I met Hilary in the lobby of the hotel at about 10:30am. I had taken a walk around the block and had ducked into Columbia sportswear when she called and I popped up the block back to the hotel. We went to breakfast at a small dine in what I think she called “the pearl” neighborhood.
Then we took a trip up the Columbia river Gorge. We drove along and the weather was more or less threatening. It rained quite heavily and broke through sunny as often. We stopped at a beautiful lookout with an odd structure that had been built as the vanguard of a large resort that never materialized.
We then drove further and saw some amazing waterfalls. Jane and I had taken this same drive many years earlier when we were there with Cunningham but I was enjoying the day so much that I didn’t mention this.
We ended up in Hood River. After walking around a bit we found Rebecca Stenn’s brother Ben’s restaurant Celilio, named after some beautiful fall in the Columbia that disappeared when an power damn was built downstream. We chatted a bit and he walked us through his menu. We then chatted about some of the better restaurants in Portland and then he showed us his kitchen.
From there we drove up to Mt. Hood from the east, basically the backside from Portland. We drove along and it started to snow. We drove to the Timberline Hotel on the slopes of Mt. Hood. We arrived in bright sunshine. We walked around and checked out the 1930’s structure and marveled at it’s massive timber structure. We sat in front of a large window looking upon the peak of the mountain and just chatted for less than half an hour. As talked clouds moved in and obscured the mountain. Snow was swirling thickly.
When we left the parking lot was covered in more than an inch of snow. We got in to Hilary’s 1984 Westfalia camper and started down the hill. In very short order the van started to slide alarmingly. We stopped, gathered our composure and tried again. Again it got a little too sideways and we stopped up short. Hilary decided we had to put chains on the tires. We did so and were soon creeping down the mountain quite assuredly.
When we were clear of the snow line we took the chains off and sped into town.
When we got there we had a drink with Ana, Misha and Tei and then went off to dinner with the addition of Tom. We went to a fine old time seafood restaurant called Jake’s. Tei, Hilary, Misha and I shared oysters as an appetizer. Later I had an entry that I can’t remember and isn’t on their daily menu online, although I just had it.
It was a fine time. We all went home to the restaurant and I’m now trying to get myself into bed.
So nice to see Hilary.