So Long 2021

 

WHITE KNUCKLING IT: After Christmas, we took a 'little' trip down to Bend to visit family. 

On a good day, it would be about a 6 hour drive. Unfortunately, our travel was on a very not good day. There was packed snow and ice even before we left our driveway. Though Interstate 5 was somewhat clear, there was still plenty of snow and slush making it treacherous at times. In fact, just south of Tacoma, we had a very scary situation when a semi truck came barreling down an onramp into the lane right next to us, and then passed us. In the process the truck threw up a wall of ice and snow onto our windshield. We were utterly/100 percent blinded and driving at freeway speed. Christian started swerving back and forth, and I reached over to turn on the windshield wipers  (though he beat me to it). Miraculously, we didn't crash into anything or any one else during the incident. I honestly thought we were goners in that moment. 

That 'excitement' was followed by more 'fun'. We had a long, harrowing drive over Mount Hood on Thursday, December 30th. The roadway was packed ice and snow. Warning signs said chains were required, and, of course, we put them on. As we were approaching the summit, there was pretty heavy holiday traffic, and we were all creeping along at between 5 and 20 miles per hour for miles and miles and miles. However, at one point, just before the summit, the flow of traffic just stopped. We sat and sat sat some more, not knowing what was going on. We eventually saw people getting out of their cars ahead of us (not a good sign). Soon after, we learned there was stuck truck just ahead, blocking our lane. Unfortunately, at the moment we happened to be on a stretch where the highway is physically  divided, so no one could drive out and around the big, stuck truck.  

Moments like these, you start questioning your decisions. Why were we driving over an icy, snowy  mountain pass during a winter storm, putting ourselves at risk like that? And why were we doing that when not really prepared for something awful to happen (the kids and I didn't even have winter coats, and we had no food to speak of in the car)? And, of course, you start thinking about having to go to the bathroom and wondering where and when and how that might happen. Oh, and did I mention we also had to dogs in the car with us? Good times ... 

Eventually, a tow truck came and hauled the @$$4@!3 truck driver who neglected to chain up away. I hope he gets a BIG FAT CITATION for being such a selfish jerk and needlessly causing so many people so much stress and discomfort.

About eight hours after leaving home, we finally reached our destination: Bend, Oregon. 

It was a huge relief to get there in one piece.

FOOD AND FUN: We had a very nice visit, with lots of good food and great company. Check out this Indonesian chicken that was dinner on New Year Eve. Isn't it beautiful?

There were also morning waffles and French toast sticks for the kids. 

And on our last night there, Christian and I made dinner for the crowd. We test drove a menu for an upcoming Teen Feed. We keep hearing the teens love tomato soup and grilled cheese, but we thought we'd elevate that old standard a bit with a pizza-inspired twist. We made pizza soup (tomato base with peppers, artichokes, and Italian sausage with toppers of olives, cheese, fresh basil and fried pepperoni).

We had a side salad of Romain lettuce with a homemade anchovy dressing. The grilled cheese was made on round slices of sourdough, with two kinds of melty cheese, Canadian bacon, and grilled pineapple slices. For dessert, Annabelle cooked up a couple of big cookie pizzas - chocolate chip cookie base with Nutella ganache topping and white chocolate and mini M&Ms for some flair. 

During our stay, we ventured out to a couple of spots in Bend. We hit the city's only record store. CJ picked up a Biggie LP there.

We also swung by The Ale Apothecary to pick up and order for a friend of ours back in Seattle.

Fortunately,  our trip home was MUCH less eventful than the trip down. We left about 7:30 a.m. and were home in about 6.5 hours, with three short stops.