A gamblin' we go, the rest of the story!

You can read about the first part of our gambling trip here, which includes a photo of a car in a tree, for real and on purpose.

We left the casino with plenty of daylight, so we took a bit of an alternate route home, Harmony Road, sort of northwest off Highway 22. Before long we came upon several photo-worthy sights.


Seeing the barn, I thought, "Oh, I need to get a photo of that one! Where can I pull over? Where? Oh, there!"


Right past the barn's fence, I noticed a graveyard, then a little white church, and a flat driveway into a small, leaf-covered parking area Harmony Cemetery at Union Baptist Church.


The wooden sign leans against the front porch.


The cemetery.


As I walked around for a little while, I didn't see any glass jars at the tombstones.


You can see the barn in the distance, past the church and the cemetery.


Across Harmony Road.


Around the curve after the church, I noticed another arresting sight out the passenger side of the windshield. "What's that? A dog statue? Huh?" I pulled off at a safe spot, got out and walked back to take a look and a couple of photos.


Have you ever seen anything like this?


Not too many miles later we had turned right onto Highway 18 and soon arrived out the Dairy Queen in Sheridan, Oregon. Actually, it's not in the center of town--we've never seen Sheridan itself, but we've stopped here practically every gamblin' trip--we get a four-piece chicken strip box with fries and a piece of toast; we share it for cheap eats.

From Sheridan we continued on 18 until we came to 99W. We followed it until it became Barbur Blvd. which we took into downtown Portland and then home. Luckily we found a close enough parking spot that Mama could walk to the apartment using her walker. All in all, a fine outing.

Friday, August 1, 2008 - Tricycle with Handle

Gee, do I wish I'd come up with this idea! Mama and I were over at the Dairy Queen on SE Division, near 56th, a few weeks ago. Remember when we had to buy a battery for the Buick? We ended up eating supper at the DQ. A daddy and his little boy stopped at the curb, waiting to cross Division so that they could come to the DQ. That's when I noticed the daddy had his hand on a handle attached to the back of his little boy's tricycle which meant no tired, aching back for that dad. I just had to ask the daddy, "Did you make that yourself?" "No," he replied. "My parents got it at a Western Auto." Western Auto! How cool is that? I can remember walking by the store in downtown Clinton, Mississippi, and seeing the wagons, bicycles and tricycles in the window, just in time for Christmas.

Have you ever seen a trike like this?

Friday, July 11, 2008 ... Bicycle Parking on SE Belmont

Mama, Duncan and I went on a sort of field trip in the Buick Tuesday after work. After Lamont and Lindsay got the thing to start--they kept it attached to her Honda for almost half an hour before trying to turn it over--I knew we needed to drive it for a while. I circled the block and picked up Mama and Duncan, with the kids help getting the two of them downstairs and quickly walking Duncan. Then, we were off, cruising here and there after we crossed the Willamette River. I don't mean to give you the wrong idea, though, because we had a goal in mind, the Battery Exchange at SE 20th and Belmont where we planned to get the battery checked and/or buy a new one. Long story short, checked, bad cell, new one installed. Then, we off again, with the A/C on this time, a change of circumstances that Duncan especially appreciated.

On the way from there to our next goal, the Dairy Queen on SE Division, I spied two sets of this unique bicycle parking. I quickly picked up the camera, pointed and clicked--the traffic hardly moved, so I felt safe in doing this, realizing that I might have a photo of a curb or a wall or a post. You see the cropped photo above, and the original photo below.

Flat Stanley visits the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, Oct. 14

Miss Edna, Flat Stanley and I headed for McMinnville because I figured that the little guy would love visiting the airplanes and helicopters. I know I've been wanting to see that huge wooden airplane, the Spruce Goose, the one that Howard Hughes designed and had built. McMinnville is only an hour from Portland by Buick.



Flat Stanley had heard Miss Edna and me talking about the Dairy Queen in Newberg where we've enjoyed a milkshake or two. As we neared it he asked, "Could we stop for an ice cream cone, please?" I like a young man with good manners! All he wanted was that ice cream cone--it's big enough to satisfy a crowd of people! Mama and I got the four chicken stips meal to share.





"Look! Look!" Flat Stanley hollered, excited at what he could see from the highway as we approached the turn off for the the museum. Colorful hot air balloons! As we got closer, I realized they were teathered and that a small crowd had gathered no doubt waiting for their turn in the basket.

We were thrilled to see this kind of aircraft, so to speak, which made us even more excited about touring the museum. Unfortunately, the museum was closed for a private party, preventing our entering it. We did have fun outside, though.



First we spent a moment of silence at this memorial, right out front of the museum. I was happy that Flat Stanley wanted his photo beside it so that everyone could read what it says.



Flat Stanley decided this was close enough to get to the camo-jet on display outside the museum building that houses the Spruce Goose.



On the opposite side of the entrance to the museum, Flat Stanley poses in front of a plane that sports a pin-up girl on its nose. When we visited the museum's Web site later on, we found out that soldiers sometimes called planes like this one Gooney Birds or Goonies. "That's funny!" Flat Stanley said. I asked him if he'd seen that movie "Goonies," and he told me that he liked it a lot. (Maybe we'll get to go over to the Cannon Beach so we can show him that great big rock that's in the movie. Folks affectionately call it the Gooney Rock; it's official name is Haystack Rock. We'll see how it goes with time and the weather--sometimes the roads can be bad between here and the coast in the winter. The possibility of a visit is a secret, so don't tell the little guy if you see him, OK?)



We found this sign in the ground beside plane.



Out in front on the plane, there's a small sitting area with this sign in it. Flat Stanley wondered about having the benches and the picnic table there in the little garden. I explained that many of the visitors to the museum would be veterans of different wars, some of them getting on up their in years. Those folks would appreciate having a bench to sit on while thinking back to their days in uniform. "I bet families with kids would like that picnic table," he told me, "because they could sit down and eat something before they go inside the museum." He's a smart kid, isn't he?





Around to the side of the parking lot between this building and a new one being built, there's a fenced area. Flat Stanley decided to stay in the car to take a look at this Navy helicopter. Miss Edna made sure he didn't fall out onto the pavement.



At the back of the main museum building, Flat Stanley spied this plane. We didn't know what it was, but he wanted his photo beside it anyway.



Then we walked to the front of the plane for a photo and found out that the plane is a MIG. Can you see it in the orange circle? "I like the paint on this plane," Flat Stanley said. "I bet it's blue on the bottom and camo of the top to make it hard to see from anywhere at all. What do you think?" he asked me. I had to agree with him. "I'm proud of you for noticing that," I told him as we drove away from the museum. "We'll come back for another visit soon," I promised.

You can see that Oct. 28 visit at Portland (OR) Daily Photo. You won't want to miss it because the little guy had a blast--got to meet some "movie star" types even!