The goalie took away two goals from Alex.
Intensity
The highlight of LOTOJA weekend is always mom and dad's homemade peach ice cream on Friday night (and Sunday afternoon). Crossing the finish line in Jackson the next day is also pretty sweet!! What other team has their leader and namesake dishing out the ice cream the night before a big race. The smile on John's face says it all.
Bob grabbing a musette in Montpelier. Bill has the difficult job of handing out the musette's to several 'Team Norda's' riders in Preston. His veteran skills are the envy of almost every team. Who else could have handled the chaos last year of having three different start groups show up in Preston at the same time and still get the water and energy drinks distributed without causing a crash?
Kristin will be back doing support for the 5th or 6th year. How awesome is that? She'll be supporting John and I while Jackie is back for her second tour of duty supporting that guy she married a couple of months ago. Annie and Beth may be tagging along with Jack and Lily and we expect Grandma and Grandpa Emmett roadside in Montpelier with a cool beverage and camera in hand.
Brian, John and Casey getting ready to leave on their one and only 100 mile training ride a couple of weeks ago. John hopes his knee problems of last year are behind him and Brian hopes that sitting on the beach or riding a moped in the Azores for the past 10 days will have him peaking at the right time. I couldn't be the only one in the world without a Blog could I?
On Wednesday August 6th we headed west: first stop the Bonneville Salt Flats for a picnic lunch.
After an interesting night at the Peppermill Hotel and Casino (it was the cheapest price on Orbitz until we had to upgrade on arrival to a non-smoking room) we drove to Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Joel enjoyed seeing things through his new glasses!
We hiked the three mile round trip to Bumpass Hell (a man with the last name of Bumpass fell through the crust into a hot pot and lost his leg) to see the Yellowstone like hot pots.
We had dinner at Olive Garden in Redding and then drove west through the coastal range past fire fighter camps and the distance smoke of a few wild fires still burning.
We spent the night in McKinleyville north of Eureka. The Redding to Eureka forest drive took a lot longer than expected so we missed a second night of hotel swimming so we had a morning swim in the indoor pool of the Holiday Inn Express before setting out to explore the redwoods. We enjoyed the misty hike through the Ladybird Johnson Grove.
Spent the night in Medford Oregon where we enjoyed another swim at another Holiday Inn Express. Next morning we checked out the Medford Temple and then headed north to Crater Lake National Park.
Marie thought for sure the kids would fall in, but they didn't. We drove through more forested mountains to Eugene and then north through the fertile Willamette (not to be confused with Will Emmett) Valley to Beaverton where we spent the night with Mark and Allison Ellsworth. They treated us to dinner at a Lebanese restaurant in Portland and we went to their Beaverton Ward on Sunday. That afternoon we drove through more forested mountains to Cannon Beach where we spent four nights.
We met up with Paul and Jeanne Krumpermann (Marie's youngest sister), their four children and Marie's sister Rachel. That evening the seven cousins had a blast playing on the beach together in the cold water and the cool air. Our intent was for the kids to stay dry--but no such luck. It was too much fun dodging waves.
Kite flying on Cannon Beach. Notice Sarah's new stylish glasses.
Family photo on Indian Beach in Ecola State park.
Exploring coastal rocks and tide pools at Hug Beach
Hugging on Hug Beach.
Heading to Haystack Rock to explore at low tide.
Mark Ellsworth came over to visit us for an afternoon and evening. His two sons are in the white shirt and orange cap.
On Thursday we headed north to Mt St. Helen. These trees were laid flat by the 1980 eruption.
The view from Johnston ridge. In the middle of the blown-top crater you can see the smoking rise of a new volcanic cone. Drove to Pendleton that night and then home via Boise (our first and only stop at McDonald's because it had star wars toys in the Happy Meals) and shakes at A&W in Rupert. A fun trip.
What a great way to cheer up the hearts of a couple of oldsters! Having the family get together for a few days was really great. The following pictures document only a small part of the get together but we hope they will serve as a reminder of the event. Many, many more pictures were taken by the participants and this really helped out - I had my camera on manual focus by mistake for part of the time so the picture of the whole family in attendance is one that Tom took (mine was not in very good focus.)
Waiting to get on the ride.
Katie and Mac paying attention to being photographed.
Coming back from the ride and thinking about where to go next.
Getting ready to eat in the Pine Pavillion.
Norda digging for gold at North Beach State Park while others played in the sand.
More playing in the sand.
Headquarters at dinner time.
Some of the revelers standing in the water.
Jack showing Kristin and Jackie what he wants.
Looking over the "treasures" in the PDQ room Saturday morning.
Some of the family in the back yard waiting for the photo session to start.
Bruce and Lily in loving arms.
Guess which one is the mother.
Bill's family with the old folks.
Bob's family...ditto.
Chad's famly...
Jake's family...
Mary's family...
Tom's family...
JWE and NFE with children.
The whole fam damily that could be here Saturday morning. Again, many thanks to all!
A.JPG)
