My schedule for the day has me meeting with my speaking agent (she handles booking my speaking) and sitting in board meetings. I have a room on the Columbia overlooking Mt. St. Helens (sorry you can't see it in the haze). Yesterday my niece took me to a fab breakfast and then asked what would, basically, make my day, week, life... I said "To drive up the Columbia River Gorge in the fall colors and see Multnomah Falls." No sooner had I said it than off we went. I said goodbye to my great grandmother at the falls, and the whole experience was part breathtaking beauty, part meaningful, moving memory.

After that we met my folks for lunch, again overlooking the river. Then my sister Carrie and her hubby showed up for five minutes to surprise me with a vase of red roses. I just happened to be in the lobby when they got here, so they had no trouble finding me!

From there I went to dinner with board members out at a place called Claim Jumpers. The dessert was the most decadent I'd ever ordered. I asked for a piece of chocolate cake and received a slab that measured about nine inches long. With everyone at the table helping, we got through half of it. Dante would have been appalled. (He has a thing about portion control.)

We used my friend Doug's GPS to find our way to and from the restaurant, where the server was the son of someone in our party. We joked about the irony that people pay hundreds of dollars to get a voice telling them the same directions they've resented hearing from "back seat drivers."

Today's blog-tour host is Jenny. Hope you're having a great weekend!