Gofirstclass
Well-Known Member
Every year for the past few years my Galley Wench and I have donated a dinner cruise to local charities for them to auction off. The cruise includes 4 hours on the boat, a five or six course gourmet meal she prepares, three bottles of wine, and a great experience. The cruises run from 5:00 to ~9:00 and are designed for four people. The first one went for $250 at an auction, the most recent sold for $1,450. All of that money goes to whatever charity we donated the cruise to.
A couple of months ago GW and I did one that was donated to Junior Achievement and we had three guests on board rather than the usual four. The man who bought the cruise (Don) lives near Portland and, during the cruise, suggested we bring the boat down to Portland for the Blues Festival. He said he's one of the organizers for the festival and he'd arrange for VIP Moorage for the boat and backstage passes for GW and me. We kind of blew it off as a nice gesture but didn't really expect much to come of the offer. Before he left the boat that night he reiterated his offer and gave us his phone number.
The next day we googled the concert and him and it turns out he's for real. We checked the calendar and found one hiccup--GW is going to be in Seattle next weekend for her daughter's bachelorette party.
There's a couple in the yacht club who have a condo in downtown Portland so we asked them about the concert at one of the club's Friday BBQ's. She raved about it and said she's been a volunteer worker in years past and was going to do it again this year so she could attend the festival. She said they would be going down to PDX the Monday of concert week.
I suggested an idea where he (Bill) would help us get the boat to PDX and GW could ride to PDX with her. They loved the idea and agreed to do it. There was another couple at the table with us that I'd helped buy their current boat. He (Rob) looked at me and said he'd like to go along, so we had a third crew member. I later remembered another friend from the club that I'd helped bring his boat back from PDX earlier in the year. I called him (Jack) and he also said he was "on board" for the trip. So now we had a fourth.
Funny how things like that work out and our circle of friends keeps expanding.
I don't have all the particulars set down on paper yet, but we'll be here next week with the boat....
and we'll be docked here at Riverplace Marina on the Wilammette River in downtown PDX.....
Bill and his wife will be there all week at the concert so I called Don, the concert promoter and told him I had a crew, but that we needed two more backstage passes for them because he was helping me get the boat to PDX and they'd be there all week. The other two, Jack and Rob, are going to take the train back from PDX to home on Monday.
So the four of us are going to leave around 6:30 Saturday morning for Portland. We'll have a ~4kt current pushing us so we'll make good time. I expect to make it to The Dalles, OR by Saturday night. That will take us 138 miles down river and through three of the four dams we need to pass through.
Sunday we'll continue the rest of the way into PDX (89 miles) and through the last dam. We'll stop at Columbia River Yacht Club for the night then go up the Wilammette River to the marina the next morning. I've been on the phone several times with a guy from the marina and he has reserved and end tie for us and said to call him when we're headed up the Wilammette.
We'll be gone from Saturday morning (6/30)and probably will get back to the slip on Wednesday, 7/11. Now GW and I have to go grocery shopping and make sure we have everything we need (clothing, etc.) on the boat to make the trip.
Funny how, when you do something nice for someone like donating the dinner cruise to Junior Achievement, good things come your way. It all counts toward building Good Karma.
A couple of months ago GW and I did one that was donated to Junior Achievement and we had three guests on board rather than the usual four. The man who bought the cruise (Don) lives near Portland and, during the cruise, suggested we bring the boat down to Portland for the Blues Festival. He said he's one of the organizers for the festival and he'd arrange for VIP Moorage for the boat and backstage passes for GW and me. We kind of blew it off as a nice gesture but didn't really expect much to come of the offer. Before he left the boat that night he reiterated his offer and gave us his phone number.
The next day we googled the concert and him and it turns out he's for real. We checked the calendar and found one hiccup--GW is going to be in Seattle next weekend for her daughter's bachelorette party.
There's a couple in the yacht club who have a condo in downtown Portland so we asked them about the concert at one of the club's Friday BBQ's. She raved about it and said she's been a volunteer worker in years past and was going to do it again this year so she could attend the festival. She said they would be going down to PDX the Monday of concert week.
I suggested an idea where he (Bill) would help us get the boat to PDX and GW could ride to PDX with her. They loved the idea and agreed to do it. There was another couple at the table with us that I'd helped buy their current boat. He (Rob) looked at me and said he'd like to go along, so we had a third crew member. I later remembered another friend from the club that I'd helped bring his boat back from PDX earlier in the year. I called him (Jack) and he also said he was "on board" for the trip. So now we had a fourth.
Funny how things like that work out and our circle of friends keeps expanding.
I don't have all the particulars set down on paper yet, but we'll be here next week with the boat....
and we'll be docked here at Riverplace Marina on the Wilammette River in downtown PDX.....
Bill and his wife will be there all week at the concert so I called Don, the concert promoter and told him I had a crew, but that we needed two more backstage passes for them because he was helping me get the boat to PDX and they'd be there all week. The other two, Jack and Rob, are going to take the train back from PDX to home on Monday.
So the four of us are going to leave around 6:30 Saturday morning for Portland. We'll have a ~4kt current pushing us so we'll make good time. I expect to make it to The Dalles, OR by Saturday night. That will take us 138 miles down river and through three of the four dams we need to pass through.
Sunday we'll continue the rest of the way into PDX (89 miles) and through the last dam. We'll stop at Columbia River Yacht Club for the night then go up the Wilammette River to the marina the next morning. I've been on the phone several times with a guy from the marina and he has reserved and end tie for us and said to call him when we're headed up the Wilammette.
We'll be gone from Saturday morning (6/30)and probably will get back to the slip on Wednesday, 7/11. Now GW and I have to go grocery shopping and make sure we have everything we need (clothing, etc.) on the boat to make the trip.
Funny how, when you do something nice for someone like donating the dinner cruise to Junior Achievement, good things come your way. It all counts toward building Good Karma.
