Matt waits in the station. Aside from railbikes and train rides, you can also rent ebikes to explore Hood River for the day.
Matt on the bike. One person gets to control the level of assist. Matt was in charge of that on the way up. We had about a 45-minute ride up to the fruit company, and then I was in charge on the way back.
Me on the way back down. I got cold and put on my coat, accidentally zipping my safety vest under my coat.
On the way back, we got to stop so our guide could take our picture at the waterfall. She remarked that she hadn’t seen an actual camera in a very long time.
We drove to Kah-Nee-Ta for the day. It gave us a chance to read from the books, an activity that has fallen by the wayside as the number of our streaming services have increased.
It was a good day for Kah-Nee-Ta as it was gray and rainy in Portland, but sun-sun-sunny on the other side of the mountain.
At the turnoff, there was a sign that we were on open range, and indeed, three horses were hanging out in the road. Matt took this picture.
We checked in, grabbed lockers in our respective dressing rooms (lockers were spendy, and also my locker rental kiosk charged me twice) and explored the various water offerings. We made brief visits to the children’s spa and walked through the children’s play area (there were no children playing at the time.) We checked out all three wellness pools, from the nicely warm to the very hot.
We then rested a bit, before trying out the lazy river. This was my first lazy river. It was super fun. We both had pool noodles, and when we stepped into the “river” (actually a pool about 4.5 feet deep with an inner pool that was not part of the river), the current pushed us around in an undulating circular path. It was quite relaxing and fun.
The middle pool had both a volleyball and a basketball net, so we played some ball. We also ate lunch (it was fine, but also I didn’t choose the Indian Taco option, which was probably really good) and then soaked/rested/lazy rivered again before taking a walk.
We played miniature golf, and checked out the lodging and teepees., then went back for one more soak before showing and heading back. I took this self portrait outside the entrance.
And then Matt joined me so we could do a time photo. (Such a classic timer photo!)
On the way back there were more horses.
Overall, this was a good trip. Because lodging is rather spendy, I think this trip would be a great to stop when coming back from Bend. It would break up the drive nicely.
When we visited, there were not many people, but I’m not sure how things go in the summer. There is an option to rent a cabana, or various permutations of deck chairs. We did not opt for that. The free chairs are not padded, but they were nice, and there were a ton of them.
On the way home we stopped at DQ for dinner and a Blizzzard.
We’re having a small summer vacation, as opposed to our extravagant Disneyland trip in March. Our first stop: The Portland Spirit, the boat that runs regular cruises on the Willamette River
After having our picture taken while boarding (regulation, according to them, but also so they could try to sell us the photo for $15) we climbed to the third deck and grabbed chairs near the railings.
We opted for the Happy Hour Cruise which was the shortest in duration and had no food included. It was a good choice.
While you cruise, there is guided narration. Here we pull away from the dock.
Here is the Tilikum Crossing Bridge, the South Waterfront, and the OHSU Tram.
Looking back at the Sellwood Bridge.
We turned around and came back a little earlier than I thought we would, but I guess that’s what you get when opt for the least expensive cruise that is shortest in length. Back at the dock, Matt could touch the dock as we pulled up to it.
Back in May, I tackled the second task on my unemployment to-do list: painting the front of the house.
Something went wrong with the previous paint job, and the paint bubbled on the right side of the door. This was fine (I mean, not really, but it looked fine) until pressure washing peeled off the paint on some lower bubbles, leaving the cement siding exposed.
Matt had previously had the paint matched, and in May I sanded things down. Sometime in July, I borrowed my neighbor’s extension ladder and used Krud Kutter in lieu of pressure washing to clean the surface. That undid my sanding efforts.
And now, in September, I have sanded again and painted! I’m pleased with the results. I didn’t paint all the way up, and used the porch shelter as a demarcation point. But the colors look fine and point where the paint changes is blocked by the bush on one side and the upper porch on the other.
Most all of the bubbles flattened out and while you can see the outline, they blend pretty well.
This is one exception, but we will put back the mailbox and it will cover that right up. You can also see where the wood has rotted. It was very spongy when I did the initial work in May.
Rather than try to replace the wood, I’m thinking of this as a stop-gap measure. the house is up for repainting in the next few years, and the painters replace the boards that need it when they paint.
After kind of forgetting to make plans, Matt and I rallied and celebrated our third anniversary (the wedding one, not the together one, which was in May) at the Pixiu Mala Hongtang restaurant.
We chose our ingredients and chose to have them stir fried (the other choice was soup) and had delicious customized meals. It was quite fun and filling.
Then we stopped by the Pix-o-Matic machines to get some anniversary dessert. I got the Shazam and Matt got the Royale, which didn’t make it into the picture.
Matt, Greg, Renee, and I attended the 10-Year Anniversary Movie Quiz. We were excited to go because to celebrate the quiz’s long run, every team was guaranteed a prize.
As we are middling movie quizzees, this was our chance to win a prize.
I was hoping to score a Hallmark Keepsake Beatrice “Tris” Pior Divergent ornament. Mark the Quizmaster gives at least one of them away during every quiz. He jokes that they will probably be used as currency when the world ends.
We also had to identify Divergent from a film clip. I overthought it and guessed it was one of the later movies, so we even missed the Divergent question. (!)
We had a slow first round, and rallied a bit in the second round, but we were nowhere near the top three. Those winners got movie passes to the Hollywood Theatre and free movie rentals at Movie Madness. They also got first pick of the winning prizes. The prizes were stacked in the front of the theater, of various sizes, and all wrapped.
Mark told us that the theater asked us to open our prizes outside, so that we wouldn’t overburden the theater staff with extra cleaning duties.
Matt picked our prize, and it was book sized and squishy. It clearly wasn’t a Hallmark Keepsake Beatrice “Tris” Pior Divergent ornament. We guessed it might be a t-shirt as we exited the theater.
There, under the marquee lights, we unwrapped our prize in the company of other Movie Quiz prizewinners.
And we won a copy of Divergent!
Looking around at the other teams, we found that everyone, no matter the size of their prize, had also won a copy of the movie Divergent. “But some people got a Blu-ray,” a woman helpfully observed.
We all laughed, and I laughed more at the thought of Mark setting up this elaborate joke and also not being able to witness the payoff because he was still upstairs in the theater distributing prizes.
My frugal self loves the JAW festival because the readings are free. But I also love plays and have enjoyed our previous outing.
Fires, Ohio was another good night at the theater. Trapped by poor air quality from a nearby fire, a family has a dinner together to celebrate an old friend’s visit. And then so many other things happen.
As the play progressed, each character searched the internet for information. I thought this was a particularly brilliant way to get insight about the characters.
