Camping and the Coast

We closed on the house in Minnesota last week!  All went smoothly and we are now proud non-homeowners! 

We headed about two hours southwest to Loon Lake for the weekend.  We stayed in this yurt and really enjoyed it.  It has almost all of the comforts of home and we decided we wouldn't mind having one in our backyard.  Andy suggested we live in one but I'm not *that* in love with them.

Inside of the yurt

We arrived at our yurt around 7:30 on Friday night and after getting settled, started a campfire.  Shadow soon learned that she likes marshmallows and graham crackers.  She looked at the smores fixings intently just in case something dropped.  There was a family in the neighboring yurt with a little boy about 2 or 3 years old and he called smores "schmoos" -- so cute.   

Shadow, Smore Hunter

On Saturday, we slept in and then went to the Oregon Dunes.  Cool, huh?

 

 We walked down the dunes and went to the ocean.  Shadow got her feet wet!

 She was really interested in the washed up crab shells like these. 

After our hike, Andy asked if we could stop by Leona's Sugar Shack Bakery.  Cute little local joint with delicious peanut butter m&m cookies. 

Shadow was an excellent cook out assistant, as you can see here.  Isn't she cute?

Despite how helpful she tried to be, no pancakes for Shadow.  She did find some food on the ground after we made our pie irons on Saturday night.  We figured she'd had enough human food when she found a half bag of Andy's beloved Twizzlers on the table on Friday and helped herself.  Andy = not happy.

Notice how very empty it is.

Possum Sighting

We headed over to Corvallis today and did a little 1.5 mile hike.  The hilltop offers a great view of Corvallis.   After our hike, we found a u-pick strawberry place and helped ourselves to a couple of pounds.  I tried making some jam tonight so we'll try that tomorrow and see how it turned out!  The house smelled amazing!

Our neighbors appear to be big 4th of July fans...or at least pyrotechnics enthusiasts.  We've been hearing fireworks every night around 10 for almost a week.  It sends Shadow into a panic and scares the bejeezus out of me and Andy every time it happens even though we know it's coming.  Hopefully tomorrow will be the grand finale and we'll be done with them.  A guy that works with Andy and happens to be from India told Andy if he wanted really good fireworks, he should go to the Native American reservation nearby and made sure he said several times, "but you didn't hear it from me."  Apparently, it's top secret information.  Andy said that the fact that his Indian co-worker recommended the Indian reservation made it even funnier.  

 Before I sign off, a few Albany highlights.  

You're reading the sign correctly.  It's the HASTY (NOT Tasty) FREEZ.  We chuckle every time we drive by. 

And the second highlight:  Possum Auto Body.  Any time I drive Andy to the bus stop, I see this place on my way home.  It makes getting up early just a little bit better.

 Notice the spray can in the big possum's hand (paw?) and the little possum hanging 

upside down from the tree.

Here's a shot of the front with a few more possums hanging from the tree.

To make things better, they take the possum statues in each night.  I can only imagine them driving up one morning to see the original possums had been kidnapped and having a staff meeting to decide that they'd order one more set but someone would have to volunteer to put the little fellas away every night before locking up.  If they ever turn up missing again, I *promise* they won't be in our living room.