The Chaney Family Tour on the Oregon Trail

I can't believe it's been fifteen years since we'd been to Oregon! It feels like it was...longer than yesterday but not fifteen years. Well, we fixed that this past week. Mom, John and I boarded a plane and headed to the West Coast.

Mom and John waiting patiently at DFW for us to board. 

It was a smooth flight and we got there with no problem. Our first night there, we were on our own. You never know how flights go these days so we didn't want to commit only to have to potentially cancel. We had dinner and some entertainment at the Thirsty Lion across the street from out hotel. The entertainment being the happy hour group that was behind mom. It was good people watching there.

The next morning Miss Judy needed her steps (as did we) so we took a walk around the neighborhood. Look at those trees! They say everything is bigger in Texas but we don't have trees like that. John and Mom look like tiny ants compared to the trees. It was a cool little neighborhood that was near our hotel. We ended up walking there at least once every day.

Later, we had some time on our hands before meeting the family so we drove to Washington Park thinking we could get a few extra steps. We didn't realize that there was a lot of stuff to do there. We were lamenting that we didn't allocate more time for this but there's always next time.

This is the Vietnam War Memorial at Washington Park. It's really cool. 

You walk around that loop to get up the hill and there are memorials along with info about what else was going on in Oregon during the time period and a list of Oregon folks that gave their lives. The memorials were beautiful. 

Once again, we were mesmerized by those trees. We got super lucky with the weather. It rained on the way from the hotel to the airport and that was it. The rest of the time it was excellent weather.

Now we come to the fun stuff! On Friday night we met with Uncle Tom and Aunt Debbie. That was so fun. It's the first time that I'd met Kyle and Heather and their two sons, Ethan and Evan.

Uncle Tom is the youngest of Dad's brothers. Here's the whole family. I think I've met everyone in John's family now. It was so fun to catch up with them. L-R: Me, Uncle Tom, Aunt Debbie, Evan, Kyle, Ethan, Heather, Mom and John. 

Saturday we went to Ginny's house in Boring and it was anything but! Ginny's place is very cool. Mom and Aunt Georgia chatting in the back yard. Aunt Georgia is Dad's step-sister. She and Uncle Dick have two daughters, Ginny and Laura.

Ginny made a shrimp boil for us and I'd never had one before so I took a picture! I'll have to try this at home. Not pictured are the delicious biscuits that Laura made.

The requisite dinner photo at the table. L-R: Uncle Dick, Aunt Georgia, Ginny, Kate, Laura, Me, Mom and Mike.

Aunt Georgia, Uncle Dick, Ginny and Kate, Mike and Laura, Mom and John. We had such a good time visiting that we were all worn out by the end of the day! None of us wanted to leave.

On Sunday, we went to visit Uncle Paul and Aunt Janene. Here we're getting a very interesting pottery lesson from Aunt Janene. She's an artist and she made this little house for her brother-in-law. She does amazing work. We had a little time to catch up with the two of them before the rest of the family came over. Uncle Paul is Dad's middle brother.

Uncle Paul and Aunt Janene have two kids: Ann Marie and Chris. This is Kathy, Chris' wife and two of their kids, Elise and Andrew. The last time I saw these kids they were just that, kids! Now their all grown up.

Hannah (Ann Marie's daughter), Mom and Ann Marie. Hannah is brave enough to be Apple watch friends with Mom. Not me. She outwalks me before I even get out of bed but Hannah can give Mom a run for her money.

By the time we got the family picture, Andrew and Elise had already left. But here we have Aunt Janene, Uncle Paul, Tyler, Hannah, Chris, Kathy, Betty, Ann Marie, Garrett, John, Caleb and Mom. Caleb is Chris' other son. Tyler is Hannah's boyfriend and Betty is Garrett's mom.  It was another fun evening.

John and Uncle Paul.  Once again, we stayed later than we intended because we didn't want to leave! We were having such a great time.

Monday for lunch, Mom and John met up with Chuck and Karen Hoff. This is mom and Karen. Unfortunately, I sat out this visit. I was sidelined with a pain in the back!

Our last dinner was with Uncle Paul and Aunt Janene. We met them for dinner at the Red Lobster across from out hotel so we got to chat with them some more. The only thing that would have made this trip better was if Dad could have been there but I feel like he was there in spirit.

It was a pretty quick trip but we got to see everyone and that was fantastic. Thank you all so much for taking the time to visit with us. We really had a wonderful time with all of you!

Thank you, Oregon Chaneys! If you're ever in Texas, stop in to see us.