Day 6

On Saturday, Portland was our goal, but we stopped at Silver Falls State Park outside of Salem on our way there. (We did go there last year, but we loved it so much that I really wanted to go back.) It was still very lovely, but last time that we were there was in June when the falls were fuller from the spring thaw, so it wasn't quite as beautiful this time around.


Have you ever bought a Christmas tree from a lot that was advertised as Oregon grown? I have and when I did, I envisioned lumberjacks climbing high into the mountains to chop it down. Well, that little fantasy was dashed when I saw this reality:

Sigh...I guess those Oregon-grown Christmas trees are grown on tree farms just like all the tree farms around my own house. Oh well, I suppose there are more important things to be sad about.

Once we were drawing nigh to Portland, I called Elisabeth and told her how close we were. Jeff was craving pizza, so she directed us to a place that is well known to Portlandians:


Elisabeth and Jon met us there with their ever growing brood:


Together, we imbibed on some serious pizza:


Jeff tried to take a couple of pictures of the Beloved Brynn who was literally dancing in the aisles, but our camera's shutter isn't fast enough. Check out the one shot he got of her:


(Hee hee. That's her fleeing foot in the bottom right corner.)

The other kids' personalities were a bit more conducive to portraiture. Delaney and Ava found a common love in drawing:


(Don't these two cuties look like they could be sisters?)

I asked Jonah what he'd like to be doing in the picture I planned on taking of him. He immediately ran off and grabbed his firearm:

(He's got the stance down pat.)

Elisabeth invited me and Delaney back to their house while Jon took the guys disc golfing. Their home is a 100 year old Craftsman beauty and they have the coolest cat I've ever encountered. Elisabeth and I talked in the kitchen, talked in the living room, talked during the house "tour" and talked in the back yard. All in all, it was a great time. :)

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the gabbing ladies, Jeff was enjoying one of the most exciting moments of his life.

You see, at the end of a long throw at a disc golf course in Portland...

...was a hole labeled number 5...



...which went down in history as Jeff's first ever (and possibly only ever)...

...hole-in-one.

(Cue the angelic choir music.)


Naturally, the pictures can not capture the true insanity of such a perfect shot, but I included them anyway.

Here's the play by play: Jon and Jeff were at the hole 5 pad and Jon had just tutored Jeff on a new way to hold and throw the disc. Feeling uncomfortable with this new grip, Jeff went ahead and hucked the disc in the right direction, hoping it would snake past all the menacing trees between him and his goal. Suddenly, he heard off in the distance a strange noise. He had no idea what had just happened until Jon, with both arms extended high in victory, began to holler, "Hole in one! Hole in one!" A warm joyous feeling flooded Jeff's entire being. (Okay, so maybe that's a bit over the top, but still, it was a moment to remember.)

Jeff couldn't wipe the huge smile off his face when he returned to Jon's house and told us ladies about his accomplishment.

It was with a note of sadness that we said farewell to our Portlandian friends since we knew we'd be unlikely to see them again anytime soon. I'm sure that if we lived nearby we'd spend a lot of time together--the guys disc golfing and the girls talking. :)

...and that was Day 6.