We made it to Portland safely, all be it, the long way round. Ryan and I were leading and our GPS was on “Avoid Highways” so what should have been a relatively short trip again ended up being an adventure. Our house, when we FINALLY arrived at what was arguably the best rental we have ever had (this has been followed by many Durango versus Portland fights in the last month - both houses were amazing but for the best house it has to be Portland but the best time goes to Durango...it’s my blog...I get the final say...) Anyway, settled in quickly and had a fire and drinks on our deck. Next day Brian opted to stay home....still dragging his hind leg..... Ryan’s and Fuzz went antique shopping and us girls went shopping shopping. We got the the mall and were comfortably in and the fire alarm started ringing. Naturally we thought the boys had called ahead and requested an alarm. Jen, being the most sensible, calm one said, “I don’t think they are serious” so while everyone is calmly exiting the mall we continue to search for the elusive deal. God bless you Jennifer, you were right. But for future reference I would follow you into the inferno for a deal on Free People. So some light shopping and back to the house for a cocktail and to our reservation for supper. Great meal. Great house. Great city. We were very sad we could not stay longer. For anyone staying in Portland I have a wonderful house to recommend. Private message me and I will give you the details.
Left Portland and headed to Mount St. Helens, But first the freeway. Holy fuck. Terrifying. Our one golden rule about the road trip is NO INTERSTATES. Now I remember why. There is no rhyme or reason to this gauntlet. I hate it. The left lane does not mean faster, it means “Screw the guy two lanes over”. Ryan and I started to fall behind the Williams and the Walisser’s. We had to finally resort to Starsky and Hutch driving methods to catch them. But catch them we did and then to Mount St. Helens or Lucifer’s Mountain as I have renamed it. Most children are scared of monsters in their closet or under their beds, not me. As a child I remember being scared of two things:
1. Recession
2. Mount St. Helens erupting
Now we will explore number one in a later blog but, honestly, Mt St Helen terrified me. I was in grade four when it erupted and honestly it imprinted on my being, the power of Mother Nature. The bitch has some serious issues. Actually visiting the site 36 years later did nothing to elevate the terror. It is so scary what happened and the fact that it will happen again is humbling. I was happy to say goodbye to Mount Scary and off to Grand Coulee for the night. Grand Coulee was meant to be a pit stop, a little dot on the map, but it ended up being such a treat. We had a short 7 hour drive that day...that ended up being a 9 hour drive because of our lunch. We stopped at a small town (I cannot remember the name right now) and had lunch ....that was terrible service....we all were all served 20 minutes apart. So it lengthened the day considerably. Then to Grand Coulee, arrived at the hotel and while checking on the lady asked us if we were going to see the laser show. We looked at her like she was speaking Latin and she explained how to get there and she would check us in after the show. 10 minutes later we were sitting watching the coolest laser show on the side of the dam. We made it back to the hotel, moved bags in and then met in the courtyard for cocktails. It was 10:30-ish and still very warm. Jen and I agreed that this is what it would be like to live in Melrose Place - without the pool. All of the hotel rooms opened to a small courtyard. Great little town. Next day things get real. We have to cross the border. 👮🏼♀️ I hate this part of the trip...
Off we go destination 🇨🇦....
Great drive through Washington. Now if you follow any of my blogs you know Oregon is my favourite state. Hands down. Oregon you rock my world. But Washington, you are a hidden gem. Beautiful. Understated. Friendly. A solid contender for Fav State #2. Crossed the border at Grand Forks and had a good border crossing. This does not happen often and is not expected, so when it does happen it is like finding a four leaf clover or wishing on a falling star ......magical.
Went to Castlegar for lunch. We had a great waitress and enjoyed another great Fall day. Ate at the Black Rooster. Or the Black Cock as the boys called it. There was road construction through the town so we detoured by Robison where Ryan’s mom and dad live. Been there a few times so we knew the short cuts! North to our next sleep over ...Halcyon Hot Springs.
I am going to shorten our story.. Halcyon was great but that is not the story for this stop. We had supper (and of course a couple....4 ....bottles of wine) and they boys left us and we stayed and visited with a couple ladies. This women said she liked my sunflower tattoo and I said thank you but it is the one on my foot I am most proud of (my foot hurt like a mother fucker and I would rather go through child birth than suffer that kind of pain again) she said my foot tattoo probably didn’t hurt as much as hers. I looked at her ankle and her tattoo was the size of a dime....but that wasn’t what was memorable....the size of her ankle .....that was memorable. It was prob 22 inches around!! She explained that she was shot by at 30-30 in her ankle and stayed like that for two days before she could be flown out of the forestry camp she was in. L.A. the story goes on from there and I will share it if you ever ask me but typing it is such a long story that I just can’t.
Also memorable at Halycon is Kim. Her and the boys went to the restaurant to get ice in their drinks before they went in the hot tub - the waitress questioned the contents of their cups (of course no alcohol in the tub) so Kim, creating a diversion, threw her drink on the waitress. Okay that is not exactly how it went down, but pretty close.
Next day Golden. Brian and Kim headed straight home and opted out of Golden. Ryan, Darren, Cam, Tyler, Hailey, Trevor, Jordy, Jen and I went down the Revelstoke rail. Too much fixing and he Golden for the night and then home.
Another Road Trip for the books. 5600 Kms, 5 states and 1 stop by the troopers and we can put this trip to bed. Lots to tell since then!
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