Calamity Jane,s-Sandy OregonTa

Since the weather failed us on scenic trip to Mt. Hood. It's was much too foggy to see much of anything. We did discover Calamity Jane's restaurant and Burger's extraordinaire. The restaurant is designed to look to like an 1800's Saloon. All the waitresses were blond and pretty which normally sends me red flags of sexist. But most of the clientele were female I figured it was just a fluke.

David goal for the trip was not have any french fries My goal is to return home with less stuff then I flew out with. David had fish and chips on the flight out-his logic is they chip not fries.

David order a plan burger and onion rings. While I opted for the caujin burger and fries, The burger was great -but i was glad I had taken prilosec that morning.

It was the birthday of a 15 years old boy and luckly (or unluckly) =who besides the birthday song recieved a free sundue. The was one catch before he got his treat. He had to gallup around on wooden horsey. The youngin took it like a real trooper. Personally I would have skip the sundue.

The ceiling to calamity Jane's is covered by decorated one dollar bills. It was started by the owner and followed the customer's. They now claim to ten thousand one dollar bill up there. I was hoping for a mild earthquark-no such luck

Waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge

Trailer Park Musical is being held over

God I wish I could see this

River Gorge Waterfalls extradinaire

After waking up in cranky mood (see below post) we started on sight seeing. Luckily for us the Columbia River Gorge is only a few miles east of Portland off on I84. Most of the picture I had seen of the gorge were- just that pictures of the gorge. So imagine my surprise when i found it was gorge, scenic gorge followed by waterfall, waterfall, waterfall , waterfall and you guess it more waterfalls.There are last count 34 waterfall along the Columbia River Gorge-including Multonamah the second highest falls in United States. All on easy to moderate walking trails unless of course your going to try doing several on them in one day. Then it's a bitch.





We did meet a young gay couple around the punch bowl falls. One was complaining at the other that he was taking too many picture. The one nagging must have be in a festive mood he was wearing orange polish on his toes nail. The nail polish took David back but personally I was more schocked that he was wearing scandals on the wet hiking trails.

Flight to Portland

We arrived at the Grand Rapids at 10:30 AM EST. We open the hotel 3:30 AM EST. Enough said

Packing for Oregon

I for one am happy about the airline's new baggage rules Now I can blame someone else when I screw up packing my luggage . And I will screw up. Underpack-Overpack, I'll mess up somehow. In Maine during the hottest summer on record I got the only cold week. Who knew that Palm Spring is cold when in the shadow of the mountains?. They aren't kidding about needing hiking boots in the smokies. Don't try Pensacola's Beach's without scandals- those plants hurt. Umbrella were needed for Disney world.

Then there is the dress clothes. I've put dress pants and shirts in the suitcase on every vacation-Haven't used them yet. We were going to dress up in Chicago once but we were running behind and ended up going in jeans and t-shirts. Actually that turned out to one time we were dress correctly.

At the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Miami Beach we attended the showcase movie and after party. David and I thought we would dress a little festive. We wore floral Hawaiian shirt and Docker shorts. Big fashion mistake in South Beach -the locals wear long pants and dress shirts in the evening no matter how hot. We overheard someone whispered we were the gayest thing they even seen.

Usually before a trip,I purchase all new underwear and socks. This vacation, I'm trying something different. I'm bringing the wore, tore and strained. I'm giving these item their final send off on the vacation. My underthings are going to be left in Microtels and Comfort Inns throughout the Western half of Oregon. My goal is to come home with less then when I started.

Planning for Oregon

A huge part of the fun of a vacation for David and I, is the planning. Luckily we each have our favorite part in the planning. My part is location, what to do and driving route. David is planning the fight and hotels. We rarely step on each other territory but it does occasionally happen. This time for example David wanted the coast before the Cascade Mountains and Crater Lake National Park.
Planning for Oregon trip has been amazingly easy. Portland is centrally location near most of the attraction we want to see. We can see a lot of Oregon by day trips from the hotel avoiding time moving in and out of hotels. From Portland were going down the Pacific Coast. Then we'll travel back between National Wildness and Freeway- with a major stop in Eugene.