Saturday, April 16, 2016

Portland or Bust!

Happy Saturday.  Dennis and I got up bright and early this morning and he took me out to breakfast.  Then we began the 6 hour drive of 360 miles to Portland Oregon to have dinner tonight with Gracie, Teresa and Becky at Tad's Chick N'Dump.  If you're a reader of Teresa's blog, you know all about Tad's.  The food there is delicious!  

Would you like to join us on our drive?  The first half of the trip is through the high desert of Eastern Washington and is mainly sagebrush and canyons.  Imagine the films of the Wild West...that's Eastern Washington with a few farm fields added in for good measure.  So we won't daudle with those pictures.  Now the part of E. Washington we live in is mountainous and in the foothills of the mountains so it doesn't look like this.

Picking up just after we crossed into eastern Oregon and began our westward journey towards Portland, we saw Mt. Hood about 160 miles away!  Can you see it there very faintly?  It looks as though it has a new blanket of snow on it from storms earlier this week.  Still lots of sagebrush...
Yay!  We made it to the Columbia River.  That's Washington on the right with Mt. Hood just to the left of center.  
Down, down, down into the river gorge.
Still decending from the high plateau of desert to the beautiful river's edge.
Blalock Canyon.  There are even a few dead-end canyons around here. Just like in the movies where they would round up the cattle!
Closer to Mt. Hood.  Gorgeous.  Sorry about the bug splat on the winshield. Yuck!  I made sure to clean the window when we stopped for gas little later.
Notice the green that's appearing along the road instead of sagebrush?  
Ahhhh!  The beautiful part of the drive.  Many people like the wild desert scenery during the drive, but I prefer the trees and green hills and waterfalls.
SO, SO pretty!
Almost there.
Pretty island in the middle of the Columbia.  I'm sure Teresa knows it's name, but I don't.
The best I could do for Vista House.  Sorry about that.  Cars were in the way whenever I tried to snap a picture.  There was also a new sail boat on the river but couldn't get a picture of it either.
The plan was to stop at Multnomah Falls because Dennis and I both love it and stop whenever we have time on our drives here.  However, today is a beautiful, beautiful spring Saturday and there was not one parking place to be had.  Cars were parked up and down the road too.  So we just drove on and waved toward Teresa's house as we went past her road exit!  We should have stopped and taken over her Saturday afternoon! Ha!  

My knitting during the trip.  I didn't knit as much as I planned to because I was watching the pretty view most of the time.
This is the view from our hotel room window.  Isn't it pretty?  It's at the edge of the river gorge in Troutdale, Oregon.  They let us check in an hour early and we're resting up for our wild night with the girls tonight.  Teresa and Becky are bringing their husbands too, so it's sure to be a grand time,
For those of you who have asked, our son is just fine after the recent earthquakes in Japan.  They were mostly in the southern part of the country.  Right now he is up in Hirosaki in the northern part where he just bought a house yesterday!

This is NOT our son, but his business partner Michael. We were face-timing last night and I took some screen shots as Alex and Michael were showing us around.  He will continue to live and work in Tokyo for a few months until he gets some work done on the house.  It is a historical house with the tatami mat floors.  SIX bedrooms!  He's determined that we will move to Japan with him when Dennis retires.  He's not giving up although we keep telling him it's unlikely at best.  :-). There is a lot of land with the house.
This is equivalent of our grain bins.  They stored rice and other grains here in years gone by.  Michael is playing "Vanna White" for me in the picture.  Dennis, Mandy and I have actually visited this little town a few years ago for the cherry blossom festival at the castle.  It's a very quiet little town in the countryside.  A far cry from Tokyo and I think Alex will like it much more.  (Do you see me in the bottom of the screenshot?)
Another hour or so and we'll be off to meet the girls.  I'm so excited!  I'm sure there will be pictures to share.  I hope you're having a lovely Saturday.

