Baby, it’s cold outside.

Last night, Alice and I spent several congenial hours in a nearby mountaintop tavern with new friends, whom we met through mutual comrades in New Hope, Pa. and Lambertville, NJ.  After the sun had set, we drove to a fashionable dive bar, known as the Skyline Tavern via Germantown Road, a winding, unlit mountain road with serious switchbacks and no guardrails.  Oh yes, we did this while the entire Portland area was under a high-wind warning.

Toward the end of our third round of glasses clinking – made more enjoyable by imbibing palate-pleasing, locally produced pinot noir wine – the lights went out.  An area-wide power failure seemed to be the cause, because we could not discern any lights emanating from nearby homes.  The bartender, who had filled our wine glasses to the very brim, began to close down the place.  Considering how gusty the cold wind outside had become, the Skyline Tavern’s ad-hoc host appeared to realize that the likelihood of electricity being restored anytime soon was nada.

We parted company with our newfound friends, and proceeded to go back down the mountain using Germantown Road.  After dodging numerous tree branches and negotiating severe turns, the Ford Escape’s headlights lit up a huge fir tree across the highway.  A tree had fallen, blocking any chance of getting through.  Another car on the opposite side managed a U-turn, so I thought it propitious to negotiate the same maneuver just short of a severe drop-off.

We drove back up to Skyline Drive, turning left along the aptly named road, following well-marked turns for four miles while skirting branches strewn along the way.  Fortunately, at this time, our journey along Northwest Portland’s Forest Park was passable to the junction with Cornelius Pass Road, which led us back to Hillsboro.

We count ourselves fortunate to have arrived home safe and sound, because the noontime newscast today warns that all detours in and around Skyline Drive are closed to traffic.  The weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow is not exactly encouraging, either.

Until 6 am tomorrow, winds will continue to blow 20-30 mph with occasional gusts to 50.  The weather service advises that once the wind subsides, with a low temperature of 26 anticipated, there is a 100 per cent chance of snow – 3 to 5 inches – that will transition to freezing rain.  An ice accumulation is expected to measure from a tenth to a quarter inch, and tomorrow’s high temperature should reach 33 – barely above freezing.

A winter storm watch has been posted, and while we await our winter coats, gloves, headgear and boots – all in the Pod hopefully arriving next week – we will stay bundled up inside our sparsely furnished apartment, hoping Millie will not go stir-crazy.

I can’t help wondering what other tricks Mother Nature has in store, now that we’re officially Oregonians.  Whoopie!