WE SET OFF ON SATURDAY, JUNE 29th....
Ali really wanted to get out of Scappoose a day early for two reasons. One, we could get a little driving out of the way and stay in Salem at my brother Phil’s. Two, if Sunday rolled around and I was still in Scappoose, the pull of Branches would be too strong for my resistance. What’s a vacation if you can’t get away from your work, she argued.
Let me just say, I love my church.
I love my wife more.
We left Saturday, around 6ish, and ended up finding Phil eating dinner with some of his small group members at a sports bar called The Ram. My burger was good. We met the small groupies. They all seemed nice.
Phil was good and hummy as usual. We chatted about whatever and hit the hay past midnight. That didn't slow him down from getting up well before either myself or Ali and conjuring up some fine bacon, fruit, and a very tasty Dutch Babies (German Pancakes). They were thick in the middle, and crispy on the bottom!
We took some of his books (The Magicians, and collection of depressing short stories), and hit the road before 11. Driving went fast. I grew more and more comfortable with the bike rack, which I will state first here: the bike rack could be the bane of this trip. I don’t trust it’s design, nor my implementation, which are two strikes against it. One fowl bump or a gust of awkward wind, signaling the third strike, and we could have some misery. Our WRX’s spoiler is awkward for it, the bikes don’t fit very well on the rack itself, and instead of being made of trusty metal, it’s joints are a hardy plastic. Plastic at 70mph becomes a lot less hardy. Least to say, my stress levels about the bike rack are bit high.
Speaking of stress. I was very concerned about Branches Sunday service in Hillsboro. Timmy, my brother in law, and Branches Hillsboro’s latest production director hasn’t been in the position very long, and the sound system is a bit of rocket science. This week, we had a hired band coming in, not having practiced in the space. They had played at Branches before, and had a miserable experience with the system. Add on top of this the building being rented out the night before, so Timmy and a colleague were going in at 6am to set up the system that morning....
On Saturday night, at Phil’s, I couldn't sleep. I was so nervous about the HIllsboro situation. So, I did what any good Christian should do - I got on my knees. I keeled at the bed, where Ali lay quietly asleep, and I prayed sincerely for the production of the following day.
God answers prayers. You can call it coincidence. But, from all accounts, I heard Hillsboro had an amazing day, and I choose to believe I was a small part of that... well, of course, God and me.
Back to Sunday. While Hillsboro Branches was rocking, we were rolling down the I5, flimsy bike rack be scorned.
We brought along fast food coupons, some for McDonald's and some for Burger King. These have me a bit more excited than I should let on. I finally got to use one, with eager anticipation - 2 whopper jrs., and 2 medium fries, for 4 bucks. This occurred at Sutherlin. We paid for the ice cream cone ordered by the police officer behind us in the drive thru, a strategically sound move.
Alison insisted on Taco Bell for herself, and they were unruly slow. Ugh.
We were back on the road. CD 4 came on and was Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head, their best album.
And, uh, at some point we winded our way up the mountain to the Oregon Caves, of which I’ll let Alison describe. I’ll just say, the lodge is to my satisfaction, and I’m really looking forward to breakfast tomorrow.
Andy
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Before I continue on about the Chateau at the Oregon Caves, I must first give you some background on my road tripping experience. Well, it’s almost completely non existent. Aside from a few 5 hour drives to Eastern Oregon around Thanksgiving to go hunting in my childhood, I have never really taken a ‘road trip’. I have never been further South than Eugene via vehicular transportation. All this to say, I have been quite amused with the idea of traveling for hours a day just for the sake of seeing the sights! Not to mention all the fast food that you are allowed to consume along the way (supposedly).
Today’s drive seemed to breeze by. I will mention that our car does not have air conditioning so we roll down the road windows down and hair breezing. I made the comment today that I almost think I am enjoying the road trip more because with the windows down, I feel more in touch with nature (as dorky as that sounds).
We jumped off of I5 at Grants Pass around 3pm and it was by far the hottest I was all day. Getting on HWY 199 meant driving about 35 miles an hour slower which in turn meant less air flow in the car. Anyways, you get the point...it was hot!
Now to the Caves. After following a switch backed forest service road for 18 miles we finally arrived at Chateau and the entrance to the Oregon Caves. When the lodge finally came into view, Andy’s expressions were so fun to hear. I picked staying here because he loves lodges. He gasped and was immediately in love with where we had arrived. The towering Douglas Firs surrounded our resting place for the night.
After checking into our small but cozy room, we walked across the drive to the Chalet (ranger station) to see if we could still hit a cave tour today. We were in luck! They had one leaving in 20 minutes so we hurried back to our room and changed into our warmer spelunking clothes. Even though it was 90 degrees outside, the cave maintains at brisk 44 degrees year around. They tell you multiple times, “It’s like you're walking into a refrigerator.”
Ranger Billy guided our group of 12 through the ‘living’ cave all the while telling us plenty of fun facts. He informed us that this cave is 500 billion years old, used to be in the Pacific Ocean, the stalactites only grow 1 inch every 1 thousand years and that we were in fact in a haunted cave. We choose to take some of his “information” as grains of salt. All in all, the caves were awesome! Too much to put into words but a must see if you’re in the area. I think our nephews would love it here.
There seems to be a lot of history here. The Chateau (lodge) was built in 1934 as part of an economic stimulus to help pull America out of the Great Depression. Before that, the caves were discovered by a bear hunter in 1874. Many things have been added since the completion of the lodge. For instance, in the 1950s the added a “coffeeshop” which is more of a 1950s dinner. Tomorrow morning we will eat breakfast here. I’m pretty excited to try the cinnamon rolls.
All in all, this trip has been so very fun. It’s taken about 24 hours to really relax and shut off my mind to the things back home -- Branches, school and the fact that I left a load of wet clothes in the washer-- but nonetheless, this trip is already off to a great start!
Ali
