Xross the border at 8:45 - a million questions - like the border guards thought a 3 day convention was a 2 week religious holiday - hmm - guess they need a rv by the U.S. brothers
Hit Trader Joes http://www.traderjoes.com in Bellingham - 4 chickens and 2 roasts later and bunch of stuff including sushi and green looking drinks, off we go - navigating through Seattle - nuts - no express lane - but my navigator reminds me of the HOV lane - duhhh
Hit Olympia for a break at Starbucks - a walk around the park - bypass the high oil and gas prices protest - looks like the seniors activity out - back to the car - 1st 16 minutes of parking free if you hit the blue button on the parking stand - and btw only USD is accepted, even though it swallowed the higher CDN - oh well
Ok back on the road south on the I5 - pass lots of smokys - but drive gets easier - stop at a reststop for a walk again - back in the van - make the turnoff at Kaslo - stay on hwy 30 - next thing crossing the Columbia river
The drive along the river is great - lots of green - great valleys - farm houses - new system stuff - finally made to it to Astoria - keep going - cross the bridge over the Columbia first - then hit the Ross Dress for Less - my spoils was one yellow bucket for 2.99 and a pair of pants of $12.99 - Sarah got well more clothes - keep going to Gearhart - oops - wow - to the right a Home Depot 2-3 times as large as the ones n Vancouver - this area is booming - no down turn here.
So arrived 5 min later at http://www.gearhartoceaninn.com - surprise - new fridge - mini one - with a little bit of engineering, all the cold stuff is in.
So watching HGTV - we get all of our TV watching in 2 days - also got full wireless here - key is 5037387373 - which is the phone number.
Munched on pizza from Trader Joes, and did up the roast with Trader Joes steak sauce and Mango Chutney - Persian cucumbers and Trader Joes popcorn
Day 2
Sleep in to 10:00 AM - wow - 5 hours past normal - up to watch HGTV - Sarah makes my Learining Factors Chia Seed Slim Styles drink - take my 369+DHA vegi oil - and off to the Pacific Cafe behind us for Americanos and Blackberry tart - Sarah finds a $10 coupon for Fred Meyers - back to the motel - quick Trader Joes pizza with $2.99 package of Trader Joes smoked salmon and fresh basil - some Taiwan GaoShan tea - and off to Fred Meyers - buy Sarah a Samsung 8.1 MP digital camera - $79 after $20 discount - no tax - pink colour - fits into her purse. Back to the motel - more tea and straweberries $2.99 at Trader Joes. Then off to the small outlet center - pass the KH on the highway- there is one congregation here -hit the Black&Decker outlet store - look look look - only bought a high powered light for the renovations - sales shirts and blue jeans - Sarah - has her loot too - back to the motel - cook chicken with TJ General Tso special sause, whip up rice pasta with pesto sauce, throw in some mini cucumbers, carrots and fresh basil - and dinner in new summer colour bowls - $2.99 for 6 at Fred Meyers. More HGTV - sun is out - 60 degrees F - just nice
Day 3
Up at 6:45 – chia and learning factors drink down the hatch – sarah has her drink – pack the van – hey how did we end of with more in 2 days – coffee at the Pacific Coffee Place and blackberry tart – and off we go – bypass Cannon Beach – foggy – past the bead store in Nehanim – pass the Tillamook cheese factory – but the valley is beautiful – spacious, green lush – happy cows – zipping through Rockaway Beach – a house the width of a single car garage 3 stories high – keep going past Beverley Beach – arrive at Lincoln city – stop at the outlet centre for a washroom break – busy busy busy – do a reverse back up the highway – arrive at the house goldenpearl http://www.agoldenpearl.com/– great house – 1 block from the beach – but has everything – including cable tv, nice and quiet – ok 1:30 – hit the road south to Newport – the river front definitely is not as lively as 8 years ago, so back up the road to the new Starbucks – jam jam jam – the place is too small, but was able to get onto internet and take care of a few questions – back to Lincoln city and stop at safeway – water water water for tea and drinking – 5 for $6 – home – pizza and semi homemade clam chowder – ben and jerrry’s chocolate chip ice cream was great – back to reading and watching hgtv
Day 4Up early - part A breakfast - tap tap on the computer - back to bed - wake up at 10:00 - part B breakfast - then off to find the KH - shopping at the Outlet centre - Sarah has better success today - lunch at MoMiJi - Chinese Japanese - owners from southern china - mandarin with an cantonese accent - ouch - need to bring magazines on monday - stop at the natural food store - hmm - needs to be updated - health food stores in Vancouver Surrey and Bellingham much more progressive - back home - coffee and snacks and work on the WT.
