Day 16 - 06/17/2008

Sherman and Harriet start their morning just before breakfast by reading through the Bible and in prayer for missions and family. They’re nearing the end of 1 Corinthians in their progression through the Bible. We had a nice breakfast and I finished the milk as promised last night.

I then emptied the rest of my backseat cargo into the hallway to make room for my passengers. Sherman and Harriet were going to take me to see the Columbia River Gorge. Harriet packed some snacks for us, and we were off. Sherman was in front with me, and Harriet sat behind him.

Before hitting the road, I wanted to stop at Powell’s Bookstore again. They had some books on sale on my last visit, and upon checking Amazon, I learned they were a bargain at Powell’s. So I stopped to buy them, and it gave Sherman and Harriet a chance to see the store. Sherman had been once or twice before, but this was Harriet’s first visit. She liked it, but she knew the beauty of where we were going next, so she wasn’t as enraptured as I was on my first visit.

Sherman had asked a clerk for directions to the gorge from here, and had some very clear directions that didn’t match our starting point. He knew exactly the first street to turn on, but wasn’t sure which way to go to get to it. I turned as he directed, and we found a completely different path that got us on the freeway where we needed to go. He and I have a lot in common.

Our mini side trip got us to the 84 headed east, and a few miles down the road, I pulled off as Sherman instructed. We would be driving along a parallel (not mathematically, but geographically) highway that would offer a beautiful view of the sights. We had entered the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

Harriet mentioned that there was a Foursquare retreat (Crestview Manor Conference Center) along this road, and I wanted to see it. We figured there was no harm in asking about getting a quick tour. It turns out there was. Jr. High campers were just about to show up, and for security reasons, they had a closed camp, and had to ask us to leave. They were very nice about the whole thing, though. So we walked to my car, and I pulled out of the parking space in the dirt lot. We all heard a scrapping noise as I turned. I had forgotten the rocks lining the corner parking spaces. I got out to check the damage and saw Serena’s new beauty mark on her front left bumper. But it was worth it because I saw something amazing. I saw a speed limit 9.5 mph sign. I don’t steal road signs, and would never consider committing such a crime. But never before have I wanted to more than in that moment.

Our next stop was the Portland Women’s forum, which was actually just a view point for pictures. Sherman was disappointed at all the cloud cover in his attempt to get some nice pictures with his new camera, but I was pretty content with it. While we were there, I asked another visitor there to take a picture of the three of us.

I was taking several pictures, both in and out of my car. Even though I had charged my batteries last night, the rechargeable ones started dying on me today. This seems to happen on the first attempt to charge a set. I think in the future, I just need to unplug the charge station when it first says it’s done, and plug it in to go again. Thankfully I had some one-time use ones in my trunk. But Sherman was really showing me up with his serious photography efforts: he had a nicer camera, and had brought a tripod along. Wow. But he did plan his shots more meticulously, and really reaped the fruits of his labor.

We stopped at a few places along the scenic route, one being Wakheena Falls. We walked over to the base, and I took some pictures from there. I saw a sign, saying that the bridge across a higher point (most of the way up the falls) was only 0.2 miles up, I left my keys with Sherman and started hiking. It was obviously a steep hike, but short nonetheless. I got some amazing pictures up there, and then dashed back down. Sherman had gone off on his own to take some scenery pictures, and Harriet and I had a little trouble finding him at first.

Returning to the car, we headed over to Multnomah Falls, which we more spectacular in size, but under-impressive by the tourism surrounding it. This area had actually stores set up around the falls. We took some pictures, and returned to the car.

We passed a third waterfall, and Sherman asked if I wanted to stop. I figured I had enough pictures of waterfalls, so we pressed on to lunch. We stopped in at a café similar to Fuddruckers (cafeteria style, only with more of a hunting lodge feel than retro) for lunch.

We had been driving along the Oregon side, but decided upon leaving to go back along the Washington side to get some different pictures. We crossed the Bridge of the Gods (yes, that’s really what this toll bridge was called), and started westward along Highway 14.

We hadn’t gone far when we came upon the Bonneville dam. Sine I don’t see many dams, I found this pretty cool, so Sherman and I got out to take some pictures. Harriet didn’t feel like climbing out, so I brought her a couple of the beautiful flowers we saw from our vantage point of the dam.

Many of my readers who know me know that when something strikes me as REALLY funny, I can laugh for a long time. This usually ends with me out-of-breath, in pain, and red in the face. I love to laugh, and so it works for me. Well, prepare to groan, because this is a terribly bad joke. As we were driving, Sherman mentioned that this highway runs all the way through to Idaho. Harriet broke in, and mentioned that it was in the other direction, and I couldn’t help but chide Sherman with the comment that it would take a long time to get Idaho going westward from Washington. Not missing a beat, he deadpanned slowly for effect, “Ha. Ha. That’s about as funny as a screen door on a submarine.” And I just lost it as I fell into fits of laughter. I know it’s goofy, and ridiculous, but I still laugh as I’m typing this journal a week later. Sherman mentioned to Harriet that they need to keep me around, but I don’t think Harriet wanted him to get this kind of encouragement. I even pulled over to get a picture, and had a hard time standing up straight because I would keep doubling over.

I recovered several minutes later, and Harriet mentioned that we were approaching some store. Sherman mentioned to her that we could stop only if the pilot allowed, and I was more than happy to oblige. This place was called Pendleton Woolen Mills, and it’s a clothing store. I didn’t completely understand the uniqueness of it, but I did know that Pendleton was several hours eastward of our current location. They had some pretty nice clothing, and I tried on some pairs of pants, but didn’t find anything I thought was worth buying.

We arrived back home around 4 p.m., Harriet and I wearied from the journey. Sherman strangely wasn’t. I had a call from work to return, and after about 30 minutes of that, I returned to the dining room to find Harriet proposing root beer floats. I figured I had hiked enough this trip, although not today, to earn it, so we indulged. The root beer was of some fancy imported variety, and was very good. As a policy, I don’t drink soda anymore, only granting rare exception to occasions such as these, and it was very refreshing.

The sugar didn’t do anything to wake us up, so while Sherman tinkered around with his new printer (free after rebate with the camera), Harriet and I retired to our respective bedrooms. We had tried to avoid taking naps so late in the day, but it was inevitable. I journaled for no more than fifteen minutes before conking out.

Two hours later, I emerged. Harriet had slept almost as long, and we were both glad we had slept. Harriet fixed a delicious dinner for us, and then we broke out a deck of cards. Sherman and Harriet are avid Pinochle players, and I wanted to learn, but apparently you need four players for standard play. So they decided to teach me a game they called “Crazy Bridge.” Only later would I learn that I already knew this game, under the guise of “Up & Down the River.”

After dinner and the game, we all headed to bed. I journaled for awhile, trying to get sleepy. Finally, sleep came to me.