Blessings,
Betsy














15 comments:

  1. Welcome!!! I never tire of the views from your house to mine :) Alex's house has lots of room for you to visit. Exciting! See you shortly xxxxxxx

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  2. Beautiful pictures. Love the windy roads , mountains and the water. Your sons home looks like a time long ago. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Such wild awesome land scapes along the way. Thank you for sharing, I loved it! Your sons house looks awesome. How exciting for him to buy his first house. I look forward to hearing about your adventures. Blessings always sweet friend. :)

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  4. It was fun to see photos of your progress along the way from your house to our dinner out! After our 3.5 week car trip across the south USA to Lake of the Ozarks and back.. seeing the Columbia River was a sight for sore eyes. We loved spending time with both of you tonight! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  5. Thanks for the tour of your drive to Oregon. It was so good to see you again even if it was 2 hours.

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  6. You certainly too us on a wonderful drive, such beautiful scenery. Love the house your son is buying and good to know he is safe. Hope you had a wonderful time over dinner.

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  7. Enjoyed the trip to Portland and so glad you didn't bust!!! :) loved seeing your scenery so different from ours, your view is just superb. Fascinated by Alex's house, how cool is that, one minute in Portland the next in Japan. An amazing world we live in.
    Our Lords day is over downunder, I need to to get to bed. Blessings of our Lord dear friend.

    I missed your verse at the end, so I will give one this blessed me from Ps 62 "O Thou that hearest prayer to Thee shall all flesh come.." That's from memory so bit rusty ..but isn't it wonderful, that you over there and me way down here, we both serve the same Lord God and He hears our prayers, wow are we blessed!!
    Thanks so much for the ride with you,
    Shaz in Oz.x

    {Calligraphy Cards - Shaz in Oz}

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  8. Very exciting times for your son! I love he showed you around on Facetime. By now your dinner at Tad's has come and gone, I know you had a wonderful time. I was thinking of all of you getting together, eating yummy food and having the vest time.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  9. That's a very nice drive, and I loved your pics! If you ever stop at Vista House near the falls be sure to go to the lower level and see the plaque with my grandfathers name on it! Osmon Royal, along with 3 other families donated the land that is now this amazing park. His daughter, my Aunt Julie, spearheaded the effort to get the plaque in place to recognize the land donations. We had a family reunion there 2 summers ago to commemorate the event and plaque, and some members from another family that had donated were also with us. Love your facetime pics, too! Japan is so beautiful! I look forward to more pics, but I can't see you two moving there for good. By now you are on your way home, full of good food and warm memories! Safe travels!

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    1. How interesting that your family donated land for Vista House! What a wonderful thing. I have actually been to the house a few times, just not this trip. Next time I go I'll be sure to look for your families plaque.
      Blessings,
      Betsy

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  10. What a lovely drive. How wonderful as well that you were all able to get together. Also lovely that your son 'showed you around his new home' a very thoughtful thing to do. we too are blessed with sons who know how much such acts are appreciated. It isn't too long now is it until he is home for a while? I was relieved to read that he was safe and sound. Anne x

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  11. I live in a desert so give me trees and hills to see. So beautiful! I know you all had a blast at dinner. Congrats to your son on buying a house. Sounds like he is enjoying Japan very much. My husband does business with a company there that was founded in the 1800s. We hope to visit one day. Take care, Tammy

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  12. I hope you had a wonderful time with the ladies. I loved seeing some of the landscape between you and Portland. Your desert area looks a lot like mine, but the rest is so diverse and interesting. I would really like to visit the NW someday. Your son's house looks great! It sounds like he's working very hard on it. I hope your trip is going well and that you're having fun. Take care, Betsy, and have a good week.

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  13. Hi Betsy, it's so nice to meet you as I follow Teresa's blog and Gracie' s blog. Your photos of your trip to the Portland area brought back such great memories as I'm originally from Washington, too. I came from Ellensburg but lived many years in Moses Lake. I've been in southern California for six years now. It must have been such a fun time you had with your dear friends. I will be stopping by again to say hello. Hugs, Pat

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  14. Hi Betsy! I also follow Gracie, and I really enjoyed your pictures. I'll be flying out Seattle this summer and driving down to Berkeley, CA, so I'm excited about seeing some of that landscape!

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