Travel with the 3GenChics to Ohio and North Carolina for the holidays and enjoy our adventures!

It all started on December 14, three days before we were due to drive six hours to Portland for an overnight snooze before catching a 530 AM flight. We woke up to 14+ inches of snow, an incredibly gorgeous winter wonderland. The snow was expected to continue through the week and we began to feel nervous that we would be unable to drive to Portland and/or that our house/dog sitter, Cece, would be unable to get to us the following day. Cue the obsessive checking of facebook pages where local folks chatter about road and weather conditions, the weather channel and input from local folks that we have come to know. Luckily the roads remained clear enough to allow Cece to arrive the next day and we spent a couple of days showing her the ropes—care for each animal (because they each have their own little diva issues), how to contact help for snow plowing of the driveway and assistance shoveling, etc. I did hire a man to come and plow our driveway out and do some shoveling, though I did a good bit on my own. Surprise, surprise—I really enjoy doing this work!

The morning of our departure to Portland arrived and we woke to another complete winter wonderland. No roads to be seen, only a sheet of pure, white snow as far as we could see. We decided to give it a couple of hours, to see if the plows would come through and clear the roads. We went out for breakfast at one of our favorite places, the Blythe Cricket, and enjoyed visiting with Cece. Around breakfast we decided to give it a go, knowing we could always turn around and come back if we ran into any difficulties—which we did not! We had a smooth drive over the Blue Mountains and through the gorgeous Columbia Gorge. Once we arrived in our old stomping grounds, we met friends for dinner at our favorite, McMenamins, and had a delightful visit. Then we retired to our lodging for the evening, trying to get to sleep early as we had to get up at 230 AM!

We left for the airport around 330 AM, parked at airport parking, grabbed a shuttle and arrived to find the airport an insane, chaotic mess. Emma and I had the TSA status that allowed us to go through the fast lane so we abandoned Gramma to her fate in the long, long regular line and waited for her on the other side. Our flight could not have gone any smoother and seemed to go very fast. Before we knew it, we were in Columbus, Ohio, where our friend Joyce was waiting to pick us up. We went straight to FlipSide to eat—a local burger joint that offers ‘happy’ meat, cooks in lard and know how to do everything just right. It was absolutely amazing.

After stuffing our faces, we headed on down to Aunt Connie and Uncle Lloyd’s place where we joined their holiday party that was already in full swing. The kitchen bar was filled with snacks and treats galore, the liquor counter was overflowing with varying kinds of alcohol, including moonshine and Lloyd’s delicious homemade wine. Everyone was feeling pretty merry and Gramma did not waste any time joining in the merry! Emma and I enjoyed people watching and chatting with folks that she, in particular, had not seen or did not remember meeting in the past. Connie outdoes herself for this one party a year, spoiling each guest with holiday gifts that she diligently spends most of the year picking out, many specifically tailored to each guest. Around 10 PM, though, Emma and I were feeling the long day and slipped away to hit the sack. The next morning, we delivered Emma to her father’s place, taking a few minutes to tour the very nice AirB&B that he and his wife run, which is next door to their place.

Gramma and I spent the next few days visiting friends, playing Euchre and visiting with Connie and Lloyd. The day after Christmas we picked Emma up from her father’s place and hit the road. Our next stop was North Carolina, where brother Michael and his family recently relocated, and brother Jeremy and his family also traveled there from South Carolina. It’s been about five years since we had every one of us together and we were all very excited to see each other. Michael and Nicole’s home is drop dead gorgeous, so well put together, cozy and comfortable. There was plenty of room for all of us to be together, for the kids to have room to be kids and the adults space to congregate and flap lips. There was so much laughter, singing, dancing and general tomfoolery. I am incredibly grateful that we are all so close, that we can have so much fun together and yet also be there for each other in whatever way we need. Magical. We spent three full days with them and it was hard to leave on day four.

After arriving back in Ohio, we dropped Emma back at her father’s place then drove into town to catch the Euchre tournament. Gramma and I pulled each other as partners—usually this works out very well as she is a badass player—though sadly, we lost out right away. We were lucky enough to catch a side game, though, where the bet is $5 a hand. We enjoyed playing for a couple more hours and broke even, thank goodness!

