Fall Trip '06 — Day 1
Ok, up bright and early once more because of the
TSA requirement that you show up half a year before your flight time. I really
wish there was a different way to get around, because I really hate flying in
the post-911 world. Especially since we are no more secure today than we were on
9/10, just more frustrated with the bureaucracy and ticked off about the further
erosion of our freedoms by an overzealous government.
We flew on our first leg to Midway just after sunrise. It was actually kinda neat looking down on southern Indiana at all the little pockets of fog in the valleys, especially behind the knobs to the north and west of New Albany. Looked a little like someone had strewn cotton batting across the landscape.
It only took an hour to get from Louisville to Chicago and looking at the city through the haze made me realize I really miss it. All the things to do, see, hear and eat. Just don't miss the expense of living there.
I have been in and out of O'Hare lots of times, but have never been to Midway. Neighborhoods around the airport don't look that nice from the air I noticed as we made our final approach. As we crossed the outer fence, it occurred to me that we were coming in awfully high and hot! I turned to Lynda and said, "We're gonna bounce, he is too high." Actually, we did two bounces, but who is counting. Dadblame jet-jockeys!
Have been in worse airports than Midway (San Jose, CA comes immediately to mind) but most airports are better, thankfully it is only a transfer point for us. Anyway, we caught our flight and were outta there.
There were a lot of clouds and some pretty good turbulence as we winged our way west. I dropped off a couple of times and am told I snored. Hope I didn't disturb too many people around me. Got one good shot of Mt. St Helens as we went into Portland.
We claimed our brand-new, expensive, hard-sided suitcases. Scuffed up so bad that they looked like we had had been traveling with em for years. Waddled our way (dragging two bags, you tend to waddle) to the car rental place and found out that PT Cruisers have no room for luggage. Was offered a Hyundai which I wouldn't drive under threat of death. A jeep with lousy gas milage and a Buick LaCrosse which we finally went with. Already miss my Rav. Crammed the suitcases in the trunk and back seat with Heather and headed for Government Camp way high up on the slope of Mt. Hood.
We are staying tonight at the Mt. Hood Inn which is at the west junction of US 26 and OR 35 in the above Google Earth Map.
On the way up here, we stopped in Sandy, Oregon (between Boring and Zig Zag) and ate at Shorty's Corner Cafe. The food was very good, inexpensive and in bountiful quantities. All three of us heartily recommend it if you are ever on US 26 in this part of Oregon.
Well, I am off to find something to eat and then off to bed, we have to drive down the volcano (yes, Mt. Hood is an active volcano) to Hood River to catch the Mt. Hood Railroad, which is celebrating its centennial this year. We are doing the Brunch train, and it leaves early and we are an hour away.
Update: We went east on Government Camp Loop Road (our Inn is on the west end where it peels off on the north side of US 26) for about mile, maybe less to the Huckleberry Inn. They had a big board out front proclaiming their great huckleberry pie, so we stopped. The Inn has a steakhouse and a 24-hour cafe and the cafe was the pie place; it was clean enough, so we plopped into booth. Our waitress had definitely been toking all day and the proprietor/manager was complaining about a hangover (said there was nothing else to do at night up here). Thankfully, they weren't cooking. I had a large order of onion rings — got more than I bargained for, was a big platter plate piled high with them — and a slice of apple pie ala mode. Lynda had the Chicken Strips dinner with really good chicken and a couple of pounds of fries and Heather got the Prawn Basket and they split a slice of huckleberry pie. Nite nite.
We flew on our first leg to Midway just after sunrise. It was actually kinda neat looking down on southern Indiana at all the little pockets of fog in the valleys, especially behind the knobs to the north and west of New Albany. Looked a little like someone had strewn cotton batting across the landscape.
It only took an hour to get from Louisville to Chicago and looking at the city through the haze made me realize I really miss it. All the things to do, see, hear and eat. Just don't miss the expense of living there.
I have been in and out of O'Hare lots of times, but have never been to Midway. Neighborhoods around the airport don't look that nice from the air I noticed as we made our final approach. As we crossed the outer fence, it occurred to me that we were coming in awfully high and hot! I turned to Lynda and said, "We're gonna bounce, he is too high." Actually, we did two bounces, but who is counting. Dadblame jet-jockeys!
Have been in worse airports than Midway (San Jose, CA comes immediately to mind) but most airports are better, thankfully it is only a transfer point for us. Anyway, we caught our flight and were outta there.
There were a lot of clouds and some pretty good turbulence as we winged our way west. I dropped off a couple of times and am told I snored. Hope I didn't disturb too many people around me. Got one good shot of Mt. St Helens as we went into Portland.
We claimed our brand-new, expensive, hard-sided suitcases. Scuffed up so bad that they looked like we had had been traveling with em for years. Waddled our way (dragging two bags, you tend to waddle) to the car rental place and found out that PT Cruisers have no room for luggage. Was offered a Hyundai which I wouldn't drive under threat of death. A jeep with lousy gas milage and a Buick LaCrosse which we finally went with. Already miss my Rav. Crammed the suitcases in the trunk and back seat with Heather and headed for Government Camp way high up on the slope of Mt. Hood.
We are staying tonight at the Mt. Hood Inn which is at the west junction of US 26 and OR 35 in the above Google Earth Map.
On the way up here, we stopped in Sandy, Oregon (between Boring and Zig Zag) and ate at Shorty's Corner Cafe. The food was very good, inexpensive and in bountiful quantities. All three of us heartily recommend it if you are ever on US 26 in this part of Oregon.
Well, I am off to find something to eat and then off to bed, we have to drive down the volcano (yes, Mt. Hood is an active volcano) to Hood River to catch the Mt. Hood Railroad, which is celebrating its centennial this year. We are doing the Brunch train, and it leaves early and we are an hour away.
Update: We went east on Government Camp Loop Road (our Inn is on the west end where it peels off on the north side of US 26) for about mile, maybe less to the Huckleberry Inn. They had a big board out front proclaiming their great huckleberry pie, so we stopped. The Inn has a steakhouse and a 24-hour cafe and the cafe was the pie place; it was clean enough, so we plopped into booth. Our waitress had definitely been toking all day and the proprietor/manager was complaining about a hangover (said there was nothing else to do at night up here). Thankfully, they weren't cooking. I had a large order of onion rings — got more than I bargained for, was a big platter plate piled high with them — and a slice of apple pie ala mode. Lynda had the Chicken Strips dinner with really good chicken and a couple of pounds of fries and Heather got the Prawn Basket and they split a slice of huckleberry pie. Nite nite.
Posted: Sat - September 16, 2006 at 09:16 PM
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Published On: Sep 19, 2006 12:39 PM
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Published On: Sep 19, 2006 12:39 PM