2017 East Coast Picnic, Portland ME
The 2017 East Coast Reunion went off as planned on the weekend of September 8-10. As you will see below, there was a nice turnout for this first reunion on the east coast. Duty Greene and son did not make it due to the hurricane that was about to hit Miami. He and his family all came through it in good shape. He wrote...
"Fortunately, all my immediate family here in Miami are well post Hurricane Irma, as are my extended family (on my wife's side) in the DR and Puerto Rico post-Hurricane Maria. It was a wild ride here in Miami on September 9-10, even though IRMA's center went west of us hitting Naples and Fort Myers -- Key West suffered the most destruction in Florida, while we m Miami suffered a lot of fallen trees and power lines from the high winds of up to 90 mph. Similarly to the destruction in Key West, Puerto Rico (where my sister-in-law and her family live) was devastated by MARIA. Fortunately, all family members n Puerto Rico are safe and accounted for, although still without electricity and running water. I'm hoping that they will come here soon.
From the messages I received from Rob and others, it sounds as if everyone had a great time at the reunion. I sincerely wish that I could have been there, especially given the storm that hit us here that Saturday night of the party."
Lanny Overson and Ema also did not make it due to very pressing business--he was in the process of selling his businesses in Minnesota and had to be there for the legalities.
Our hosts, Natalie West and Rob Sellin welcomed all of us into their home, where most of us stayed, on Friday night. We went to a very nice, down home German restaurant in Portland that evening.
On Saturday we took a morning walk along the cove where Rob and Natalie have their home and in the afternoon we went for a nice sail on the Wilhelm, the yacht that they have piloted around the world over the last several years.
Later that afternoon, we had a typical, wonderful Maine Lobster dinner on their back patio, with a view over the bay leading into Portland, with plenty of food and drink. The Joslyns and the Dubins, joined us for the sailing and the dinner--Dave and Jessie were Forestry Volunteers in the group after us. They also had just had a reunion in Chile in March, in Fruitillar, with their group.
On Sunday morning, Natalie made a wonderful brunch, with eggs, sweet rolls, various breads and spreads, cereals and all the trimmings. We were still full of talk and discussion and finally left after noon.
It was a wonderful, hugely successful celebration. We are all looking forward to the next one.
Below are some photos Carrol and I took over the weekend. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.
