We’ve been on the road since last Saturday, on a little trip to Oregon. We drove up Highway 101 out of the Bay Area, through Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, and up through the redwood forests of the Northern California coast. We stayed in Gold Beach, Oregon the first night out, and then spend the next day driving up to Seaside, Oregon, where we stayed for three nights in a little hotel on the beach. On Wednesday, we drove over to Portland, and are staying with my brother and his wife, primarily to attend the Columbia Christian College/Cascade College reunion. More on that later.
One thing I have noticed during the trip: Oregon drivers have the rather annoying tendency to view the posted speed limit with awe and respect, as if it were something they aspire to, but are afraid of attaining. Californians, of course, view it as an advisory about how ticked off to expect the law enforcement officer to be when we get pulled over.
Did I mention that I got a speeding ticket on this trip?
Oregon’s “highways” through rural areas, including the coastal region, have far too few passing lanes and turnouts. We’d have had a much shorter drive last Sunday if it hadn’t been for that, and all the speed-law-abiding Oregon drivers. I’m not bitter, though. If you’ve got to take your time getting somewhere, the Oregon coast is a good place to do it!
While we were in Seaside, it was rather appalling to discover that I couldn’t get a good cup of coffee from anyplace in the downtown tourist district at 8:00 on a Monday night. I thought this was the Northwest, the bastion of caffeination of the country! Aren’t there laws about the quota of coffee shops required on each block of a city, and the mandatory hours of operation? Pure insanity. I had to content myself with coffee in our hotel room.... ick. I should have brought my French press.
The Columbia/Cascade reunion has been a lot of fun. Nina attended Columbia from 1985 to 1989, and it’s been good to see some of her old friends (even some friends of mine from various places) and show off our kids. For many of the Columbia graduates, it was a time to reconnect, and recognize that Cascade is still their school. After Columbia shut down, then Cascade opened in its place, many of them felt displaced. This weekend has helped to reconnect them -- I know that’s true for Nina.
It’s been good to see several folks I have come to know through WorshipForum -- Ike Graul, Dan Dalzell, Jim Murphy, “Big Mike” Lewis, Joe and Pam Burris, and probably some others, who I have already forgotten.... I have gotten to know some of Nina’s college friends over the past few years, as well, like the LaValley family, Don and Mary Lou Boderman, Dan and Linda Coburn, Jeff Brady, Kami Ellenz, and a few others. So it helped me to not feel completely like the odd man out.
I even got to sing, along with Nina, on a praise team at the chapel service on Friday morning. Dan Dalzell had been asked to lead a couple of songs, and so he put together a group of us to sing together. It was great fun, since the group included Dan and his wife, Lani, Ike and Kaelea Graul, and Phil Hurley, all of whom had sung with various groups at Columbia/Cascade. Also singing with us were Dan’s parents, Dick and Sue Dalzell -- Dick directed choirs at Columbia for many years, and is one of the best vocal conductors I have ever seen. I was in awe of the talent Nina and I got to rub elbows with for the morning. Nina was very glad to be included, since she wasn’t known for singing while she was at school -- she did the band thing, playing flute (quite well, if you ask me).
Friday evening, there was an event called “Campus Collage.” It was billed as a talent show, but the talent in question was... well, questionable! It was neat to see some folks perform together who had done so when they were in college together, even if they were a tad rusty. And Greg and Kevin Woods’ rendition of “To Dweam the Impossible Dweam” was hilarious!
For me, though, the highlight of the evening was Wayne and Lori Aus reviving their “Jake and Kate” act. I had seen Wayne do “Jake the Peg” at camp when I was 12 or 13, where he comes out as a three-legged man and does a little song and dance number. (“...at school when we had the three-legged race, I could win it on my own!”) Later, he and his wife added her part to it as a three-legged woman who Jake meets and falls in love with. It was fun to see it again, and even more fun to watch my kids watch the act, and try to figure out how they did it!
It’s been a good trip, and tomorrow we start for home. We’ll stop tomorrow night in Redding, and get home sometime Monday. It’ll be good to get back to our own beds, our home church, and my French press.
One thing I have noticed during the trip: Oregon drivers have the rather annoying tendency to view the posted speed limit with awe and respect, as if it were something they aspire to, but are afraid of attaining. Californians, of course, view it as an advisory about how ticked off to expect the law enforcement officer to be when we get pulled over.
Did I mention that I got a speeding ticket on this trip?
Oregon’s “highways” through rural areas, including the coastal region, have far too few passing lanes and turnouts. We’d have had a much shorter drive last Sunday if it hadn’t been for that, and all the speed-law-abiding Oregon drivers. I’m not bitter, though. If you’ve got to take your time getting somewhere, the Oregon coast is a good place to do it!
While we were in Seaside, it was rather appalling to discover that I couldn’t get a good cup of coffee from anyplace in the downtown tourist district at 8:00 on a Monday night. I thought this was the Northwest, the bastion of caffeination of the country! Aren’t there laws about the quota of coffee shops required on each block of a city, and the mandatory hours of operation? Pure insanity. I had to content myself with coffee in our hotel room.... ick. I should have brought my French press.
The Columbia/Cascade reunion has been a lot of fun. Nina attended Columbia from 1985 to 1989, and it’s been good to see some of her old friends (even some friends of mine from various places) and show off our kids. For many of the Columbia graduates, it was a time to reconnect, and recognize that Cascade is still their school. After Columbia shut down, then Cascade opened in its place, many of them felt displaced. This weekend has helped to reconnect them -- I know that’s true for Nina.
It’s been good to see several folks I have come to know through WorshipForum -- Ike Graul, Dan Dalzell, Jim Murphy, “Big Mike” Lewis, Joe and Pam Burris, and probably some others, who I have already forgotten.... I have gotten to know some of Nina’s college friends over the past few years, as well, like the LaValley family, Don and Mary Lou Boderman, Dan and Linda Coburn, Jeff Brady, Kami Ellenz, and a few others. So it helped me to not feel completely like the odd man out.
I even got to sing, along with Nina, on a praise team at the chapel service on Friday morning. Dan Dalzell had been asked to lead a couple of songs, and so he put together a group of us to sing together. It was great fun, since the group included Dan and his wife, Lani, Ike and Kaelea Graul, and Phil Hurley, all of whom had sung with various groups at Columbia/Cascade. Also singing with us were Dan’s parents, Dick and Sue Dalzell -- Dick directed choirs at Columbia for many years, and is one of the best vocal conductors I have ever seen. I was in awe of the talent Nina and I got to rub elbows with for the morning. Nina was very glad to be included, since she wasn’t known for singing while she was at school -- she did the band thing, playing flute (quite well, if you ask me).
Friday evening, there was an event called “Campus Collage.” It was billed as a talent show, but the talent in question was... well, questionable! It was neat to see some folks perform together who had done so when they were in college together, even if they were a tad rusty. And Greg and Kevin Woods’ rendition of “To Dweam the Impossible Dweam” was hilarious!
For me, though, the highlight of the evening was Wayne and Lori Aus reviving their “Jake and Kate” act. I had seen Wayne do “Jake the Peg” at camp when I was 12 or 13, where he comes out as a three-legged man and does a little song and dance number. (“...at school when we had the three-legged race, I could win it on my own!”) Later, he and his wife added her part to it as a three-legged woman who Jake meets and falls in love with. It was fun to see it again, and even more fun to watch my kids watch the act, and try to figure out how they did it!
It’s been a good trip, and tomorrow we start for home. We’ll stop tomorrow night in Redding, and get home sometime Monday. It’ll be good to get back to our own beds, our home church, and my French press.
