On Friday my sister, Mary, and I sneaked out of Dallas and flew to Portland, Oregon, to surprise our older sister, Carrie, who celebrates her fiftieth today. We went to dinner with Mom, Dad, and our bro, Dave, before heading over to Carrie’s in Vancouver, Washington. And you know what? Sometimes it’s flat-out fun to make someone cry.

From there we lied and told her we wanted to go to a high point in town before dusk to get a shot of Mt. Hood. So we all piled in the cars and drove to the top of the town, which happened to be where her husband was hosting a surprise party/square dance for her. We pulled into the parking lot, and I said, “I have a confession to make. I actually didn’t bring my camera.”

She gave me a funny look.

“And we didn’t really come here to take any pictures. So from here on out you just need to go with the flow.”

And she did. So there on the tennis courts of a university campus, we learned to alamand our corners and do-se-do with partners, friends, and relatives. It did not hurt that this all took place under clear, blue skies in seventy-eight-degree breezes.

Mary and I spent the night with the folks in Woodburn (45 minutes south) before returning to Vancouver on Saturday morning to kidnap Carrie. She knew only this: You need a swim suit, a change of clothing, and something nice to wear to dinner.

The three of us drove up the Columbia River Gorge on the Washington side and stopped on the way to our destination at the Bonneville Dam. It has fish ladders to help native salmon go around the dam as they journey upstream to spawn. As this was the season for salmon travel, we viewed a sizeable number of them through underwater windows. We also saw sturgeon the size of small submarines. Fascinating stuff.

From there we checked in at the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort. We had just enough time to change before catching the four-hour Mt. Hood Railroad Dinner Train. While eating, we passed through orchards of trees heavy with pears (when we were kids we always spent Carrie’s birthday picking pears) to our destination, where we could get great photos of Mt. Hood—which we actually shot this time. Sunset. Pink hues. "We're not in Texas anymore."

On the way back actors provided entertainment in the form of a dinner theater/mystery. All went well until the train stopped and the conductor announced we’d lost engine power. At first we thought it was part of the mystery. Guess again.

The actors stretched an hour-long show into two-hours, and the wait staff announced the beer was on the house. Now, the only thing worse than being stuck on a train for an extra two hours is being stuck on a train with 150 drunk people for two hours. We all agreed it was, at the least, memorable!

Yesterday we slept in and took a dip in the resort’s spring-fed pools. Not a cloud in the sky. Pointed trees. Fresh air. Splashes of color everywhere as the flowers were in full bloom. Great conversation. We thanked Carrie for having a birthday!

After much too short of a stay we headed back to the Portland airport. We left Carrie with her family and checked in only to learn that thunderstorms back in Dallas had … you guessed it … delayed our flight for an hour or two.

Moral I of the story: If you have to be stuck somewhere for a couple of hours, be stuck with a friend. And all the better if that friend happens to be one of those rare treasures you can call "sister."

Moral II of the story: When temps hit 105 in Texas, Go West!