Saturday, April 10
We were up at crack of dawn (4:45) and left for airport at 5:45. We had an easy drive into the predawn, except some of the signs near the airport were backlit, making them very hard to read.
Carl dropped me off at the Frontier Airlines entrance. Very easy check-in procedures.
I had the sun in my eyes while standing in line at security - it had finally come up. Security screening went very smoothly and I was soon on my way to my gate where I waited for the plane to begin boarding.
This flight had Stu the rabbit on the tail. It was an easy flight to Portland - the center seat of our row was empty. As we approached Portland, I could look out the window and see the Columbia River snaking by below us. I also spotted Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens and another later identified at Mt. Adams poking up. All three were snow covered and looked very pretty.
There were no signs for the terminal outside of arrival gate! I finally spotted them after leaving lady’s room - they were on the back of the signs most visible from the gate area.
My suitcase was already circling on the carousel when I got there.
However, I couldn’t find any signs telling me where to go to find the Rental Cars... I finally found them - very tiny and hidden behind a post. The one sign I found took my on the most convoluted route to the rental car desks, but I did finally get there.
A very nice young man checked me in then escorted me to a Hyundai Accent... This is a compact car, even smaller than my Subaru, but it worked well for what I needed for the week and a half. One pleasant surprise is that it included XM radio, so I got to try that out.
Exiting the airport onto I-205 was very easy. The Portland airport is very easy to get around (except for finding the rental cars from Baggage Claim.
I finally got Gabby (our GPS) woken up (she didn’t work well in the middle of the parking garage) and she agreed I was on the right course to Mom’s house.
I stopped at first rest area on I-5 to call Carl to let him know I was on the ground. I continued on to lunch at Kelso. There was a Safeway at that exit also, so I picked up some supplies. I called Mom just before leaving the parking lot there to let her know where I was.
She had my schedule confused and thought I was driving from the Columbia Gorge today instead of arriving from Denver. We got that straightened out.
I had an uneventful drive up Hood Canal to Mom’s, arriving about 3:30.
My brother had moved the bed in Mom’s guest room so that it could get better air circulation - thanks!
I grabbed a quick shower and we headed to the Garden Club fund raiser dinner at the Community Center. Good food, interesting time. Then I crashed early.
Sunday, April 11
I got up early, as usual. It was a slow morning around here at Mom’s. I tidied Mom’s computer, ran virus checks and updated the operating system, then started weeding out her emails...
Carl called about midmorning. We’re in the process of buying a house and the seller was agreeable to most of our requests on handling the inspection objection. Hurray!
My brother showed up about 11:30, and his wife and daughter showed up about 1... The five of us had a late Sunday dinner at Snug Harbor in Discovery Bay about 1:30. The food was very good (salmon fish and chips), but I ate too much. So, we didn’t eat much at all the rest of the day.
After dinner, my brother mowed. The rest of his family went on home. I worked on Mom’s backlog of emails...
We had a nice visit, then my brother went home. Another early night.
Monday, April 12
I got up early again. I worked on Mom’s emails off and on all day. And ran a couple of errands - grocery store and Home Depot for Mom and gas for the rental.
I was back in time for lunch. Uncle Bob dropped in for a short visit.
Dinner was here (crab cakes) and I wound up watched Dancing with the Stars for the first time. Yawn...
Tuesday, April 13
I got up early again. Back to weeding the emails.
After lunch, I drove Mom and Spooky (her cat) into town to get his nails clipped and to stop by the bank to straighten out a mess in Mom’s checkbook. The bank went easier than I expected...
On the house buying front, our credit union is being uncooperative about the mortgage. So, we will switch to a different mortgage provider. I needed to talk Carl through where everything (bank statements, IRS documents, etc) was... What a mess!
Dinner was at Mom’s again - pork steaks, half a baked potato, and seasoned corn. Once again, I ate too much...
Wednesday, April 14
I got up as usual and did a small load of laundry.
Carl called about 9 asking where some more stuff was for the mortgage broker. We found it all.
I left Mom’s about 9:30 and drove south along Hood Canal.
Lunch was north of Kelso at place called Peper’s. Turkey sandwich with a cup of split pea soup. Very good! Highly recommended.
As I neared Portland, an Amtrak passenger train went by the other direction. It was strange looking... They’ve changed the passenger cars from what I remembered riding decades ago - much lower to the ground than before.
I drove on to The Dalles, OR, which will be our base of operations for the rest of this trip. I spotted three waterfalls along the way, including the biggest one, Multnomah. We’ll probably see it later this weekend...
I arrived at the motel (Cousins Country Inn) about 3:30. I got checked in and walked the quarter mile to the grocery store for some juice and bananas.
Then I called Mom to let her know I had arrived. And I called Carl to let him know the same. We talked for about 45 minutes.
Dinner was at Cousin’s Restaurant and Saloon - attached to hotel. Country fried steak with fixings. Not bad. I would eat the majority of my meals here in the next few days. The “Hi, Cousin” and barnyard sounds whenever the door opened got old quickly, but the food was decent and the prices were good. And the lobby had fairly fresh chocolate cookies available in the lobby 24 hours a day!
I crashed early...
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