What I Did on My Summer Vacation

And so it began, VERY early last Wednesday.  Mike and Loni's boy Chris drove them over in a massive SUV to our house -- it was 5 am.  I call Chris the "indentured servant," as he now serves at the pleasure of his parents.  He's an awesome kid -- starting UM Law in a few weeks on a scholarship -- a 3rd generation UM Law Cane.  But for now, he does chores for his parents -- including waking up absurdly early for a MIA trip.  He did well -- dropped us off at the airport, and we headed to the Centurion Lounge for breakfast.  We reminisced -- the first couples'  trip we took together was in '85 -- Cancun, when it was STILL Cancun and not Fort Lauderdale with dangerous drinking water.  It was a lifetime ago -- we were single, and Mike and I were slogging through law school.  Now, the first of our combined 4 kids is getting married in less than a month.  The years fly...

Anyway, our plane stopped in Phoenix, where I waxed Jimmy Webb, and Mike did better, with a Steve Miller reference:  we'd be going from Phoenix, Arizona all the way to Tacoma...

We arrived in Portland, and took the light rail to Downtown.  Wifey pushed her wheeled suitcase a few blocks and was down for the count.  I thought the trip would be ending there -- I actually checked into flights home the next day -- she was in bed, unable to move.  But, the Oregon spirits kicked in, and by the next day she was better and able to continue the trip -- though she missed our first evening out, to a Tiki bar called Halle Pele -- hipster place where Mike, Loni, and I were the only straight folks there -- and a stop at Powell's Books -- legendary block sized store that may be the biggest in the land.

We immediately got a sense of Portland -- it IS very casual.  We saw ZERO men in suits -- and the women were heavily inked and dressed, well, frumpy.  Wifey liked that immediately -- Miami is a glitter town -- everyone dresses nicely out and about.  She figures in Portland she's be Jackie O.  And I, famous schlumpy guy with my uniform of jeans and untucked shirt?  I'm GQ in Portland...

After a few days, including a dinner at the top steak place, Ringside, we fired up the huge Toyota Sequoia and drove to Crater Lake, with a stop, per Dr. Eric, Oregon maven, at Multnomah Falls, and then the town of Bend.  We got to Crater Lake late in the afternoon, and checked into the rustic cabins -- the main lodge was sold out.  But the lake -- Caramba!  It may well be the most beautiful sight I have seen in nature.  We learned about its geology, and saw it from different angles.  We had cocktails on the Crater Lodge deck, and after dinner, sat out back and looked at the sky.

It was Flooded with stars.  We talked about how when we were kids, the night sky was darker and you could see tons of stars.  Now, with all the light pollution, the sky is a different thing, unless  you're out far from cities, or on the ocean...

We made it back the scary road to the cabin, seeing a herd of deer, and a fix scampering across the pavement, and were in for the night.  The next day would be Mt. Hood, and the famous Skyline Lodge, where the filmed the exteriors of "The Shining..."