Memoirs of a TrailBlazer

Salem,OR not Salem,TN

Around mid of October I planned for a trip to Oregon to meet one of my friend at Salem. Not many people travel to Oregon. But I found it a very scenic place...Oh let me start from the first...My flight to Portland, OR was at 6:55 PM. So I left from home at about 4:00 PM. I thought that 3hrs should be enough to go 30 miles, park the car and reach the airport on time. But it wasnt my day that day, there was too much traffic on 294 and the traffic was moving at an avereage speed of 15 miles. Due to this I reached the airport at 7:20 PM. Yes, I missed my flight. This was first time that I fell short...If you ask my friends they will tell you that I always make it on time...not before not late...I thought, some thing new lets see how it feels...so I went to the southwest airlines counter and told them about my problem, She searched for a long time and then after about 10 mins told me all the flight to portland are full and she told me that she will put me on give me a ticket but none of the flights will be a confirmed seat, so if someone does'nt come then I can board the flight in their place...I was praying that atleast my luck works out for this...So I asked her which place will be my stop over...for that she told "Your itenerary will be Midway(MDW)- Kansas City - Las Vegas - Portland." I was like "Can you repeat again?"...I never thought there would be so many stopover to travel with in US. I felt I was some Airport authority inspecting some airports. But I had no other option, so I took it up...By this itenerary I will be reaching Portland at 11 AM the next day. I thought I will still have almost 2 days.
So I waited till 9:30 PM and I was lucky to board the flight...I used to go and ask the person at the gate if I can board every 5 mins...She got fed up and told me that she will call me when I can board the flight...saying that she looked at my name and looked confused :-)...She was like "Your name is so long, I cant call this name, so you stand here only"...I thot to myself "That's what I was doing, I know how easy my name is."...Later board the flight to Kansas City....
Reached Kansas City at just about 12 midnight...I searched for a suitable seat and made myself comfortable there as my next flight was at 7AM only. There were a few people who were seated there...so I thot that there were many people like me who were gonna spend their rest of the night at the airport...But as time went all those people who were seated there moved away and finally I was the only guy there...I did'nt even find any security person in that airport after 2 AM. I found that I was the only guy in the airport when I went around the airport...I was like "What a sick airport, even the airport in India will have some one at this time..." You might think why on earth was I roaming and not sleeping...Well I tried my hand on that too but the chairs were too small for me to fit in...Any way I tried my head was hanging out...I was chiding myself "Why on earth am I so tall"...Later when it was about 4:30 AM...One person came and sat in the same area where I was sitting...later he got bored and he came next to me and started talking...so time went bit easily for some time...later as soon as a shop opened I grabbed a coffee and a muffin as I was developing a headache due to lack of sleep...Soon it became 6:30 and the Southwest airlines counter opened and I was gived ticket for my Kansas City - Las Vegas and Las Vegas - Portland as both the flights had lots of free seats...I was very much releaved and boarded my next flight to Las Vegas. At some time in between during the flight to Las Vegas, the aeroplane flew over Grand Canyon...It was an amazing site at the time with the sun rising on one side...The Grand Canyon was a real treat to my eyes...I was happy that I missed my flight at Midway, had I not missed I would not have got this amazing view...I reached Las Vegas and out of the gate and I saw a lot of slot machines...true to its name...I had a quick munch and was all set for the next leg...I boarded the flight to Portland.
I reached Portland atlast at 11AM as scheduled (or rescheduled)...My friend P and Mrs.P had come to pick me at the airport...Once I got to their SUV I came to know that we were heading straight to a place called Mt.St.Helen inorder to catch up on our actual plan...So I had some home made delicious dosa's for breakfast in the car itself...it was long drive and inbetween we had a stop for lunch...again some delicious home made food...After the break we started immediately towards Mt. St.Helen. On th way we some scenic misty places after about a total drive of about 4.5 hrs we reached the view point form where we can see a active valcano called Mt St. Helen. It is told that this Volcano throws ashes once in a while to show that she is alive. But my misfortune continued on the next day too...We could hardly see any thing past 10 meters. So we could not see anything other than beautiful white mist, nothing more than...We were the only people in that place...Later we started back to Salem without getting dejected...It was a hard drive for P as the roads were covered by mist and we could not see anything...the roads had a lot of hair pin bends with no fence on the turnings...Finally we reached home by 11 PM that day...soon we went to sleep, as we had a long drive even the next day...
Gathering all the zeal we packed our bags and food to a place in the South of Oregon called Crater Lake...This was another 5 hours drive which had some scenic roads on the way...the roads were all the more beautiful as the leaves have turned different shades of yellow, orange, red for Fall. On the way to crater lake I got to see the first snow clad mountain in my life...I was so excited to see it...I didnt want to take my eyes off that mountain...but we had to...
We reached Crater Lake around 3 PM in the afternoon...I got to see, touch and feel my first snow...I felt thrilled...now only thing remaining is seeing the snow fall...which I can see during winter...as if seeing the snow was not enough we walked a few steps and was totally amazed a very scenic place, The Crater Lake...it was a marvellous site...can never forget that...Take a look at it for yourself...

After flatened by some the mind blowing landscapes...we returned home thinking today was great day which compensentated for the previous day...By the time we reached home it was late.
The next day early morning I caught my flight back to Chicago with no adventures this time, bringing the official end to this trip.

Posted by KK on Saturday, October 29, 2005 at 11:50 PM | Permalink