Mark Halliday Travel Log: Texas - Oregon

TEXAS - OREGON - WASHINGTON - 2001

CATHERINE'S SURPRISE 40th BIRTHDAY PARTY

Maria organized a surprise birthday party for Catherine.

But Catherine saw all the cars out front, and wasn't surprised.....

Being an actress, she had to go outside and do it again:

TAKE TWO:

THE SURPRISED LOOK

MAX the Dancing Dog

MARIA the Spider Woman

MOM and DAD's SPRING VISIT

SAN ANTONIO - CORPUS CHRISTI

MISSION ESPADA

JUST SOUTH OF SAN ANTONIO

WILDFLOWERS NEAR ROCKPORT

DAD ADJUSTS TURBINE STEAM FLOW ABOARD

USS LEXINGTON

AIRCRAFT CARRIER NEAR CORPUS CHRISTI

WILDFLOWER HUNTERS IN ACTION

ALONG TEXAS HIGHWAYS

ARANSAS PASS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

PRO BIRDERS SPOT

THREE WHOOPING CRANES

GATOR

PIG

SAND CASTLE CONTEST

PORT ARANSAS

NORTH PADRE

NATIONAL SEASHORE

FISH AND SHRIMP DINNER

AT CORPUS CHRISTI BRIDGE

Goliad, Texas:

Oldest Spanish Presidio in the USA.

SITE OF MASSSACRE IN WHICH ALMOST

TWICE AS MANY TEXANS WERE KILLED

AS AT THE ALAMO

OREGON -WASHINGTON

AUGUST 2001

FAMILY HISTORY TOUR - SKAGIT RIVER VALLEY

Mom, Karen, and I took a trip from Oregon up to the Skagit River valley in Northwest Washington.

This is where our German ancestors homesteaded many generations ago.

Going North from Portland on I-5,

we crossed the Tacoma Narrows bridge.

We visited the the Undersea Warfare Museum near Bremerton.

Then on to a hotel in Poulsbo, near Bainbridge Island.

My cousin Jody Dameron met us there,

I had not seen him in many years.

He showed us Port Madison, where another relative worked in a timber mill long ago.

We had a nice Mexican dinner, and soaked in the hotel hot tub.

Fort Worden State Park, near Port Townsend.

A WW-2 fortification guarding the entrance to Puget Sound and Seattle.

Washington State Ferry from Port Townsend to Keystone.

We crossed Deception Pass, then on past Anacortes.

Next stop was the Skagit County Museum in La Conner.

Sedro Woolley, near Mt. Vernon.

We found the house where Mom's grandparents lived.

Nearby was the little store where Mom used to go get a candy bar when grandma gave her a few pennies...

Skagit River Valley with logged slopes

Ed Pressentin at his house near Concrete.

The next day Karen and I drove up to the end of the road below Cascade Pass.

Mom had maps that showed where the original family homestead was located at a bend along the Skagit River

The location is now part of Raser State Park

Mom remembers it was

at the back of this meadow

where the original cabin was located.

The nearby town of Concrete is interesting!

The fire station has a map of the upper Skagit Valley.

This town produced a majority of the cement used to build Grand Coulee Dam.

It burned down at some point, and a law was passed that structures had to be built only with concrete!

Concrete

Main Street

That evening we stayed at a hotel near Everett, and visited another relative while enjoying pizza in the room!

The next morning we toured the Boeing plant where the 747, 767, and 777 are made. The largest factory in the world, but no photos allowed.

Then we dropped Karen off at SEA-TAC for a flight to Utah.

Mom and I drove to Olympia for a tour

of the Washington State Capitol building.

The bronze of GW has a very shiny nose

because the guides tell everyone it is good luck to touch it!

The Capitol building was severely cracked in many places due to a recent earthquake.

The main Rotunda has this huge Tiffany lamp;

every ten years or so they build a huge scaffold inside

to clean it and change out the light bulbs.

Then we drove home to Salem, Oregon.

VOLCANO TOUR, SOUTH CENTRAL OREGON

NEWBERRY CRATER NATIONAL MONUMENT

I then went exploring for a few days to parts of Oregon I had missed.

Newberry Crater is located south of Bend, and is the newest National Monument in the country.

I drove East on dirt roads from the park, visited some Ice Caves, ans stayed overnight at Chemult.

CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK

In the morning, I passed the North Enterance to Crater Lake

and drove up to the hotel on the west rim.

I asked about the boat cruise, but it was sold out.

So I drove all the way

around the Lake.

This is a view of Spirit Island.

THE PINNACLES

On the south rim a road leads to the Pinnacles.

This unusual rock formation was caused after an eruption covered an already active area with volcanic material.

Fumaroles worked their way to the surface, leaving tall thin pipes of hardened material.

They were exposed later as the softer volcanic material was eroded.

I met Chris and Yvonne Merkle at Union Creek, just on the west side of the National Park. Chris is a good friend that I went to Willamette University in Salem with from 1970 to 1974. He now works for the Shakespeare Festival as a graphics designer.

We hiked along the Rogue River for a few miles, and then went to their house in Ashland.

PRESSENTIN FAMILY REUNION PICNIC

SAMISH ISLAND, WASHINGTON

SUNDAY AUGUST 12, 2001

Every few years there has been a picnic in Washington, where descendents of the Pressentin family gather.

This year was bigger than usual, and a number of people were coming from Germany.

Mom and I drove south of Seattle on Saturday and stayed overnight.

On the way we met another of my college friends, Peter Donohoe.

We went out for a fine spicy Chinese meal.

The next morning we picked Karen up at Sea-Tac,

and drove to Samish Island, near Anacortes.

The house of

Lea Von Pressentin,

who hosted the family reunion.

Everyone brought some food,

these berries were great!

Mom prepared printouts of the family tree going back over 800 years,

and displayed them over the fireplace.

Above the fireplace are family Crest versions that evolved over the years.

Some of the relatives from Germany

showed off their family rings

Chris gave a lecture on the evolution of family crests.

Karen and Noel Bourasaw

checking some of the genealogy information.