Wednesday, September 22, 2010

A Busy Weekend

We spent the weekend in Oregon for Karvin and Lauren's wedding. Karvin is one of my old high school friends who relocated to Portland only a few years after I moved down to Seattle. The wedding was in Hood River which was about 1.5 hours out of Portland (depending on traffic, weather, etc.). The wedding was Sunday and we arrived (very late) Saturday night.

The drive down was one of the most harrowing drives we have ever made. Given that it was pouring down rain, it was very late (i.e. dark), we were totally unfamiliar with the road, and the lane markers on the road were almost non-existent - it made for a very tense drive down.

The wedding was to be outdoors but it was raining off and on all day on Sunday. The decision was made to try to have the wedding outdoors during one of the few rain breaks. They timed it just right (!) - literally immediately following the ceremony, it became pouring down rain. The following reception was indoors.

I had an opportunity to reunite with a few other old high school friends and catch up. We had kept in touch (loosely) over the years but it had been quite a while since I'd seen them (8-9 years for one in particular!).

The next day, on our drive home, we stopped by Montnomah falls. Looking at the trail map, it claimed that the hike to the summit of the falls was only about 1 mile. On a spontaneous whim, we decided to do it. Dina strapped Ethan to her and carried him while I held Jonathan's hand on the hike. What we didn't know was how steep the hike was - it was pretty much 1 mile straight up (and subsequently 1 mile straight down). Amazingly - Jonathan walked the entire hike! Only near the end of the downhill hike did he start to complain that he was tired and couldn't walk anymore (could you blame him?). We told him he could pick out any two of anything at the gift shop if he walked the whole way. Bribery always works; Jonathan completed the hike and was promptly rewarded with two toy trucks he picked out at the gift shop.

We stopped off at Karvin and Lauren's house to visit for a bit before continuing on our way home (they had left Hood River a little before we did). Karvin's parents were staying with them during their visit. Karvin's mother was very taken with Ethan!

Karvin and Lauren on their special day (9/19/10).


The happy couple!

The other happy couple!

Me and two of my old high school friends (Sam on the left, Ahmed on the right). Actually, Sam is an old junior high friend.

Me, Karvin, and Ahmed.

Montnomah Falls. The hiking trail starts at the base, goes up to the bridge (which is a very easy hike) and then from there, goes up to the summit.

At the observation deck at the summit.

The view just before the precipice.

The precipice...

Ethan and Karvin's mother.
- bob

No comments:

Post a Comment