home again

Well ladies and gentlemen........... we’re back!

I couldn’t help but think of this just then.

What a trip. It was great. Oregon was beertiful and Ohio was tons of fun. I am SO THANKFUL for my job, my company, and my boss to give me a week and a half vacation in the middle of August. A serious, serious vacation, where I did not think about work for one second. Ok, except for maybe last Monday morning, when I woke up smiling with the thought that I wasn’t there. It was glorious.

And this week, my boss is taking her verymuchneeded vacation so I’m thrown right back into productivity at the workplace. No complaints here, as it’ll Labor Dave, ACL, and KV/Wilgen’s visits to TX before I know it. Uh yeah, you heard correctly, I only have 2 full weeks of work before we’re back to the northwest. TAKE THAT Texas drought. We can escape you!
I uploaded all the pictures to my laptop last night, but the edits/cropping will take another few days before they're facebook worthy. In the meantime, here's a preview of the memories I captured from my camera phone.

11:15am on Thursday, August 4th. We arrived at PDX. (Is it just me, or is it a bit funny that Austin is abbreviated as ATX, and Portland is PDX? Comparison #1.)

Wine tasting on Friday. LOOK at that green grass.

Ha, after three, or four, or, eh-who's counting? wine samples, clearly, I had to document the BACON JERKY BITS in the nut mix we were served. Peanuts? Bacon? Wine? I'll take it.

REAL, LIVE, GROWING lilies at my aunt's house.

Mt. Hood, in all it's volcanic glory.

What is Beyonce doing in Rockaway Beach, OR? Bahaha, enormous metal chickens will be eternally hilarious to us all.

and while I'd really like to end with that one. Our trip continued to Ohio last Thursday, and this image below pretty much sums up our all-night flight, 7:00am arrival, and no-i'm-not-kidding 4:00pm hotel check in. We were sleepy and homeless for the day.

Thank goodness it still rains in other parts of the country. Cleveland State University offered a bed of grass for Chris to nap on.

Many more stories and pictures to come. What a trip!