Of Driving in Cities and Mountains

If you ever fly to Portland, OR, you baggage will include a luggage tag with the initials PDX.  So much easier to write using PDX so…PDX is it from here on out.  Or Portlandia if necessary based on the story told.

Since our arrival, things have been quite ducky if you exclude the truck that came within 2 1/2 inches from side swiping us today.  There is a story that accompanies this event.  As most of you know, the GPS apps aren’t perfect…far from it.  They often trail you just enough to cause you to either 1.  Miss the turn  2.  Decide on the fly to do a death defying maneuver and make a turn on a dime  3.  Ignore the instruction and wait for the GPS to recalculate and get to there via another route  4.  Or start to turn and realize that was not the street name, swerve back to the lane you were leaving while yelling “Jesus Christ, what the hell!!!”

Our experience today was an illustration of number 4.  

Next, since we have been here the weather has gone from cool to hot in a very short time.  And the longest day of year had over 18 hours of sunlight.  At 4:30 this a.m. when I staggered into the bathroom, the sky was pink like a carnation.  

We have been very busy having fun.  Played golf on Saturday with number one son.  The picture below was taken at Elk Ridge in Carson, WA.  

Followed up with lunch in Stevenson where we drank a cherry porter.  They do beer up here in the Northwest.  So creative and delicious.  I liked it.  Rayman was okay with it.  Ryan ordered the RBG IPA complete with the Judges pic on the label.  See what ai mean?  Very creative.  Below is Ryan and beer.

 

 

Went up to cousin’s cabin that lies to the west of Mt. Hood off ZigZag Road.  It was a find of the best kind.  The previous owners left most of their stuff there so it has skis hanging on the wall, forest themed decor, and it is cozy as can be.  We loved it.  Stayed two nights.  Then Sue invited me up for the day as the shingle people were scheduled to “treat” the roof which took the day.  This is a three year requirement to keep the roof in good order.

That was the day that her youngest daughter, Kristen, and her three grandchildren were also at the cabin with Kristen’s friend, Sandy, and her daughter.  Because they were going to treat the roof with chemicals, we decided to go to Lost Lake in Kristen’s Toyota mini-van.  Earlier we had taken the kids to Sandy River which is just a small walk from Green Gables doorstep…Green Gable is the cabin’s name now.  

Here are some pictures.    First the movie I took of Sandy River.  Just click on the IMG 1773 below.

IMG_1773

Mt Hood from the van.

On to Lost Lake.  I agreed to go if I could sit up front as winding roads make my stomach unhappy.  So, having secured a front row seat, we loaded up and headed out.  Here are some pictures.

Moi with mask on the shore of Lost Lake.

Beautiful wildflowers on the way back. Note the road. This was the good part of the road.

So, if you were doing any calculating, the van had 4 children in it.  Oh, and Mango the doggie.  Oldest 9, youngest 5, twins being the youngest.  And they were noisy and boisterous so it became incumbent up on the adults to start playing games.  Mine was, “I’ll buy a root beer float for the first child to spot a live bear” game.  There was an alphabet game.  And then there was the ride itself…a pot hole rich two lane narrow road up and down the mountains to Lost Lake.  

When we arrived at the lake, it was decided that we take a boat out on the lake.  Yes, we jumped into a row boat with oars.  With 4 small kids.  And Mango.  Ezgi, the sweet girl, was afraid.  The others were okay.  As we launched, the arguing immediately started on who’s turn it was to row the boat.  This resulted in us drifting, rowing in circles, and generally being very noisy.  “It’s my turn to row.”, “No, it’s my turn to row.”, “You already rowed.”, “I want another turn rowing.”.

At 25 dB, loud enough for just about everyone on the shore looking and laughing at us.  As well as all the other people in water vehicles such as kayaks, paddle boats, canoes.  At one point, while changing of the guard, we actually ran into another vessel but since we were barely moving, it was not a disaster.  

Okay, so the whining was getting old.  The only one in the boat that knew how to row, was Kristen.  She had been on the rowing team at U of WA for awhile.  Everyone else exhibited their inexperience while acting like they knew something.  It was a hoot.

This lead me to threaten to throw the kids overboard.  The only one that took me seriously was the kid who was a friend of the family.  She did not take kindly to my idea.  She looked up at me and announced, “You’re mean.”  I laughed.  She didn’t.  

So I juxtaposed that if they didn’t want to be thrown in, perhaps I would swim to shore…the whining was that annoying.  The girl said, “Okay.  Swim.”

In the meantime, we were still drifting, going forward, going back and going in circles.  

Then the kids started whining, “I want to go home.”, “Take us home.”, “Im tired, I want to go home.”.  “I’m cold.”   we decided to have Kristen to get us back to the dock while still fending off wannabe rowers.  

We made it.  No one went overboard, no one really even got wet except for their feet.  The kids’ whining which started to resemble  a Salvation Army ringing bell ceased and all was well with the world.  

On the way home, we chose to go back the way we had come though there was another route which was good paved road but an hour longer.  The thought of two hours back in that van just scared the bejesus out of us.  We preferred the pot holes to an extra hour.  So the new game was “I’ll give a prize to the first kid that spots a Bald Eagle.”  And with that Mango rode shotgun on my lap, I played Dee Jay with my playlist for accompaniment for the whining.  Although to be fair, the kids did along to one of my tunes!!

We made it back and I was exhausted.  And I didn’t even drive.  It was a helluva day.  

Here is the info about Lost Lake in case you ever want to go there.  I’m going to drag anyone adult that wants to go up there because the lake is great because it does not allow any motors at all on the lake.  And it is beautiful.

Lost Lake Resort and Campground




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