What a Grand Canyon

On Thursday evening after work, we flew to Phoenix, Arizona for the Outdoor Power Equipment Aftermarket Association (OPEAA) annual meeting. We came a little bit early as we wanted to go and see the Grand Canyon since we would be so close. We arrived late on Thursday and spent the night in Phoenix. On Friday, we arose early and took the four hour drive to the Grand Canyon. Wow, what a view. We spent the afternoon taking a three mile hike along the Canyon's edge. Dad had been there when he was 11 years old and Mom had never been. This had been one location that we had hoped to visit as a family when the kids were all young but it never happened. You will need to enjoy from these photos. It is truly the eighth wonder of the world. We stayed until after dark for the stars to come out. With it being so remote and dark, it was amazing how many stars there were in the sky.

The pictures don't really do it justice but here are some that we took. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long and over 6,000 feet deep at it's deepest spot.

We tried to upload some video's but it did not work. We will try again once we get home.
On Friday night we stayed in Flagstaff and then headed to Phoenix on Saturday morning. Dad had a Board meeting in the afternoon and a reception in the evening. The meeting goes until Tuesday. Dad is now the President of OPEAA! Woo Hoo!

Getting Caught Up

It has been quite a while since we posted a blog so it is time to get caught up!

Dad finished the family room entertainment area. The TV is on the wall and all of the wires are concealed. The home theatre is fully operational.

For Christmas, we were able to find a 9' tree for the living room and it fit perfectly. When we lived on Oakmont we (dad) always wanted a 12' tree for in front of the window. The new house has 9' ceilings so we made the plunge and bought the tree. It looked great!

For Thanksgiving, Grandma Marcell was able to come and visit. We had a very nice time. We visited the waterfalls in the Gorge, the Christmas lights at the Portland Raceway (you drive through them) and the Oregon coast. It rained a little while she was here but we were still able to get out and see the sights.

She was able to travel safely both ways. Linda and Loretta took her to the airport in KC and we picked her up at the gate in Portland. We are greatful she could visit.

We have retired our folding table we were using in the dining room and purchased a new and real dining room set.

For Christmas we did get to come back to KC. Mom came back early to take care of Grandpa Fisher and Wilma and dad came on Christmas Eve. We stayed at Nellie's first and then headed to Grandma Georgies for a day.

We had our annual tradition, the crab and shrimp feast. See Caleb and Camber's website for details. For some reason, we did not take any photos. I guess we left it up to Caleb.

For the first time since we moved to Portland, it snowed. Now, Caleb and Camber will laugh when they look at these photos but this is what we received and it basically shut the city down. There are many steep hills here and they do not sand or salt the roads.

And finally, a little over a week ago, we hiked to the top of the Gorge to a place called Angel's Rest. It was a grueling climb and we went up in elevation 800ft. We almost turned around but we made it and the view was fantastic. We hiked 4.6 miles that day and 2.3 was steep uphill.

The weather has been great recently. It is mostly sunny and clear, very unusual for this time of year. It is also warmer than usual.