On The Road...

Man...what a week! Of all the moves we've gone through with the Army, we were clearly not as prepared for this one. We ended up spending Livy's 9 month Angelversary preparing for the movers and packing everything up for our drive! Luckily, it all worked out -- for the most part. Spending 3 days with the movers was just a bit stressful, as we watched them pack our stuff and load it onto the truck. Their packing methods weren't as good as we've seen in the past, and one of the packers tried to argue whenever we made a specific request...yeah that was fun. On the last day, one of them busted a set of blinds in the guest bedroom. Of course, no one would fess up so I guess I'll be taking that up with the moving company! Good times. I'm so glad the first half of the move is over. Now that our HHG's are on the truck, we don't have to stress about the condition of our household goods again until we arrive at Ft. Benning...so until then...out of sight, out of mind, right?

After we finished with the movers, cleaned up the house and cleared it with the owner, we headed over to our friends' house for the night. They were sweet enough to offer us their guest bedroom rather than staying in a hotel. It was a great opportunity for us to spend one last evening with them before we headed out, so I was glad for that! With such good company, we weren't really in a rush to head out, so we ended up getting a late start on the big drive. I guess with no agenda on this road trip, that wasn't really an issue though.

I'm so glad we are in no rush! With almost a month between leaving Ft. Lewis and having to report to Ft. Benning, we can take our time this time around. With previous moves, the only time we stopped was for a restroom or gas station, but this one is going to be much different. We plan to stop whenever we pass something of interest. In fact, we ran across our first detour just 2 hours into our drive today. After visiting my good friend, Cara, in Portland, we made sure to grab some Voodoo Donuts! We knew this was going to be the last time for a long time that we'll be in that area, so we better indulge. As luck may have it, we ended up witnessing one of the famous Voodoo Donuts weddings, too! We had heard about them, so it was fun seeing one firsthand today. I must say....it's definitely an interesting option! The "priest" determined the couple's spirit animals (ended up being a squirrel and a monkey), the couple had candy bouquets and boutonnieres, and before tying the knot, they had to get the approval of Kenny Rogers (there was a painting of him above the cash register) before saying "I do." Yeah...definitely unique! It was fun though, and they got everyone involved in it.

So even though that ended up cutting into our driving time, we weren't too bummed. Our goal was to make it to San Fransisco before the end of the night, but that definitely didn't happen! Oh well...we'll get there at some point tomorrow. Here's hoping the weather clears up and we can enjoy the city without the rain/fog that covered the entire PNW today!

Below are some pictures I just now got loaded up from the last week...

Oba watching the movers with much hesitation...

When one of the movers started packing up Liv's room, Oba took it upon himself to guard the door. He laid there crying the entire time she was in there -- Poor Oba had a rough time with all of this...

After the first day of packing, Obadiah decided to hang out in between our coffee table and end tables. It looked like he was in jail...

By the third day, he was comfortable with the idea of strange people coming in and packing up everything. Because of that, there were no more whines or cries, but he did try to make a run for it. After one of the movers chased him down for us, he lost all privileges and spent the rest of the day in the backyard -- left to cry and let everyone know the horrid abuse that he was experiencing!

Then fast forwarding to the delicious Voodoo Donuts...Man...I could live on those things! Since it was our last trip there, we each grabbed 2 for the drive. By the time we stopped for dinner, all I wanted was a salad...wayyyy too much sugar for one day -- but sooo worth it!

Oba was, of course, left to sniff but that's it. No donuts for the basset...

As we got closer to Grant's Pass, OR, we didn't deal with as much rain, but definitely drove into crazy amounts of fog at various points. This was just the beginning...

Best of all...we drove past a beautiful rainbow at one point...

For those of you that ever watch Tosh.0, you might remember the Web Redemption video with the guy that expressed a lot of emotion while recording a rainbow from his porch. As we drove past this one, James kept imitating what that guy said, ha.

Well, off to bed before another day on the road. Here's hoping it's clear skies and no traffic on our way to San Fransisco!!

Sonic BOOM...

So aside from today being a horribly crappy day, we experienced something rather interesting around 2pm. While I was downstairs and James was up, I heard two LOUD noises and the whole house shook. I thought maybe something happened upstairs and James dropped something large. I mean, it would have had to have been a large dresser or something, so a little unrealistic, but what else could it be?! About 30 seconds later, James raced down the stairs and ran out the front door to see what it was. He obviously heard it too, and wasn't sure what caused it. We weren't sure if it was a car accident or possibly field artillery training on base. Well, after later reading reports posted by a friend on Facebook, we found out it was the result of two F15 fighter jets heading towards Seattle. I guess they caused sonic booms as they passed through the Puget Sound. Pretty wild. With President Obama speaking in Seattle, there were air-space restrictions and an unknown aircraft was violating them, so the jets responded to it from Portland. A few hours later, we heard that it was just some poor guy in a floater plane heading to Lake Washington from another nearby lake and didn't realize he was violating any kind of restriction. Crazy...

So yeah, that was an interesting experience! We've had our windows shake before due to military training on post, but nothing like this. I suppose with having such a downer of a day with missing Liv lots, at least there was something unique to remember from it...

A visit w/ friends, Part 4: Mt. St. Helens and Portland......

