May 22 Returning Home

Matt and I woke up early and headed to the Pizza Place about 7:00 am. The owner invited us to come in before he usually opens, so we could have some breakfast before we head home. (Most of the places open at 8 or 9). Matt F. served us up a great breakfast and a fantastic cup of coffee.

Matt L. headed for Klamath Falls and I eased my way back to Portland over Mt. Hood.

I took this picture near the summit of Highway 26, near Government Camp.
Enough said for Oregon weather.

May 21 Fly Fishing on the Deschutes

Matt and I met in Maupin, Oregon Friday evening. Saturday we were in a class for fly fishing instruction and some fishing from 8:00 am to 7 pm. Tough duty. The class was taught by Deschutes Angler fly shop. Thanks Andrew, for all of your help on our casting and reading the water. It was great to only have 3 in the class.



We sampled food from most of the 5 restaurants in town. Great burger at Stone Bridge Pub and a terrific meatball sub at the local pizza place.


Friday, after 30 years, I made connections with an Army buddy that had moved to Maupin. We had a great visit and it was nice to reconnect. See you soon Howard and Kathy

Thanks Lee for the photo.

Mother's Day

David, Sherry, Rocky and Stella joined us for dinner.  Matt checked in via phone.

May 8 Cleaning up around the house

The treat of the day was sitting down with a pot of coffee, the paper and no place we needed to go. The bags unpacked, clothes washed and working in the garden. I was surprised that anything was still alive after in snowed last week. I love the seasons in Oregon, jumbled.

May 6 O-dark-thirty and home

The wake-up call came at 03:45, yes that is AM, for our 06:05. We gathered the luggage and headed for the motel shuttle. We arrived at 04:30 and Southwest didn't even open the baggage check in until 05:00, so much for hurrying to the airport for that two hour check in.


STL to DEN, then DEN to PDX and home. Nice to be sleeping in our own bed. Granted, time was a little confused after being three time zones during the trip.

May 5 Stops to St. Louis

We made a short stop to say goodbye and to thank Claude and Mildred for their hospitality. They are gems in God's crown.

On the way to the motel in St. Louis, we stopped to see Donnie Marie, Allison, Lanie and Campbell in Wentzville.
Wilma and Shirley were kind enough to entertain us with a fine dinner at Wilma's house in St Charles.

May 4 Finding Grandma

Earlier in the week I found out that grandmother Neary was not buried in Holy Name next to grandfather and her sister as it was penciled in the church records. After the initial shock, I made a few calls and found her buried with her second husband in Mt. Olivet. Hence a trip to find grandma. In the process, I also found the headstones for my grandfather Varney's two brothers. A very successful day tracking down relatives.

Nancy and I dined at Lula Belle's in Hannibal. I was informed by a very reliable source that this was one houses for sporting women. We had another great meal with lots of interesting decor.

We stopped by cousin Anita and Dick's for a visit and joined Claude and Mildred for dinner and time for a casual visit. I just love to hear Claude's flying stories.

May 3 Myth Busters

Nancy and I journeyed over to Quincy, Illinois to find out some information about my great grandfather and his brother. We checked the records and no sign of Theodore and John, bummer.....

We did have a good lunch at The Olive.

Nancy and I returned to Hannibal for dinner and a long visit with Steve, Kathy, Claude and Mildred at TJ's.

May 2

Phil, Linda, Carol, Nancy and I returned to Doug and Sue's for lunch. We joined Sue's son, two grandsons, plus Claude and Mildred, who drove down from Hannibal. After a delightful visit and pictures, the traveling Lanes were on the road to meet more cousins in St. Peter, MO.

We joined Wilma, Shirley, Donnie and Campbell for dinner at Olive Garden. Nancy and I dropped off Phil, Linda and Carol at the motel, so they could catch their flights home the next morning. Nancy and I headed back to Hannibal. The trip.

May Day ~~ Hannibal to Fulton

We toured the former town of Ilasco, Mark Twain Caves gift shop and Lover's Leap (group picture).

We had a nice lunch at Drake's before we headed to Fulton, Missouri to see Doug. Sue and Carol lead our two car caravan which was uneventful until.....we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express in Fulton ready to unload our bags and head to Sue and Doug's home, but someone at the Holiday Inn made a major screw-up and we ended up at the Comfort Inn about 8 miles away. We were not happy, but we ended up with two free nights and our points returned.

The disgruntled group, perked up with dinner at Sir Winston's. It was nice to visit with Doug and Sue.

April 30 Hannibal Tour and dinner

Cousin Claude Monroe narrated a tour around Hannibal to show us (Carol, Linda, Phil, Nancy and me) the different places where his mom and dad lived and worked around the town Mark Twain made famous. The trip down "Memory Lanes" was full of informative and funny stories related to each stop. Claude is the consummate story teller, with a keen eye for relevant details and finding the humorous side of events.

The visiting Lanes were treated to a great dinner at Steve and Kathy's home. Their daughter Steffani drove up from Southeast Missouri State University to join us. We were happy that their other two daughters and children, who live in the area, were also able to be there. We had a great time visiting with family and enjoying a fantastic meal together.

April 29 Hannibal, Mo

Hannibal is were we have some relatives.  My mom and dad met and married in Hannibal in 1945.  Our group has grown by one with the addition of CUZ Phil.  We are off to see some more cousins for dinner.

