Trip to Oregon - Finished!

Okay, I'm back!! Finally! :) And back to Wednesday, July 21st, the last time I posted about our trip to Portland. We checked out of the motel at 10:30. The Lloyd Center was only a couple minutes from our motel -- we actually could have walked it. It's a big, beautiful mall; we found the ice with no difficulty. We watched Kool Kamp kids learning to skate. Took a bunch of pictures of the ice for people back in the office, then at 11:00 we went in to the office and asked for Pam. She came out and we enjoyed becoming acquainted with her. She showed us around the offices, then John took a picture of the two of us at the entrance to the rink. After we left her we went upstairs to the Food Court for a bite to eat. I ended up getting only an Orange Julius smoothie -- all the foods looked good, I just wasn't all that hungry. The smoothie was satisfying and held me until dinner later that evening.

The Ice at Lloyd Center in Portland

John at an Overlook of the Columbia River Gorge

Tuesday, July 20th

Mt. Hood

We left the mall and let the GPS guide us to US 26 East and then to US 97 South to Sunriver. Scenery was beautiful!!! We went around the southern portion of Mt. Hood again, then it wasn't long until we saw Mt. Washington, then the Three Sisters, and then Broken Top. It was difficult to get good pictures -- the snow caps on the mountains looked clear until I looked through the camera lens; then they tended to blend in with the sky.

In Sunriver John signed in for our room, we unloaded, then went back to the Lodge to register for the TCA conference. We had a lovely view of Mt. Bachelor from our room deck. The room was small, but sufficient. I had to sit on the bed to use my computer, but I did have good Internet connection -- that's getting easier and easier as the years go on. :)

At 6:00 we went back to the Lodge and outside to where the dinner was to be held. They began serving cocktails at 6:00 with dinner at 7:00. Kevin and Norma Cooper arrived shortly after we did. Kevin is Sr. VP of Finance for Erb. I forget how long he's been with the company, but it's a few years fewer than John. They live in Ontario, Canada. The guys enjoyed networking with employees from other trucking companies -- generally with trucking companies they have a relationship with. Norma and I caught up on our families, etc. The sun was setting over Bachelor Mountain as we finished our dinner. Kevin had registered a bit too late, so they were in a condominium just off the resort grounds, so they had to drive back and forth to the Lodge for meetings, etc.

Mt. Bachelor as Seen from Our Room Deck

Thursday morning I slept in -- it's always a challenge working on a three-hour time zone difference, so when I slept till 10:00 body time, it was only 7:00 Pacific Time. I didn't bother going over for breakfast, but did go over to the lodge around 10:00 PT. I didn't see Norma around, so I got a coffee and muffin at the café then went upstairs and found a comfortable chair where I could read, work puzzles, and people-watch. At 12:00 I decided to go sit outside so I wouldn't miss John if he walked by on his way from where their meetings were to our room. When he came by, we agreed that he would meet me back at the lodge after he had changed clothes and shoes, then we would meet Kevin and Norma for lunch around 1:00.

We had a nice lunch on the patio, then the four of us piled into the little two-door Ford Focus Kevin had rented, and we headed for Bend. In Bend we followed Norma's directions to drive a scenic route that took us between Mt. Bachelor and Broken Top. We stopped frequently to take pictures. It was a lovely loop tour. Back at the resort, we had time to relax a bit, then freshen up for dinner.

Lake Todd with Broken Top Mountain in the Background

Dinner Thursday evening was held at the High Desert Museum. We were bused there from the resort. Again, cocktails were served outside while a local Indian tribe entertained us with tribal dances. We were standing on the wrong side of the patio -- the drum was much too loud for my ears!! Dinner was inside the museum, catered by the resort staff. Foods at these conferences are always delicious and abundant! We lost Kevin and Norma in the crowds -- Norma wanted to tour the museum before eating -- so we enjoyed dinner with three people from a small trucking company in Fort Worth, TX; and three others from a Xerox company in St. Louis.

Indian Tribe of the High Desert Entertaining the TCA Group

John Posing in Front of a Teepee in the High Desert Museum

Friday morning John attended his final sessions while I packed up our things. They always have several gifts for us -- this year there was a lovely woven throw with the history of transportation woven into it. There was also a heavy wooden plaque depicting the history of transportation over the Oregon trail from the Pioneers to today. Unfortunately, it was rather large (11 x 14) and quite heavy as it was solid wood, so we decided to just leave it rather than packing it into our already heavy luggage. There's always a bottle of local wine from one of the sponsors, and we have to pack that in our checked luggage as well -- if we bring that home with us, I give it to my brother-in-law.

We checked out at noon, then began our trip back to Portland. This time we took a different route back -- from Bend we left US 26 and drove US 20 across the mountains -- a smaller highway and much more curvy, but we saw some beautiful scenery, saw acres and acres of mountains that had been destroyed by fires (tied right in with the book I had just finished reading comparing disasters in the US with actions taken by the US government against Israel.) We stopped in Sweet Home for lunch, then got on Rt. 228 through Brownsville to I-5. We arrived at our motel near the airport in good time.

Mt. Washington

We were up at 3:15 to leave for the airport -- the motel didn't have a shuttle to the airport (John thought they did when he booked it), so he had to take the car back before we could check in at the airport. Our planes were all on time -- although we were about half an hour late taking off from Dallas to Richmond. A latch had to be repaired before we could take off. The flight from Portland to Dallas was fascinating -- seeing Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters from the air was marvelous, although we didn't fly right over them. Then watching the topography change as we entered Utah, seeing the Great Salt Lake and the remnants of Lake Bonneville which had composed the Great Salt Lake many, many years ago. The Salt Lake certainly doesn't look like 80 miles long when you're flying 7 miles above it!!

We landed in Richmond at 6:30 EDT. Got our bags, called for the parking lot shuttle, got the car, stopped for gas, and were home by 8:00. John left after church the next morning for Ontario.
So that was our trip to Oregon. ..... It's been a super busy week at the office. There have been many changes, but this post is already too long to explain them, so I'll do that another day.
Shalom y'all!!