2005 Oregon

May 5, 2005

Hello From Oregon

I so enjoy your calls and emails. I appreciate your words of encouragement, your updates and your numerous admonitions to, “BE CAREFUL.” And so I will. I thought I’d send another letter even though I’ve not yet reached my destination in order to respond to all the emails I’ve received. I thought I should set my good friends and loving worrier’s minds at ease as to where I am and what I am up to. My youngest reminds me when I worry over him that, “It’s all good, Mom.” So take heart that it’s all good.

I am sitting next to a crackling fire that’s blazing its way up a mammoth chimney in Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. This place is great. It has a very rustic feel and a wonderful sense of history. The mountain is covered in snow and is shrouded in fog. Gorgeous. I decided to take a drive up the mountain today while everyone is at work and treat myself to lunch here at the lodge. What a fantastic place to sit and write.

Adventure continues to readily present itself, much to my joy. Or, maybe it is more along the lines of what my niece observed the other day. My sister’s teenage girls and I went to the park for lunch and when we finished eating, I coaxed and coerced them to the swing set. They moaned and groaned but followed my lead. While they sat on their swings and complained about motion sickness, I set my swing flying and then set it spinning while in mid-air. They yelled something about throwing-up and about me being a crazy woman. I laughed back. And Tressa shot at me in a rather unimpressed tone, “Aunt Nannette, you entertain easily.” I laughed again and responded in a rather preachy aunt sort of way, “All I have is this moment Tress, right now and I am going to be happy and have fun.” Like someone reminded me before I began my travels south, the journey is as important as the destination. Whether the journey is in the literal sense or the figurative, this principle is applicable to both. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow has not yet arrived, all we have is today, this moment, right now. So, maybe experiencing adventure is more of an attitude than an opportunity. It’s all in how we view life and what we make of it.

My Seattle rendezvous was great fun. My brother and his buddy were in the area finishing up their scuba diving certification. So I met with them and my sister-in-law for fun in the rain. As I’d arrived at the hotel before the rest, I made my way down to the outdoor hot tub and swimming pool for a soak and a swim. Ah, the amenities a warmer climate offers. It was dark and raining out and I had the place to myself. Subdued lighting surrounded the pool’s perimeter along with Maples and Willows and Rhododendrons. I glided and floated through the cool water and enjoyed the solitude. I closed my eyes and let the rain softly pelt my face and the water relax my road weary muscles. This peaceful moment was short lived, however, due to a group of approximately 20 rambunctious teenagers diving and bombing into the water around me. The atmosphere quickly changed from peaceful to playful. Fun!

After the guys scuba dive the next day, we wandered through Pikes Market. We squeezed our way through the mob of people trying to get a look at everything. There were flowers everywhere; daffodils and tulips and lilacs and numerous other varieties. The colors and smells and textures filled our senses; I couldn’t get enough. Kim and I oohed and aahed over flowers until the guys were sick of hearing us. We watched the fish mongers at Pikes Market Fish Co. bark at passerby and throw fish at one another and too throw a rubber chicken into the unsuspecting, squealing crowd. It was quite comical and great entertainment.

The following day Kim and I watched the Daffodil Festival Marine Parade make its way along Ruston Way Waterfront in Tacoma while the guys finished their last dive. There were 50 some odd boats decked out in daffodils and flags and other ornaments and people stood on decks dressed in yachtsmen clothes waving to landlubbers. After the dive, we joined the diving class for lunch. What a fun and interesting group of people. I enjoyed listening the stories the experienced divers shared. And the instructor offered to give me a couple free introductory lessons.

I am thoroughly enjoying spending time with loved ones here in Oregon. Of course I am involved in family activities; dinners and track meets and movies and a comedy club show and lunches and the health club and the beauty salon. My sister-in-law and my nieces and I went to the beauty salon after hours. We ate pizza and looked at magazines and asked Kathy to make us look like “this one.” We colored our hair and skin and nails and talked girl talk and listened to music and sang and danced around the salon with foil in our hair and had a great time.

I have also experienced a few outdoor adventures. I’ve been to Hood River up the Columbia Gorge to watch the windsurfers and kite boarders, (I have to take up that sport. The guys on the kite boards dance on the water and jump the waves and fly through the air. How fun is that?) I have also been to the coast and to the mountains a couple times and to the zoo. I walked around downtown Portland and meandered through shops, and, I watched passerby (I could write a whole letter just on observations I made while people watching downtown. Crazy!) And I’ve been to Multnomah Falls a couple of times. Life is good.

My sister and I hiked up switchbacks to the top of Multnomah Falls at sunset under a canopy of Western Red Cedars and moss covered Maples. There was a slight reprieve in the rain. The sun broke its way through the clouds and put on a glorious exhibit before kissing the world goodnight. Multnomah Falls crashes down a basalt cliff into an amphitheater shaped area. It is absolutely gorgeous. At the base of the Falls is a lodge that looks like it came directly out of a Thomas Kincaid painting. The lodge is built of rocks found in the Columbia gorge area and has two massive chimneys at each end of the lodge and the wood shakes on the roof are covered with moss. The chimney at the east end of the lodge had smoke slowly billowing its way up into the trees. Very picturesque.

I plan to stay in Oregon for at least another week. There are just too many fun things to do here and great people to visit. I will be heading down the coastline to see my girly as well as other family members and friends in California in the not too distant future. I hope that all of you are doing wonderfully and that life is treating you well. I send all of you my love and I look forward to hearing from you as always.

Nannette