Friday, February 14, 2020

One of us was prepared with a Valentine’s Day card for the other, and one of us was not. And that’s all I’ll say about that!

We had some personal business to take care of in the morning, but by 1:00 we were on the road from Eugene to the Portland area. We had another uneventful drive to our hotel in Wilsonville, which was much appreciated. We won’t take those for granted again!

The hotel is still undergoing renovations, but the lobby is done now. David checked out the restaurant in the hotel and they were having a Valentine’s Special so he made a dinner reservation. We ended up having a lovely evening, when I thought we’d be having Trader Joe’s snacks in our room. We had an amuse bouche of a grilled curried shrimp, then a grilled Caesar salad, then a salmon filet topped (they called it “stuffed” but it just had a little mound on top) with crab and seafood, with a wild rice pilaf and asparagus. The food was all delicious! Much better than you’d expect from a Holiday Inn. Dessert was warm chocolate fondue with fruit and cheesecake and truffle bites for dipping. All together most unexpected and delightful!

There was a DJ playing some music. No one danced, until we finally got up and did one dance in our bumbling-tripping-arguing-over-who’s-going-to-lead style. So maybe we broke the ice. We called it a night, took our leftovers, and headed upstairs.

Saturday, February, 15, 2020

Our first event of the year in Oregon was at the Divisional Wrestling Championships at Canby High School. The rain poured and it was cold, but spirits were high and we had a great day.

We started the day off with two Clackamas County Commissioners and two Grange members taking the tour. They were very engaged and interested and we had an excellent time. They were barely out the door and a Canby Police officer arrived. Dave gave him the tour. We also had some parents and coaches come through. Toward the end of the day, I had a female coach come through and she shared that a friend of her daughter’s was experimenting with drugs. She asked how much longer we were going to be there, because she was calling the girl’s mother to come over right away. We had less than an hour, but I told her where we were scheduled to be on Monday.

We had a discussion with our consultant about Monday’s venue. There was a small parking lot that would accommodate the trailer, barely. But not the trailer and truck. And backing the trailer in would be difficult if there were other cars in the parking lot. Rebecca apologized profusely, but given the short notice and the fact that Monday’s a holiday, we had to work with what we had. I asked if it would be possible to park the trailer there Sunday afternoon (when, presumably, there would be fewer cars in the lot to work around), and leave it overnight. Rebecca checked, got a thumbs-up, and we had a plan.

We were in kind of an awkward space at the high school, and another car and trailer had pulled in next to us. They were inside the (nice and dry and warm) gym selling T-shirts and other merchandise. They came out and said they were going to get some food and would return soon. Well, we got packed up and were ready to go, and they weren’t back yet. But Dave did some amazing pulling forward, and backing up and swinging wide and he got the trailer out of there just fine. I’m sure when the guys came back they were scratching their heads, wondering how the heck that happened?

Back at the hotel, we walked/biked in the workout room, had a bite in the restaurant, then Dave hit a wall. He was snoring by 9:00. I read for a while and then called it a night, too.

Sunday, February 16, 2020

We slept till 8:00 am (late for us, but still tired by the long day yesterday), hurried to breakfast, then back to our room to watch our church service online at 8:45. I worked for a couple of hours doing my mid-month reports, then we took the trailer to Monday’s venue. It did take some backing and maneuvering, but Dave got it in and it looked like the trailer was made for that spot.

We ran a couple of errands in the Portland area (Duluth Trading Company!), then met my cousin and her husband for dinner at Oswego Grill. We had stayed with them several days the last time we were in the area and they graciously offered again, but given that our two events were on the east side of town, it just seemed to make sense to stay closer to our venues, so we’d thanked them and asked if we could go to dinner. It turned out we went out on Lisa’s birthday, so we got an extra dessert from the restaurant! We’d been there once before, the last time we visited Portland, and the food was delicious. David got salmon and I had baby-back ribs with a wonderful coleslaw. I’m not always a coleslaw fan, because it can be heavy and drowning in too-sweet dressing, but this one was just right–not too sweet, not overly dressed, still crunchy. Too soon, we said good-bye again, and headed back to the hotel.

It was another early-to-bed night.

Monday, February 17, 2020

We arrived at our venue, the offices of the Oregon Association of Nurseries at 9:03. Our consultants were waiting for us. It took only a few minutes to get the trailer all set up and ready to go.

We had a U.S. Congressman scheduled to arrive at 10 AM, and I was to give him the tour. He had a hard departure time of 10:30, which meant the tour would be somewhat abbreviated, so he would have time for questions and answers and chatting with other people.

He arrived promptly and we got right to it. He was thoroughly engaged and we had a delightful time. Our consultant told me after, my tour was, “Perfect.” I hit the highlights, and the timing was just right. The congressman was interested and stood around for several minutes afterward, asking more questions. He asked what he could do to help the project. He really was fabulous to engage with.

After my time with him, he filmed some more questions and answers, then departed pretty close to on schedule. The rest of the day was fairly steady. This event had been well publicized and I had a couple come because they’d heard about it on the radio (she was a school nurse and familiar with vaping and where that paraphernalia is hidden and what it looks like), and wanted to learn more about opioids. Other mothers came because they’d seen a newspaper ad. Dave took two moms on tours whose kids are already experimenting with drugs, especially marijuana, and wanted to be better informed.

Oh, and the mom that coach on Saturday said she was going to call? Yep, she came. I got to give her my last tour of the day on Monday. She was definitely intrigued by what she learned and said she’d be giving her daughter’s room a thorough search. She arrived in denial, but I like to think that maybe she left with opened eyes.

One of Dave’s tour mom’s commented that her son had recently begun collecting “soda cans.” Dave showed her the Coke can personal safe. And the Monster Energy personal safe and encouraged her to go home and take a closer look at some of those “soda cans.” She promised to do that.

Monday was definitely one of our most encouraging events so far. Everyone was so welcoming and eager to take the tour and blown away by what they learned. Everyone from a US Congressman to moms and dads trying to keep their kids safe and healthy.

Tuesday we’re headed to Tacoma for a couple of events in Washington. I’ll be back soon to catch up. Thanks for reading!