epiphany

There and Back Again

I spent the weekend in central Oregon visiting my friend Brian. He celebrated his 30th birthday a couple weeks ago, and his wife decided to set up a surprise party, with me being part of the surprise. This was my first free weekend in a while.

It's a six hour drive, almost exactly, from door to door. Since I-5 is the main (only?) corridor between Seattle and Portland, traffic is quite heavy almost the entire way. A significant portion of that route is primarily city driving even though no city lies within sight. Once in Portland, you transfer to I-84 for a few miles, then follow the signs for Highway 26 "to Mt. Hood" through a neighborhood. It seems odd to me that the main highway from Portland to central Oregon has no easy connection to the interstate, but such is life. There are a lot of things in Oregon I find strange.

Saturday was rainy until a few miles past Mt. Hood. I couldn't see the mountain at all because of the clouds and drizzle. But the far side of the range leads into high desert. Rocky land sleeps under crisp brown grass and wild groves of juniper. I have to think that the people who took the Oregon Trail must have been desperately disappointed to discover the truth behind the land of their dreams. Of course, once (if) they got past the Cascades, they would probably have been thrilled with just about any sort of green vegetation. Of course, if they were into ranching, the land would have been perfect for them.

While I was there, the daytime temperature was a pleasant upper 50's/low 60's. We had a heavy frost Saturday night, but Sunday warmed up nicely as well. Sunday was completely clear, and I had a good view of the many snow-capped mountains lying west of Redmond. Mt. Hood was out for the entire drive, and I even saw Mt. St. Helens (though I missed the steam plume). That must have been one impressive mountain before it exploded.

Saturday night I went to a square dance. Brian and Veronica took lessons earlier this year and have been out participating on occasion. I, of course, was very interested to see an actual square dance, particularly since my exposure to it has been entirely through movies or television. Although the calls and some moves are similar, square dancing differs significantly from contra dancing. Whereas one could just walk in and get the general idea of a contra dance through participation, square dancing definitely requires either a long exposure to the genre or lessons. But it was fun to watch, and I'd be interested to learn. Square dancing is also quite vocal, with certain responses to various commands from the caller. The most unusual one involved a group of old men and women quacking.

Anyway, it was a fun weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my friends again and spending time with their family. It was nice being back in a rural small town setting, even one vastly different from my own home.

Posted by jonhanneman at October 11, 2004 6:47 PM