Portage Reunion 2009

Every July, my Dad's side of the family holds the famous Harris Reunion in good old Portage, Utah. It is a very little town that truly does exist. Sometimes when I tell people about it, I wonder if they really believe me. So here's the proof...

Portage is a small town that was founded in 1867. There is a population of about 218 people but when we have our reunion we almost double that. There use to be a little store called Moe's that was just outside of the town, but Moe died and the store closed up. So now it looks like this (above picture). Someone painted part of it. It was all white.

Portage is about 5 minutes south of the Utah/Idaho border. Seriously if you blink you will miss it. It is a little clump of trees just west of the freeway. When you get off the freeway you take a llllooonnngg road into town. The top picture is driving into town (see the trees?). The bottom picture is heading back to the freeway. Funny both pictures look the same. Did I mention that it's in the middle of well nowhere?!

This is the white house my Grandpa Harris grew up in. There are 6 brother and sisters that grew up in this very small house. When it was first built, the right side of the house wasn't there. It was added on years later. It's very old!! Sometimes when I'm in the house I wonder if the floor is going to fall in. All the pictures and furniture are the same from when Grandpa was younger.

This is my Grandpa Norman Harris. He is 1 of 4 still alive from the Big 6.

We have family come from all over to stay for the week. We all just pick a favorite spot on the lawn and either set up our tents, trailers, or tent trailer. That's my parent's trailer in the front. They park their trailer there every time. This is the front of the house...

This is the back of the house...

This is my Grandpa's motor home. He parks it there every year, exact same spot!

We have a family auction. Everyone contributes homemade items. I brought bags of chocolate chip cookies that sold for $7.00-$8.00 a bag. Baylee decorated the bags for me. Kevin was the auctioneer this year.

It doesn't take long for Dan to find his favorite spot. Sweet dreams honey!! Really there's not anything else to do.

We just sit in our lawn chairs and talk or sleep or eat or sleep or play games or sleep or do the Portage wave or well...sleep.

There's like a hundred lawn chairs on the side of the house.

We do manage to walk up to the park, which is right behind the house. There we play baseball, swing, eat, sleep some more, and visit.

We take a night and go swimming in Malad, ID. The pool is in the center of town and they close it to the public so it's just us Harris' having fun.

After, we invade the Malad Drive-In. The food is really good and the shakes are delicious. I always feel sorry for the people working there when they see us coming.
We have been going to Portage for years. I remember being this age standing in front of the house. My girls love it and love seeing their cousins. We always joke that it's so boring and hot, but I think if you asked any Harris, they would tell you they love going. Until next year...

**July 18-20, 2009**