July and August in Chehalis

We had a surprise visit from our nephew Mat on July 4th and he dropped off our great nephew Jace for the day.  We had a great time with Jace around the campground.

Throughout the two months, we had various family and friends that were able to visit; Craig's family, good friends, Bob and Bobbie and my secretary from State Farm, Mike, Leanne and Olivia and her friend and a special couple from Graham.

The end of July we met our good friends from Estacada for four nights at Skamokawa Vista Point park.  It was very hazy and hot the entire week, but we were able to kayak and let their granddaughters try out the kayaks.

Kyrie in Kayak

Tali in Kayak

We then went to John and Lynn's campground and enjoyed a couple of days there visiting with their family and made our annual trip to Eola Hills Winery for brunch.

While in Salem, I visited with school friends, (picture below) as well as my first mentee and her new husband, did two family picnics one for my Mother's side of the family and one for the Larson side of the family and also was able to slip in a couple of wine tasting trips; Witness Tree and Bethel Winery.   We also did the monthly State Farm retiree lunch and spent the day with our dear friend Donna.  Craig and Donna did short motorcycle rides this year due to the heat and the haze.

Myself, Jackie, Gayle and Terri - Alice left before picture.

Jace, Mat and Cale 

We then went to Oregon Motorcoach in Eugene to get our annual maintenance work done.  While there we visited some wineries, enjoyed the Eugene river bike trail and watched the eclipse, 99.3 totality. We started our bike rides,  two different days at the Owen Rose Garden and that's where we also watched the eclipse.

Owen Rose garden

Cherry Tree in the Rose Garden

Wineries visited in Eugene:
First winery we went to was LaVelle Vineyards which was our favorite of the three.  Loved their Zinfandel and 2012 Red Blend.  The second winery we went to was Noble Estates Vineyard and Winery.  It was good and had a beautiful view, but a little more spendy for the value.

Abbelone Vineyard and Winery - not our favorite as they had mostly all white wines.  

We returned back to Chehalis on August 22 and as Craig was setting up the water, we had a little bird just waiting for the water to drip from the hose to drink and take a bath.

We were able to attend one preseason Seahawk game against the Kansas City Chiefs.  Beautiful evening and Seahawks won this game and all their preseason games.

Labor Day weekend was very busy and we were visiting friends and family from Friday through Tuesday, since we were leaving on Wednesday.  We especially enjoyed our day at Ike Kinswa State Park on Monday with nephew Mat and family, kayaking and visiting.

On Wednesday, we started heading on our "winter 9 month trip".