Late Friday afternoon I checked out pizza places where we could get takeout so that we wouldn’t have to eat inside. I found this one, Lexi’s Pizza, in Kelso. It got great Yelp reviews, so off we went, again leaving the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door to our room.

Although it’s in Kelso, we had to cross the Columbia River to get there, and despite the smoke, it was really a pretty drive.  The place was really busy, but our pizza was ready and service was friendly and easy. It’d be a great place to eat inside, too. We got ours with red sauce instead of ranch sauce. So nani da crust!

California Veggie
Ranch sauce, spinach, mushroom, onion, bell pepper, artichoke, tomato, sun-dried tomato, and shaved parmesan

We took photos on our way back; I mean, Nolemana took them as I drove. You can see how smoky it was, too. This is the Westside Highway.

We could barely see the railroad trestle from where we were. It would’ve been cool to see a train on it.

This is the entrance to the trestle.

Obligatory train photo.

This is the bridge we crossed to get back over the river.

I’ve seen these signs before when we’ve been in Washington, and of course, always think the bank is fiber-related. But I betcha it’s not. Maybe it’s even pronounced “Feebray” or something. LOL. It made me think of all the fiber festivals that had to be cancelled this year, making it so hard on the usual vendors, who now need to earn a living online.

Our pizza was ʻono to da max!! We got the Duluxe California vegetarian and had enough left to put in the small motel fridge to take home with us the next day.

I put on the news and saw this amazing view from NOAA.  The whole west coast was on fire. What an amazing and troubling view.

I decided not to use the wi-fi at the motel because the warning on my laptop was pretty insistent that the wi-fi was not safe. So I did everything on my phone instead, turning off wi-fi. . That was frustrating sometimes, but I’d much rather be safe from hacking and prying eyes.

Noelani and Keola were still pretty much hiding, but Kalakoa was as relaxed as could be. I’d thought she would have the hardest time with everything, but nope. She acted like evacuation were the most normal thing in the world.

All the time we were safe in our motel room I kept thinking of the incredibly brave firefighters and first responders out there in the midst of the fire and smoke, doing their very best to contain the fire, risking their lives to save what they could, and going into places where most of us wouldn’t want to go. I prayed for their safety, and for the safety of those who’d decided to stay in their homes and fight the fires themselves.

I don’t even remember what time we finally went to bed, but what I do remember is Noelani getting up on the bed to sleep next to me like she usually does. I was so grateful that she’d gotten brave enough to come out. Keola walked over me a couple of times, but went back underneath the bed. Kalakoa slept at the end of the bed. The next morning we were glad to see that all the food had been eaten and the litterbox used. Hulunani spent the night in the closed bathroom. He got to spend the days in our room where I could keep an eye on him.

I woke up at 5:30 on September 12th, Saturday, and when I realized that Noelani was still on the bed, I woke up Nolemana so that we could get her into the carrier without too much fuss.  That went pretty well, but we still had to get Keola. Nolemana borrowed a broom from the front desk and was able to shoo the boy into a corner, where I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, gently, and Nolemana put him into the carrier with Noelani. We had to get breakfast, so left the kitties again, after we packed up a bunch of stuffs. This time we went to the Denny’s down the road across from Shari’s. Never again #2. My food was lukewarm even after sending it back and our bill for a simple breakfast (including tip) was just under $50.00! I mean, really…$3.79 for a cup of awful coffee? And it wasn’t even that busy when we were there. Our server was great, but I’ll never go back. Their sanitation protocols weren’t nearly as good as Shari’s had been, either. When we got back to the Red Lion, we packed up the rest of the stuff, and did the search for anything we might’ve left behind, and then checked out.

Next time: On the road.