On the Oregon Trail

Ingrid and I are sitting at a coffee shop in Seattle. How Cliche. We are cold and cloudy, but, at least, we’re not wet. This past week we have taken a mini-roadtrip up the pacific northwest. The “mini-” refers to time and not space as we’ve already driven over 1100 miles. We left saturday morning, stopped in Sacramento, and drove on through to Grants Pass, Oregon. We spent an evening at a beautifully empty campsite (whitehorse park) on the banks of the rogue river. Since the days were so long, we were able to play frisbee until past 8pm, shortly before our usual bedtime.

From Grants Pass, we made it to McMenamins Hotel Oregon in McMinnville, where they have an annual UFO festival. Alas, we were not abducted and probed, but we did have a great evening of wine tasting, beer drinking, and playing pool (I kicked Ingrid’s butt). McMinnville is a nice quiet town (big surprise there) and we had been fortunate with the sole sunny day they’ve had all winter. And we haven’t seen the sun since. Damn, I love california weather.

From McMinnville, we snaked our way through the Willamette valley, only stopping by to try a couple of glasses of Pinot Noir. The wine in Oregon is quite tasty and much better than the wine from central california. We left the peaceful wine country and drove past Portland to a campground at the trailhead of Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge– and that’s when the gods decided to piss on us…

The night was loud and damp. Ingrid and I ate our bagel with salami and cheese in the car and spent the rest of the evening in our tent, playing cards, and reading “I am legend” (which is nothing like the movie, btw). It rained all night and all morning. We struggled out of bed and packed our soggy gear away and started to hike. At first, the rain was refreshing and the air was cool. 6 miles later, it felt like a f*cking deathmarch. The trail is beautiful, easy, and as green as can be, but when you’re wearing soggy shoes, soggy pantlegs, and a soggy t-shirt, you couldn’t enjoy it as much. Plus, my dying camera-battery was making me very unhappy. 12-13 miles later, we were back in our car and dying for some hot cocoa.

We are spending the rest this week in Seattle, where the latest headline reads: “Seattle – Colder than Siberia!” Saturday is Hans’ high school graduation (Hans is Ingrid’s brother) — only 11 years after mine!!! Unfortunately, during this trip, we received news that Ingrid’s grandmother has died. She’s flying off for the funeral in Michigan this Sunday while I head back south, alone in the Prius. Ingrid will return next week and will start her exciting new internship at IBM. I’ll be back at work on Monday, praying that I don’t go mad…