It's WINDY!!!!!

Hi folks! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! Yes, we seem to have taken a break from blogging, but not intentionally. We are in need of a small tech-ie piece of equipment to get some pictures off our phone and the store is out of them! So......Christmas blog will be forthcoming!

So maybe you've heard about the UNBELIEVEABLE winds that have kicked up in the Columbia River Gorge on the national news, and maybe not. What I do know is the idiot that was playing around on the Max Line (public transportation) tracks the other night and FELL onto the tracks with an oncoming train made the national news. The young fool only seemed to receive a bruise on his foot. It's concerning that Portland has continued to make the news about other such things as well.....

OK, so WIND! Yes, since school doesn't start until Monday, some of our very adventurous (and possibly bored) friends took a ride up to the gorge yesterday afternoon to Crown Point at the Vista House. It has a spectaculars views of the gorge area, and this link will give you some more info:www.vistahouse.com It also sit up high enough that the winds coming through the gorge become EXPONENTIALLY strong, such as they did yesterday. One-hundred plus mile an hour winds were recorded!!! Our friends John (not to be confused with I John or II John---so we shall call him Mr. Gehndi, not his real name) and Brett witnessed the newscaster & camera crew attempting to do a story there yesterday. (You may have to copy & paste the link into your address bar) Here's the video link: http://www.kgw.com/video/featured-videos/KGW-reporter-caught-in-100-mph-Gorge-winds-80960967.html

Note that when the reporter falls (with 41 second left in the video), watch for our dear friends behind the railing in the black jackets--taking pictures!

So last evening after watching the end of a sad national championship game (yes, we were rooting for TEXAS!), Mr. Gehndi was sporting a glimmer in his eye and suggested we take a ride up to Crown Point to experience it ourselves. You may be asking yourself, what are these crazy kids doing, isn't it bedtime?!! The game was over at 9pm pacific time--plenty of time to get up & back. Ah, what the heck--you only live once!! Off we went with Mr. Gehndi, his wife Holley, Brett, Annette, and Chris!

We began to feel the strength of the wind as we approached the exit, but nothing too terrible. The winding road leading to the point sheltered us somewhat as well. However, just before we hit the parking lot the little Mazda 3 was hanging on for all she was worth! Mr. Gehndi advised us to batten down the hatches of every sort---glasses, open pockets, shoestrings, hats, hoods, eye contacts, etc! Our trusty advisor gave us our marching orders and the adventure began.

OH MY GOODNESS! I cannot even begin to explain the sheer FORCE of the winds. Living in Kansas in tornado alley really paled in comparison. We held hands as we made our way to the railing and up to the Vista House for some shelter.

If you even thought we were the only ones there at 9:45 at night, you would be mistaken. There were others there "playing in the wind" pretending they were flying, or possibly Batman. The only light was from the headlights of the cars so we could actually see the antics of other enthusiasts. As everyone else, except Chris & I, took turns standing at the most brutal point of wind, face first at at least a 45 degree angle, with arms out, the laughter began. Since Brett & Mr. Gehndi had more experience under their belt (ha!) they were the most daring in their poses trying to defy the wind! As the wind literally threw John backwards, he ran smack dab into the railing (the same one you'll see in the news video) with his elbow and mid-section. Ah, but this did not dampen his spirits.

I, on the other hand, was too busy wondering if my laughter would cause a rather untimely need for usage of facilities to which we had no access! I have not laughed that hard in a LONG time.

Once we all agreed that our faces were sufficiently wind burned, and our lips were cracked worse than any chap stick could repair, the plan was to make it safely to our vehicles. This, in itself was quite a feat because now we would be traversing INTO the wind. Despite my best efforts to "batten down", the zipper on my jacket continued to fall down, and my glasses were almost caught in a vacuum in attempt to rip them off my face, with my hat, while causing significant damage to my face! I covered my glasses with my one free gloved hand while tightly holding on to the hunk of burning love that I married!!! Even Scott was experiencing difficulty remaining upright.

Ah, the inside of a car never felt so good! Winded, out of breath and scorched, we all let out more laughter, and our disbelief of what we experienced.

We call these "bonding" experiences.