On My Way Home From Portland

From time to time, at least annually, my company convenes a Wolf Den Meeting. The Cronin Company, for whom I work, has adopted the wolf for its sales team mascot. So what this was was a company sales meeting. I flew to Portland on Thursday February 19th leaving at 7am and arriving at 2pm. Have you ever see an airplane de-iced? I seated was in the perfect spot. A winter flight always takes off much later than scheduled because of the snow and ice on the wings, engines and fuselage that needs removed; essential for successful flight. This happens after the plane is pushed back from the terminal. Here are two pics and a video of the early morning de-icing. On the first you can see the ice and snow on the wing and engine.

I had breakfast on the flight which wasn't bad at all.

I spent the rest of the day in our offices on Swan Island. The next day, Friday, began at 7:30am and finished around 4pm.

I had arranged to fly home Saturday evening so as to spend some time with Dad. A friend dropped me off at Dad's house in Vancouver, after getting a bit lost. We had a wonderful visit at home until about 8pm. We then went to Olive Garden for dinner. I really like Olive Garden. There isn't one in Anchorage, yet. I believe one is in the planning stages for north Anchorage next year. I love the endless salad and bread sticks. Oh.... I really like the bread sticks! I took a couple of pictures of me and Dad with me holding the camera at arms length but they were horrible! I've never seen such a flabby face as was on the younger of the two. Those were, umm, deleted. A nice server offered to take our picture.
We eventually made it home and got some sleep. Saturday morning I got up about 9am and around 10 decided to go out to the back yard for a bit. It was a beautiful crisp, sunny day. Dad came out soon after and we stayed out there talking and looking for about an hour. Dad has some squirrels that like him to feed them.

IHOP was our first stop of the day. They had all you can eat pancakes you know. We were there a long time and had some heart to heart. Dad then took me up to the Multnomah Falls which I had never visited, even when Julie & I lived here in the early 80's. We stopped at a small cafe shop for some very large ice cream cones.
Then we crossed the Bridge of the Gods to the other side of the Columbia River.
Soon we arrived at the falls. Horsetail Falls and Multnomah Falls.

Multnomah upper part of the falls.

Multnomah lower part of the falls.

The wind had picked up quite a bit so by the time we got to Crown Pointe there was a gale goin' on. We didn't get out of the car even. The wind was rocking the car so bad it seemed to be not far from actually lifting the car off of the ground!
We returned to Vancouver with about a half hour to wait. Then Dad took me to the airport in Portland for my 9pm flight home. It was a very enjoyable visit. Thanks Dad.