What the Fuck is in Portland?
ICE!! that's what's in Portland! You won't believe the weekend I've had. This is a weekend that ended today--Tuesday--two days after I expected to be home. For the whole harried experience, read on.
The weekend started out wonderfully. Mom (who came along for the ride) and I drove out to Portland, Oregon (about 3 hours' drive from where I live) on Friday morning without incident. I was to meet my friend Chris and we were going to have a 3-day weekend filled with fun. Friday night, we had a great time hanging out at Powell's (the best bookstore in the world) and then off to Calendula's for an amazing vegetarian meal. We'd planned to hang out at the art gallery on Saturday but what should happen? A severe ice storm hit overnight. Let me tell you, it was terrible. Freezing rain turned to ice and created a sheet of ice at least 1/4 inch thick over everything. I was unable to see Chris that day--as we were staying at two different hotels with several miles of impassible highway between us. I tried to get into town on the tram--which was supposedly in complete working order--but I soon discovered that was false. One train--our train from the airport--got stuck at the first stop. We couldn't move for 2 hours. We were stranded until some busses finally made it over the ice to pick us up and take us back to the airport. I spent the rest of the day with mom watching a dog show competition on Animal Planet.
Sunday, the ice began to melt, and I decided to clean up my car and head into town to try and meet up with Chris one more time. I didn't realize how crazy that storm was until I reached my car. I thought it would take me 10 minutes to clear off the ice. It took me one hour to chisel away 1/4 to 1/2 inch slabs of ice from over my entire car. It came off like sheets of glass. I've never seen anything quite like it.
Sunday was a great day. Chris and I got to go to the museum--I tried my first Chai Latte which I've been curious to try as I read Gale Harold enjoyed them ;)--it was delicious, btw. We had a wonderful day overall. We'd planned to come home Sunday afternoon--but the roads tghrough the Gorge were still too treacherous to pass, so we stayed an extra night.
Monday came, and Mom and I got ready to drive back home. We had to drive through the Gorge which was covered with ice. We bought some chains at the tire shop--neither one of us knew how to use them. I'd hoped we wouldn't have to use them. But 15 miles out of Portland, we were forced to pull over on the highway and get out into the freezing rain and 30mph winds and try to figure them out. It took 3 minutes for my fingers to go numb and my patience to run out. I went over to a truck driver (god bless truck drivers!!) and asked for assistance. The driver, who looked like Liam Nieson, agreed to help me and within 10 minutes, he had those chains on. Mom and I crawled down the Gorge at 25mph. We passed waterfalls that were frozen solid and trees glistening with ice. It was actually quite beautiful--but hard to appreciate with the stress of driving over ice.
We made it in about 3 hours time to the Dalles (over half-way to home). This is after pulling over once to remove the chains (thank god for another trucker who helped out there!) and once more to chisel inch-thick ice that had accumulated on my windshield wipers.
We had lunch in the Dalles and I called Dad at home to see what road conditions were like for the rest of the trip. It was black ice and freezing rain all the way. With only an hour or so of daylight left, mom and I decided not to risk it and stayed overnight in the Dalles. Good thing we did, as this morning when we left on the last leg of our journey home, the air was warmer, the roads were clear and best of all-- no ice!
It has never taken us 2 days to drive from Portland (a trip that should only take 3 hours). I am glad that we're home safe, though! One thing I've learned is never to travel by car in January!
I'm glad to be back :)
The weekend started out wonderfully. Mom (who came along for the ride) and I drove out to Portland, Oregon (about 3 hours' drive from where I live) on Friday morning without incident. I was to meet my friend Chris and we were going to have a 3-day weekend filled with fun. Friday night, we had a great time hanging out at Powell's (the best bookstore in the world) and then off to Calendula's for an amazing vegetarian meal. We'd planned to hang out at the art gallery on Saturday but what should happen? A severe ice storm hit overnight. Let me tell you, it was terrible. Freezing rain turned to ice and created a sheet of ice at least 1/4 inch thick over everything. I was unable to see Chris that day--as we were staying at two different hotels with several miles of impassible highway between us. I tried to get into town on the tram--which was supposedly in complete working order--but I soon discovered that was false. One train--our train from the airport--got stuck at the first stop. We couldn't move for 2 hours. We were stranded until some busses finally made it over the ice to pick us up and take us back to the airport. I spent the rest of the day with mom watching a dog show competition on Animal Planet.
Sunday, the ice began to melt, and I decided to clean up my car and head into town to try and meet up with Chris one more time. I didn't realize how crazy that storm was until I reached my car. I thought it would take me 10 minutes to clear off the ice. It took me one hour to chisel away 1/4 to 1/2 inch slabs of ice from over my entire car. It came off like sheets of glass. I've never seen anything quite like it.
Sunday was a great day. Chris and I got to go to the museum--I tried my first Chai Latte which I've been curious to try as I read Gale Harold enjoyed them ;)--it was delicious, btw. We had a wonderful day overall. We'd planned to come home Sunday afternoon--but the roads tghrough the Gorge were still too treacherous to pass, so we stayed an extra night.
Monday came, and Mom and I got ready to drive back home. We had to drive through the Gorge which was covered with ice. We bought some chains at the tire shop--neither one of us knew how to use them. I'd hoped we wouldn't have to use them. But 15 miles out of Portland, we were forced to pull over on the highway and get out into the freezing rain and 30mph winds and try to figure them out. It took 3 minutes for my fingers to go numb and my patience to run out. I went over to a truck driver (god bless truck drivers!!) and asked for assistance. The driver, who looked like Liam Nieson, agreed to help me and within 10 minutes, he had those chains on. Mom and I crawled down the Gorge at 25mph. We passed waterfalls that were frozen solid and trees glistening with ice. It was actually quite beautiful--but hard to appreciate with the stress of driving over ice.
We made it in about 3 hours time to the Dalles (over half-way to home). This is after pulling over once to remove the chains (thank god for another trucker who helped out there!) and once more to chisel inch-thick ice that had accumulated on my windshield wipers.
We had lunch in the Dalles and I called Dad at home to see what road conditions were like for the rest of the trip. It was black ice and freezing rain all the way. With only an hour or so of daylight left, mom and I decided not to risk it and stayed overnight in the Dalles. Good thing we did, as this morning when we left on the last leg of our journey home, the air was warmer, the roads were clear and best of all-- no ice!
It has never taken us 2 days to drive from Portland (a trip that should only take 3 hours). I am glad that we're home safe, though! One thing I've learned is never to travel by car in January!
I'm glad to be back :)