Busy Week

Due to weather conditions beyond our control, J decided that it would be best to drive our car home on Monday instead of Sunday this week. Apparently, I was still pretty stressed from the drive down and freaked out at the prospect of returning home on Tuesday -- I had a scheduled site visit in Salem Monday morning. We talked it over and decided that I should fly home on Sunday and J would drive back to Portland with his dad.

I got home on Sunday afternoon, prepared for my site visit, and cleaned up in the apartment like a mad woman. We have pretty much been living out of our suitcases since Thanksgiving, so the apartment looked like it exploded with stuff. It felt good to clean up and get ready for the new year. I went on my site visit on Monday (it was successful, but rainy and cold) and J and Bob arrived in Portland that evening just in time for dinner. We were all pretty exhausted and went to bed.

Yesterday, we decided to take care of work in the early morning and then headed out to Multnomah Falls for a hike. The falls were roaring and sent out a fine mist that felt like rain. I knew the hike was probably a bad idea when I saw people coming off the hill with red faces and soaked heads, and then there were two ladies thawing their feet and hands in the ladies bathroom under the hand dryers.

We walked on, though, and found that the path up to the bridge was solid snow. However, it didn't look too treacherous, so we charged on. We hadn't prepared for these conditions, so I was wearing sneakers (which were already soaking wet by this point) and neither J or Bob had brought along a hat. We made it up to the bridge with a bit of slipping and sliding, looked at the falls for a couple of minutes and then headed back for relief from the soaking mist hanging over our heads.

Even though our hike was short-lived, I'm glad we tried. The snow along the trail was really pretty and the falls looked amazing. I can't wait to go back when the snow has melted away and make the hike all the way up to the top of the falls.

We returned home, had some lunch, and J had to go downtown for a late afternoon meeting. After his meeting we all went out for dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant and gorged on their spicy fare. I have to say it was really tasty, but I haven't had food that hot in quite a while. I think I felt so full from all the water I drank along with the naan soaked in raita to cool my palate. There was so much food that I barely had enough room to finish my tandoori chicken, so we are going to make a delicious salad for dinner this week with the leftovers.

It was great to have Bob stay with us for a couple of days. It was fun showing him around our neighborhood and walking around the city. However, we tried not to have too much fun (we wanted to save the best parts for when J's mom comes along next time)!