Look, we think the boys in our kitchen dish up a pretty fine breakfast here at the Hood River Hotel.
But we — that is, the people who work here — would not drive spend two hours, and drive 147 miles, to eat here. None of us. It just doesn’t make sense. Who would even think of such a thing? Or actually do it?
Well, Mystie Haynie, for one. On May 29 of this year (2012), she woke up in Pendleton, Ore., famous for its wheat fields and rodeo and situated that precise distance away from Hood River.
Then she went and picked up her Mom, and headed west toward a medical appointment in Portland — and breakfast in Hood River.
“I wanted to do something special for her and had planned it several days before we left,” she says.
“Not to turn this real sad, but Mom was diagnosed with cancer and we were on the way for her first consult in Portland. I felt that your restaurant was the perfect place to be that morning. Just her and I.”
Haynie, a mental health nurse and mother of three who lives on the Umatilla Indian Reservation just east of Pendleton, says she and her husband have stayed at the Hood River Hotel twice.
“We enjoyed the atmosphere and friendly staff,” she says. “We stayed once for our anniversery and once before a rafting trip on the White Salmon. The desk clerk was so gracious about getting us a last-minute room at 9:30 p.m. May 12.”
Haynie says she’s “hooked on the Hood River area. I love the greenery, the artistic atmosphere and friendly people.”
She says she and her Mom had a great breakfast.
“Please thank your waitresses, cooks and everyone involved that made that possible,” Haynie says. “It was perfect. The coffee was hot, fresh and always full. The food was excellent! The ambience was exactly what we needed. No rush, no hurry. Time seemed to slow down.”
Time. We can’t make it last. But we do try to make it better. Glad you enjoyed your visit, Mystie. Here’s hoping we can host you and your Mom on her birthday, for many years to come.
