Friday night we attended a holiday party for Jane’s work at a swanky downtown restaurant where I felt a bit under dressed and over serviced. Still, it was a nice meal and good company. We wanted to possibly leave after the party for Portland. My body needed some rest though, and we opted for Saturday morning.

I’d canceled trips to see my Mom probably 3 or 4 times since the we decided that we would make a trip down to see her new apartment. With the holidays, I had felt an even more pressing need to get down and see her. Unfortunately, the holidays also brought even more reasons to cancel. Things have been so hectic and schedules are so tight. Jane and I committed to driving down this last weekend, rain or shine.

The weather could not have looked worse for us, but we took the chance anyways. The last thing I wanted to do was cancel yet again. The rest of the month was already planned out.

Our drive down was cold but uneventful. We got some snow on the way down through the middle of Washington but nothing was sticking to the roads too badly and I was able to not slow down too much all the way down.

We had a lovely and delicious thanksgiving style dinner with my mom, her boyfriend Tom, his mother, and our friend Maggie. Tom’s mother is a very sassy older woman. She never remembers who I am, but she never forgets that she intends to hit on me. We always enjoy visiting her.

Saturday night we decided to go out in Portland and have a drink or two. Our first stop was at the Doug Fir on the East side. Jane and I hadn’t been, and Maggie was nice enough to take us despite her better judgement. The bar was beautiful with a fake wood cabin type feel, but the crowd was just… interesting. There was a raver couple near us that were hanging all over each other for hours. I almost offered to buy them a room so they could get it over with.

We went further east to a second bar that had Chimay on tap. I am more than okay with that. We called it a night pretty early. It was a long day and we all needed sleep.

Sunday morning I woke up to waffles, coffee, sausage, and a whole bunch of snow outside. It would have been a perfect day if I didn’t have to drive back home. The local news in the area was screaming about the sky falling (as usual). Portland metro was requiring tire chains throughout the city and we of course didn’t own any. When it snows outside here, I just stay home. It has worked for a number of years until this weekend.

Jane and I left my mom’s place around 11am to get a jump on the commute.

We managed to find the chains in the third store we went to. I felt comfortable without them on the backroads, but I knew that highway 26 on down past the Zoo towards I-5 would be very sketchy. It has a 6.5% grade on down towards a tunnel without much in the way of shoulders. We quickly learned how to put on the chains in the snow, outside… numb fingers and all.

With the chains on, we crawled out towards 26 at a much slower pace than everyone else that decided to drive without them. It was clunky, noisy, and pretty damn annoying. It wasn’t until we actually got on the highway that we understood how smart the choice was. Coming down the grade was a pretty tense moment, but I felt much safer with my handling abilities. It was the 80% of everyone else that I was worried about though. We crawled at about 25 mph through the tunnel and eventually got on to I-5. After we crossed the river in to Vancouver, WA, I felt much more comfortable and took the chains off.

At one of the gas stations, I noticed this little gem (click to enlarge it). It was a condom dispenser with a twist. You have a one in six shot of actually getting a condom. The other “prizes” include a “tingler ring” and “body paint”. Ick. I love road trips sometimes.

The roads cleared up a shocking amount to the north. There wasn’t even snow on the ground in some portions. Olympia held lots, and places like Tukwila had almost none. It was a very intense commute though, and we spent almost 5 hours doing it.

Once we got home we pretty much laid out and watched movies. I passed out earlier than I had planned.

I woke up this morning actually very excited to try and bike in to work. I knew that fixed gear is better for icy conditions, and I wanted to give it a go on my bike. It took me about 10 blocks to fall on my ass and give up the dream. One of these days I’ll actually buy studded tires. Yeah, I’m an idiot.