And We're Off!

Mindy woke me from the balcony. It was 225a. I acknowledged her presence then popped to my feet. She headed back to bed. I started coffee then completed 55 sit-ups. And then for the first time since Saturday, I did 50 push-ups. And while my shoulder was still achy, the push-ups didn’t seem to aggravate it any further. After a quick cup of coffee I dressed in “B” running attire, including a previously retired pair of tennis shoes, then headed out for an abbreviated travel day run. It was still before 3a. The temperature was quite mild, almost 50 degrees. I ran just three miles. Thinking pacific time zone-wise, I guessed Glenn and Tommy still up drinking beer. It would’ve been around midnight in the ‘Couv’. Back at home before 330a I headed up for a shower. I was getting very excited for our ski trip. Mindy was ready for her shower as I finished. I headed downstairs to make breakfast: an egg, tomato, cheese and lettuce sandwich. I put Mindy’s in the microwave. I wanted to leave the house no later than 430a. After finishing my sandwich I did a little writing in my blog until 410a. I powered down my PC then headed out to load our luggage into the Honda. We secured the home and pulled out the drive just after 430a. To say I didn’t feel a little travel stress would be inaccurate but I wasn’t as amped up as I have been many times past. I was, however, feeling the effects of being short slept. We parked in the airport blue lot. They were fast and efficient; had us parked and on a shuttle in less than five minutes. Dropped us at the terminal 5 minutes later. The Southwest line was long, but it moved fast. An employee scouting the line moved us around to a self serve kiosk that made the wait even less. Cool! With no trouble or surprises, we were quickly on our way to the security check point. The security line moved slowly. This was our first time going through the full body scan. I held my wallet in my hand as a TSA agent approached after I passed through cleanly. He abruptly asked for my wallet. Hell no! I don’t give my wallet to anyone. After some back and forth, I reluctantly gave in to his macho overtures. He wasn’t too friendly. They ran it through the x-ray machine then handed it back. We were at our gate, A5, at 515a. I could’ve slept but didn’t. I thought about getting some coffee but decided against it. I planned on sleeping on the flight to Chicago-Midway. We boarded and left on time, 620a. The flight to Chicago went fast, just over an hour. I slept for most of it. We had more than two hours to kill in Chicago-Midway. I wrote/updated my Wednesday blog via my Droid. That was a painful experience. I scouted the terminal’s book store but found nothing of interest. I did get Mindy a bottled water. Our flight from Chicago to Portland was overbooked. Our boarding group was B-59&60. I worried that we might not get two seats side by side. My concern proved reality. By the time we boarded, our only options were two middle seats across the aisle from one another. The young woman in the aisle I chose decided to take the middle seat leaving me the aisle seat. Cool! As I often do, I fell asleep before take-off, but woke as we left the ground. The 2nd leg of our trip was a long one – 4+ hours. I read and napped on and off for the entire flight. Mindy talked with the two young guys she was sitting between through most of the flight. They were heading to Canada to ski. Both were more fanatical about skiing than us. In fact, one of them has his own ski making business. They were interesting fellas. And even though I was in an aisle seat, I caught a glimpse of Mt Hood & Mt St Helen as we passed above the cloud cover. Beautiful! We landed at PDX at 1110a PT. We had to wait about 10-15 minutes at the luggage claim for our bags to begin rolling through. They all made it. We wheeled our bulky haul out the nearby doors to the waiting Thrifty shuttle. Again, fast and efficient. Thrifty had us in a minivan by noon. To Glenn’s place. Glenn’s place is less than 10 miles from the airport. We were there in about 10 minutes. It was partly sunny and mild, about 45 degrees. Nice! Glenn & Tommy looked to be awaiting our arrival, though both looked a little rough/tired. Late night perhaps. I couldn’t wait to brush my teeth. I went to the main bathroom. Glenn advised that we not use the toilet – down for repairs. We discussed our Bend travel plans then I phoned Tom Shepherd to check on his ETA. Waiting at home for a call. Said he left Glenn a VM requesting as