Spring Fun

Another surgery behind me........."cancer free".....??????? But that was what I was told before. Not that I am negative about the whole thing, I am quite the opposite actually. I am feeling so much better and have quite a wonderful last couple of weeks. Easter Sunday was spent with my beautiful family, laughter and a fantastic brunch prepared by MeMa, the perfect diversion the day before surgery. All that is out of the way, life's returned to normal. MeMa and I decided we needed a little fun so we headed to the coast. It was also the day that my surgeon would call with results on the biopsy. First stop was in Salem for a hearty breakfast at the Pancake House and lots of coffee. Then on to our first casino. My surgeon removed three tumors but there was a suspicious area that he biopsied. While at the casino we received the call telling us that the results of the biopsy say no sign of cancer. With that news MeMa said, "Let's go for a walk on the beach." So out of smokey casino air and out into the fresh salt air.

Selfie

A new light was on the day ahead of us, we jumped into the car and headed inland to get lunch and another casino. We dined at McMenamins "Hotel Oregon" in the town of  McMinnville. We recently purchased McMenamins "Passports." The object of the passport is when visiting a McMemamins establishment, you receive a stamp on the dedicated page for that particular restaurant or bar (Hotel Oregon has six). When we received our first five we were given a mission to find a painting of the hotel's resident ghost blowing smoke. The hotel is ancient and its many floors have winding halls and hundreds of paintings and posters everywhere. We found the painting on the third floor down a very narrow passageway, took the required photo with our cell phone and returned to the main lobby  where we received our last stamp and each received a free gift.

John the resident ghost

There are many McMenamins establishments all over Oregon and Washington states and all are in historic buildings purchased and decorated by the McMenamin brothers. We both did well at the casino's, did some shopping at the outlet mall but I think the most fun was at lunch and completing that first page in our passports.
Then it was back to Portland and home where the sun was shining and the garden vibrant with spring growth and color. One of the newest additions to the garden is a yellow flowering Magnolia called Sunburst, not only a beautiful yellow but very fragrant as well.

Sunburst