Just the Two of Us

 

Somehow in the midst of married life it is easy to forget that

this family began with just the two of us.

It's easy to not remember that when the busy pace of family life

is in the past there will be just the two of us.

Once in awhile we need to pay attention to just the two of us.

 

So, as a practical person, I suggested we combine a

church business trip with a little personal pleasure

that did not include any child chattering at us from the backseat.

 

After driving for two hours in horrible fog,

we flew from Sacramento on a plane with 101 EMPTY seats.
They sure lost money on that flight.

It was a very relaxed boarding experience and we had plenty of

attention from our crew.

People who were traveling together did not even have to sit next to each other.

 

We picked up our rental car in Portland, Oregon and found it had Texas license plates.

All the better for when we made dumb mistakes while driving;

we just blamed it on being from Texas.

It was an easy car to drive but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone who needs to haul

around people or things.  There was plenty of room for the two of us

 but we soon had the backseat full of stuff.

The funny thing was, the lady at the rental counter tried to get me to upgrade to a

larger car so we would be more comfortable with more head and leg room.

I informed her that obviously we were both short so upgrading for
 leg and head room was not exactly a priority for us.

 

 

Having some time on our hands after brunch, we headed to the nearest shopping center

where I concerned Rudy with my purchases.

  He kept asking if I remembered we had to fly home.

Our suitcases were not full and we were flying Southwest

so I knew that things would be fine.

 

We traveled west to spend the rest of the day with our Litfin friends

 and happened upon some more great bargins at a local store. 

Rudy was becoming more perturbed with my shopping and refused to take

me to a thrift store that we passed multiple times.

It's a rare day when I have time to browse while shopping so I

actually enjoyed my foray into the retail world.

 

We enjoyed the lush beauty of a land that gets plenty of rain.

 

One of our items of "business" one day was to meet friends and check out the
conference center our church has rented for our yearly June meeting.

We found it to be very suitable for our needs.

 

 

 

 

Our business done for the day, we headed north then west through the beautiful

Columbia River Gorge on the boarder of Oregon and Washington.
We chose the scenic route along the base of many waterfalls.

It was a beautiful and leisurely drive.

 

Then we stopped at the impressive Bonneville Lock and Dam.

After our car was searched for weapons, we were allowed to drive across the

front of the massive powerhouse and up to the visitor's center on Bradford Island.

 

It provided a beautiful view of the spillway.

 

We watched a gravel filled barge enter the lock but the combination of

 sun and fog in that area made it impossible to get a decent picture.

 

Our meanderings came to a close as we hightailed it into Washington's

Yakima valley where we spent the rest of the weekend fellowshipping with friends

and enjoying closer acquaintance.

 

Overhanging our visit to WA was the general gloom of winter and the fog

we had experienced quite enough of at home.

At one point we were driving from one home to another after dark

on some deserted back roads (which was probably a good thing!) and could

hardly see beyond the hood of the car.  I held my phone with the map app open

telling Rudy if there was a turn in the road or a cross street coming up.

It's pretty bad when you have to drive via app instead of being able to see the road!

 

We returned home a few days after departing, happy to see the family

and ready to jump back into life.  We had enjoyed time with friends

and we had enjoyed our time alone.

It was to be a busy week because on Friday we were to leave home again

 on a road trip... but this time with people in the back seat of a much larger vehicle.