Fun With Our China Friends

Our Branch in China was made up of China Teachers from two universities in Qingdao and some Korean families.  We really developed great friendships as we took trips together, worked together in the Branch and enjoyed getting together. We had fun on Monday with the two couples that were at the other university, Ocean University.  Burton and Pat Shields live in Calgary, Canada.  We went and spent a few days with them the summer that we came home from China.  The other couple are the Blakes that we went to visit in Corvallis a few weeks ago.  

The Shields had decided to come for a little road trip and visit us and some other friends that live up the coast some.  They arrived on Sunday afternoon after General Conference was over and had dinner and we visited and just enjoyed chatting We thought it would be fun to get the six of us together somewhere between Corvallis and Eugene the next day and had found out about an old flour mill that is an Oregon State Heritage Park.  It was called Thompson Mill. 

"Thompson's Mills is a unique survivor of times past, chronicling 150 years of Oregon rural life and honoring the owners who adapted the mill to the changing world around it.  It is the oldest water-powered mill in the state and its turbines can be seen in action on guided tours. A water right that predates statehood produces the water flow that still runs the milling machines for demonstrations today."

It has been restored to the point that the turbines can be run, the water run through the mill race to run them and a lot of history of milling is shared.   They had a little demo where you could grind wheat between two stones, shake it through screens and make flour. Mike did the demo for us.  The lady was quite impressed that we all grind wheat and make our own bread sometimes.  

 This is a snapshot of the group out in front of the mill.  It isn't great of anyone but is a fun memory.  The lady in the front was a tour guide.  The mill is 5 stories high and the tour took about an hour. 

 When we left the mill we drove to a little town called Monroe that has a population of 680.  They have a little bakery/sandwich spot called "The Sweet Spot" where we enjoyed lunch and visiting.  
As we left there the rain began to really pour.  We had determined to visit a waterfall called Alsea Falls so we just kept going. 

Because there has been rain (surprise, surprise in Oregon) there was lots of water and it made it very pretty.  I got one last picture of the group before the Blakes went back north and the four of us came back to Eugene. 

We went to visit the Clock Museum where they bought a little clock and then we drove them out to Veneta and showed them our chapel and just a taste of how large the Ward boundaries are.  We drove past the log piles in Noti which are always impressive.  The Fern Ridge Reservoir has filled up with water now and it is so much prettier than the mud puddle we drove past every day for most of the time that we have been here.  

We came back and made sandwiches and cake and enjoyed talking about our mission and the mission that they completed in Africa since we've been home from China.  It was such a pleasant, comfortable time.