Anniversary Surprises Part II and Major Catch up Post

A lot of time has passed since my last post... and a lot of things have happened.  I will start where I promised.

Sam's surprise:

I knew it was almost certainly going to be a hike or a backpacking trip.  Originally Sam had requested that we leave at 2pm, but the nasty weather had him reconsider his plan.  We left the next day, drove for about 3 hours and ended up at Three Fingered Jack!  It was a LOVELY day, and the hike was fabulous.  Sam packed all our favorite munchies.  He picked this hike because we had actually hiked it on our honeymoon the year before.  This time though (its a loop) we went the opposite way on the trail.  Thousands of beargrass were majorly in bloom (each plant only blooms every other year) giving the whole scene a very different appearance.

             

Major highlights of the remainder of summer:
1) I had the privilege to attend Luke and Jerusha's wedding.  Luke was a groomsman at our wedding.  It was truly a beautiful day! Congratulations!

2) We hiked South Sister (another weather delay caused us to go a week later than initially planned) It was difficult, but not nearly as hard as I expected.  To compare: I did a 25 mile bike ride earlier in the summer and the bike ride was more difficult during the event, but South Sister was more painful afterward.  It was SO worth it though.  I loved the whole experience.

At the top of South Sister

3) Another wonderful friend, Tommy, got married in Dallas.  I was again able to attend. Yay! Unfortunately it appears I don't have any pictures of this happy event.

4) We hiked Jefferson Park.  Last year we hiked the park at about the same time and saw amazing displays of wildflowers.  This year was hotter, so it appeared that we missed the peak season for wildflowers.  The hike was still rather enjoyable but for some reason both years my legs strongly protested this hike (despite the fact it is a LOT easier than South Sister)

5) Just a few weeks before our scheduled departure to Britain, Lucille (our wonderful red car) developed problems with the clutch and timing belt that would cost more than she was worth.  Couldn't have been better timed though.  We sold the car to our mechanic who has intentions to fix and sell Lucille, and we know that somewhere around Salem she lives on.

6) We mashed, crammed, stuffed, vacuumed and squished and sometimes quietly cussed our too many possessions into our too few bags and headed to England.  I still have no idea how Sam and mom managed to fit the violin in our bag, because no amount of coaxing or bribery would convince it to come back out.  Sam magicked it out when I wasn't looking.  It arrived all in one piece and in very good condition.  We may owe Aunt Barb a new case for it though as its better days certainly occurred before a flight to England.  The two weeks before departure were certainly a highlight as we saw LOTS of friends, saw every family member possible, and managed to go out to the beach in Florence before we left.