Driving South Yesterday from Portland

I went to an Urgent Care Center (Zoom) in Portland but they couldn't take me because I'm 65 and now have to be on Medicare as a result. They weren't liability wise set up to take Medicare patients. So, they told us to go to the nearest Hospital. I wasn't happy about doing this because that is always very time consuming and I wanted to drive through Oregon south on Interstate 5. I was right it took about 2 hours but I found my injury wasn't as serious as I thought it might be from hitting my shin last Friday on a wrongly assembled Hotel bed frame. So, they just put Neosporin and a Bandaid  on it and I said goodbye to my daughter and started to head south. Her boyfriend had already gone to work earlier in the morning so I had said goodbye to him the night before.

As I drove south on Interstate 5 the weather was beautiful. The temperatures down throughout the state ranged from about 77 degrees Fahrenheit to about 86 degrees so it was a very pleasant journey. There were always thunderheads in the Distance that went up about 10,000 to 20,000 feet in height that were beautiful to look at. The lands were all green from all the rain and there were often horses or sheep alongside the freeways grazing along with Cows in some places. I greatly enjoyed all the beauty of the drive and all the mountains and trees.

While I was visiting Portland I realized that from one of the bridges I could see easily that day three snow covered mountains: Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helens, all completely covered this time of year with snow. My daughter and I drove up to Mt. Hood and had an Afternoon late lunch at Timberline Lodge a couple of days before I left. They have a large hot chocolate there that my daughter and wife and I like that has a strip of cinnamon bark in it as well as whipped cream. I also had Chili while there as it is Gluten Free as well. Later, that day we went to try to go to Trillium Lake that I had camped at years ago now with my wife and two daughters when my oldest was about 10 and the youngest was 3 or 4. That night a huge heavy lifting helicopter went by and scared us that was going to pick up a rescue helicopter that had crashed on the mountain so the wreckage didn't have to stay there at altitude forever.

This was a very satisfying trip to Portland. The last several times I went there I flew but I haven't driven there for at least 5 to 7 years from the San Francisco Bay area. So, I don't know how long it will be before I do this kind of driving trip again. Beautiful this time of year!