Memorial Day shenanagins

June 1, 2004

It’s so nice to log into my website’s configuration and find that in the last few days there have been no pieces of comment spam. I hate logging in and finding three or four at a time, because that’s just that much extra work in cleaning them off my website. Stupid spammers. Actually, spam continues to exist only because there are people out there who actually purchase the products, so maybe it’s those people I should direct my annoyance towards, and not the spammers themselves. Eh, hang ‘em all.

So I had a pretty good Memorial Day weekend, and I hope that you all did, too. Friday I didn’t get a chance to write in my blog because it turned out to be super busy all day at work, and then lunch was taken up by a pizza party we had. Mmmm…Papa John’s pizza. Then my boss was nice enough to let us all go a couple hours early, so I got home about 2:30 or so instead of 4:45. Very nice. I basically just bummed around the rest of the night as I was pretty tired, and I went to bed kind of early. Saturday I slept in (until 7:45!) and bummed around for most of the day, too, playing my game a bit, watching some taped “ER” episodes, and then rounding off the night with dinner at McMenamins by myself. Heather was busy, and so I drove down there and had a couple of beers while I read the day’s paper. Sunday was just as slow, and I spent the day doing some stuff in my room like organizing bills and bank statements in my case that I keep official papers in, though I was grateful that TV Land was running a 48 hour “Cheers” marathon so that I had some good TV in the background.

Monday, however, was the real meat of the weekend. I had hoped to be able to spend more time outdoors this Memorial day weekend, but the weather on Saturday and Sunday left much to be desired. Alternating sun and showers don’t make for good outdoors weather, but the weather finally held long enough for a hike on Monday. I drove over to my Dad’s house early that morning, and we headed out to a place he read about in some hiking guides he bought. We ended up parking at Eagle Creek, just past Multnomah Falls off I-84 near the Bonneville Dam and taking the hike from there, six miles up and six miles back. There wasn’t really an end to the trail, and so we stopped once we got to Tunnel Falls, named for the tunnel that goes behind the falls, and we were both glad that we didn’t go any further since we had to turn around and go right back the way we came. There weren’t a lot of people when we got there, but on our way back it was a regular caravan line going up the trail. They probably weren’t going as far as we did, but it was a little time consuming to have to continually stop and let people by us.

The hike, though, was beautiful. It mostly kept us along Eagle Creek, and we had to cross it several times on both well-constructed and makeshift bridges. It was a nice nice forested hike with excellent scenery, sometimes putting us ten feet above the water and others 60 or so. All in all, every reason why I don’t want to leave the Northwest in a single hike. My Dad and I took some pictures, naturally, though I didn’t stop and take the wildflower pictures like he does. I got a lot of the creek, a few of the falls that were our destination, and some miscellaneous ones of the scenery. I couldn’t have had a better hike.

Unlike my hike last summer in Bend, though, when I both got lost and hurt my feet a great deal, I came out of this hike relatively unscathed. My legs are a little stiff today, but my feet are fine and I didn’t get a single blister. I think that was a combination of both softer ground thanks to the weather and for putting in the gel insoles from my Converse shoes. I almost ruined my insoles, but they saved my feet. I might have been able to go another three, four, even five miles, but I think that would have been my limit for the day without better footwear. Those boots of mine are about spent, I’d wager. I’ll have to look into replacing them sometime this summer, I suppose, since I’d like to do some more hiking when I get the chances on weekends.

Believe it or not, I actually turned down going to a new McMenamins yesterday as my Dad and I were driving back from our hike. I was very tired by that time, and I didn’t want to have a beer and be even more tired and then hop in my car and drive home. Plus, it was the Edgefield Hotel, which is probably their nicest location with a full 25 acres of land to explore, and I’d like to be able to go there when I have an opportunity to wander around and not run in, have a beer, and run out. Another time, perhaps. It all ended up OK, though, because I ended up at a McMenamins for dinner with my sister later in the evening as my strength returned to me.

So this is a slightly shortened week thanks to my day off yesterday, and I have a lot to do. My lunch is just about over, so I’ll leave you there. I hope you all had a good Memorial Day weekend.

Posted in Beer, Geekery, General