Day 9 and thereafter

Once Joey's graduation was over things got a bit quieter. We went altogether to Legoland, the San Diego Zoo, some of us visited Midway air carrier, museums, did a sea kayak tour with some incredible snorkeling with sea lions and Jeremy was on a surf camp. Joey and Lola got sucked by their computers also, again. By the end of the week
Jeremy was very confident on the surf. I also met my climbing buddy Eric.

All went very fast and now I'm packing to fly tomorrow

I wish I could stay a bit longer and surf a few more waves. I got 3 good sessions, but it gets addictive!

The last pictures below show the amazing contrast between the cloudy seashore and the sunny inland just a few hundred yards away!!

Day 7 and 8

The official ceremony day is this Friday. By noon everything is over and Joey comes home. He spends the whole afternoon telling us stories. He awaited for so long this day.
The next day, Saturday, we go get him a cell phone: that helps him to get back to normalcy.
Then we spend the rest of the day with our friends that came for Joey's celebration: Ken, Jen, Brian and Amy. It is such a pleasure to see these good old friends!

Day 6 and 7

Nothing exciting today.
After a lazy morning at the hotel we fly to Los Angeles and then drive to San Diego. Lots of traffic, 10 lanes highways, cars and pick up trucks and electric cars, you name it. This is California! And then the nice old neighborhood where our rental is. Wonderful. Just 15min walking distance to the beach, lots of surfing going on. We'll enjoy it I'm sure.

Next morning we go to the Marines center. Soon we get the first sight of Joey. Wow, he is definitely buffer now. We have to go through more presentations though before we actually meet him. His platoon comes out again but they are all dressed up this time. A big rush of emotions go on. 20 years ago I was holding him, his head on my hand and the rest of his body laying down on my forearm. Now he could probably do the same with me.

 After the reunion pictures we spend the whole afternoon together. He has so many things to tell. Bottom line: he is happy. Not a single complaint, he's all into it. Good. Very good.

By 17:30 he goes back to the barracks, tomorrow is show day and then he has a 10 day break with us.

Back at our rental I gear up to go run. We're just a few minutes from the beach and it feels good to run so close to the water on the sand. Joey has found its path.

Day 5

Same day as yesterday. Winds are a bit stronger though and by 5pm it really picked up. Wow, what a nice way to finish our 2 days at the Gorge! Lola keeps saying she wants to learn now. Wow! I need to find a way to teach her!
Windsurfer numbers have been decreasing the past few years and kitesurf has become more and more popular thanks to its several advantages: easier to learn, needs less wind, everything fits in a backpack, etc.
We need to bring more people back to windsurfing!
The picture below is Jeremy dancing by the Columbia River. This was an amazing sight for me. I was still on the water when I saw Jeremy dancing. For me he was simply throwing back the energy of the moment. We had been waiting for the wind to pick up the whole afternoon and when it did several windsurfers went to the water and just had fun. Jeremy felt the happiness and excitement going on so he started to dance. It made me to stay longer on the water!!

Muriel is flying back from Hartford this evening so we get to Portland's airport by 7:30pm to pick her up. Tomorrow we fly to San Diego for Joey's graduation. We've been camping for the past 3 days, this Hilton Suite sure is cozy!

Day 4

My windsurfing and climbing buddy Marc is actually here in Hood River. He has been flying from Arizona and stay here for 2 weeks every year for the past 5 years. We used to drive from Arizona, every year, the 3 of us with Craig, but now Craig isn't windsurfing anymore so Marc flies and rents the gear here. We meet at the windsurfing rental shop and go to Swell City. The Columbia River narrows at some spots and the current accelerates. The strong wind blows the opposite way; the combination of both the current and the wind makes for quite big swells. When the wind gets strong this place becomes one of the best windsurfing places on earth!

The hot spell we are having is shutting down the strong winds though. We have a nice morning and evening session but we are on big sails and boards, 95l board and 5.3m2 sail for me. A tad bigger for Marc. It feels good to be here and both Lola and Jeremy enjoy it too. Lola takes pictures and listens to Marc's hard rock music while Jeremy walks around playing with the dogs or the water. Cool. I also had forgotten how forthcoming Americans are. Conversations start easily and it's always very friendly. We catch up with Marc and finish our day at a local pizzeria. I also had forgotten how bad the food can be...

Day 3

Family hiking day. We managed to leave camp and be on the road around 9am but the challenge was to find the trailhead. Thanks to the GPS and an old topo map we managed to start but it didn't feel right: we were the only ones around and the description didn't match. Oh well, we were just enjoying the forest, the blueberries and let's see how far we can go!
The Bras-Jorge team ended up by going a bit further while the Furrows went back to camp and then home.
The trail we were on was actually the old Vista Ridge Trail and it doesn't even connect to the current one! The trail ended on a view point, owls point. Ok. Beware of old topo maps!
There were some great views on Mount Hood though and it was a perfect trail length, 6 miles.

Now down to Hood River. A surprising 101F welcomed us there. Ouch. We could have stayed higher up by Mount Hood! Anyway, we needed a shower and I knew exactly where to go with my troopers for a deluxe camping experience: Viento State Park. I came here each year during 5 years for my windsurfing outings, several years ago though!
I'm back now! It feels so good!
We finish our day relaxing by the Columbia River and eating big and delicious blackberries!

Day 2

 Thanks to the jetlag we're not too tired this morning. The flight from Seattle to Portland was on a turboprop Bombardier and soon after take off we were above the clouds admiring the old volcanos summits: Mount Rainier first, then St Helens, Mount Adam thereafter and Mount Hood before landing. Everybody enjoyed the flight, it was a good introduction to the Northwest with its peaks. As soon as we had the car we headed to Trader Joes in Portland. What a blast to be in this store after 5 years. We probably bought too much stuff but Lola and I were so emotional about being in this store. Look! The chocolate chip cookies! Look! The blue corn tortilla chips! Look! And look and look! With the trunk full of groceries we leave Portland to Government Camp to meet our friend John and his family. On the way the jetlag kicks in. We are a couple of hours ahead so I start to search for a back road for a nap. We get lucky: we end up on a beautiful fishing farm with an idyllic setting: trees, mowed grass and all the gear to keep Jeremy busy. Even Lola gets into it. They get 3 trouts and I get my nap; deal! We have to give the trouts though, but everything is well organized here: it's a donation to the Salvation Army!

After this nice stop we head to Government Camp where we meet John and Timber and their 2 kids. It's quite something to see John again after all these years. From teaching windsurf on Baja California to climbing 14,000ft peaks in Colorado we have some good shared memories. It feels good. And the Indian Pale Ale beers are the cherry on the top!
By 4pm we are quite pooped though. We drive to the nice camping spot they set enjoy the beautiful surroundings, plenty of gigantic Lodge Pole Pines, and crash to the sleeping bags right after sunset!