Babies Are Not My Thing

We spent the last week and a half getting to and being in Oregon for my nephew's wedding in Ashland. One of the bonuses is that the bride and groom have a baby girl named Alice. Tom and Adeline live in Tennessee while they have been pursuing doctorate degrees at Vanderbilt. It has been twenty some years since I have held a baby, and I am sure that there are new ways to do it. I avoided the issue. We did however get pictures of Grandpa and Ann and the bouncing baby girl.    

We found a new best Portland hotel that we love: Red Lion Inn on the Sea. Very nice rooms with cabanas by the pools to keep off the sun and long walkways around the resort that allow you to see the sea, which is actually the beautiful Columbia River.    

Most importantly, the hotel has seating groups on each floor where several people can gather for social activities, like playing Five Crowns card game.    

On the day of the wedding we had to drive up the mountain to reach the 

 wedding resort. Ann mentioned the sheer drop-offs just to the right of our right tire and admonished me to drive with care. When it got pretty scary, they put sticks with reflectors up every ten feet to let you know not to get too close. Only two sections had guardrails of any kind. It was dark and I couldn't see well, but I hesitate to think how much worse it had to be to actually put up guardrails. The wedding was very low key, with good people, good food, and bad dancers. We left early to get Grandpa back home to the hotel. Alan and Vicky were very gracious hosts all week long, opening their gorgeous house for breakfasts and dinners with lots of people. It was the first Armstrong family reunion since Dad's 90th birthday last September. Now we need to wait a year, or even better two so that we can all rebuild our savings for the next reunion. Las Vegas was tossed around little bit as being a cheap destination. Al and Vick would come, but would bring their kayaks and a tent. I'd bring my pension money and see if I can become one of the 1%. Probably the wrong 1%.