Wake up in the frosty drizzle of
Troutdale,
and make our way east through Columbia
River
Gorge,
shedding trees at Hood River and
The
Dalles,
unti
cliffs rise up to Plateau,
re-encountering
precipices
in
Wallula Gap, then
winding up
to
wintery
Walla
Walla -- where
Tisha, Claire, and
Meggan await us in the
downtown
Starbucks.
From here we proceed to
Sherry and Jeff's for a
splendid
Christmas Eve dinner with Randy and a talented local flutist,
then head to
Jim's for a bit of gift-opening with
Marek, Maricar, and Taylor.
After settling in at
Tisha's,
make an 8th-hour run to a notorious big-box store... a first-ever visit, and actually find it kind of impressive, and certainly useful...
