wedding dresses, Jim the Bad Goat and two kinds of pork in the gravy

Hello everyone! I had a lovely relaxing weekend. Friday night I stayed home and Camille and I watched a movie, My Own Private Idaho, which neither one of us had seen in years. I love Gus Van Sant movies! I read my book and went to bed early.

Saturday I drove to Jess’s house in Sellwood as we had plans to go wedding dress shopping. Jess is getting married next July but apparently you’re supposed to shop for your dress months and months in advance. I don’t know much about weddings. First we walked to bridal shop in Sellwood and she tried on a bunch of dresses. Most of the dresses were much to big off the rack to fit her so we had to use big clips to hold the fabric to show how it would fit. It was amusing to have to help Jess get the dresses on and off. There was a weird scene when a bride –to-be (4 weeks from the wedding) came in extremely upset that her dress didn’t fit and accusing the shop of blatantly (I’m quoting here) ordering the wrong size dress. Unhappy bride…

We then walked back to Jess’ house and we drove to Tigard to a shop that had been recommended to her. She ended up narrowing it down to three beautiful dresses. She’s got some deciding too but she would be gorgeous in any of the three. After trying on over a dozen wedding dresses we were wiped out on shopping. We drove back to Jess’s house then walked to New Seasons, the nearby grocery store. We ordered sandwiches and a shared brownie which we ate on the sunny patio outside. It was late in the afternoon and I had to get going. I drove home where I quickly packed up my car and headed off to Trout Lake. I arrived at Wampler’s house to Dave Clarke hanging out on the front porch. Wampler wasn’t even in town as he was spending the week in Alaska. Just a few minutes after I arrived Steve pulled up. Dave was going to be playing at the Inn that night. Rather than Dave Clarke & Friends this was going to be their first show under their new name, Jim the Bad Goat. There really is a goat named Jim which was deemed a bad goat after it ate some of Dave’s lyrics and a lit cigarette. Crazy goats!

We all hung out at Wampler’s house for a little bit before heading up to the Inn. Dave and the guys played and it sounded great. It was their first time playing with Bill, their new bass player. He is a great addition to the band. I spent the night talking with friends on the porch, drinking some beers and listening to music. It was a great night. I headed back to Wampler’s house late to finally get some sleep.

Sunday morning Dave woke up and started making his famous biscuits and gravy (mmmm spicy). While he was cooking I drove up to Trout Lake, the lake itself, and took a few pictures of the mountain. It was a beautiful day out. Back at Wampler’s house I found Dave had added a pound of bacon to the gravy (which already had a pound of sausage in it). Ohhhh did the house smell good! Some friends started showing up and we drank coffee and orange juice until breakfast was early. About 9 of us ate outside on the porch. It was very good and we decimated the big pan of gravy. Danny went in the backyard and chopped a bunch of wood. Wampler has a huge pile of wood that’s being split in preparation for winter. We eventually all migrated to the backyard where we hung out and talked. After everyone else left Dave took a nap and I read my book in the backyard before finally getting in my car and returning to Portland.

On my drive home I decided to get off the freeway and take the Columbia River Highway for a bit. I stopped at Horsetail Falls first then went on a bit further to Oneonta Gorge. Part of this area is going through some restoration. The road originally went through tunnels in a cliff wall here. In the 40’s these tunnels were filled in and the road shifted to the side of the cliffs. As part of an ongoing project to restore the Historic Highway they have recently dug out the tunnels and they will eventually be re-opened (for bikers & pedestrians only). I went down into Oneonta Gorge and skipped across the stones in the stream to the other side. This is long been one of my favorite places in the Gorge. It’s a super skinny Gorge that feeds into the much large Columbia River Gorge. Not far back in the Gorge there is a massive log jam. If you scramble over this (be careful as it’s extremely slippery) then walk ½ mile back (through the creek, yes you’re getting wet on this venture) you’ll be rewarded with a lovely 70 foot falls in a secluded little gorge. Jess and I are planning on doing it tomorrow morning as somehow I’ve made it 5 years here with out doing this little hike. Timing is everything since you have to walk in the water so this is the absolute best time to do it with the water levels extremely low since the rains have yet to return full force.

So that was my weekend! Please let me know how you are and what you’ve been up to. I’ll be leaving this Thursday for New York, my first visit there ever! My friends Sal & Mark who I worked with in college have invited me to stay with them in Jersey City, on the Hudson River just across from Manhattan. I’m so excited! I promise to take lots of pictures, as if you had any doubt that I would!

Xoxo,
carolyn