Category: Wedding

Time for another update on the Andees wedding. Today we are especially proud to report that your intrepid reporter has looked up the correct spelling of reconnaissance–ridiculous as that spelling may be. In other news, we have an update on accommodations and some suggestions for out of town guests who might have time to visit some nearby attractions. 

First off, Cabin Czar Eve Chambers tells us that a dozen or so bookings have already been made to stay in the bunkhouses. There is plenty of room left, so if you’d like a free place to stay that is within a few hundred feet of the main venue, just follow the survey monkey link on the wedding website. The bunks have mattresses, but guests will need to bring bedding. If you are traveling from afar, Eve reports that there will be some sleeping bags available for loan.

The Andees have also reserved a discounted bloc of rooms at the Comfort Inn Columbia Gorge Gateway in Troutdale and we know that several guests have already made reservations there. How do we know this? Heh-heh-heh. Has Comfort Inn integrated the Andees wedding into their recent marketing efforts? Did we buy the information from a Ukrainian hacker who gave us a big discount because we didn’t ask for the credit card numbers? Or did Eve get it from chatting with the reservations clerk? It was one of those.

We know that the hotel is nice because we tried it last weekend. In the afternoons they offer free cookies and soup. The room was very comfortable and the free breakfast was quite all right. We did not sample the biscuits and gravy, but if we had needed some, we noticed that there was enough gravy in that crockpot to have kept us plump and alive for the majority of our remaining years. Another point in the hotel’s favor is that there is a Dairy Queen RIGHT NEXT DOOR. It was only in the interest of research for this bulletin that we had to try it. We can recommend that place also, but watch out for those drips and globs of chocolate sauce that might somehow end up on your shirtfront. We also looked at the dining options in Troutdale. We tried Italian food at Ristorante di Pompello. Good honest food, but nothing to write home about. For the more adventurous, try Tad’s Chicken and Dumplings or Sally’s Tippycanoe, both located just southeast of Troutdale on the old Columbia Gorge highway.

Speaking of which, one of the fine sights in the Gorge is Multnomah Falls, which is easily accessible from Troutdale. To get there, we took the old Gorge Highway leading east out of town. After about five miles, we saw (and ignored) the sign for Camp Angelos and continued along the historic highway. We had to take care as the road is narrow and the day was foggy. At Crown Point the view was glorious, especially if you like really dense fog that blanks out everything farther than twenty yards away. Wow. But no one ever said that reconnaissance was easy, so we pressed on. As we descended the fog lessened and the road took us past several waterfalls. All are worth a look, but Multnomah is the perhaps the grandest.

For visitors with a car, here’s a suggested loop that will give a taste of both the old US 30 through the forest and the newer I-84 along the river. Start by going east through Troutdale on the Old Columbia Gorge Highway. Follow the signs for Crown Point and Multnomah Falls. The old road is lovely, but it’s not fast; allow 25 to 30 minutes of drive time. At the end of March all the waterfalls should be at full flow. When you get to Multnomah Falls, you may or may not be able to find a parking place in the original visitor area, which is rather small. If you can’t find a place there, fear not! Just pass by the falls and continue eastward for three more miles. At that point you’ll be able to get onto I-84 going back to the west. Zoom back three miles and then take the exit for the new Multnomah Falls parking area, which is much larger. Note that this is a LEFT exit. The falls are just a short walk away. Returning to Troutdale via I-84 will take less time than the trip out, about fifteen minutes at normal speeds or just seven and a half minutes if your ride will do a hundred and forty and you don’t get arrested.

We interrupt these literary musings to report on events from real life. Last weekend saw major developments in regard to the proposed union of Andrea and Andy–who already self-identify as The Andees. On Friday there was visit to McMenamins Edgefield, a possible venue for the rehearsal dinner. Accompanying the Andees were Andrea’s mother and your faithful reporter. The McMenamins representative at the meeting was a very upbeat sort who made a great fuss about the engagement ring, heartily approved of the wedding venue, and said that Eve and Michael were “so cute.” The Andees decided to take the room. How could they not? The date is reserved, but the menu has not been finalized. 

On Saturday morning the same group made a visit to Camp Angelos, where the wedding will take place. Camp Angelos is a wooded seventy-five acre site east of Portland on the Sandy River near the mouth of the Columbia Gorge. It was a lovely morning for a tour. First we were briefed by Mary Jo, who knows everything there is to know about weddings at the Camp, and who is, of course, on the verge of retirement. Next we were turned loose to wander about the property, where we checked out the lodge, the cabins, the riverside barbecue area, and of course the somewhat isolated “Fisherman’s Cottage.”

Since the wedding is scheduled for the often rainy month of March, the ceremony is set to take place indoors in the main lodge.

The venue also includes a dozen or so cabins.

The cabins feature many amenities. In addition to four walls, each one also includes doors, windows and a roof. For those guests wussy enough to want them, there are also bunk beds and a wall-mounted heater. We also toured the nearby bathrooms, showers, and a large breakfast room. All are quite satisfactory, spacious and well-appointed. The entire camp will be reserved, so no non-wedding guests will be staying.

Will there be food? There will. Dinner will be in the main lodge. We have obtained a sneak preview of the tableware. Your basic camping wedding service. It is not clear whether an iphone will be included with every place setting. Probably not. Nor will the linen colors be necessarily blue. But plans do call for a large and rainproof bar area on the back terrace of the lodge, so who cares about linens?

Enough about venues. What about the important things–the clothes? Well, we have to report a setback in the tuxedo area. Andy had a fitting appointment set for Saturday afternoon, but he and his crew were called back to work just before noon, not too surprising given the bad fire season this year. As for the mother of the bride, Eve also had a Saturday appointment, this one at Anna’s Bridal Boutique, located in the heart of the ultra-posh town of Lake Oswego. Andrea had already picked out her bridal gown at Anna’s, and she knew that Anna also carried a nice line of mother-of-the-bride dresses. No dress photography is allowed at Anna’s, so as to prevent unauthorized copying of exclusive designs, but here’s a detail peek at the dress that Eve selected.

And what’s that other photo? Well, duh, those are things to put on your high heels to prevent the back of your shoes from sinking down as you walk across a soft surface such as grass. I never knew about them before. They come in two sizes: one for normally narrow heels and one for really narrow spikes.  Also available at Anna’s are veil weights, a set of magnetic disks that attach to the edges of the veil and prevent it from flapping around when a breeze comes up. ‘Course if it was to get really windy, seems like you’d be better off without a bunch of little magnets flying around. Anyway, I never knew about veil weights either. So much to learn.

And finally, capping off our visit to the big city, Andrea took us to a food truck place in the industrial wilds of north Gresham, just a block from the river and approximately two hundred light years away from Lake Oswego. There were three trucks–burgers, Mexican and Hawaiian–parked next to a beer hall with a big covered outdoor dining area. Yum. There were twelve brews on tap. I tried #6, an IPA called F**k Jeff Sessions that was claimed to contain a bit of CBD. It wasn’t bad.