Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #17 – Our Happy Day, saying Goodbyes and Hitting the Road

 

Sunday, April 24^th., 2022…… OUR WEDDING DAY!  I was up early and walked Rylee. Misty and Lona have Jama. Penny had the breakfast casserole and Janie warmed up my oven so it would stay warm when she brought it over. I think we only had 15 for breakfast because those at the hotel ate there. They missed out because it was really good!  I didn’t have too much on my list today before the wedding so I relaxed and chilled until it was time to get ready. Randy drove his car so I arrived by myself and headed off to the garden area to check it out. They had 24 chairs and it filled up the space under the gazebo. We got super lucky with the weather!  It was warm and sunny!  I even ended up with a little sunburn on the back of my neck. The wedding was super!  We did our own vows and Ted pronounced us husband and wife!  After the tons of pics, we headed inside to start the festivities!  It was a great reception and I think everyone enjoyed the food and drink and had a good time. We want to thank each of you who attended.  I wish we could have gone bigger and had more people but I don’t think either of us would have survived that!  There were tons of pictures taken and sent to us but I am only going to post a handful here. Cathye is posting on her Facebook page so check there too.

 

Our photographer, Sequoia, took tons of shots (probably over 250). They now do this process where they download all of the shots to a website and give us access to it to pick and choose, download for prints, or keep to file. Cathye will post on Facebook and IO will post others on my blog as a special post so look for that in the future.  Anyway, after all of the celebrating, it was finally winding down! We went back to the house and changed and then said our goodbyes and headed off to the hotel for the night.  We decided to go down to the spa for awhile and Treasa and Chris & Angie joined us for a bit.          

Monday, April 25^th., 2022……  Today was busy!  We had scheduled a breakfast for everyone at Appletree and reserved the back room for that. After that, it was time for some folks to return home. We took Josh and Tait to the shuttle stop in Albany and then went to the courthouse to file our marriage license. I have decided to ask Penny’s (and my) friend Jerrith to complete our ceremonial wall mount certificate. She has sent cards and such to us in the past and her handwriting is amazing!  I got it ready and gave it to Penny, who said she would contact Jerrith and see if she would do it and then mail it for us.  (She told me later that she would be happy to do it!  Yaay!). We also went over to see Jamie and make sure he knew that Robin would be coming the next two times. We went back home and rested and then headed off to The Point for dinner (thanks Rick and Janie!).   

Tuesday, April 26^th., 2022…… Today was our departure date!  We will be traveling up to Troutdale OR (3 nights), Pendleton OR (2 nights), Coeur d’Alene ID (4 nights), Boardman OR (1 night), Troutdale OR (2 nights), then home (on May 8^th).  Mike and Cheri started out a little before us and Rick and Janie, but we all made it the short 100-mile trip to Sandy Riverfront RV Resort with no issues. I had been here before and knew it was a nice place but we never had a riverside space before!  It was really nice! We settled in and rested and ate in (leftover lasagna) for dinner.

Wednesday, April 27^th., 2022……  We had a few things we wanted to go see today. First stop was Multnomah Falls. We all had breakfast at the inn on the site, which was really good, then walked the falls trail. Next up was Bonneville Dam. We went to the fish hatchery first and saw the salmon and sturgeon in their ponds. Herman is the start resident sturgeon. He’s over 10 feet long and 80 years old!

At the visitor center, we went down to see the fish ladder and watch the salmon go through and up to reach their spawning area. They also had a bunch of kids come in and they had a tour for all of them and us.

It was cool!  Mike and Cheri headed off on their own and said later they went over to the ladder on the Washington side and saw even more fish! We came home and rested then went to Ye Old Pub in Troutdale and had dinner. Cathye had steak bites and I had fish and chips. We shared all of that and also a salad. The steak was the best I have had in years!      

Thursday, April 28^th., 2022……  Yesterday Mike and Cheri took off on their own and went to tour many of the falls on the Columbia Gorge Scenic Hwy. Today it was our turn for that. We also stopped at Vista Point, which is what it says – a huge vista point that has views of over 100 miles both up and down the river basin. Here are some shots of some of the falls we stopped at and hiked to. Note the one pic with the daredevils seriously way to close to the edge. I jokingly told folks around me to take pics for the news right before they fell! They left the edge shortly after so we assume they were ok.

 After a full day, we came back and let the dogs out and then went to Walmart to pick up some stuff for our meals going forward.  The plan was to eat in tonight but we passed a McMenamins on the way home. They have one in Corvallis and we decided to go there for a meal. They are a bit pricey but since we split a giant ribeye, we felt it was perfect and was a nice treat!  We got back home and took the dogs out again for a couple of good long walks before settling in for the night.  Tomorrow, we head out.     

Friday, April 29^th., 2022……  Another travel day. The drive today was 194 miles. We are in the Campground at the Wildhorse Casino, just outside of Pendleton. On the drive, we encountered only slight showers here and there and when we got in and parked, we actually had to put out the awning to block the sunny warm rays!  We got the dogs walked and then took the shuttle over to the casino and gambled for about 40 minutes before they called us to our table for dinner. I had the Indian taco (not a hit). Cathye had prime rib, which she loved! She also had some good luck at the machines – for a little while – and then she didn’t. I dropped $20.00 in and I was done. Rick and Janie and I came back and left her there and she got some of it back before leaving for the night. When I got back, my trouble started. Mike had said my left front tire was really worn and I checked it out. Yow!  It was scary looking. I went to bed and pondered my options. Tomorrow was Saturday and would be my only window to resolve the issue. I looked up Les Schwab and would be there first thing (in the car) to see what they could do. I still didn’t sleep well that night!     

Saturday, April 30^th., 2022……  As decided, I was up early and showered and left. Schwab did not have anything in my size and couldn’t get them today, so I called around and found a store in downtown Pendleton and went there. He didn’t have any either but had them in one size up. They are 1 ¾ inches taller and I thought I had the room. I went home and picked up the motorhome to take there. Thanks to all of the team, because when I got back, they had the rig almost ready.  We dropped it off and then headed to breakfast at The Saddle, a local spot. It was pretty good. Next up was an Underground Pendleton tour. The tour was amazing and very interesting. We saw how the Chinese laborers lived and worked and how they were so mistreated. We also saw speakeasys and bathhouses and business and learned how the underground was used in the day.

 

We hung around in the store for a while because it was raining pretty hard and then braved it and left to get our coach. I drove it home and heard a sound I didn’t like when I turned it to the left. I think it’s the skirt that might be hitting the wheel but it was raining too hard so I’ll have to look at it later. We decided to eat in and had leftovers. Later, after the rains quit, Cathye shuttled back to the casino and I settled in to work on my blog. The airbags are down in the rig, so I can’t look at the tire clearance until we get ready to leave tomorrow. But I will sleep better just knowing the tires are new!  Oh yeah, Janie and Mike both had issues today too.  Mike couldn’t get his awning in and Janie has a water leak in her new rig. We’ll look at those tomorrow. Cathye got back and said she got back some of her losses from earlier. Oh yeah, Mike said his awning was working now. Must have been the rain. Tomorrow, we head up to Coeur d’Alene.