This weekend I headed back down to the Columbia River Gorge for the second weekend in a row. I got to Hood River right around dinner time. I met Gaby for a margarita and some chips and salsa before heading to Sarah’s house. I got there a little before her so I took some selfies with my favorite dog, Kiva:
When Sarah, Tonya and Gaby finally got to Sarah’s, we all walked down to the waterfront to have dinner at Sarah and my favorite restaurant, Solstice. There was a bit of a wait for a table so we headed next door to the new distillery, Camp 1805. They are in their soft opening phase so we tried some their mini-cocktails (that only have about a 1/2 shot of alcohol in them and are served in mini-glasses) before dinner. They were fantastic. So was dinner!
After dinner Sarah and I were walking back to her house when we ran into our friend Abbey. Sarah decided to go home and I hung out with Abbey for a bit before Beth text me to let me know she was off work and headed to my favorite dive bar, The Red Carpet! I met her and some of her work friends for a beer, some girl talk, and some jukebox jams/dancing. It was a fun time.
The next day I met Beth at Lampoei’s food truck for some Thai food before Christa joined us and we headed down to the Hood River for some sunshine.
After the beach, Beth and I headed to her house to change before she went to work and I went to a concert at Edgefield. Edgefield is a McMenamins property in Troutdale, OR (which is just outside Portland). It was originally built as a poor farm in the early 1900s and then was transformed into a resort of sorts. On the grounds there is a hotel, a golf course, multiple restaurants, even more bars (some tiny, some bigger), a winery, a distillery, a brewery, a soaking pool, a glass blowing studio, a movie theater, etc. It’s very charming. They also have outdoor concerts there. This was my first one at the venue, NONONO and Foster the People were playing. They were really great, high energy and entertaining live. Sarah, Gaby and I had a blast! It was so nice out (despite being REALLY hot until the sun went down) and we had a really great time listening to live music and people watching in the grass.
After the concert we ran back to our car and got out of the parking lot just in time to escape the horrible traffic. We headed back to Hood River and got into town right about when Beth was getting off work. Beth and I went to the Pub for a drink where we ran into our friends Tonya and Christa. We ended up taking shots and going to Jack’s to dance them off. I’m not going to lie, my legs are still a little sore from dropping it low with the girls. Dance parties are my favorite!
The only down side to the night was when I ended up waiting over an HOUR for a cab back to White Salmon. It was so ridiculous and the cab driver didn’t have enough room in his cab when he finally arrived so I ended up in the “trunk” of his Subaru because I refused to wait alone for another cab back to White Salmon. Ha! Whatever, spooning with my favorite Fluffy cat that night was worth cab-waiting, trunk riding and not sleeping on a friend’s couch.
Sunday I woke up to my dad making me huckleberry pancakes (with freshly picked huckleberries), ham and eggs. It was awesome. I then had the most uncomfortable run-in with an old friend on the street in downtown Hood River who looked physically uncomfortable/upset that he had to talk to me for like 1 minute (WTF?) which in turn made me really upset and so I immediately got in my car while saying “what the F*CK” out loud, and drove straight to Portland to meet my cousin Tad and his girlfriend for lunch. We ate at Beaches on the Columbia River and it was so great to catch up with them. Hooray for positive encounters that make me feel a million times better. Overall, my heart is full from a really wonderful weekend.
Today at work I was telling my coworker, Justin, about my awkward encounter and he had some really great insight on the whole thing. He basically told me that I’m like an excited puppy who just loves everyone so much and I’m so excited to see everyone and that’s overwhelming for some people (introverts), especially if they are having a bad day or were unprepared to run into someone and have a conversation. He also said that while I enjoy maintaining relationships with everyone near and far, for most people maintaining friendships with people who are far away and who they rarely see/talk to is hard and disappointing because when you’d like them to be there, they aren’t and it’s hard to deal with that. He said he mentally puts people like that in a box and just puts them off to the side because he can’t cope. I’m just going to assume he and my other friend are the same way and not let it make me feel bad anymore. Because, if I’m being totally honest, that encounter kind of ruined my day. And then it made me feel upset that it affected me so much and I didn’t understand why I felt so bad after an awkward run in with that person. It’s not like I’m super close with that person. I was just excited to see them and it wasn’t reciprocated and it sucked. On my way back to Seattle, though, I was thinking about it and I think that the thing that fulfills me most in the world is meaningful relationships with other people. All the other things I do come second to my interactions and connections to others. I think the people I love the most understand and reciprocate that and it makes me love them even more. I’m a total lover! And apparently (duh) a total extrovert.
Anyway, most of the weekend was so good and was filled with so many good people. It really was a wonderful time. I just wish my favorite weekends lasted more than 2 days!
