We are on the road again, or rather headed into the air again. On Tuesday morning, June 23, 2026, we were up and awake by 5:30 (or 6:30 for some) to double check our luggage and await the arrival of Darcy to ferry us to Eppley Airfield for the beginning of another adventure. She arrived mostly on time by 9:15 and we were loaded and on our way. At Eppley, we met our traveling partners, Ann and Don Hosford for a Southwest flight to Denver.
As the College World Series had ended on the day before, giving Oklahoma a well earned win over North Carolina in the third and final match, the airport was teeming with fans. We were hard pressed to find seats in the waiting area. After a very full flight left for Denver, the crowd thinned and our 11:00 AM flight departed about 30 minutes behind schedule. Smooth flying on a full flight and an almost clear day.
We arrived in Denver, and learned that our connecting flight to Portland was delayed for an hour. Just enough time to stop and grab a sandwich for lunch: a pair of ham and butter on baguettes, a BLT on whole wheat, and a berry and yogurt purée for the healthy amongst us. The Denver to Portland leg likewise was a totally full flight. We had forgotten what it is like to travel in the summer vacation time. Lots of children and then, upon landing in Portland, the line of wheelchairs waiting in the jetway was jarring. We counted seven waiting wheelchair.attendants and two more at the top of the jetway. Uneventful flights with some napping involved.
In Portland, we secured our rental chariot, a 2026 Toyota RAV 4, a three year earlier version of what Deb drives in Omaha. Don is the designated driver for the trip, so we plugged Deb’s iPhone into the dash and plotted directions to our first destination - Powell’s Books. For bibliophiles, this is a west coast Mecca, similar to Strand Bookstore in NYC. Three floors covering a half block stretch of downtown Portland. We spent nearly an hour here, wandering the aisles, refraining from impulse buying, mostly. Deb and Mark managed to walk out with only four or five tomes, Don refrained, as he still has a huge credit at The Bookworm in Omaha to clear, and Ann just didn’t find anything worth lugging home.
Following Powells, we plotted a course to McMinnville towards the Oregon Hotel, our dinner destination. We arrived around 7:30, found a nice table for four in this renovated and quirky hotel built in 1905. The pub food was basic and tasty, a pair of Wedge Salads topped with steak points, a well appointed cheeseburger with fries, and a house soup and side of Cole slaw. We departed McMinnville fully sated, and pointed our chariot toward Lincoln City, Oregon, along the coast. We arrived in Lincoln City and then 5 miles along the highway to our final destination, an amazing home overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the Salashan subdivision.
We disembarked from the vehicle in the dark; we were immediately immersed in the sound of the ocean, the odor of the sea and the saltwater air on our skin. We stumbled in, finding our assigned bedrooms, crawled into warm beds and were out like proverbial lights. 11:30 PM Pacific Daylight Time, or 1:30 AM body time. A long day but not arduous, although we did put in some walking miles at the airports. So starts our weeklong vacation (can you vacation when you are retired?)
