Happy Birthday Charles!

Traffic Jam

Courtney, Cameron, Wyatt, Genevieve, Danika, Garrett and I  headed out to surprise Charlie at Job Corps for his birthday.

Unfortunately we were surprised as President Obama was at the Convention Center and the freeways between Lloyd Center and the airport were already closed when we tried to get out of town. We were not alone on the surface streets that moved at a snail's pace. We finally got onto 205 southbound and I felt sorry for those in the miles of stopped traffic northbound.

Harlan even had a hard time getting home by bike because he couldn't get across the gridlocked roads!

Much less stressful drive

 I've been along Hwy 224 as far as the Barton Store which is less than 12 miles east of the 205 freeway. Estacada,  which is the official address of the Job Corps facility is another 8.5 miles past Barton. The Job Corps facility is 24 miles past Estacada.
It was a beautiful day for a drive though.  I wish someone else had been driving at times, or that there were places to pull off to take pictures of the white water of the Clackamas River along the way. I guess we'll have to make the trip up there again one of these days.

Surprise! Happy Birthday!!!

Charlie was surprised and was happy that we came out to see him. 

Courtney was happy that she finally got to see the area where he has spent all these months training.   

 I had to take a picture of the birthday well wishers. 

It was a long trip but they were all pretty good travelers.

What a gorgeous place

We got to only go into the visitor's center which is mainly a place to get info and have someone call for the student you're there to see. The above picture is from the job corp website. The building is so much prettier when you see it in its surroundings. There are a lot of beautiful buildings. It reminded me of a very remote college campus.

I don't know the history of the Center but presume that it was established during the depression along with other CCC camps. We slowed down on the way out and took a couple pictures of Timber Lake itself. 

So so lovely!

A stop for a very late supper

Taco Bell was a welcome sight as we finally stopped to get something to eat. It was already after 8 p.m.! The kids were remarkably mellow in spite  of the time.  Though Courtney and I realized that everyone seemed a bit more upbeat on the final leg of our trip. 

It was well past bedtime when we finally got home. What should have been a 3 hour trip ended up being 6! But it was worth it in many ways.

So, Happy 22nd Birthday Charlie!

Hope it was as memorable for you as it was for us!