Day 5 - up at 6:30 - tap tap on the computer - composing more stuff on the practical clinical depression research - al hamacher reported that the 2004 Jan, Sep and Oct articles are great - spent 3 hours with a couple, anyway back to the present - had part A and part B breakfast - off to the meeting - 10:00 - congregation of about 140 - lots of older ones - 14 on the telephone - then some young families - couple in front of us has a son in chinese in portland, but daughter-in law has depression, so they are in English for now - wt was good - commenting good - back home after a stop at the supermarket liquidation place - pizza and wonton for lunch - watch more hgtv, off to starbucks - stop at safeway for nz golden kiwis - shopping in vancouver for food is much better - oh well - glad we loaded up at Trader Joes http://www.traderjoes.com/ in bellingham before we got here - stop at an IGA, got some asparagus and local strawberries - zipped into barnacle bills for fresh ling cod - home and typing on the computer - oh yeah - went to the beach to for a walk, but too windy, s we watched the adventorous kite-surfers - they are brave.
Day 6
Up later - off to starbucks to get a brew and a bag of coffee - back for a bit of breakfast - off to the mall - see if the chinese lady is working at momiji - nope - wait till wednesday - do the rest of the stores - stop at safeway to pickup avocados and lettuce back home - afternoon nap - up for dinner - tried the barbq - natural gas hookup - nope - so cook the roast on the stove - comes out great - serve with salad and brown rice and trader joes ranch dressing - got a message from david nissen - dinner for saturday after the session - got a message from the larsons - steve is not out of the woods yet - anyway, walk on the beach - down to the hardpack sand - cool but refreshing - home and to bed.
Day 7
Up and writing more on the blog on clinical depression - off to Yachats - beautiful day - trees green green - beaches are gorgeous - best beach is Beverley beach just on the north side of Newport - reach Waldport - lots of building going on - beaches between Waldport and Yachats are the best - we pass Terry-Awhile - townhomes and houses on the beach - full kitchens, etc, reach Yachats - beside RainDogs http://www.raindogsonline.com/home.php is the Deli run by 3 young ladies - all great cooks - very busy - oyster sandwich and great big apple pie with great ice cream and organic coffee and a million dollar view of the beach - no one on the beach - 1st and beach ave - up to corner store - buy some cilantro and juice - back to waldport - looking for a hair dresser - tired 2 - then got to the 3rd - ok they have time - yikes - my hair is too short - miscommunication - oh well - have to eat lots of hemp hearts for it to grow back - so now I have a hair cut like Koffi!? oh well I still have more hair than Ron N - Sarah's hair came out good - back home - drove along the beach roads on last leg - cooked up memory lane beef and rice, clam chowder from Trader Joes, stripped off the chicken meat and made sarah some soup - chucked the garbage - cleaned out the frdige, cooked up chicken #3 for the 3 day DC - watching hgtv and trying to track down DW - used skype sms - yes it works - got an email back from DW - technology is great when it works - 6:25 - more later
Day 8
Breakfast, coffee - shopping - extra 20% at Vanhusen - found 50% shirts - plus 20% discounts - sarah brought stuff at columbia, then back home - tj noodles and soup and dumplings - coffee - back to the shopping - use $5 coupon - got shorts for $4.00 no tax -back and cleaning up
Day 9
Up early, finish packing the van, final clean up, and hit the road - starbucks for a green drink and a venti americano - split - makes a grande and a tall - go north and then head west - a hysterical silver car pulls in front of us - slows down, then speeds up - has the logging truck in front of us madder than a hornets nest - anyway the lady driver in the silver car certainly in neurotic - like a brother's neighbour says, dental assistants drive like they are hysterical - hmm - maybe the driver is a dental ????? - down the highway to McMinnville - big town of 31K - but lots of stores for mile and miles and miles - hit the ross dress for less - bamboo socks 3 pairs for $6.50 - great deal - hit the road again - pass a new restaurant called Chans (darn relatives) - reach washington square in west portland - but found the new Ross Dress for Less - we zipped left instead of right near the square, so we had to double back - lunch at Benihamas - ok Japanese food, but it is a lot better in Richmond hands down - up the freeway to Kohls http://www.kohls.com/ - great deals - Wool sports jacket for $99, wool dress pants for $17.95 - no tax - what a deal - back down pass home depot, turn right on SW Canyon road - found Trader Joes in the mall opposite Fred Meyers on the Northside past the chocolate place and bubble tea place (yup - there are Chinese here) - stock up on food for weekend - 6 bags of TJ popcorn and lots of free demo foods later, hit the road - go north through the green stuff and down Burnside to the Pearl District 23rd street (ok for the real shoppers you have to come here) - east on Love Joy, over the bridge, see how to get to the convention site, then putt-putt to hotel - east on 84 and then north on 205 - 1 hour later at the hotel (normally a 15 min drive) - check in - free buffett dinner at the hotel - make lunch and to bed.
