Lovely, Lovely Water

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent several days in and around Vancouver, Wa. One day, the rest of the family was busy, so my Aunt and I decided to go to the coast for the day. Notice I said "coast" not"beach". Beach conjures up images of southern California style beaches and the beaches of northern Oregon and Washington are not the same. They tend to be a little wilder and less civilised than in So. Cal.

We had been to the coast in Oregon,in Astoria and Seaside, so we decided to tale I 5 up to Longview, Wa and get off on highway 4 and make our way to the coast. Now we had just come from drought plagued Utah, so even the views on the interstate were showing us bounteous amounts of water. In Utah, we'd gladly take even a quarter of the water this area has.

Highway 4 is a small 2 lane koad, very picturesque, that stays fairly close to the Columbia River. We did run into about 3 areas of road work. I guess summer's the same everywhere on that count. We must have missed a sign because soon we were away from the river, but we kept going as the signs still proclaimed Long Beach ahead and that was our destination.

Eventually, we saw more water, then a really lot of water! There were islands and somehow,it didn't quite look like the Columbia River. We pulled over to take some pictures and stretch our legs.I mentioned to my Aunt that I bet the water was salty. Later, after checking a map, we realised we had gone north and were at the bottom of a huge bay that actually is behind Long Beach.

We did make it to Long Beach, a kitzy little tourist town with lots of places to buy seashells, sea food and kites.(They have a kite festival there.) The beach is sand, quite hard packed, not ankle deep like SoCal beaches. My Aunt thought the ocean was dirty as the waves were rolling up lots of sand and seaweed. To me, it was beautiful! I love the sound of the waves and the calls of the sea birds. I really hated to leave.

We crossedthe bridge over to Astoria. It's quite a climb. I'd had to have to use it on an icy day. They have to have it high for the big ships that go up the river. We took highway 30 and went over the Longview bridge to go back to Vancouver.

I wonder if the people up there know how blessed with water they are. There were ferns next to the road growing thigh high and Queen Ann's Lace as high as my waist, plus larkspur and flowers I didn't have a name for. It was a wonderful trip that I was sorry yo see end!

Proud Grandmother

I went to Vancouver WA last week for my oldest grandchild's high school graduation. What a wonderful experience! My oldest Grandson and my Granddaughter attend Vancouver School of Arts and Acedemics or VSAA for short. To say I'm impressed with the school would be faint praise. This is a wonderful school....small class sizes.....personal teacher advocats for each student...a 7 year curriculum where students can start in 6th grade.....all this and it's public not private. Here in Utah, students would only get these advantages in a private school setting with expensive tuition. I was also impressed with the encouragement of diversity. Each student is encouraged to go with thier dreams. A very lofty goal.

My graduation was quite awhile ago, but I don't seem to remember it as being quite so raucus and joyful. Mine was nice, I remember a feeling of anticipation about going out in the "real" world, but these students seemed to bring a joy to the celebration, a confidence of their being capable of living their dreams, and there were many under classmen there cheering on the new graduates and plainly anticipating thier own glory in the future.

My Grandson played in his string quintet, He also gave a talk. He has some good comedic talent. I'm very proud of the young man he's become.

Another thing I approve, they save and raise money all year for an all night party for the graduates, no drugs,booze or crazy driving.They get transport from the school to a nice place, like a hotel where they have a variety of fun activities for the night with breakfast in the morning before returning to the school and home. I'm sure they all will have some wonderful memories!

Congratulations

As I may have mentioned before, my oldest Grandson is graduating in a little over a week. He was also chosen by his peers to be one of 3 speakers, a nice accomplishment. I talked to him on the phone recently, to make sure there will be space for my Aunt and I if we drive up. Fortunately, he did have extra tickets for us as I had made arrangements to take a couple of days off and my Aunt had reserved space for the dog in the kennal. We're looking forward to the trip, despite the high gas prices. We haven't seen my Son and his family for over a year and we both miss them.

I remember when my Grandson was a cute, chubby baby. He had a ready smile and giggled easily. Now he's a lean 6 footer, sometimes sullen, as teens can be, but still with a ready smile. I'm frequently amazed at the able young man he has grown to be. Of course, he still has growing to do, but that's true of most of us. I firmly believe, that growing is a lifetime thing, if you're lucky. If you don't grow, you stagnate. Though you are allowed some rest periods I guess.

I remember my own graduation. I felt like the world was spread out before me, like a banquet. Life is probably still that way, if we could just see it. It seems that we often let the everyday events of life take over and wear us down, but there's still a banquet out there if we'll just see it!






h