My Cousin Paul's Birthday
Watching people shoot rockets in southern Oregon

Watching people shoot rockets in southern Oregon.


SATURDAY - Watching people shoot model rockets

Saturday Paul and I ate lunch at ESPARZA'S®, a great Mexican Restaurant in Portland. Paul took a picture of me while at ESPARZA'S®. Rochelle had other things to do, so she did not join us. We then picked up 1 of Paul's friends and his son and drove down to southern Oregon to watch people shoot model rockets. Dad, Marc, and i used to shoot rockets when we were kids living in New Orleans in the early 1970s but gave it up after moving back to Lafayette in 1974.


Me waiting for my lunch at ESPARZA'S® Mexican restaurant

Me waiting for my lunch at ESPARZA'S® Mexican restaurant.


About a mile before we got to the launch site, we saw a sign for a donkey crossing. Yes, that's right; a donkey crossing. Unfortunately, the sign was in the shadow, so my pictures of the sign did not come out very clear. Maybe next year. A lot of these rockets were very well done. Here are some particularly impressive rockets we saw. The sky was clear blue, not a cloud in sight. Plus the wind was not blowing too strongly, so the weather was perfect for shooting rockets. We watched the rockets blast off for a couple of hours. It was great. We saw a couple of rockets drag race. We also saw some 2 stage rockets take off. Inevitably, we saw a couple of rockets fail to open their parachutes and crash to the ground. I took some pictures of the rockets taking off . I also recall that the government had set limits on how high the rockets could fly. Yes, even in these pre-9/11 days the federal government was clamping down on rocket flights.


A very heavily shadowed Donkey Crossing sign around Eugene, Oregon

A very heavily shadowed Donkey Crossing sign around Eugene, Oregon.


Paul builds his own rockets as well. I did not get a photo of his rockets this year. However, he has built some pretty impressive rockets.


Several people with their rockets in southern Oregon

Several people with their rockets in southern Oregon.


After returning to Paul and Rochelle's home, I recall we drove up to Mount Hood to see some hotel where the movie THE SHINING® was filmed. I recall Paul putting chains on the car tires and Taaka coming with us and loving the snow. I think we ate dinner up there.


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