On their last full day here, we took Matt and Sabrina to Mt. St. Helens and Portland, OR. Luckily, we had a clear blue sky, so it was the perfect day for sightseeing. With first going to Mt. St. Helens, we drove close enough to get some good shots of the mountain, then continued heading south. Once we got to Portland, we headed straight for Voodoo Donuts. Much to James' surprise, they were MUCH better than the last time he tried them. In fact, I think Matt said they were the best donuts he's ever had. Can't go wrong with an "Old Dirty Bastard," which is a yeast donut with crushed oreos, fudge, and peanut butter -- yum! After grabbing our dessert first, we headed over to Portland City Grill for Happy Hour. They've got great food and an awesome view of Portland, Mt. Hood, and Mt. St. Helens in the distance. Once we were done there, we decided to find the Deschutes Brewery pub house since we knew it was somewhere in Portland. That's James' favorite American microbrewery, so it was a must. With me being the only one that doesn't care for the taste of beer, I sat and watched while Matt, Sabrina, and James enjoyed a good oat soda. I don't know if it was themed off the movie, but they had a Twilight Ale that Sabrina ended up thoroughly enjoying -- even came away thinking that was the best beer she's ever had.

All in all, it seemed to be a pretty successful day/visit. Matt and Sabrina seemed to enjoy the PNW, and we, of course, absolutely loved hitting up all of our favorite sights -- not to mention the 3 breweries. I think James could visit a different brewery daily if he had the opportunity, and while I don't enjoy the actual beer, they always seem to have awesome food so I'd be game for that. I somehow doubt GA will have as much of an opportunity for such things so we'll have to soak it up while we can...

While at Mt. St. Helens...

Voodoo Donuts...

I definitely needed my sunglasses!

The view from Portland City Grill... (Mt. St. Helens off to the left and Mt. Hood to the right)

Those waiting for some tasty VD donuts...

Caught James in front of Deschutes...

After a fun, but full holiday weekend, James said he needs another 4 day to recover. I guess we'll see if the Army allows for one of those soon...

A day on the road...

So James and I decided to make the trek down to Portland today. He has been wanting to check out the outlet mall just south of Portland for awhile now, so we had a good excuse behind the drive. Plus, it was gorgeous out so it was the perfect day to be on the road!

The outlet mall was a success minus the plethora of babies and preggos hanging out there. I suppose we can't escape that, but I sure would love to. Anyways...it went well, and James seems happy with the items that he found. I just love the fact that Oregon's tax free, so between that and the military discount that many shops offer, we can find some fairly decent deals...

Aside from the shopping, we were able to enjoy the many mountains surrounding us. I love that we can view three different mountains within a 2 hour drive -- Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Hood.

Mt. Rainier from our neck of the woods...

Mt. Hood as we left Portland...

Mt. St. Helens as we got closer to home...

To say the least, the drive was very scenic. It also brought some comic relief. Maybe we had been in the car too long by this point, but we were entertained by a local town and the shop signs. Boring, OR says it all. This one wasn't as comical as some, but by the time I got the camera out, we were nearly out of the town...

We wanted to try and get fairly close to Mt. Hood, but as we edged closer, we realized we were cutting it too close with getting back in a decent amount of time to let Obadiah out. By this point, the poor guy was going to be alone for 12 hours, so we turned around and headed home. We agreed that we'll have to make the attempt again, but just take Oba with us so we're not limited by the clock.

Maybe by the next time we make the drive, I'll have obtained a polarized lens filter to get better landscape shots. Until then, this was taken as we crossed the Columbia River back into WA from OR...

*Whoever said they didn't like the PNW because of all the rain obviously didn't visit during the summer!*

Portland

Well, a little over a week has passed since James headed back to Stan and I secluded myself from the world. That was a much needed week of just being alone, and I think it helped. Oba and I hung out, stayed up way too late each night, and caught up on several movies via Netflix. It was nice. However, it had to end at some point. While I have a feeling I'll have much interest in just being alone for quite awhile, Oba and I headed down to Portland today to spend the week with a dear friend. I think in some ways, this trip is therapeutic. My friend, Cara, and I unfortunately share the experience of losing a child to stillbirth, so she just gets it. We can sit and talk and actually get somewhere with it, since it's all too familiar. It's not one of those conversations where people are walking on eggshells, or trying to one up the situation and claim that they know someone that has gone through it so they have a sense of what it's like, etc. etc. No, it's more real than that, as we both have gone through it and know the thoughts and feelings that result from this tragedy. I'm glad it worked out for Oba and I to head down here and spend this time with her.

Of all the days I could come down here, I couldn't have picked a better one. After a week or more of straight rain, it was actually sunny. It was perfect for the drive. We got here and decided since it was so nice out, we'd walk to the park. For those that know how Oba works, it wasn't a leisure walk, but rather a pulling all the way there kind of walk. Either Oba was pulling me, or I was pulling him. He likes to sniff and check out everything surrounding him. If it's interesting enough, he will stop dead in his tracks and not budge until he's done sniffing. On the other hand, if it's not interesting, he will happily pull you as he wants to go at a faster pace than the rest of us. It makes for an interesting experience to say the least. Oh, that and he won't walk in a straight line. He likes to cut people off and zigzag across the pavement. Oh, the joys. Nonetheless, we had a good time.

While this week is going to be a relaxing one, we have a few things in the works. Cara mentioned the idea of starting a quilt together, so we'll see how things go tomorrow and if we decide to start that or not. It should be fun regardless. I also have every intention of soaking up the tax free status that Oregon holds. There are a few purchases I've been wanting to make, so if I give in and make them, I fully intend to do it here rather than WA where the sales tax is 8.5-9.5% depending on whether I shop in Oly or Seattle. That in itself is worth shopping down here. Hopefully retail therapy won't take too strong of a hold, but if it does, so be it. With closing on the house here in a couple weeks, who cares, right? If James were reading this, I'm sure he would say I'm fooling no one, as it's hard for me to take the plunge and splurge on much of anything. However, perspectives change when you experience certain things, and at this point, something like that might help. We shall see.

Below is a picture of Oba getting some love from Cara. I think he's made a friend (even though we're finding out she may be allergic to him!).