We spent New Year’s Eve with our good friend, Joyce, gallivanting the small towns of McConnelsville and Malta, starting at the American Legion for the steak fry, drinks at the Eagles with Cousin Camilla and finishing up at the VFW, where I enjoyed a sweet, long overdue visit with brother Shane, his wife and more of their family as the guys played pool. We behaved ourselves and were home by 11, ringing in the New Year from the warmth of Connie’s house.

On January 4, Joyce picked us up and drove us to Columbus, stopping at FlipSide to fuel up before a long night of flying. Checking in at the airport went incredibly smooth, minimum lines at security and we made our way to our gate to wait for the flight. We should have known we’d have to pay for the smooth check in—our flight was delayed but the connecting flight was going to wait for us so we did not have to worry about missing the next flight. We arrived in Las Vegas, hurried to the next plane, boarded………and then sat on that plane for at least an hour before they finally decided to take off. This flight was long, turbulent and terrible. It seemed like we were not getting anywhere and every time we looked at the clock time was not passing. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone (who remembers that show?). To make matters worse, my ears did not appreciate the pressure situation and I spent the last 30 minutes in the worst pain of my life. I thought my ear drums were going to explode. By the time we landed it was after midnight, we were all tired, hungry and flat out done. We grabbed our bags, caught the shuttle and found my truck, drove to our lodging and passed out.

We were so happy to be back in Oregon but now we had to drive back up to our home in Wallowa County and the snow had not quit since we left town a couple of weeks before. It was compounded by 60+ mph winds, the snow was drifting dangerously on the roads and many of the roads had been closed off and on for days. Cece needed to get back to her home and we also needed to get home. In the morning we drove to the grocery to stock up on food before we left civilization. I dropped Mom at her preferred store, I went to mine and Emma’s friend Claire met her there so they could squeeze in a quick visit before we headed back to our home at the end of the world. We were well stocked with clothing, blankets, emergency kit, jumper cable battery set, chains and more—if worst came to worst and we got stuck on the road, we were going to be okay. According to the weather reports we had a very brief window of time to get home. If we missed it, we may have had to wait several more days to get home. So off we set, fingers crossed. We made it an hour or so up the Columbia Gorge before brother Michael let us know that the freeway was closed at Pendleton, the last exit up the road before crossing the mountains. He called and booked us a hotel room in Pendleton so we carried on that far before stopping for the night. As we approached this last exit there were dozens of tractor trailers and a few regular cars lined up for a mile or more along the highway, choosing to wait out the freeway closure there. The freeway was closed because lots of tractor trailers had not chained up prior to climbing Cabbage Hill and were stuck across all lanes of traffic. The closure was expected to be lengthy so we decided to make the best of it!

The hotel was stayed in is also a casino, Wild Horse. The room was only $35 a night due to Gramma’s senior discount and the place was really well done. In addition to the casino they have their own movie theatre and bowling alley, a nice pool and several restaurants, though they were not all open. As we checked in the snow started really coming down. We relaxed for a bit before going on a tour of the facility and having dinner in the fancy restaurant, Plateau, where we got a great table with a lovely view of the falling snow. We shared conversation with a couple of other guests, consumed some amazing food and had a great time! After dinner we went to the bowling alley where Gramma proceeded to kick our butts. Next Emma and I went back to the room to snuggle in and watch a couple shows while Gramma went to have a little fun in the casino. We all got a great night’s sleep and prepared to enter Snowmagedden the next day, knowing that the last two hours of our drive were going to be the most perilous of our journey.

I woke early and got dressed, heading out to the truck to see about putting on chains. The world was covered in a thick layer of glittering, gorgeous ice. After letting the truck run for a bit to melt the ice, I thought we’d give it a try without chains first. The ice seemed to be melting quickly and after enjoying some breakfast and packing up I thought it may be ok. And it was! Would you believe that after all that, the roads were only wet. We encountered no problems, though tractor trailer traffic was very heavy, making Gramma nervous. We arrived at home by noon, with time to unpack and relax for a moment before taking Emma to work – no rest for the weary here!

What a wild December we had!