Camping in a Hotel

This week resembled nothing that was written in my day planner. The entire country seems to be having one of those weeks. Someone said today they thought 2020 was over but this feels like a replay. I myself am feeling a lot fragmented and disjointed. This post may feel much the same.

No longer happy little tree

Here in my part of rain country, snow was minimal after the gigantic build up by the news. What was not minimal was the constant cracking of branches and trees loaded with ice coming to the ground! It was downright frightening when I heard all my butterfly bushes pull over the planter box they were in and hit the ground. We lost power at 3:00 a.m. and when the temp hit 58 inside, my daughter started packing to leave. She’s says she’s a delicate flower and cold hurts.

They covered my window nicely before

Will have to trim the butterfly bush way down and hope

We had to go into Portland to get a vacant hotel room till the power comes back on. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea. I whined like a 3-year-old once again at leaving my home. I did the same whine during the evacuation from the fire and smoke.

Could be in a horror movie

Trees here are covered in ice with many laying across the roads. We had no internet or phone service of any kind at my house so we couldn’t even start looking for a place until we got close to somewhere with power. Turns out the mall and all the restaurants were closed too so no lunch while we made calls. The only place that had a room for us was a downtown luxury hotel.  My daughter needed power to work so she made the call.

Icy tree leaning over my shed and neighbors house

It was a gorgeous hotel and had covered parking for the tiny fee of $10 a night for parking. That’s cheap in Portland. A little tricky to get there through the snow and icy roads but my beast with four-wheel drive went easily through. My fingerprints will remain in the door handles forever daughter drove with great skill. I brought a cold beer and had it with a Motrin after we got to our room.

Young pines stuck

 

We soon discovered this luxury hotel offered no in room refrigerator or microwave. It also offered no coffee, breakfast options, or nearby open restaurants. You do NOT camp out in a luxury hotel. We coped until the second morning when their power went out and we were on the 10^th floor. I panicked. When my c-pap shuts down suddenly, I feel like I’m suffocating.

Widower all alone. I’m sure the park will get to this one soon.

My daughter and I were packed up by 1:00 a.m. when she finally located another room close to the airport that had everything we needed. It is perfect for isolated camping. I had hot coffee this morning and we heated up frozen breakfast bowls. No parking fees and much less expensive.

Cleanup beginning up the street

They are talking 10 days to get the power on. I’m hoping they are just tired of all the calls and want us all to leave them to do their work.

Once the sun came out 2 days later

We are fortunate to be able to pay for the motel, probably for the next year. Many are braving their cold, powerless homes. We have food from our home with us while the rest will probably not survive. We are coping well.

“If you can’t laugh when things go bad–laugh and put on a little carnival–then you’re either dead or wishing you were.”
― Stephen King, Under the Dome

Have you found ways to handle the natural disasters in your life?

 

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself