Ontario, OR-Day Two and Three

We discovered in planning for this trip that Scott has always thought Grandma had lived in Ontario, Canada during her high school years.  So a number of us learned some new things about Mom Hall because of this trip.

We had driven around the town a bit on Friday night as we looked for a place to eat dinner, but Saturday morning we headed out to find the farm and then the high school she attended.  Although the city had really changed Mom Hall had figured out the right directions after studying things out her hotel window.  I wasn't sure how that was possible when I looked out her window, but she was able to take us right where we wanted to go.

Gary was a great driver....he would go get the
motorhome and drive up to the hotel door
every time we were going and drop us off
when we got back.  Very handy if there was no
parking places...which really wasn't much of
a problem in Ontario, OR.

The county road Mom lived on.
This was the spot where she waited for the bus.

The countryside

Some of us walked along the road while they followed us.

The "swimming" ditch
I like to swim and I know my own mom
swam in such ditches in western Oregon,
but I am not sure I would be swimming in that water.

Vonette and Charon documenting moments, too.

Country mailboxes

This is the spot where the house was,
but this is a newer one.



 One of the fun things about being there is hearing the stories which she remembered as we walked around.  This lane which ran in front of her house led to a friend's home.  They had some mean geese so whenever she would go down that way she would try to remember to take a kitchen towel to shoo them away when they started to chase her.  I was so glad that Gary and Jena were there to hear these little stories, too.

Posing by the swimming ditch

Still raise cows in the pasture

Charon, Valerie, Vonette, Grandma Hall and Jena

 One of the great things about this trip was that Jena got to spend time with her aunts in a different way than ever before and she wasn't sharing them with other cousins or children.  She loved it.  She enjoyed the funny things that they did and the jokes that were shared.  They got to know her better as well.  It was fun to see her start laughing at them when they were being silly.  I don't think she knew how silly her aunts could be.  It was great. 

Yes, I was actually there, too.

Still farm land

Grandpa Hall loved John Deere tractors and I thought
of him when I saw this tractor in a field.

Vonette and Charon hid in the corn field.
It was amazing how quickly they could
be hidden in the thick stalks.

Valerie getting a close up of them peeking out of the corn.
Jena thought this was hilarious.

In our drive around town on Friday night, we saw this shop but it was closed so we headed back to it. I was hoping to find a nice picture of the nearby farmland but they really didn't have anything like I wanted.  However I did buy this shovel for my garden although I had forgotten that I had taken a picture of it until I uploaded the pictures to the blog today.

We also headed to her high school Saturday morning.  We pulled up and were amazed to see these two cars in the parking lot.  I believe that they were actually later 1950s models but they were in perfect condition complete with letterman jackets and a year book in the back seat.  Not sure why I took lots of pictures of the red car and not one complete picture of the black one but they were fun to look at up close.

 In turned out that the cars belonged to a couple of members of the Class of 1968 which was also having a reunion that weekend actually at the school.  So we were able to go into the building and walk the halls of where she went to school.  Things have been updated and added to and changed over the years, but some of the rooms were the same.  It was fun to talk to some of the people there who were from the area so they could tell us a bit about the changes to the school over the years. We couldn't have timed our visit there better.

Now I said this trip was perfect and that was almost true.  Gary and I had searched through the hotel information and the phone book to figure out some options for activities in the area for Saturday afternoon.  We had found some information about a Zipline course in nearby Idaho and we decided that would be a fun afternoon adventure.  We headed off following the directions in the phone book and on our phone.  It didn't look that far and actually wasn't as the crow flies, but in the small towns and byways of back hills Idaho, it turned out to be a bit longer of a ride than we expected.  It was a pretty drive, but after 7 hours on Friday and knowing we were heading back on Sunday, we weren't actually looking for more travel time in the motorhome.

The Snake River again

The first LDS Church we saw which was in a small
community in Idaho

 And we finally made it to Horseshoe Bend, Idaho and found the location for Zip Idaho...only to find out that we needed to make reservations and that they were full until 2:30 and they only had room for 3 at that time.  Oh, well....another reason to make a trip to Boise.  It looks like it would be fun. 

We were very hungry by then so Gary headed out a different direction to see if we could find a fast food place for lunch.  No luck so we finally stopped at a city park and had a picnic.  One advantage of a motor home---you can travel with more food than just a cooler.

A beautiful tree

A bridge across the little stream

Gary with his mom and sisters and Jena peeking out between the railing

And for some reason this city park like many in America
had a tank parked in it.  No one wanted to walk over and have
their picture taken with it.

Despite the' out of the way' and disappointing trip in the afternoon we made it back in town for everyone to get cleaned up and ready to walk Mom Hall over to her reunion.  Our hotel was just around the corner from the restaurant where the reunion was being held--Killian's. On our way down in the elevator a man and his wife got on also dressed for dinner.  However it wasn't until later Mom Hall discovered that he was also in her class and she had dated him.  Now at 78, he had a long ponytail down his back.  Neither one had recognized each other in the elevator. 

We walked her in and then headed off to run some errands and then went back and ate dinner at the same place and sat and talked until the reunion was over.  Both Gary and Valerie went and peeked in the room and saw that Mom was having a great time talking with her old friends.  She said that they had said that this was the last reunion as they were all getting too old for such things.  About 1/3 of the class was there, 1/3 not there, and the other 1/3 had passed away.  We were all very glad that she had decided to come and that we all had been able to come.

The last picture is some windmills along the freeway on the way home.  I had a migraine during the night on Saturday so I slept most of the way home in the upper bed of the motorhome.  It was a pleasant trip back.  Thanks to my mother-in-law and my sisters-in-law for all making the effort to come on this trip.  I am so glad I went and also that Gary and Jena were there to enjoy it as well....we will need to do it again next year (and of course I am already thinking of the possibilities!)