As it just might snow! And that's exactly what it did in Clearfield, Ut. As I recall, it wasn't supposed to be more than a possibility of snow, but it turned into a "winter storm advisory" lasting through the night with the ground covered with maybe 2" in places. And while it wasn't a lot, it was more than was expected, especially since it was in the upper 60's yesterday.
Because Katie and I are gonna be working at Theodore Roosevelt National Park this summer, we won't be able to make it to the Dickson family reunion which is held every two years, with this year being the year to have it in the summer. As a result, I'd be missing seeing folks in the family that I hadn't seen in some time. So last Thursday, the 9th of April, after dropping Riley and Avery off at school, I headed up towards McMinnville, Or to see my sister, Elaine, and stay at her house for four days for the purpose of seeing as many folks as possible in lieu of being at the reunion. She was kind enough to offer me room and board for those four days, as well as coordinate getting my son, Jon, my other sisters June & Shirley, and other family members to her house on Saturday for the mini reunion. I arrived in McMinnville around 7 PM that evening ready to start my stay.
In addition to the mini reunion, Elaine had a few things for me to do at her house and we started doing them on Saturday morning. For lunch, we headed over to McMenamins restaurant in downtown McMinnville, and ate on the top of the Hotel Oregon where McMenamins is located. Being up four stories affords a pretty good view from the top, and we were able to see the countryside well. After lunch, Elaine led Jon and I on a tour of downtown McMinnville. It was interesting seeing the various shops that were along 3rd street. Half way down 3rd street, we met Ben Franklin sitting on a bench, and got our picture taken with him.
Elaine felt like she needed to get close to Ben also. So ...she did.
We had a lunch on Saturday with my sisters, June & Shirley, along with June's husband, Steve Taylor. Their daughter and granddaughter, Stephanie and Aureliana, joined us a little bit later. After lunch, other folks started arriving: my cousin Kenneth Dickson and his wife, Rosa Lee, another cousin Keith Dickson and his wife Carol. In addition, Kenneth's daughter, Darla Bowman and husband John, as well as his son Kenny Dickson and his wife Kerry. It was a good time being able to see how everyone is doing and especially great to see them since I won't be with them this summer.
Starting from the left, Rosa Lee Dickson (Kenneth's wife), Shirley Dickson (my middle sister), June Taylor (my youngest sister), Kenneth Dickson (Rosa Lee's husband), Kenny Dickson (Kenneth and Rosa Lee's son).
Starting from the left, John Bowman (Darla's husband), Kerry Dickson (Kenny's wife), Rosa Lee & Shirley.
Starting from the left: Darla Bowman (John's wife, and Kenneth and Rosa Lee's daughter), Jon Dickson (my second son), Carol Dickson (Keith Dickson's wife), and Keith Dickson (Carol's husband). Steve Taylor was off to the left out of sight in Elaine's kitchen, and you can see Elaine leaning against the door frame on the right side of the picture.
As you can tell, these pictures were un-posed, and everyone was deep in thought. Except maybe for Jon who looks like he was smiling about something... I'm thinking that I thought about taking pictures after Stephanie and Aureliana had left. Poor timing on my part.
On Sunday, we went to worship with June, Stephanie, and Aureliana, and had lunch with June & Steve afterwards. On Monday, we finished up the projects that Elaine wanted done, and then went to the Evergreen Aviation Museum to relax and see the Hughes H-4 Hercules, aka, the Spruce Goose, as well as other exhibits there. We spent a lot of time in the Space Museum, but managed to get a tour of the flight deck of the Spruce Goose and have pictures taken before we had to leave to take Jon home in St. Helens, some 60 miles away. After having pizza from Sunshine Pizza Exchange, we dropped him off. In the picture below, that's me on the left doing my best Howard Hughes' impression. Pretty good, huh?
The ride back to Clearfield, Utah the next day was a long one. I got up at 4:30 PDT (really 5:30 MDT) to start on my trek home. After spending time going through the little towns along the way to I-5 going to Portland (Lafayette, Dundee, Newberg and Sherwood) (and I could've gone through Tigard also, but I didn't want to spend the extra 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to get through it!), I got gas and was on my way. I decided to go on the north side of the Columbia River this time rather than the south side as I did when I went to McMinnville earlier, so went to Vancover and turned right on route 14. Once again, there were many small towns along the way, including Washougal and White Salmon, where my father, Charles Kenneth Dickson, lived growing up. I thought the trip on route 14 was more picturesque than the stretch of I84 opposite it on the Oregon side. I highly recommend it if you're traveling east or west along the Columbia. If ya have an RV, ya need to be aware that there's a couple of tunnels along the way that need to be negotiated though.
There was a snow storm on the mountains around the Idaho - Utah border that I had to go through. Luckily, it wasn't cold enough for the snow to stick. Much. And the snow plows were out in force, spreading sand and/or gravel, and ready to do plowing when the need arose. (Sadly, that snow storm is the one that stayed with me all the way to Clearfield, and is still here now at 9 PM. Weather.com says that there was a high of 44 here today, but I didn't see it. They also say that the high tomorrow will be 57. Not really sure if I believe them on that either.) I arrived here about 7:30 PM which means that my trip was about 14 hours long. After giving Katie a big hug and taking a shower, I ate, and then collapsed into bed. Regardless of how long the drive was both ways, it was good to see family again.
Have a blessed day!
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