Fish Fry at the Orick Volunteer Fire Department

We attended the fish fry tonight at the little community just north of us.  The volunteer Fire Department had the Fish Fry, Auction and Silent Auction as a fundraiser.  It was fun hanging out at the community center.  One lady's yeast rolls sold for $25/dozen.  There was a couple of cords of firewood that sold for $400.  The one we liked best was the $100 gas certificate that sold for $150. I also was tempted by the laundry basket filled with 12 jars of home canned pickles but the price went too high for me.  One of the jars had one huge cucumber in it.  Very Different!  The auctioneer was sooooo funny.  He assured the crowd that the cord of wood was cut from the last old growth redwood tree (wink, wink).  There were 4 huge fresh salmon fillets, probably about 30 pounds of fish, that went for $100. The auctioneer said it was also the last salmon in the river:-) That would have been a heck of a BBQ.  We were really sad that we dropped out of the bidding for a hand carved eagle after it went to $100.  It was beautiful.  We did not know we should have taken more cash with us!

Corner Bookmark

corner bookmark

My latest card in papercrafting ... a corner bookmark. So fun and simple.  I got the pattern from http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/.  This is a great website for the crafter/stamper. Enjoy!

Gotcha Day!

Lumara Rose Elizabeth Hammond

Today is Gotcha Day for our family.  We celebrate the day we adopted our children.  The boys came to us on August 14 when they were 4 years old.  Lumara came to us the same week a few years later when she was almost 6.  The boys were 30 in June and Lumara will be 28 in October.  It was exciting to get the news that we were going to be parents.  They have been such a joy (most of the time...lol).  Thank you for being our children.  We love you very much. We are wishing you a wonderful life.

Stephen Blane & Leland Douglas Hammond
This is the house we lived at in Albany, OR when we adopted the kids
We have a picture of the boys in front of the same tree when they were four

Shopping in VA and the National Museum of American History

Hillary's and Laura's gowns

Civil War Cannon

I started my day with a great breakfast with Angela, Joyce (her mom), and Carrac (her 14 year old cousin). There is the cutest store in Fredericksburg, VA, The Cats Closet.  It is filled with clothing, toys, cups, pictures, notepads, socks, cat treats and much more and is all cat related in design. If you continue 2 blocks away you arrive at Dog Krazy and find pretty much everything you need if you are a dog lover. It was such fun and the quaintness of the old town area is wonderful. Angela brought me back to DC and dropped me off at the Museum of American History where I met up with Carolyn.  We had a whirlwind tour of our must-sees, The First Lady Inaugural Gowns, Dorthy's Ruby Slippers, Archie Bunker's Chair, Julia Child's Kitchen.  Feeling a little shallow, we toured the Civil War display for good measure.  Then on to dinner at a restaurant near our hotel called Asian Spice.  The restaurant was noted as Best in DC for 2010 and we concur, food was great and our Pear Saketini was to die for.

Pear Saketini "Cheers"

Friday

National Cathedral in Washington, DC
Third Largest in the World

Carolyn still has classes until 3 pm today so I have made plans to spend the day and night with my friend, Angela, in Fredericksburg, VA.  Carolyn plans to visit the National Cathedral this afternoon with some other conference gals.  I, on the other hand, will be traveling down to Virginia and doing some fun shopping tomorrow in a quaint old town.

DC in Six Hours

Carrie & Carolyn at Lincoln Memorial

Carolyn and I only have a few hours to fit in as much as possible.  What to do, what to see, how to do this?  We checked in with the greatest concierge, Nichole.  She hooked us up with tickets on the Old Town Trolley Tours of Washington DC.  We actually got a special and our tickets were good for 2 days for the price of one and the tour allows you to disembark and get back on all day long.  We started out on the Orange Line and cruised by many of the sights along with entertaining commentary and eventually arrived at the Lincoln Memorial.  This was a great place to disembark.  We were able to see both the Vietnam and Koren War Memorial. Words fail at the enormity of the sacrifice of our soldiers.  The phrase "Freedom is not Free" says it all.

We continued by Union Station and various buildings, museums, monuments, memorials, and statues. (Note to self...see the Spy Museum at first opportunity)  We returned back to the main trolley station and jumped on the Green Line and zoomed past the National Cathedral, Georgetown and Embassy Row. It was such a lovely and interesting drive.

And now you know how to see Washington DC in Six Hours.

Washington DC or bust

The Capitol.

So I get this e-mail last month from my sister...she said "I have a conference with a room, if you would like to go it will only cost you a plane ticket".  Of course, I bought a ticket and flew to DC. I even came a little early and stayed Tuesday and Wednesday with my dear friend, Liz Crunkilton. Liz kindly drove me to Dulles to pick up Carolyn and dropped us off at a great hotel, the Renaissance Washington DC Downtown Hotel.  It is lovely.