Friday, December 24, 2010

December 24 - Cool to Warm


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...