Sailing Last Mango

12-17-16     We arrived in Eugene to sunshine and warmer temperatures, at least warmer than Illinois. Temps were near 45 degrees and it was great to see the sun. Unfortunately the weather didn’t last longer and before we knew it we were in witness to the worst ice storm in Eugene Oregon in 45 years. Sam and Nicole’s house faired well and we only lost power for a very short time. Two days went by filled with the sounds of trees falling and branches breaking. Many other throughout the area lost power for days. Looking down the street from Sam and Nicole's House. Close up view of a tree branch. Rose bush after the storm. Hard to believe they were mowing lawns yesterday. I'm loving the Yurt idea. They're Beautiful. Karen, Sam and I went Yurt shopping the at Pacific Yurts in Cottage Grove Oregon. We had been browsing yurts on the net and

2-9-16 Today started like most days recently, we awoke to snow flurries and typical Illinois December cold, however today is different. Today we start our trek out to Oregon for Christmas, we’ll see Sam and Nicole with Hannah soon to follow for the U of Iowa Christmas break. We’ve had this trip planned since August and have really been looking forward to the train ride out west and seeing the kids. If anyone had been following the blog last year you’d know that we traveled by train (Amtrak Empire Builder) out to the west coast last year and enjoyed it so much we chose to repeat the experience. Enjoying the observation car. My sister Cathy and brother in law, Brian was nice enough to pick us up from our new digs in Kingston IL. and drop us off at Metra’s Elgin National train station. Metra takes us to Union Station where we’ll board the train to Oregon. So far this trip I can tell you that Amtrak has built a new lounge (Metropoliton Lounge) in Union Station for custome