Troubadour's mom hasn't been feeling well so last Saturday we loaded up the car and headed out at 6:30 am for a three-day weekend to visit. Monday was the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday so Brad's brother, sister-in-law and niece were headed there as well. We knew that his mom would not be able to fuss over cooking meals so I took along fixings for Quinoa Summer Apple Salad and 'Tuna' Chickpea Salad for lunches. We also brought along fresh ground peanut butter, a loaf of sprouted Sasquatch bread, and organic apples and bananas.
It is a 550 mile trip each way usually taking 10 hours or so depending on traffic and stops. North on I-5 until we go east on I-84 through the Columbia River Gorge. We head east through the Gorge until turning north on Highway 395, which at some point intersects with I-90 through Spokane where we head north on 395 again. Their summer residence is close to the Canadian border in north eastern Washington. It is a long drive through a lot of nothing.
We watched the sun rise as we drove north on I-5.
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| (Sunrise along I-5 in Oregon on October 6, 2012) |
We stopped in Wilsonville at Starbucks for a coffee to go with a Clif Bar for breakfast and kept on trucking. The Starbucks stop also necessitated a stop at a rest area along I-84 at some point. No exciting scenery to take any pictures of though.
We stopped for petrol in Umatilla before crossing over into Washington. I had packed Tofurky, avocado and spicy sprout sandwiches on Dave's Killer Bread Good Seed Bagels and a jug of homemade sweet tea so we decided to take a break and eat. We watched people come and go across the street at the post office in Umatilla as we sat on the car bumper and ate. No picnic tables in sight anywhere.
A ways up Highway 395 after it joined with I-90 we stopped at another rest area. This one was by the north end of Sprague Lake and was photo worthy.
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| (Milepost 242 - Sprague Lake Rest Area in Washington) |
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| (Milepost 242 - Sprague Lake Rest Area in Washington) |
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| (At Sprague Lake looking north towards the town of Sprague) |
Back into the car and north east we headed. We did stop one more time in Spokane as we know from previous trips there is a nice Starbucks on North Division. We figured that would be the last cup of good strong coffee before our return trip.
We arrived at 4:00 pm with no issues. The car ran great and everyone was already there to meet us.
The summer property has a cabin built several years ago, a main house that is still slightly in the construction phase, a 'boathouse' for storage of kayaks and rowboats for the winter and the old motor home.
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| (The main house) |
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| (The boathouse - the silver roof seen through the trees on the right is the cabin) |
Our home for the weekend was the motor home. It was cozy but was a chilly walk in 29˚F (-1.6˚C) night air to use the bathroom in the boathouse.
I took the following picture the next day after the tractor was moved and you can see the motor home and our car in the background. The red building beyond our car is the cabin.
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| (The other side of the tractor) |
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| (Artsy tractor picture) |
On Sunday while the guys were out riding dirt bikes I took a few picture of the peaceful scenery.
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| (Looking upriver - you can see smoke from a forest fire in the center of the photo) |
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| (The fire is on both the Washington and British Columbia side of the mountain) |
By evening the flames had flared up and the fire spread further down the mountain.
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| (Fires flaring up in the evening winds) |
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| (Looking down the extremely low river - abandoned house across the river) |
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| (The abandoned house) |
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| (Abandoned house - local legend says a relative of Chuck Norris built the house) |
I couldn't resist a picture of this lonely tree stump.
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| (Lonely tree stump) |
There were three pooches hanging around the property for the weekend. A black lab named Turbo, a little mutt named Winston and a visiting Canadian mix named Bailey. You can tell the Canadian by his safety vest.
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| (Turbo - I always want to sing Judas Priest when I say his name - how 80's of me) |
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| (Winston - needs a haircut) |
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| (Bailey in his hi-vis finery) |
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| (Winston & Bailey - finally looking at the camera) |
Sunday evening we were helping Chip (Troubadour's step-dad) get things closed up so they can soon make their trip south to Palm Springs. This entailed moving his 1967 Dodge Charger out of the garage to get the dirt bikes tucked into the back. I took the opportunity to take a few pictures.
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| (1967 Dodge Charger) |
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| (1967 Dodge Charger) |
We stayed up way late into the night looking at old photographs that Troubadour found in the attic. Some he took digital pictures of. I thought I'd share this gem.
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| (Troubadour back in the day) |
We were up at 6:00 am on Monday and on the road by 8:00 am. We stopped in Chewelah for petrol - ask Troubadour how much he enjoys pumping his own gas when the pumps don't work right. We then stopped in Spokane at Starbucks for some wi-fi access and a yummy coffee drink before pointing the car towards home.
We stopped at a rest area at the east end of the Gorge for a bathroom break and also a chance to stretch our legs and have a snack. It was the cleanest rest room at a rest area I've ever seen. Really nice tiled walls and floor and it even had automatic water taps and soap dispensers.
As we headed west down the Gorge I took a few pictures of the windmills along the north side of the Columbia River.
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| (Windmills along the Columbia Gorge) |
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| (Windmills along the Columbia Gorge) |
We made one more stop for petrol in The Dalles. Troubadour was about done in from all the driving so we switched it up and I drove the rest of the way home and I didn't stop once. You know how it is, as you get closer you just want to hurry up and get there. We managed to drive through Portland during Monday rush hour but it wasn't too bad as I opted for the I-205 cut-off.
We made it home by 6:00 pm. We found Basil snuggled into our bed sleeping, but even though we woke him he was happy to see us. It was a long weekend, but worth it to see family we hadn't seen in so long. I didn't take any family pictures. Some people might not like to be photographed or have their pictures on the internet so I left them alone. And no, I didn't ask the dogs their permission.
- Au Revoir
"When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all of their good points or it would be impossible to endure them." - George Bernard Shaw
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