Last Day in Oregon

How stinkin cute is that?

July 8, 2009

Shawn, another of Dean’s brothers, (he has a whole bunch, don’t even bother keeping track) was kind enough to let us spend some time with his three-year-old son, our nephew Tyler. We met up with another of Dean’s friends, Amanda, in Portland for brunch and Tyler joined us. We saved some tortilla scraps because we’d seen a park with a koi pond on the walk to the restaurant and thought we’d feed them on the way back. I think Tyler could have spent hours throwing in tiny bits to the fish and watching them scurry to eat. Which is why it was good there was also woman at the park with three smallish kids with her. (I am SO bad at guessing kids’ ages. “Does it talk? Run? So, nine-ish then? Oh, he’s four. Excellent.”) I love how kids are so instantly familiar with each other, with none of those stupid “introductions” and “pleasantries” that adults have to endure. They just began sharing the scraps and clapping gleefully together when the fish ate them.

The way back to Hood River was a mess. If we weren’t so sure that Shawn would be a bit perturbed if we just kept Tyler forever instead of returning him, we wouldn’t have gone back. An oil tanker flipped on the highway and spilt its load. This is the worst possible thing that can happen in a tree-hugging state like Oregon. (Or is the correct term environmentally conscious? I never can remember.) They shut down the entire highway and left us to our own devices to find an alternate route. Who shuts down a whole interstate? We tried to make the best of it and stopped at the beautiful Multnomah Falls with Tyler, who hiked a good quarter-mile with his baby legs. We admired the 542-foot drop for awhile and then got back into the car. The second stop was not as lovely, as I think we may have exposed poor Tyler to his first port-a-john. I really, really hope that’s not the part of the trip he remembers. The usually forty-five minute drive took four and a half hours. We crossed the Oregon-Washington state border/river twice, but Tyler took it like a champ. His uncle Dean got him a little water gun as a reward for being so very good, which is another one of those things that kids love but parents, maybe not so much.

The drive killed most of the day, so we basically made it back to Hood River, said our last goodbyes, and turned around and started the drive up to Seattle. That was another four-ish hours on the road. Sometimes, travel is not so glamorous. Someone needs to invent teleporting, and soon.

We returned the car, got to the Seattle-Tacoma airport, filled out a mountain of paperwork, waited in nineteen different lines, and then hung out in the USO for awhile playing Rummy 500, which I felt the need to mention because I won. Right before midnight, we cleared security and headed to a satellite gate where we caught our military flight to Okinawa.