Road Trip

The last of the OUS Fall High School Counselor workshops were held earlier this week at SOU and OSU-Cascades.  Mike and I hit the road on Monday, heading to Ashland and a fabulous dinner with Rick at Kaleidoscope Pizzeria & Pub. We finished up the NT4CM workshop promptly at 3:30 pm on Tuesday and set out for Bend, just a bit nervous about the weather and the condition of the mountain passes. The snowplows, however, had done a fine job and the pavement was wet but clear. With a recent dusting of snow, the landscape was beautiful. Mt. Thielsen simply could not be ignored so we stopped for a quick photo opportunity.

We arrived in Bend around 8:00 and--after throwing suitcases into our rooms--headed out for dinner.  The GPS was programmed for Deschutes Brewery but somehow that didn't look like the right place.  Mike indulged me (after I assured him I was trying to recreate an experience) and we walked a few blocks and found Bend Brewing Company.  Which is where Mike claimed last year he had the best beer in his life.  For the second time then, Mike had the best beer in his life (Vanilla Porter) and I confirmed that this was, indeed, the place to go in Bend.  For beer.  The Pine Tavern is still the place to go for dinner.
 

Our timing was perfect once again on Wednesday and we were on the road by 4:00.  The weather cooperated as we left Bend and the Santiam pass was clear, but turned quite nasty around Detroit and through Mill City.



Detroit Lake was showing only stumps and mud--no photo opportunities there.  And while I do enjoy this trip every other year, I was ready to be home.

DC

 

 Alaska Airlines now offers a direct flight from Portland to Washington, DC, making the trip all very civilized. And the 5:10 pm departure time for the return trip to Portland allows for some Friday afternoon exploring. I had already decided to take Metro from National Airport to the Palomar Hotel, since last year's rush hour taxi trip was expensive and not all that fun. Metro proved to be easy, inexpensive (well, compared to BART at least) and efficient, so despite all of the naysayers ("too far, too far," they cried), Alison and I set off to see the new Martin Luther King Memorial. As well as a few sites in between.  The MLK Memorial was impressive.  Very nicely done.

We continued to walk around the Tidal Basin, stopping to eat our box lunches at the FDR Memorial. From the Basin, the Washington Memorial provides a great point of reference for figuring out exactly where you are and how far you are from the Metro stop.

  As I read the quotations inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial, I was reminded of the principles upon which our nation was built ... and how far we've strayed from those principles.

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." --FDR

Hmmmm.  Now we have Mitt telling us that 47% of Americans need to take responsibility for their lives and pick themselves up by their bootstraps.  Hmmmmmm.

No time to walk to the Capitol, so we gazed from the distance and decided that next year we'll do the other side of the Mall, including the White House and Vietnam Memorial. We took Metro back to The Palomar, picked up our suitcases, and headed back to the Metro station once again for the trip to National. With only 80 cents remaining on my Metro pass, it was time to go home. Security lines were very long and I got to the gate just as first class passengers were boarding. Plenty of time, although I know a few people who would disagree.