Day 10
Up early, pack lunch, hit the road - Sarah made good coffee - at the site in 20 min - parking at the top deck - parking brothers are great - trying to find the seating area - level 1 no, level 2 no, finally level 3 - found seating near the platform - cool cool cool AC - but it was great later - DO is a brother Brown, 40 years plus on the road, Chairman is an Asian brother something like Daniel Tam - finally tag up with Ted and Art at lunch - walk outside - down to the water park area - afternoon session is great - lots of live scenarios - great acting on the participants - yes calling the brother Chicken is very effective - last talk was a brother Kones - US branch - definitely a manuscript talk with new release VOL II- off to dinner by ourselves - the rest of the gang want to go shopping at Clackamas - they have the energy - Pearl District - pizza - great stuff, check out the Trader Joes on N Glisan 2122, and the natural health store (Canada definitely is 5 to 8 years ahead of the US for health food stuff) and back home - takes only 12 min from the convention site (if Dan were here, it would be 1o min) - make lunch and touch bases with David Nissen for Sat nite - and then bed
Day 11 - up, breakfast, sarah makes coffee - hit the road - there in less than 15 min - top roof parking - wait at the door lineup - good seats again - squak with a great family Bill Lapsley and Sue and Sharon and John from Bend - 1969 in the truth - Bill looks and mannerisms similar to Ray Busby. Great parts and reenactments and interviews - lunch outside - 98 degrees - back in to cool down - another bethel speaker - 2nd release - this one will be 2nd book for bible students and book study later - back to the hotel - change and go to David Nissens for barbq dinner. Ted and Mei and the yp Matt, Amanda, Jeremy, Colin and David came also, to associate - yp from Portland Chinese Kevin , Kelly, Huen, Chen Dixiong Jiemei, Yan Dixiong JieMei and 2 more - cool games - air hockey - foos ball, wii game with projector on big screen - what a cool po - barbq hamburgers and pizza and pie - and yan Jie Mei cooked her home grown chinese greens - they were the best - off back to the hotel and David Nissen had to get some sleep and work at 2:00 AM at the Vancouver Costco.
Day 12 - up and breakfast coffee - and to the stadium - in the door at 8:00 and great seats for the drama - the local CO is a Japanese brother - looks like Daniel Tam - great drama - love the morning symposium - peak attendence and 38 baptized - ran into Don Underwood from Brooklyn and chatted for 5 minuites - he was going to tell us some Dick Toews stories, but he got sidetracked - after the sessions, out the garaage - we finally figured it out that if we go around the stadium enough times, we find the on ramp to the freeway - meet Art and Ted and family for dinner at Red Robbins - tons of brothers and sister overrunneth the place - great dinner - take David Wang to the airport - do some scouting for shopping next day - back to the hotel - pack and sleep - lightning and thunder that nite.
Day13 - up and take stuff down to the van - talk with a brother from Brookings - his house will foreclose - payments from 2100 to 2400 ouch - Countrywide gave him 2 mortgages - anyway he sold his big vehicles and a brother will rent a house out to him for $700. Economy in Brookings very soft - but north Oregon coast is booming because it is closer to Portland - Jim's kids are great - son Dallas - both interested in Chinese - so off they go in their 1960s volkswagon van - and we check out and run to home depot to buy a curved shower curtain, then to Ross Dress and then find gas and head north - stop at olympia - hint by Starbucks, turn left down hill - free parking - lunch at the Korean Japanese Chinese Teriyaki place - then hit the road - connect with the HOV lane - yay - and punch through seattle like a breeze - stop at burlington starbucks for a break, top up the van and off to Bellingham Trader Joes - buy chicken and beef (50% less than at home), xross the Truck Stop border crossing in 3 minuites and home.
No comments:
Post a Comment