much. No problem. Asked that he meet us at Glenn’s. While waiting, Glenn & I drove the rental minivan to Les Schwab Tires to buy tire chains in case of inclement weather in the mountains, which is fairly commonplace in the Cascades. The beauty of Les Schwab is this, if you don’t use the chains, you can return them come April 1 for a full refund. Sort of like an insurance policy. That took no more than 20 minutes round trip. Fairly close, really. We loaded the minivan for our trip as soon as we got back. It was tight, but we managed. On board, we had four pair of skis and boots along with our luggage and food. Tom S. showed up at Glenn’s about ten minutes later. We squeezed in Tom’s gear then quickly discussed our agenda, which included a quick trip to Council Crest in NW Portland – the site of our wedding—and then lunch before heading towards Bend. The drive into Portland and ultimately Council Crest went smoothly, although traffic was a tad tight through town. No biggie. We relied on Glenn’s memory to guide up to Council Crest. Neither he nor Tom had that specific route down pat, however. It’s a winding drive up through a posh hillside neighborhood. After lots of winding we found the park and quickly headed to the stone center where four years ago we espoused our wedding vows. We took a few pictures and admired the surrounding scenery before loading back into the minivan and back down the hill towards town and lunch. We agreed on the Bridgeport Brewery, the same place we toasted our wedding four years prior. Despite fearing that we might not find nearby parking, we found meter parking easily. Inside, the brewpub looked pretty much as it did in ’07. We were seated on the lower level, the upstairs closed until 4p. It was currently somewhere between 230-3p. Having perused their website a few weeks back, I already knew what beer I wanted to try, their Hop Czar—a newer Imperial IPA. I would only have one since I’d be driving. Mindy ordered a Porter. Not sure about the others. We all ordered food. Mindy & I shared a burger & hummus plate. There were a couple salads ordered too, but not sure who had what. The food was terrific – top notch! Everybody agreed. No one was disappointed. Mindy went into the gift shop just east of our table and bought two six packs to go, a six of the Hop Czar for me and the porter for her. We headed east out of Portland towards the Cascades sometime near 4p taking I-84 east. It was tight going for about 15 miles or until we exited onto Rt 26, which takes you through the foothills and ultimately into the mountains and past Timberline. The roads were fine, at least at the lower elevations. We stopped at a liquor store in Sandy to buy some booze, Gold Schlager, Vodka, and Jack Daniels. A few took a pee break, too. We passed Government Camp and Timberline with the benefit of daylight. The road was a bit snowy/icy but not ridiculous. Thankfully, we didn’t need to use the chains. I felt a slight tug on my heart strings as we passed through. Mindy & I love Timberline and Govy Camp. Probably ten miles past Timberline, route 26 starts to descend the mountain. The roads conditions improved quickly just as darkness was setting in. On the other side of Mt Hood the climate changes in a hurry. While wet, green and lush west of and up to Timberline, it becomes semi-arid to the south and east – mountain high country. Because it was dark, we couldn’t really appreciate the landscape. We wound our way through several small towns, including Madras & Redmond before reaching our final destination of Bend. We arrived in Bend just after 7p. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground but none currently falling. Our resort of choice, Seventh Mountain, is about 5 miles outside of Bend proper in the Deschutes Forest and that much closer to Mt Bachelor. We pulled into Seventh Mountain Resort at 733p. Check in was a snap. No surprises. I liked that! Our condo was in building #11 – unit 1133, on the third or top floor. We worked together to carry in all of our gear minus the skis to the condo. Easy. The condo was nice, one bedroom and bath downstairs, another bedroom and bath upstairs in the loft. The livingroom sofa served as the 3rd bedroom – a pullout. Vaulted ceiling too. I was relieved to be safe and in our condo. I cracked a beer to celebrate. I had been up since 230a, ran three miles, flew another 2500 miles, then drove 200 miles more. Mindy and I headed to bed at 10p PT. I planned to wake near 6a to get our first ski day started.