March 19, 2005

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  It was dark when I finally got on the road.  My youngest opted to stay at home with the dogs for the first night. My brother lives around the corner so he said he’d drive by and note how many cars were in the driveway.  I wish she had come with me.   I was nervous about driving to a new place in the dark, especially when it was mountainous.  My car is doing this funny thing with the idle.  When I first get in and go down the street, to the stop sign, the car lurches forward, like someone’s adjusted the idle too fast.

  
  

  I’d been up this road when I went camping with Wally, and the car seemed fine, but it had started to rain hard so if there were going to be walking involved I would get wet. My car’s never broken down before but then again it’s never done this weird idle thing either.  What if the idle is loose and the car thinks it’s set to 50?  I wish I knew more about cars so I wouldn’t make up all this shit.

  
  

  There didn’t seem to be anybody else on the road that time of night.  It was the first night of spring break though.  Maybe everyone went to the coast.  I’d heard they’d had to close, up at Mt. Hood, because of the warm weather.

  
  

  It was only supposed to take an hour to get there.  I wound my way further up and finally saw the sign.  Turning right I followed my directions into a heavily wooded forest.  I could see lights at the end of the road and as I got closer there were spotlights on what looked like beautifully landscaped grounds.  There were maybe nine buildings but I followed my directions to the office.  It seemed very modern for being up here.  I guess I had expected something more in keeping with Timberline Lodge, more rustic.  She gave me two keys and I went to find 24C.  I was pleased to see it was the last building, closest to the woods.

  
  

  I always love this part the best:  the anticipation.  When I went upstairs to the third floor I found  I was on the end.  This would be totally private.  Behind the handsome door I found something out of the early ’60s.  There was a sunken living room with a slate fireplace that took up most of the wall.  I turned away from the fireplace to  floor-to-ceiling windows that went the length of the room.  There was a slider out to the deck.  I must have a great view but it was too dark to see.  Lots of glass here, even the coffee table was glass.  It would have been too cold for me what with the slate entrance and the marble countertops except that they’d laid a wonderfully colorful, geometric carpet throughout and against the dark wood it felt warm.  The lighting was good, too.  I’m big on lighting.  I turned on the pottery with shades, casting a warm glow across the room

  
  

  The kitchen was kind of like my new house.  There was a big island which surprised me but I guess because it was a two-bedroom, which could sleep up to six, they provided a full-sized kitchen.  It looked like they’d redone it recently.  I’d brought lots of groceries, too cheap to eat out.  Plus I’m trying to lose weight.

  
  

  Before I went back to the car for the groceries and luggage I wanted to see the bedrooms and baths.  I took the king for myself.  One long mirror sat above the bank of mahogany dresser.  I peeked around the corner, behind the closet.  The bathroom was almost as big as the bedroom with one of those fancy tubs and lots of jets.  I hadn’t had a bath since I’d moved so I was tempted to jump right in.  The bedroom curtains were ugly but other than that I loved the room.  Again, lots of glass and dark wood with a beautiful comforter and pillows in burnt oranges and rustic reds.  The carpet was predominantly purple and just standing in all the color was making me want to have wild sex.  Maybe I could write a good sex scene.

  
  

  I went to see the other bedroom and it was nice but boring.  There was a chance my brother and his girlfriend might come up so that would be their room.  I was beginning to think my daughter wasn’t coming up at all.  I went back down to the car to get everything, already enjoying having no dogs.  It was going to be a lovely week.

  
  

   

  
  

  I’m at the library in Sandy and I have 25 minutes.  I wrote the above while I was still in town. What happened was that my youngest decided she didn’t want to go so I was stuck in town over the weekend.  I decided, as a practice exercise, to write about the place as I imagined it would be.  My fiction class had turned out to be more about working on pieces that I’d already begun; things that really happened.  And my teacher said this was fine, but I thought this fantasy condo would be a good chance to see if I could totally fabricate a setting.  And believe me, I wish I were there instead of where I’m really staying.  I didn’t know there would be a library here so I didn’t bring my notebook.  But I have been writing about the real place and what’s been going on.  I ended up driving up here on Saturday afternoon because I couldn’t stand it any longer.  So I have lots to tell you.  But right now I will go read all of you.

  
  

   

  • 12:42 pm
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