summer's last hurrah in Trout Lake

Hello everyone!

I had a wonderfully long holiday weekend. This was my last Friday off and now I’m back to 8 hour work days. Friday night I went to Dave’s show at Sassy Jack’s. It will be the last time he plays at this particular dive bar and it is 4 blocks from my house so I had to go. There were lots of friends there, some that I hadn’t seen in many months as this was my first Friday in Portland since mid-June. Dave played with Steve on mandolin (he also played guitar, clarinet, harmonica, flute & 12 string guitar) and Eric on banjo (he also played guitar and the washtub bass). We danced and sang along and drank beers and stayed until 2 AM. It was great to see Dave on stage as it’s been awhile since I’ve seen him play.

Saturday was a relaxing day for me. I drove Camille to the airport in the morning. I started reading a new book, The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. I watched a bunch of Netflix and made phone calls to some people I haven’t spoken with in ages including Veronica in Chicago. I worked in the garden for a bit, watched some more Netflix, packed my bags for the next day and went to bed.

Sunday I woke up, ate breakfast, showered and hit the road. I drove out to the Gorge and crossed over to Washington on the Bridge of the Gods. From there it was just a few miles to Wauna Lake. Jess was spending the weekend with her boyfriend Mike at his family’s cabin on the lake. There is no way to drive to the cabin but rather they had to pick me up in the boat. Mike gave me the grand tour of the lakes. There are 5 lakes total, 4 of which are connected by canals built by loggers many years ago. One lake has no cabins around it and only non-motorized boats are allowed. It was a really beautiful place with the cliffs on both the Oregon & Washington sides of the Gorge looming around the lake. We saw lots of turtles and an osprey that had caught a fish. Back at Mike’s cabin we hung out on the sunny deck. It wasn’t quite hot enough for us to go swimming but it was still beautiful and warm out. Mike’s mom brought us out some snacks and we ate lunch and drank beers and talked. We all went back to the lake clubhouse for the evening bbq. I left shortly after dinner and hit the road for Trout Lake.

I was already on the Washington side of the Columbia River so I just continued east on Hwy 14. This is such a fun road to drive. It’s curvy and loaded with amazing views of the Gorge. You go through five tunnels bored through the massive cliffs reaching all the way to the river’s edge. I was in Trout Lake within an hour. I went straight to the Inn where there was a big crowd for the all-you-can-eat bbq (including Jimmy’s famous ribs). I sat on the porch and talked with friends and drank my beer as the sun went down.

Later that evening Jimmy and Lincoln got on stage to play some music. The real fun started later when they shut down the stage and moved to the front room. They were joined by Dave Clarke & Dave Wampler. They played song after song and we sang along when we knew the words. Wampler’s rendition of “Trip the Light Fantastic” on accordion (and with his great voice) was amazing, one of those moments of happiness that can sustain me for weeks. We stayed late until Jimmy and Andrea were going to bed. Dave & I went back to Wampler’s house, where both of us where staying. I slept very well.

I woke up around 9:30 and motivated to complete a necessary task. I had brought up a bunch of bulbs to plant at the Inn. I had done some work for Wampler when he had started up the Inn but hadn’t done anything in particular for Jimmy & Andrea since they took over so I wanted to support them and the Inn. I got some coffee and headed over with my shovel. Next spring the front of the Inn will be popping with over 200 daffodils, tulips and crocuses. I look forward to seeing them!

It was getting very hot in the sun and it wasn’t even yet 11 AM. I went back to Wamp’s where I showered all the dirt off and washed the dishes. He had been talking about cooking a big brunch so I wanted to do anything I could to encourage that. Once the guys got up and had some coffee they decided to make biscuits and gravy. Dave is famous for biscuits and gravy and I complain anytime I miss them being served. Per usual, they were spicy & delicious. We spent the day relaxing around the house. Lincoln and Danny came by and we laid around the living room talking about Mormon cops, crazy siblings, the expansion of the universe and stagewhores. It was a lovely day. In the afternoon we motivated and went down to the swimming hole. I was really loving it, knowing that it would probably be my last swim of the summer. I’ll probably be back in Trout Lake in a few weeks but I doubt it will be hot enough for swimming still. The seasons are indeed turning. We stayed at the swimming hole until the shade was creeping up onto our sunny rock.

We all went back to Wampler’s house and he cooked a fantastic dinner: chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, cabbage with bacon and homemade cornbread. Afterwards, as is becoming the tradition, we all laid around in the grass and relished our food comas. It began getting dark and I kept telling myself I should go. It felt like my last summer hurrah in Trout Lake and I didn’t want it to end. I finally headed back to Portland around 9. I was sad to leave, sad to say goodbye to summer.

I’ll definitely be late with next week’s posting (though I seem to be late every week lately). I’m going on a 4 day sailing trip (returning Tuesday night) with Sara and Jeremy to the San Juan Islands and up into the Canadian Gulf Islands. It should be fantastic!

Please let me know how you are and what you’ve been up to.

Xoxoxo,
carolyn