So, my wife had to work yesterday morning, and rather than sit around the house with the kids, we decided to drop Mommy off and go on a road trip of our own in the minivan! We had about three hours to kill, so decided to head up to the mountains and see if we could find any snow, as the girls really wanted one last opportunity to play in some snow.
Easiest option was to head up Santiam pass to the Detroit Lake area, and see what we find. Easy drive, fun sight seeing, and the girls got to see Big Cliff Dam and Detroit Dam, and some waterfalls, and a bunch of dirty snow on the side of the highway, but some recent warmth in the valley was getting rid of most of the easily accessible snow.
We pulled into the little town of Detroit, which I kid you not mainly consists of this one road:
Thankfully, halfway down that road, there was an empty lot, with a building next to it tall enough that a big patch of snow hadn’t melted yet. I know, what a lame spot to have the kids play in snow, but you know what? They loved it.
After nearly fifteen minutes of them tromping around in it, ensuring shoes and socks were icy and wet, they begrudgingly got back in the van, mainly because Lexi had to use the potty. Boy, let me tell you, as a dad, by himself with four kids, this is one of those ‘is this going to be a crisis or easy’ type situations. Looking around where we were, I could see several porta-potties, the last option you want your three year old little girl stuck in.
We drove down to the other end of the store, where there was a fairly big market, and sure enough, advertised at the top, rest rooms available. Here comes the next conundrum. My boys, who you didn’t see playing in the snow because they were both asleep, were still asleep. Do I wake them, and bring them in with me while the girls use the potty? Because at three and five, my girls aren’t old enough yet for me to trust them to go into a store like that safely and use the potty by themselves.
Nope, here is where I became the compromise dad. I cracked the windows, locked the doors, and having parked directly in front of the door, walked inside, bought some Red Vines to be a legit customer (I am always honorable that way), and set about to finding my 90 degree spot just inside the store’s doors, where I could see both the van and boys, and also see my two girls waiting in line for the rest room. Thankfully they ARE old enough to use a potty by themselves. But let me tell you, even though it was a single use bathroom, and they were the only ones in there, the tension could be cut with a knife while I waited for them to come out.
Oh, and on top of all this, while I’m in my 90 degree stance, a nice, happy-go-lucky group of one percenters rolled up across the street at a local diner. Mongols, who I’m familiar enough with to know are good upstanding folks in general, but what rolls through my head? Are these good upstanding gentlemen going to be upset at seeing two young boys left in a car alone? So while I’m already worried about my girls, I’m now having visions of getting my keister kicked by a bunch of biker guys, who I almost couldn’t argue against doing what I envisioned them doing.
Thankfully the girls came out safe and happy (girls are always seeming to be happy after using the potty, it’s wonderfully strange), and I we were all back in the van before anyone was the wiser. Crises averted!
At this point, it was time to head back to pick up Mommy at her work, so we headed on back down the hill. I managed to get a bit of phone-video on the drive back of the nearly empty lake, and grabbed a couple of frames of said lake for everyone’s pleasure:
Apparently they do this every spring, but man, I don’t remember it being this bad when I was a kid. Hopefully it doesn’t eventually end up some sort of weird half-dry lake all the time in the future. I’m still hoping to take the family camping here someday, like I did a lot growing up. For reference, here’s what it looks like full:
Stay tuned for further adventures of the Hanson Family down the road!
