Day Nine was a day like and unlike any other. Life is weird that way. Every instant is unique, yet every instant is just an instant like any other.
Yup, for some reason, I am feeling philosophical today. Maybe it is because I am up really, really early here in the West. I first woke up around 5 am. For some people, this may be the norm. I am a night person. I generally prefer going to bed at 2 in the morning. Oh well. It is what it is. I have accomplished most of my daily electronic tasks (like Daily Challenge) and now I am left with working on my daily blog post. Maybe I will take a nap... (Speaking of Daily Challenge - I am 18 points from my next tree! Yay!)
We got up and went to breakfast because it was a hot one! Yippee for hot breakfast! As I was wandering around, I noticed that a woman was working a skillet - I asked what she was doing, and she said "making eggs over easy" and would I like some? I said yes, because I enjoy my eggs over easy. I didn't realize that she was making them for her mother until, in Spanish, she apologized to her mom for giving me her eggs (before making her mom another set). See, my Spanish class did come in handy! They were yummy!
After breakfast, I still had some work to do on the blog (yes, blogging is work...). And of course, packing up. We got out at about 10:30 am, though check out time wasn't till noon. I really liked that place. Sigh. Maybe we should have stayed in Boise for the next few days instead of coming here. Or gone on to Portland. Anyway...
The GPS thought the trip would take 5 hours. And it did, not including the stops we made. The first was for lunch at the Smokehouse in, er, someplace, Oregon. Mom and I split a rueben - not the best rueben I have ever had. It didn't seem to have any thousand island dressing on it at all. They did though provide what they called "fry" sauce in a squeeze bottle - ketchup and mayonnaise mixed together. I had never heard of it. Anyone else? We had tater tots instead of fries. Living the wild life! Mom had forgotten about the existence of tater tots, insisting that she had never eaten them before. Who am I to try to convince her otherwise?! She ended up buying three more postcards. I think we are up to 20 or so at this point. And she has yet to write one...I promised no one postcards on this trip. When I did my trip to all 50 state capitals (in 63 days) I sent probably 50 postcards to people. Not including the 50 that I sent to myself (one from each state). God that was an awesome trip, if I must say so myself. It seems like I had more friends back then. Where have they all gone? What did I do to lose them all? Moving on..
The next stop was at a scenic overlook. I really needed to stretch my legs - even though we were only 45 minutes from our destination. Well our first destination. The original plan was to drive to The Dalles (pronounced like "The Dolls") and reserve a space for post-wedding. Then to drive to Hood River and scope out where the wedding was going to be. Then drive to Portland where we would hang out Friday night and all of Saturday. Sadly, I listened to my mom. Yes, I blame all decisions that appear to be "bad" on her. She obliquely (as is her wont) (well, sometimes not so obliquely) complained of being in the car so much. She often couches her complaints in ways that appear on the outside to be concerns for someone else - like me. Anyway, it occurred to me that we could just stop in The Dalles and never go to Portland at all - as long as our basic needs were met - laundromat, oil change and movies. And as long as the room was habitable.
Let us (I always think of lettuce when I say that) examine some of the pros and cons of the two major options - because as any logically thinking person knows, the true options are pretty near infinite considering all of the minutiae.
Pros: Less driving, less gas used, less tiring, less moving about for mom
Cons: Small city, not the best accommodations, no bonus points for staying at this place
All in all, it seems like a wash to me. In any case, I chose to stay rather than to soldier on. Maybe it was fatigue of the mind or soul. Whatever. We stayed.
The room is teeny! Shaped in an L. There is a sliding door to the bathroom - and there is a walk-in shower. Hopefully I will be able to coerce mom into taking a shower while we are here. Only one person can really see the television. It is funny. Mom complains when people thump around above her head and complains if she has to go up stairs to a second floor room. Win win! Anyway, we relaxed for a couple of hours before doing a little survey of the town. Found gas (it is expensive out here in Oregon), couldn't find the laundromat, found an oil change place and then gave up and went for dinner.
Clock Tower Ales serves craft beer. Their food menu was not particularly inspired - and they don't make their own beer. But the Thai Chicken Pasta we had was ok. And the beer taster I put together was decent. I picked six beers - they were out of three, so I went for others. And they had a Hell or High Watermelon beer on "Drain the Keg" special, so I had a pint of that. Not as good as the Thomas Hooker Watermelon, but pretty good. Our server was not the nicest or the best, though she did split our entree for us. Another server was much more personable but we didn't have her.
After dinner, we headed back to the motel for a little TV for mom and an episode of Stargate for me before drifting off to sleep.
 |
| Reuben with tots |
 |
| Mom is fascinated with the things |
 |
| Clock Tower Ales |
No comments:
Post a Comment