The other side of the mountain

Friday night, 6:08pm: We get on the road.

We were hoping to get on the road closer to 5:30pm but I had to download iTunes on the cracktop so I could download apps to my FB on the (what I thought was) five hour drive to Ontario. You know, I've driven to Ontario from Portland countless times, but mostly in my youth, and I have blocked a lot of things over the years. Apparently the drive time is one of them.

After a particularly harrowing drive over Cabbage Hill and the many, many hills and ridges between Cabbage Hill and Treasure Valley, one which included a near-collision with a guard rail that Barbie only admitted to AFTER we made it to Ontario, and another that involved a tiny rabbit, we finally hit the flats and approached our destination. It was 1am. In Portland. Ontario is Mountain Time, however, so in Ontario, it was 2am. We checked in, hauled in Barbie's 5 suitcases (you think I'm exaggerating, don't you?) and hit the hay.

Saturday morning

Up at 6:30am, showered and ready by 7am. Barbie wasn't yet out of bed. Our appointment wasn't until 10am, so I drove over to the much-hyped (by the Holiday Inn staff) Jolts-n-Juice coffee shop (I had googled Starbucks and Dutch Bros earlier in the week to scout out locations, but, much to my dismay, discovered there weren't any. No Starbucks? This is Oregon! There are two in Fond-du-Lac Wisconsin for God's sake! I made a frantic call to the Holiday Inn and was reassured that the Jolts-n-Juice was way better than any Starbucks), took a wrong turn coming out of it, and finally got back to the room in time to get some breakfast. It is now 9:45am and almost time for our meeting.

Saturday evening

Good God what a day. The meeting went very well and we are all set for the gig. Afterward we met with our cousin Rosemary - Barbie neglected to mention that she committed us to brunch with Rosemary on Sunday... don't get me wrong, I like these people, but for God's sake, does no one know me? I like to ease into the end of a weekend. So while I was thinking we were going with the original plan of getting up early Sunday, checking out and hitting the road toward Juntura and Burns, it turns out we ALMOST had to have an 11am brunch in Caldwell, Idaho. Kinda the wrong way. We managed to compromise - the alarm is set for 5am and we'll be in Caldwell for a 7am breakfast at Rosemary's.

After that we toured the Holiday Inn Express (it's really nice, actually) and from there we popped over to see our Aunt Jean in her assisted-living facility. Then a quick stop at Albertson's for water, eyedrops and ibuprofin (by this time seriously I thought I was going to collapse), and back to our hotel for a nap.

After a two hour refresher (naps just wreck me anymore. I could sleep for 8 days straight if given the opportunity), we shined up and drove over to our 2nd cousin Helen's house for dinner. We had dinner with her and our 3rd cousin Doug and his wife Terri, and it was a very enjoyable evening. Which suprises me because I am starting to get a little family-ed out.

Now we are back in the room, ready for bed, and the 5am bell. Barbie is beating the hell out of a fly that managed to sneak in the room and is hiding behind a picture.
She hasn't killed it yet. I'll wake up in the middle of the night and it will be in my mouth or something. Fantastic.

I hope to actually take some pictures of Juntura and Burns tomorrow. We'll see.