I have the privilege this week of travelling around Oregon with my mom (aka Gracie), sister, and oldest niece. We’re visiting relatives and the towns where my mom grew up (Bend and Portland). It’s a ‘memory lane’ trip for my mom, and we get the benefit of hearing great stories of her childhood as each place jogs her memory.
Today we took a drive up the Columbia River Gorge with my cousins, stopping at the beautiful Multhomah Falls and then driving up to Crown Point to get a view of the river. This prompted her ‘story of the day””
“I remember coming here the day after World War II ended, ” she said. “The day after the Japanese surrendered, gasoline rationing ended. As soon as the news broke, my dad piled the family into the car, filled the tank up with gas (something we hadn’t been able to do for years) and we drove out to Crown Point and Multnomah Falls. Just because we could. ”
The scenery today was just as gorgeous as it would have been on that August day in 1945.
