Cold and Windy Adventure

Last Friday I had to take our van in for some routine servicing, and I had several hours to kill before we could get it back. I thought instead of just waiting for hours in the waiting room (have done that before too), I'd take the kids on the bus and go to the library. So we crossed the street and stood waiting for the bus for about 15 minutes. It seemed like an eternity though. It was about 30 degrees outside and the wind was galing, bringing the wind chill temps down to the teens or lower. I told myself that it would be fine once we got to the library because we could just browse for hours, read books, and eat our lunch that we brought with us.

At last the bus arrived, and I paid my $1.95 fare for the very short ride up the street to our stop. The ride wasn't nearly long enough to warm us up, but off we went to walk three blocks to the library. It was incredibly cold, and I was glad Abby had mittens on. Ryan didn't have mittens, but his coat was long enough to cover his hands. Mine, though, were freezing! As we walked to the library, I had this horrid thought that maybe the library wouldn't be open. They have changed hours after the last election, blaming budget cuts for their shorter hours. Sure enough as we rounded the corner to the front door, I saw that they wouldn't be open until 1:00! It was now 10:30.

We walked two blocks back to a different bus stop we had passed, and we huddled in the shelter while I decided what to do. The busses on this route go to the transit center where we can catch the Max line (Portland's light rail). Since the kids love riding the Max, I decided to catch another bus to the transit center which isn't very far away. We waited about 10 minutes for the next bus, VERY grateful for the shelter this bus stop had.

We got on the bus for another short ride, and as we exited the bus I was hurrying the children along because the Max was at the stop and we could catch it if we hurried...or so I thought. As we got closer I realized that instead of the usual "Gresham" sign, it said "Not in Service." Ugh. Because of the high winds, a substation had lost power and they were bussing people downtown. We were freezing cold so I just hopped on the shuttle bus headed for downtown. It took me about five minutes to soothe Abigail and get her to stop crying because she was so disappointed that we didn't get on the Max.

The kids enjoyed looking out the window though, and while they looked I decided to call Eddie and see if he was available for lunch. We ended up catching the Max line downtown and meeting him for an impromptu lunch at the mall food court. It was nice to see him during the day, and the kids were having a swell time. After Daddy left to go back to work, we walked the cold, windy three blocks back to the Max. Actually we ran the last block so we wouldn't miss the train. Made it just in time!

They still hadn't gotten the train up and running, so we caught another bus downtown and then transferred once again at the transit center to the bus that took us back to the Kia dealership. Whew! I was never so happy to get into my gas-guzzling minivan and crank up the heat in all my life! Public transportation is great if you have no other way to get places, but I'll take my own vehicle over it any day, especially cold and windy days.