Trip to Oregon

Just some notes on my latest trip to Oregon.  I went sort of late this year - October 23-27 - because there was a quilt class I wanted to take earlier in the month.  The weather was quite rainy so we didn't make it to the coast.  Since my daughter was with me, I looked for hotels with 2-room suites.  The Holiday Inn in Albany advertised that but the room we got was basically one room with two beds.  I won't make that mistake again.  The Holiday Inn at the Portland airport did have 2 separate rooms, which was great.  But the hotel itself was pretty old so I wouldn't stay there again unless I needed the 2 rooms.

Oregon

Had a wonderful trip to Oregon. Took Southwest from Philly on the 13th and arrived home 1:30 AM this morning. W took me to the airport on his way to Maryland. And I had a limo pick me up. It cost about $200 so it is not something I'd want to do regularly. We'll see what sorts of flights are available next April when it is time to go again. Maybe Southwest will be flying out of Newark by then. Though it is nice going out of Philly since it is so uncrowded.

The best part of the visit was that all my siblings were there too. It was great to see everyone and get reacquainted.

Back from Oregon

S and I returned from Oregon this morning (at 3 AM thanks to storms on the east coast). This time we took Southwest from Philadelphia to Portland, via Chicago Midway. I paid the extra $10 per person per leg to assure a better seat. This was especially necessary since the Corvallis library did not open until less than 24 hours before yesterday's flight, meaning we would really be behind in printing our boarding passes. We parked the car in the daily garage at Philly, at $20 a day but were thankful when we got in a 1 AM that we didn't have to wait for a bus to take us to our car. Southwest was great about keeping us informed about the delays so it was not too bad, except for lack of sleep. Another thing to keep in mind for the future - the parking garage at the Philly airport had what seemed like a neat system that told you how many spaces were free in each section of the garage. We wondered how it worked, and then discovered it didn't. After driving all over looking for phantom spots, we eventually drove up to the roof where there was plenty of room.

Trip to Oregon

I just got back (in the wee hours of the morning) from my annual trip to Oregon with Linda. This time the most cost-effective way to travel was for me to buy two round-trip tickets - one from Newark to Denver and back on Continental, and then another from Denver to Portland on Frontier. That meant I could join Linda on her usual Frontier flights. The problem with this arrangement is that I "rolled my own" connecting flights, meaning if a delay in the Continental flight meant I missed the Frontier flight I was on my own. And that almost happened. A low ceiling in Newark meant they were spacing planes out more than usual and I got into Denver over an hour late; so I just barely made the Frontier flight. And then it was snowing in Denver, which delayed our departure as we sat on the runway waiting to be de-iced. So lessons learned this time around: 1) it is too nerve-racking to do my own connections; 2) we should probably leave even earlier in October due to the crazy Denver weather. Plus, I thought I was being smart to return on the day that daylight savings time ended. That meant we had an extra hour (body time) in the morning to catch our flight. But it also meant I got into Newark an extra hour later at night, which was definitely not good.

Oregon

S and I just got back from a nice trip to Oregon to see my parents. We made sure we walked along the nice park bordering the Willamette River where we saw the neat sculptures with "flying" geese.

We also looked for this fellow climbing a nearby building.

Of course once you are down by the river, you have to stop into Great Harvest Bread Company for a sample and a couple of loaves to take home (or is it that once you drive to Great Harvest Bread Company, you may as well take a walk along the river?)

Notes for the next time: We had an 8 AM flight, which meant my leaving the house before 5 AM, but it wasn't too painful. I managed to sleep on the plane and we got to Corvallis in good time. We traveled Northwest Airlines, and they reduced the size of the planes between Newark and Minneapolis after the reservation was made, but it was not a problem. We did a pretty good job of staying on eastern time, which is more difficult when Linda is along. Traveling Wednesday to Sunday is good since we don't have to fight rush-hour traffic getting to Portland for the return trip.

Trip to Oregon

This fellow is to prove I've been in Oregon the past few days. Linda and I met in Portland airport on Wednesday and drove down to Mom and Dad's. We left Sunday, which was a great plan as we didn't have to worry about Portland rush hour traffic on the way back to the airport. Note to self: from now on I need to go in October, before the time change. Leaving just after the time change meant I was off 4 hours instead of 3 and was generally miserable the whole time due to jet lag. But we had a nice visit all the same.

Trip to Oregon

Just a note to record the fact that S and I went to Oregon to see my folks April 10-14. We flew Northwest through Minneapolis, chosen by schedule and price. But due to various delays we did not get to Corvallis until very late, which made the jet lag even worse. It seems an early morning flight is probably better.