Our trip to Salem

We looked at the weather report on Thursday and saw that there was going to be significant snow in Oregon on Saturday, and decided it would be prudent to leave on Thursday instead of Friday, so we hustled and left Alpine at about 2p.m.  We normally avoid the Interstates and go through Arco, ID, but this time we decided to go Interstate from Idaho Falls to Boise, and we arrived in Boise by about  7:30p.m. The initial part of the trip from Alpine to Idaho Falls was beautiful -  a winter wonderland. But the road conditions were perfect.

Scene out the car window going to Idaho Falls

We had reserved a room at a Super 8 in Boise because Christian and Susan are having their house totally refurbished and are living in the loft and garage temporarily, and of course the loft is the usual guest room. Susan was visiting family in Ohio, but Christian was home and so we went by to see him before we went to the motel. He was in the garage, which is now a combination kitchen, living-room and workshop (!) where Christian is building kitchen cabinets. So we had a good visit there.

The Super 8 was older but actually quite nice, though the bed sagged toward the middle. But we slept ok, and got off to a pretty good start after a fairly decent motel breakfast. We had the advantage of going immediately into the Pacific Time Zone and gaining an hour. We took the northern Interstate route along the Columbia River, avoiding the mountains in the center of the state (our usual summer route), and since we hadn't taken this route for quite a few years, had some time, and the road was good, we pulled off and check out both Baker City and Pendleton. Baker City seemed to be thriving and is quite attractive. Pendleton is more of a mill town (e.g., Pendleton Woolen Mills are there), and is not as "pretty."

A mural of the Oregon Trail on the wall of a store in Baker City

After Pendleton we hit the highest altitude along the route and ran into snow flurries but the road conditions were fine.It turned into rain as we approached Portland, and we also hit rush-hour traffic and so it was night-time driving with rain and heavy traffic - not fun - but we made it to Salem by about 7p.m. We had texted Bonnie and Roger Hull and they suggested we stop at a Palestinian restaurant near their house, the Al-Aqsa Fine Middle-Eastern Restaurant, so we found it and got take-out for the four of us and took it it their house. It was delicious, it was wonderful seeing them again, and we had a lovely visit. We will go back there Sunday for a large gathering of folks who were connected to the Arbor Cafe almost 30 years ago when Ellen lived in Salem and worked alongside Bonnie at the Cafe.

I wondered what "al-Aqsa" meant, and discovered that it is the name of an important mosque in Jerusalem.

The al-Aqsa Mosaue in Jerusalem

From Wikipedia;  "Al-Aqsa Mosque, ("the Farthest Mosque"), located in the Old City of Jerusalem, is the third holiest site in Islam. The mosque was built on top of the Temple Mount, known as Haram esh-Sharif in Islam. Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in  Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey. Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the 17th month after his transition from Mecca to Medina, when Allah directed him to turn towards the Kabba in Mecca."

The restaurant has a lot of framed photos on the wall depicting scenes of importance to Palestinians. 

The Al-Aqsa Restaurant in Salem, OR

One of the photos - unknown scene (my Arabic is limited!)

A cup-holder at al-Aqsa

Another photo

After our visit with the Hulls. we came to J.E. Seibert's house where we spent the night. J. E. had just returned from a performance of the Oregon Symphony in Salem, where she had been an usher, and we had another good visit with her over tea (hot water for me), before retiring. 

This morning I listened to the UNC/Miami game on the computer (an exciting game which went into overtime, and the Heels won by 3 points). Ellen and J.E. have gone out to do some shopping.