2026-09-13 Visit with friends, time in Boise, and back to Bend

Had a good time with Derek and Emma.  Helped clean out the garage, and store stuff back on shelves, as while Derek has been building his e-foil the garage has been unable to house the car.   

Car is back in the garage, and Emma's bike fits as well

We also had a good visit with Dean's mom, and a good visit with his brother Lee and wife Edie - sorry, forgot to take photos.

Left Boise on Tuesday, and drove to Trout Lake, Washington.  Nice sunny day with nice views of Mt. Hood and the Columbia River.

Mt. Hood and the Columbia River

 When we cruised with Derek in 2012 and 2013, we buddy boated with another boat who also had a son Derek's age.   Ross and Ashlyne, with their son Kyler on an Antares 44 was our buddy boat.  They put in a lot of work on an older cabin and property and now have a personal paradise with beautiful views of Mt. Adams from their property.

Ross and Ashlyne

It was great to catch up to them.   We only stayed a few hours, and then headed back to Bend.  It was another beautiful drive through the mountains.

A sailboat out on the Columbia River

Mt. Hood

It was a good thing we headed back to Bend, as earlier in the day Norm (Kris's dad) had his wallet stolen.   He did get a police report filed, and they have the culprit on video - but he made off with $1,300 Norm just won in a slot machine.

Kris got busy as soon as we arrived cancelling credit cards and such, and next day headed to bank to change account numbers as he had blank checks in his wallet as well as his Social Security card and photo ID.   Luckily they found his wallet hidden in a corner at the restaurant he was at the next day with money and blank checks gone.

Thursday we drove Norm over to the western side of the Cascades in Oregon to look at a couple of independent living facilities.  He is not ready to move, but we wanted him to start looking at possibilities.

It was a nice drive, and stopped for a bathroom break and had to go see the trees - which are fairly large.

Kris and Norm are standing at the base of the tree in the center of the photo

Same tree - a Douglass Fir up close.

Kris's sister Kay joined us for the tours of the independent living homes.  Had a nice lunch out as well.

Having a nice lunch

Of course on the drive back we had to stop for ice cream.  The Sno-Cap in Sisters Oregon has been in business at the same spot since 1952.   

Good ice cream.

We have started working on setting up a garage sale at Norm's, trying to get rid of a few more things, so will keep busy with that all next week and longer.