The Great NW Roadtrip

Part of our NY plans involve saying a proper goodbye to the West Coast. When you're just living your life day-to-day it can be difficult to remember to enjoy the many, many amazing things that are within your reach. Our first mini-trip was to Mt. Diablo. It was so beautiful and it's in Walnut Creek. Walnut Creek! If you're not from the Bay Area, we're talking about a twenty minute trip to the entrance of the park. Why did it take us so long to visit???

The other major trip that we wanted to take was to the pacific northwest - specifically Portland. Wifey lived here years ago when she was young and prone to doing things like egging restaurants. (I married a restaurant egger!!!) She has friends from those days who are now also married and have spouses and children that she's never met. We thought that our chances of making it up there were better from the same coast than from 3,000 miles to the east.

I haven't had much chance to write and this is our third day, so I thought I'd give you the high(low)lights.

1. After carefully planning to leave at 12:30, we pulled out of the driveway at 3:00pm. Wifey and I both had MUCH work drama and were stressed out of our minds. On the bright side, however, I came to an epiphany of sorts in the drive-thru of Taco Bell - because inspiration can strike at any time. (More on that epiphany later!)

2. We stopped in Medford, OR to spend the night. The Hampton Inn, if you ignore the suspicious looking, rather sticky spot, at the foot of the bed, was pretty cute. The kid loved the hot tub and I worked out for 20 minutes in the fitness room while watching ANTM. A win-win situation!

3. Before leaving Medford, we stopped to see Wifey's sister who had just had surgery the day before. The grumpy hospital people practically bit our heads off when we walked into the hospital with the kid. They had decided to not allow children into the hospital because of H1N1 concerns, but they didn't actually tell us this, they just kid of barked until we backed out of the building.

4. The drive as you approach Mt. Shasta is beautiful and as we descended out of the hills on the other side, the colors on the trees were just gorgeous! There are trees that are so red that they look like they are on fire.

5. Portland is cool and there is coffee on every corner. We're staying in the SE section of the city about three blocks from Stumptown Coffee Roasters. We've been here for two days and we've been there four times already!

6. We went to a rad pupkin patch with Wifey's friend and his family. I think that I have only been to antiseptic city pumpkin patches before. I was mystified when the hayride drove us out into the fields, dropped us off in the actual pumpkin patch where we rooted around in the field for pumpkins and then got back on the next hay ride, tractor thing. Country livin'!

7. There is an entire store devoted entirely to clogs. The kid tried on a pair of lime green clogs. Clogs on kids have to be the cutest thing ever, but unfortunately, she was not into them at all.

8. We found out this morning that a co-worker of Wifey's died, likely by suicide. Considering that they have a boss in common, this was doubly ominous news.

I hate to go out on such a somber note, but that's it for now. On tap for the rest of the week is a trip to the movies (Where the Wild Things Are), ice skating (the kid's first time), Powell's, maybe the Zoo and more coffee than you can shake a wooden stir stick at.

Keeping it real in flannel,
Elsie