!!

 We begin to gather at the food bar!

 And the feast begins!  All 30 or so of us scattered all around the place!

 After dinner comes the attempt at gathering the troops for a group photo.

 Ahhh, aren't families grand!!!!

 Everyone look at the camera!

 Wait a minute, my phone is ringing!  Hey Where's John, Green Hornet and Wayne?  Mom, Jeremy's pinching me!

 Hey, my phone's ringing too!  Just a minute, I've gotta text Sam back.

 Later, Grandma and Green Hornet spend some time together while pie is eaten.  Eight pies and a cheese cake, all home made by various members of the family!

 Hey Grandma, your pocket is making funny noises and it is vibrating my bottom!!

 Now for the rest of the evening Mom talks to her other sons who call to wish her a Happy Thanksgiving as she sits next to our only son that was with us at the Huff Clan Gathering.

 And where's Green Hornet while Grandma talks on the phone?  Why, with Cousin Anna, of course, happily entertaining the rest of the troops with smiles and funny noises.

 So, after a night with some Cowleys and day with some Huffs, the next day we drove our rental car back to Brookings, OR, hitched a ride back to our trailer in Gold Beach and collapsed.  Contentedly and happily exhausted.  Where was Wayne the whole time?  Nursing a cold and behind the camera, of course!
Hope you all had a Happy, Family Filled Thanksgiving too!!

GOLD BEACH FLOOD 11/18-20/2012

While Jed, Kate and Green Hornet were here visiting, they brought with them part of the hurricane from the east coast!  It rained and blew ferociously!!!  During the last 24 hour period it rained 7.3 inches here in Gold Beach, OR!!  The wind blew in gusts up to 90 miles per hour!  No little leisurely beach strolls on this visit!!  This morning when we got up, we looked out our trailer window, where we are parked one trailer space (about 20 yards from mild, little, lazy Hunter Creek.  We were greeted with a raging river, carrying trees and plastic culverts down to the ocean.

 Little did we know, at the time, the culverts we saw floating out to the ocean were the culverts across the only road out of the park!!

 What looks like mountains or clouds off in the distance???  That's the ocean and the powerful wave action our little beach was receiving.

 The creek was surrounding Turtle Rock and eroding away the beach.

We went for a walk in the park and found that we were one of the few RV's that was not surrounded by water.  We later learned that while we slept, Hunter creek had created a new route and was flowing 2 1/2 feet deep through the park.  The brown thing?  That's a hot tub washed away from one of the cabins on the other side of the park!

This is where, an hour or two before it had all been under water and was a wide raging creek!

It washed over the road leading out of the park and in several places removed or added gravel and soil.

 This is where the culverts had been.  The water had been flowing2 1/2 feet over this road before it just all washed away along with the 4 culverts.  It took out our water line, sewer, cable TV, electricity and so forth.

 From one bank to the other, all where road had been!  We realized, we were trapped in the park and no way out!  But amazingly, our trailer was not touched, even thought the 7+" of rain and 90 mile per hour winds buffeted us all night long!

 Later in the day, we went back to find them beginning reconstruction and we now had a little foot bridge to get foot traffic out and in.

 Cones were placed for safety.

 Jed came by to check on us and survey the damage.  He had to check on his Mom!

 We found that our sewer lines had partially blown or washed away.

  Later in the day, some of the park crew and a few of us residents found a couple of the culverts stranded on the beach.  We tied on to them and floated them up stream to where we could latch on to the truck.

 We had pulled them this far and then set up some logs as rollers and then pulled them up the embankment with the truck.

 That's Wayne in the purple sweat shirt.

 Great projects, great fun, great rain!!