Two Special Surprises

We recently visited Sean and Anna at their home in Portland. What a fun time we had, all crammed into three and a half days! Here is a partial list of the wonderful experiences we had there, not in any particular order:

1. Eating Anna's cooking--yumm

2. Walking in their neighborhood--so unique--no zoning there? You can walk by residences; small restaurants; coffee shops; industrial buildings; a railroad track; small, manicured front-yards with colorful flowers, vegetable gardens, or hens in a coop under the front porch; old historical homes; a "city flower garden;" antique shops; even a hat museum; all mixed up within an easy walking distance of their house! What fun is that?!

3. Visiting the hat museum - who would think that hats could be so interesting, even to Walter? We learned so much from the lady who took us through this historical house full of all kinds of hats! We learned about how felt was made, and why hatters became known as "mad hatters." She mentioned that this is the only hat museum in the country, by the way.

4. Just exploring Anna's house is a pleasure to me, seeing how she decorates and taking pictures of some of the pictures on her walls!

5. And, of course, she took us to her art studio downtown, where she works. There are samples of her artwork all over her walls. (You can see samples at her website: http://www.annamagruder.com/.)

6. A visit to an art gallery where her works were on display

7. An overnight visit to the coast - sampled cheese at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, walked in the rain on Cannon Beach at low tide, stayed in a quaint little motel room

8. Junk shoppping at antique shops and thrift stores

9. Enjoying Anna and Sean - Sean has been climbing the walls--oh, I mean rock climbing--as well as his bicycle riding.

10. Meeting old family friends, Abby Henry Kindrick and her husband Grant and son Miles! Abby is the daughter of our dear friends Dave and Sandra Henry. What fun for our Abby and Anna to end up living in the same town in Oregon! Anna arranged for us to eat together at a restaurant in town. What a sweet family they are!

And the two special surprises we weren't expecting:

1. Walking into an art gallery where the first thing I saw was a large painting of Anna's face done by a fellow artist!

2. Visiting Camp Magruder, a Methodist camp, on our way to Seaside - we walked in there and announced that we were the Magruders! I wouldn't doubt that the Frank Magruder after whom the camp is named is distantly related to Walter!