Reunion and Trip to the Coast

The summer of my 16th birthday, I had the opportunity to do a private exchange with Claire, from France. Her uncle worked for Caterpillar in Europe, the same company my dad worked for in Illinois. Through a mutual acquaintance, we worked out an exchange. Claire spent a month with my family in Morton, and then I returned to France with her to spend a month with her family. The following summer she came back to America and the summer after that I went back to France. In 1996 she was back in the states with her sister and was able to come to our wedding...but that was 21 years ago and I haven't seen her since. Until this week. She brought her husband (Franck) and two kids (Marine - age 12 and Quentin - age 9) to visit.

Unfortunately we are having record breaking heat in these parts and the smoke from wildfires has made Mt. Hood disappear. But we made the best of it. On Wednesday we headed to the coast...