Wednesday's post

Whew! Have finished unpacking & the moving company came to pick up the empty boxes today. Such a nice feeling to be done- of sorts. A few things need to be better organized, but I just needed to have things put away. I'm going to try to hang pictures this weekend & then I'll post photos of my very cute place. I love the neighborhood-very diverse, for Portland, I think. It's an older established neighborhood on a river bluff that looks down over the docks. Very industrial! Anyway, it a mix of old, young, middle aged and many different races, too. The houses are bungalows & almost everyone here gardens and it's sooo green!

Am loving it here! Every afternoon, I've been trying to explore some new areas-either by foot, bike or car. I'll be posting a bit each day as I've suddenly amassed many photos. It's been cold & sunny ALL week, but is supposed to rain this weekend. Tomorrow, I'll be downtown and hope to snap some photos there too, if I'm out of work in time. 

Here are a few pictures that I took in the Columbia river gorge on the way into Portland.

First of all, my lovely car- yes, that's duct tape & a bungee cord. Didn't want to say anything earlier as to not worry anyone. My car is older, but I've had company cars/trucks for the last several years, so this has really been the "dog" car. Paul's Volvo checked it out before this massive road trip & pronounced it in great shape..in fact, it just crossed 200,000 miles. Mark was worried that he'd have to buy me a car along the way, but I knew my "tank" of a car would make it & do just fine. However, we needed to check fluids on a cold engine in Wyoming, but the weather was really cold-in the 20s. Mark could not get the hood open that morn. So when we stopped for gas a bit out of town, I tried it & got it open. Weirdly, the inside latch felt loose after popping it & THEN the hood would not completely close! I did need some oil, but with the winds at 50-70mph, I wish I hadn't opened it! Mark thought quickly, purchased the cord & duct tape and we were on our way. And it held beautifully through the tough drive.

When I arrived in Portland, I made Mark take off the duct tape. I didn't want to look like the Beverly Hillbillies or anything coming into town! Christie's husband, Pete has a way with vehicles & he thought maybe the cable had broke and said he thought he could fix it. I called a Volvo repair shop about the part AND this is why I love Volvos-especially the 240. Told the mechanic what happened & possible issue. He then asked the model & the latch COLOR. Told me to take off the cord, pull the latch down all the way and  push it up as far as it would go. Then get out & slam the hood as hard as I could. Ohmygosh, perfectly fixed! The mechanic said that this is an issue with the cable on really cold days on an older Volvo and it happens a lot. Whew!

The next pictures are on the gorge & are taken within minutes of each other to show you how the weather will be sunny & then overcast & foggy. Lastly, it was raining as we approached Hood River and then cleared off as we got into town. The rainbow came out as we were eating at Full Sail microbrewery. Beautiful!!

I can't seem to update the images. Will post those later. ugh!