We went to Eastern Oregon last weekend (July 27-29) for a surprise birthday party for my mom.
Zipped out of town on Friday morning and came home Sunday afternoon.
Lots of fires in Oregon right now. Our usual route (through Service Creek) was blocked for a time by a fire that burned along the highway for about six miles. Up the rock escarpments and across high desert grasslands. They had reopened the highway about a half hour before we drove through.
It was rreeallly smoky, so much so that I need to replace the cabin air filter in my car, even though I had put it on recirc as we drove through.
It's a long drive. Took us almost six hours to get there.
We had to go slow in some places. We also stopped a couple times.
Food for Eric, little girl's room for me in Hood River, then a 2nd pee stop at Shelton County Park outside Fossil.
Lots of fires in Oregon right now. Our usual route (through Service Creek) was blocked for a time by a fire that burned along the highway for about six miles. Up the rock escarpments and across high desert grasslands. They had reopened the highway about a half hour before we drove through.
It was rreeallly smoky, so much so that I need to replace the cabin air filter in my car, even though I had put it on recirc as we drove through.
It's a long drive. Took us almost six hours to get there.
We had to go slow in some places. We also stopped a couple times.
Food for Eric, little girl's room for me in Hood River, then a 2nd pee stop at Shelton County Park outside Fossil.
 |
| Great place to pee. Photo was not taken during the smoke pee stop. Isn't even my photo. |
 |
| This is I-84 on our way home. Mosier, near The Dalles. If you zoom in, you'll see the freeway goes right through the fire. Which we did. |
 |
| This is Cathedral Rock, John Day Fossil Beds national monument. It was a clear day, the sky was that color from the smoke. |
I've been making some tie dyed stuff. I made some pajama shirts for Mom, it was the only thing she asked for. She's been asking for awhile... it's just one of those labor-intensive things I don't do very often. I can always find something else to be doing.
Just so we're clear, the pictures are of some baby clothes I did at the same time for a friend who's about to have a little girl. They're not Mom's pajama shirts.
Mom and her mother in law had birthdays three days apart.
No one said anything when it was decided early on that they'd just share their birthdays.
They always had whatever cake Grandma wanted. And went to Grandma's house or to a location of Grandma's choosing to celebrate 'their' birthday. It never occurred to any of us that Mom would have liked to have her own birthday. She wasn't very good at standing up for herself.
She planned parties for Dad every year in June.
She never said a word about her own birthday.
So she was surprised last weekend. She didn't know anything about it. My aunt and uncle (Mom's sister) drove up from California, although they didn't tell her why, just that it was time for the annual visit.
So we all went to the venue (local senior center, closed on Saturdays but opened for the family and 200 bucks) and set everything up. The guests were all in place when my aunt and uncle brought her in. At first she had no idea what was going on, we were blowing party noisemakers and yelling happy birthday. She said, "It's not my birthday yet." Which it wasn't, but a couple weeks early was the only time we could all do it.
Cake and pizza and assorted food and gifts.
She was touched by it and told Steve that she had not had a birthday party since she was a child.
So I guess the event was successful. I know it was important to Mom.
It took me a couple days to rest up afterward. Long drive, and I usually drive. I slept a lot on Monday.
And now I'm at the end of summer, or almost. Next week I start planning-at-home hours, meaning if I don't get shit cleaned up and things organized this week, I am going to be running behind the whole school year. And none of us want that.
What are you up to?
Hot enough for ya?
Just doing Lyft duty for my sister who got a new shoulder socket.
ReplyDeleteI hope she heals well and fast! It's pretty amazing what they can do now.
DeleteYou do a good job with tie dye! I never did it myself but did wear it back in the day. The celebration sounds fun, the drive there not so much. We get smoke from Canadian fires. Last year was horrible.
ReplyDeleteI am wearing a big tie dyed pj shirt right now. :)
DeleteYou haven't lived until you've dyed 60 shirts or so with kids. They really do their own, but each one needs help with the process.We didn't do them this year, I had way too many K age kids to try it. I am hoping we will this year, though. It's a really big event, and when the kids all wear them on the same day to school, it creates a lot of interest in the program
It's been a bad fire year here, and it's not over yet. They've closed all the forests, you can't even drive out and have a picnic *without* a campfire. Just 'all forests are closed'.
Sounds like your mom really appreciated the party. That was nice.
ReplyDeleteIt really was a high point in her life. Which is great, but kind of sad at the same time. I don't regret going, although I HATE going over there. Today is her actual birthday, the party was held when it was so that everyone in the family could be there. Aunt and uncle, both my brothers, my son and his wife. Lyssa couldn't make it, neither did a couple of my nephews. We did the best we could. :)
DeleteHappy belated birthday to your mom. What a great surprise. And that smoke is awful. We have had it over here in Idaho for weeks now. The air quality today is 190. Not great.
ReplyDeleteI know the fires were really bad in Eastern Oregon. Fun fact, my high school best friend used to own the town of Brogan, Oregon. Her dad left it to her. I'm hoping we get some good rain soon, WITHOUT lightning. I think they ought to turn on all the windmills up the gorge and see if, by running them all simultaneously, the smoke will blow away.
DeleteSounds like the party was a success!
ReplyDeleteI've been busy trying to figure out how to parent "adult" children. It's freaking hard. I think way more frustrating now than when they were younger. They're good humans, they're just...idiots sometimes! Lol
My youngest went thru all the forest fire training, got all his certificates. And, he's been sitting at home, just waiting to get called out. It's the weirdest thing, since there's no lack of fires. Super frustrating.
She hasn't stopped talking about the party yet. She keeps saying how surprised she was and how she can't believe we were able to keep it a secret since many people in her small town knew about it.
DeleteI mostly don't parent my adult kids. I *want* to.... I want to give them my opinion on every single thing they do. But I force myself to be quiet and let them figure things out. I was able to do that (although my parents didn't advise me because they didn't really give a shit I still got left alone) and when I wanted advice, I asked people (NOT my parents) for it. Or looked it up. Life would have been easier with Google. LOL
I don't know about the fire thing. It seems like they'd need everyone who's qualified. It's been a terrible fire season. My brother did it for years, he loved it and hated it. He decided he wanted to go through smoke jumper training. His parachute didn't open. Long story. He survived thanks to his reserve chute and a cool head.
Felt happy reading this. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad we went, but I don't love traveling anymore.
Delete