July 2018, Oregon, Day 6

The proverbial luggage wheels are starting to come off. It’s always around day 6 that my well thought out travel preparation goes to hell. We have a total of 7 bags and a cooler. Plus, a week’s worth of dirty laundry stuffed in this nook or that cranny. Snacks and snack remnants litter the floor of the van joining some stray Uno cards, maps from all the places, and ticket stubs. The refuse tells our story.  Every time we open a door, a sock, shoe, or an apple core falls out. We load the car again and we are off to Multnomah Falls until we’re not. The road was closed and the few parking lots that were available were full. Time to go to the Plan B that I should’ve had…Quickly, I made plan B and away to Bridal Veil Falls we go. We took a hike to the base (and then back up, phew!). It was beautiful! Spontaneity is king!  

After our hike, we were stopped at a road block and we started chatting up the gal who was working the stop/slow sign. Apparently, there are some road closures due to some fires. Put a pin in that.

She advises us to cross over the Columbia River Gorge and travel along the other side. “Okay”, we said.

The added bonus was that we got to cross over along the BRIDGE OF THE GODS, GODS, GODS! (say that in your head like there’s an echo) Along the ride Mr. Bullington goes, (paraphrased) “Hey wifey, I know you’ve got this trip planned to the minute, but I thought it would be cool if I learned to windsurf today because I saw this cool article in Outside Magazine about how dudes do that on the Columbia River”. Facepalm. So, I take to the internets and ring a few companies who teach this highly technical skill for lots of dollars over several lessons to dudes who read Outside magazine. I even entertained the thought of giving it a try myself. However, the lovely folks on the other end of the line suggested that this might be a skill that required a little honing before taking to the mighty Colombia River Gorge.  We placated Mr. Bullington by pulling off to watch the dudes that read Outside Magazine perform their amazing feats of kite and wind surfing. #deathwish

Mt. Hood was our next stop! Mt Hood towers gloriously over southern Oregon and we decided we wanted get to know her. We took a ski-lift up through the meadows of Mt Hood which provided glorious views of the still snow covered mountain.

 There is something else you can see if you visit Mt. Hood. It’s the Timber Ridge Lodge! This lodge is one the National Registry of Historic Places because FDR himself visited it back in the day! And, he sat in this chair! 






 If you aren’t into presidential history, you might know this lodge from her bit part in The Shining! Redrum!

Here's Johnny!

Our last stop was Eugene, Home of the University of the Mighty Ducks! Quack! Quack! This cute little college town was brimming with people. They were interesting. Charlotte said, “Eugene isn’t like Athens.” And, that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

Did you know that they don’t let you pump your own gas in Oregon? That’s weird, right?

And lastly, Day 6 brings us to the time when mama hunkers down in the hotel laundry center and gets the job done. I pump the quarters into the machine while enjoying some of the delicious lobby water offered tonight by the Eugene Fairfield. Mr. Bullington sits poolside while the chlorine burns his retinas and the peals of all-day car incarceration pierce his eardrums. This is the only time during the year that laundry is my friend.