April 28 Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg is half way or 60 miles from both Washington, DC and Richmond, VA.  See map    Before the Civil War it was the center of commerce with boat traffic on the Rappahannock River, roads and railroads intersecting at this gentile southern town.  Control of the roads and railroads was important to both sides and both sides paid dearly to gain control of the town.  Four battles, 1st and 2nd battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and the Battle of the Wilderness we fought in and around Fredericksburg.  The town was in very bad shape and did not recover for over a 100 years. Fredericksburg is a very nice town to visit.  Of course we were hunting relatives on the Shepherd side of the family and hit a gold mine in the locale library.  There were a passel, dating back to the late 1700's.


Lunch ~ Fredericksburg     Sammy T's (find any other spot to eat)

Dinner at Red Hot & Blues  Great Bar-B-Que......  Yummy in my tummy.cksburg

Linda and Nancy on the hunt in Fredericksburg

April 27 Oak Hill Cemetery Georgetown in DC

Linda, Nancy and I went headstone hunting for some of Linda's relatives in the beautiful Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown.  We found a bundle of them scattered around two sections of the cemetery. 

Lunch at Clyde's in Georgetown.  Great food. We sat at the second table back in the picture.

Chapel at Oak Hill

April 25 & 26 Gettysburg

April 24 Escape from Washington

We followed the route of J.W. Boothe from the Ford's Theater to Garret's farm.  An all day bus ride with a guide talking the entire time..

Lincoln's police guard was next door having a drink. Boothe walked down the back isle of the balcony to Lincoln's box, opened the door, barred it from the inside and shot him.  Boothe slashed the arm of an Army major who was in the box and who tried to defend Lincoln from Boothe.  He jumped from Lincoln's box onto the stage and was off on horseback.


Happy 30th Birthday Matt and Jackie

April 23 Manassas or Bull Run

The Battle of First Manassas (First Bull Run)  was July 19, 1861
Battle of Second Manassas (Second Bull Run)  was in late August of 1862

The most dramatic thing about the Civil War battlefields, is that most were slight rolling "hills" about 6 to 12 feet high about 100 or more yards apart and  no other cover to speak of.  These large open field with soldiers advancing on foot sometimes over 500 yards in the open in frontal assaults.  The picture below shows a statue about 400 yards from the canon and the range of most of their rifles was at best was about 200 yards.  They wouldn't start running until they were about 200 or 300 yards.  It is a wonder that anyone survived these assaults.  Imagine running at this canon position with infantry on either side if it.

April 22 ~ George Washington Masonic Memorial ~ Fort Ward

George Washington Masonic Memorial - This magnificent building on a hill in Alexandria is privately funded through the contributions of Freemasons and others.  It is one of the sites described in the Dan Brown book, The Lost Symbol.  From the front steps you can see the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument. 

We went about 3 miles outside of Alexandria to Fort Ward, one of the last remaining forts used in the defense of Washington during the Civil War.  Nancy and I have great grandfathers who defended Washington at the end of the war.

Lunch - Char-broiled chicken and spinach burritos. We ate on the dock next to the Potomac.
 Beautiful day - great food!

Dinner - I cooked for Nancy, Carol and Linda.  Stir fried jumbo shrimp, carmelized onion in balsamic vinegar and fresh cut vegetables served over steamed rice.

April 21 Newseum Washington DC

We went to the News Museum (Newseum) in DC, just off of the Capitol Mall. It was very interesting to see all of the same news event covered from many papers around the country and world. One of the exhibits was the news coverage of Lincoln's assignation and how it helped find the conspirators. More information on Saturday. The Pulitzer prize photographs were the most compelling for me.

The most interesting part of the day was talking to a guy waiting to watch a news conference at the Newseum on a new telescope (Solar Dynamics Observatory) that is observing the sun. He was the nicest guy and he loved talking about the satellite. Ed finally told me he was an astrophysicist and he helped design the telescope.  Pretty incredible pictures that the satellite is sending back to earth. 

A forgettable lunch at the Newseum. 

An afternoon snack of homemade chili, jalapeno corn muffins and a super tasting porter at the Capitol Brewery.

Dinner- I pooched fresh tillapia fillets over lemon slices and covered with a light coating of mayonnaise.  Nancy and Carol filled out the menu with steamed broccoli and yellow baked potatoes.

April 20 Ball's Bluff and Antietam battlefields

Nancy and I started our day traveling to Ball's Bluff battlefield in Leesburg, Virginia. Nancy's  great grandfather fought in the battlle. The USA units were ravaged. 550 captured and 230 killed.

We traveled another 35 miles to Antietam to find where another great grandfather fought. It looks like his Ohio unit fought at the battle for control of the Burnside Bridge. The battle of Antietam was costly for both sides. One CSA unit lost 83% of their soldiers. A USA unit lost 2200 people in 20 minutes. I don't believe that the death ever leaves that ground.

Lunch was at the South Street Under restaurant  in Leesburg.  We tried carmelized onions in balsamic vinegar as a relish on our sandwiches.  Yum!

Dinner back in Leesburg at the Tuscarora Mill Restaurant (locals call it Tuskie's). Another great meal! Thanks for the tip, Jim and Darlene.