My Pants are Falling Down!

Yep, those big girl pants are gonna have to be put away, cause they are just way too big now. I’m fitting into a few of my old faves now, and even those are getting a little loose. But, here’s the dilemma: I don’t have many in between sized clothes. I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

So, my second trip to Oregon was great! Spent the weekend experiencing the Columbia River Gorge with my good friend Judie. Jude worked for Columbia Hills State Park for five years, so was a wealth of information about the area. Plus she absolutely loves that area of the world, so it was fun to experience it with her. On Friday we went berry-picking with her friend Kate at “The Hatch”, which is a famous wind-surfing spot. We filled up containers and containers of those juicy morsels. Don’t tell anyone, but I brought some home to share with family and friends. We also took a drive up the gorge a ways. And ate at Taco del Mar.

That was the start of my making questionable food choices. I asked for a nutrition chart, but they looked at me like I was crazy and finally told me, “It’s online.” So, I ordered 2 fish soft shell tacos, hold the cheese. But not “hold the sauce” because I’ve never met a sauce I didn’t like. I just looked it up, and that was 540 cals, 22 g of fat with cheese, so maybe ..hmmm….475 cals and 15 g of fat without? WAY too much. Then we ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Again, no nutrition chart. I tried to order what I thought would be the healthiest choice, but my sweet and sour chicken turned out to be deep fried. Which of course I ate. The chop suey and rice probably weren’t too bad. I didn’t eat my fortune cookie though. I won’t go through everything I ate for the rest of the weekend, but let’s just say it ended with buying a 240 calorie bag of “reduced fat” chips from the vending machine at the hotel Sunday night. Oh! And eating not only the grilled chicken sandwich at Wendy’s (this time I did “hold the sauce”) at the airport, but most of the first class breakfast on the flight home. I mean, I couldn’t really turn my nose up at that, could I?

I did do a couple of good things food-wise though. I had a smoothie to start each day because Judie had stocked her fridge with frozen strawberries, bananas and yogurt. Thanks Jude! I also got to visit Trader Joe’s for the first time ever, and bought some low cal/low fat snacks, and we bought salads for dinner.

We did quite a bit of walking while I was there, including a cool petroglyph/pictograph tour on Saturday morning. Here’s “She Who Watches”. Judie said an elder told her that this particular one was created to witness the decimation of the people of that area. Sad. I learned that there were giant glacial floods that created the stunning cliffs and buttes of the gorge, and that much later on, in the 1950s, a couple of dams were made which flooded the river basin, effectively covering much of the Native American living and burial sites. This area was visited by Lewis and Clark in 1805 and 1806, and it was a massive trading site, with various tribes gathering each year. The “locals” fished 10000 pounds of salmon from the river per week during the season. Sounds like they were a pretty well to do bunch. They had wooden homes and storehouses, and an interesting way of cutting planks from trees without killing the trees. Nice.

We also visited the Maryhill Museum, which was built by Sam Hill, originally as his home. I got a great pic of Mount Hood from the lanai while we were eating lunch. During both trips to Oregon people kept telling me about the beauty of Mount Hood and Mount Adams, but they kept hiding behind clouds to the point I was beginning to wonder if people were making it up, until she finally revealed her beauty to me that day. Old Sam Hill had quite the collection of Rodin sculptures and drawings. Very Nice. There was also an incredible collection of Native American basketry, beadworks, and other tools, toys, and stuff. I didn’t see the collection of doll costumes. Maybe next time. Then we went to a replica of Stone Henge that Sam Hill also created. Jude said during the summer equinox this place really draws the freaks out. We also drove through someone’s ranch where there are all kinds of animals like zebra, camels, giraffes, emus, and more.

So, I got to experience all kinds of cool things with Jude, and best of all, spend time with her. It had been way too long. We’re talking about maybe camping on the coast next summer for a weekend. You can be sure I’m gonna plan that during berry season again. Oh! She had an exercise bike so I did 20 minutes on that one morning, plus did some yard work for her one afternoon. The net result of my bad eating and pretty active weekend? A half pound weight loss. Not what I’d like, but I learned something from it, and at least it wasn’t a gain. Off to the gym now. I've got less than a week and 1.6 pounds to lose to reach my next goal.