The Hood River Escape

Laundry.

Organizing the hall closet.

Weeding between the cracks in the sidewalk that lead up to the house... wondering if salmon is on sale this week, and if it is, can I buy it at the sale price as a fillet or do I have to buy the whole damn fish?

These are the monotonous thoughts of weekend chores that fill my mind and rattle through my head most Saturday mornings. It usually takes getting out of town to escape a daunting/haunting, massive, self-inflicted To Do list.

A couple of weekends ago, I mentioned the Hubs was going to whisk me away. 

Well he did.

Being a "modern blended family" means that my three children are with their Dad some weekends, and it offers us the chance to indulge in romantic weekend escapes.  You don't have to travel far, the whole point is to set the time aside, and do something just a little out of the ordinary.   It's good for your sanity and great for a marriage.

We drove to Hood River, only one hour from our Portland bungalow in NE, but it was light years away from our ordinary weekend life.

We stayed at the most fabulous hotel, The Hood River Hotel, in downtown Hood River, right on Oak Street.  Our hotel room was bright and old fashioned, with softly glowing original oak wood floors and huge windows that let in the fresh air and light.  It was sparingly decorated with a simple and well equipped little kitchen, antique wardrobe, armoire, table and chairs, and a cool four poster bed with soft cotton sheets and a classic American Quilt.

When we slipped the key into the latch and walked in, I felt like we'd found a corner of Oregon, back in time,  that was all our own. 

The Hood River Hotel is locally owned, and in the very heart of downtown Hood River.  Our room looked out over the town's main street, but there are also rooms with terrific views of the Gorge and Columbia River.

The lobby is cool and relaxing, with dark wood trim and comfy antique furniture.  There's a huge beautiful fireplace where I could see myself curled up, in winter, enjoying a cup of coffee and a book.  The front desk offered great suggestions of places near by, within easy walking distance.  If we planned on visiting wineries, taking the Mt Hood Railroad or sipping cocktails and checking out local artwork, we wouldn't have far to venture. 

For me though, it was finally a time to write and relax.  With the siren call of chores at home silenced, I set up my laptop on the antique kitchen table in our quaint little apartment style hotel room and wrote.  My subtly amazing husband foraged for snacks, crackers, cheese and wine and we spent most of our stay cacooned in our room.

The little bar and restaurant adjacent to the lobby offers the most delectable cocktails and was featuring fresh Hood River strawberry margaritas.  For breakfast, we used our complimentary gift certificate for a decadent farm style breakfast.

 

I'm already looking at the calendar to plan our next visit.