Since Hendrik is a runner, I bought him some Nike running gear as a present to celebrate my new job. Now he’s a walking Nike ad! Well actually, he’s a running Nike ad. He really missed running on hills while we were in the Netherlands so now he enjoys running up Alameda ridge. He says that it is like cheating running in his Nikes because it makes running so easy. I think he looks so good he could be a model!
Hendrik greeting Toby after a good run. Count the swooshes.
My mom called to tell me I have a jury summons for Bonneville County, Idaho. I haven’t lived there since 2009!
Easy enough, I just have to mail the form back with my signature and proof of my current residence and I have ten days to do it. Who cares that first it has to be mailed to me here and then mailed back? The only other problem is that I’m living with my in-laws and I don’t have a driver’s license or documents proving I currently live anywhere, much less there. Let’s hope the Idaho bureaucracy is so confused by my Dutch license that they take me off their list. Otherwise I better watch out next time I go to visit my parents because I’ll be in contempt of court and the ghost of Jury Duty Past might come out to haunt me again. Scary!
On Friday, we acquired last minute tickets to a theater event. You know how it goes, your mother-in-law’s neighbor’s brother is a local playwright and the next thing you know, you’re scarfing down dinner on Friday so you can see the PDX Playwrights showcase their shorts at Hipbone Studios in Southeast. I assume this is the most Portland thing that one can do.
The PDX Playwrights did not disappoint. The theme was “the time is now,” and they all had wildly different interpretations. I laughed. I cried. During one monologue I was just really, really confused. My favorite short was about wine tasting in Trier. It was like being transported back to Germany. Now I’m homesick for Europe. I did not expect that to happen. Maybe some fries with mayo will cure me.
Now that we have only one third the number of days off that we had in the Netherlands, we have to make the most of our three-day weekends. With that in mind, last weekend we stayed at a cabin on Mt. Hood and went snowshoeing. There wasn’t much snow on the mountain so there were only a few trails with enough snow to make it worth using snow shoes. We started out on the White River trail, which has an amazing view of Mt. Hood but was also incredibly crowded. A lot of people take their kids there to go sledding so we had to dodge incoming sleds for the first half mile.
Nancy and Hendrik snowshoeing by the White River, with Mt. Hood in the background.
On the second day, we were up for more of a challenge so we went for the Elk Meadow trail, which involves a creek crossing and endless switchbacks up to the ridge. The steep, South-facing switchbacks were made even more difficult by the lack of snow because we had to carry our snowshoes.
Hendrik after crossing Newton Creek.
After our 5 mile snowshoe adventure, we stopped at Skyway Bar and Grill, a BBQ restaurant, to enjoy pulled pork and hear some live bluegrass. If you’re ever in Rhododendron, Oregon, you should definitely give it a try. The frickles (fried dill pickles) were the best!
Monday evening we finished the weekend at the symphony in Portland where they performed Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. They also had a guest violinist perform Bartók’s second violin concerto. It was an impressive and enjoyable piece. I particularly enjoyed the first movement.
Immediately after the road trip, I fell ill. I spent the next ? number of days sleeping on the floor in front of the fireplace and waking up every 4 to 6 hours to dose myself with ibuprofen or cold medicine to nudge my fever back down below 102 degrees F. Then it was 2018. Happy New Year!
Meanwhile, Hendrik was enjoying a visit from his brother and his brother’s wife, Val. I vaguely recall that they had brunch together a lot. My delirious self also had the impression they were all having a good time. Hendrik tells me that on New Year’s Eve, they had fried food and cocktails at a Scottish pub. Happy New Year!
After spending Christmas with my family, we drove back to Portland, more or less following the last third of the Oregon trail. Fortunately no one was bitten by a rattle snake, got a broken leg, or died of dysentery. It is about a 10.5 hour drive but it involves one mountain pass and the Columbia River Gorge. Hendrik’s goal for the trip was to eat lunch at the perfect roadside diner. My goal was to make it to Portland in one day.
I started out with the fun part of the drive: an 80 mph speed limit on the open roads of southern Idaho. It’s good for getting places but probably not so good for gas milage, especially not with that Idaho head wind. They should put in more wind mills like the Dutch.
Hendrik got his wish at the Boise Stage Stop. They really did have quintessential, good, diner food. Hendrik followed his jalapeno burger with homemade blueberry pie and washed it all down with endless refills of black coffee. We decided it was too cold for milkshakes, even though in theory we should have gotten one to go.
The mountain pass, which we had been warned about by multiple people, turned out to have good weather and be completely clear of snow. We breezed through it, hit flat ground, and that’s when it happened. The infamous check engine light. We detoured near Pendleton to have it checked out and discovered it was an air fuel sensor malfunction. Maybe the bad gas milage was due to more than the brutal head wind and unconscionably high speed limit. Fortunately we could wait to have it repaired so my dream of making it to Portland wasn’t dead yet.
Approaching the Blue Mountain pass in Eastern Oregon.
Little did I know how treacherous the Gorge can be in bad weather. Entering the Gorge, we had rain and temperatures of 31 F. The perfect combination for black ice. We decided it was prudent to slow down but there were plenty of cars, especially Californians, passing us at high speed. Fortunately as the rain picked up, the temperature rose to above freezing. We thought we were home free until we saw the landslide warning signs. Danger of landslides if lights are flashing. The lights were flashing…
After an infinity of harrowing hours driving through the Gorge, we made it to the beautiful Willamette Valley. Well, ok it was the rainy, dark, cold Willamette Valley but we were happy to see it nonetheless. We both met our road-trip goals and it turns out road-trip pioneers don’t have to suffer the same hardships as the real pioneers did on the Oregon Trail. Too bad we didn’t get to raft the Dalles. Next time…
I’m pretty far behind so instead of trying to cover everything, I’ll just pick a few themes from the last month. The first theme is snow!
I flew in to SLC the Thursday before Christmas so I could snowboard with Amy on Friday, but the snow was terrible so we went rock climbing instead and decided to save snowboarding for Idaho. Maybe someday I’ll get to snowboard at the legendary Utah resorts. Until then, I ❤️Targhee. Grand Targhee is on the border of Idaho and Wyoming in the Tetons. It has essentially the same snow and mountains as the Jackson resorts but without the crowds. I prefer a very high ratio of powder to other skiers on my runs, so that works out just fine for me. Amy and Michelle insisted that the blue runs at Targhee would be black diamonds at the Utah resorts, but since I learned there, it doesn’t bother me.
I got to go to Targhee twice, once with my high school friends and once with Amy. Fortunately I got lots of practice in Switzerland last year so I could mostly keep up. The snow was pretty decent, we only froze a little, and visibility was only particularly terrible on the last afternoon. I saw a sticker in the bathroom that said, “if you can see, it’s not the ‘Ghee.” That’s about right!
High school reunion on a ski lift: Nancy, Michelle, Luke, Jessica!
Sisters on a ski lift!
To include Hendrik in the winter fun, we also went snowshoeing with my family, friends, and my family’s Golden retriever, Bacardi. Snowshoeing is just like extra clumsy walking so it is perfect for those who didn’t grow up in snowy places. In this case, the snowshoes were mostly for show since the snow wasn’t even that deep.
Snowshoeing in the foothills: Nancy “the Polar bear,” Hendrik, Luke, Michelle, and Bacardi.
I was overjoyed to have a white Christmas although it turns out I would have had snow in Portland too. They got a dusting on Christmas Eve – just enough to delay Hendrik’s flight. Thanks Santa.
EisenOrem Adventures 