The Out of Towners

Stand back, people, lest ye be seared by my white hot streak of good luck. At the company zoo day, which we attended in the pouring rain a number of weeks back, we arrived at the dripping lunch tent just in time for the door prize drawing, and just as they were calling my name. Really? I won a backpack with the company logo. Sweet. Or whatever. Then, two weeks ago? I filled out my charitable pledge thing at work, clicked the button to be entered into the raffle, and was promptly awarded a $15 itunes gift card. Last Wednesday, after using my Pacific Science Center membership card to get in free to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (aw yeah!), scoring a really nice free lunch from my Portland friends, and driving two three hour stretches with two tiny kids in the back seat with very little screaming or complaining, I arrived at our hotel, only to be greeted by this:



Right? The result was an Oregon-themed gift basket, including pickled asparagus, pickled, um, pickles, chocolate with hazelnuts, huckleberry jam, berry candy, and a delightfully retro rolodex card with the hotel's information on it. The hotel was in Pendleton, Oregon, a town which claims some Old West or cattle drive heritage, and has intriguing place names like Emigrant Trail and Poverty Flats (which is actually out of town a ways...). It is two thirds of the way to Boise, most relevantly, so we stopped there to avoid another long three and a half hours.

I admit to being easily swayed when someone gives me free food, but the hotel was super. The girls loved it too- we had a suite, which meant there was much running from room to room. They had a free cocktail hour, which I declined (not without some struggle- especially after another grouchy, highway-worn mom made a clearly audible remark about how no children were allowed in the bar part of the "lounge"...). They had an awesome luggage cart, which the girls rode on together in an effort to make our all girls' road trip look even more like a pilot for a family-friendly Friday evening sitcom.


They had a pool, which we swam in the next morning, before enjoying our tasty free breakfast in the same lounge. OK, Pendleton chamber of commerce, I will be checking my account for your deposit, thank you very much.

The real point of this journey, of course, was not to stay in a hotel in cattle drive country, but to visit our friends (including a new friend, 2 month old H.) in Boise. We had a really nice visit. My friend, besides being a new mom, is a wonderful cook and a great hostess. It was even better than the hotel (except for the luggage carts...).

On Friday morning we went to this big indoor play place, normally a peaceful experience (said my friend), involving sipping a latte on a couch while your tots play with whatever's nearby. This Friday, though, was a no-school day, and all the local elementarians had swarmed the place. When I took Naomi to the bathroom, Muriel skillfully eluded my friend's watch, and found her way inside and to the top of the play structure (for 5 and ups), which was crowded with eight year olds. She thoroughly enjoyed it, and I got to have a nice little adrenaline dump. Then she found her awesome beatnik niche:


Friday night Jim flew into Boise to join the fun, and on Saturday we ate pumpkin pancakes (autumnul and syrupy!) and had a walk by the river. Still a little fall left in Boise!


I will spare you the part where I say, as I always do, that of course the real delight in this trip was spending time with our friends. And to be honest, getting back home to a full night's sleep where Muriel wasn't waking up squawking because she's not in her cushy crib was one of the highlights of the trip as well. But yeah, seeing friends is good, good stuff. Do you think these guys will be taking road trips to get together when they're our age?