West Coast!!

Sorry for the delay since the last post... jet lag.

Portland HO
Ok let's start with the elephant in the room.  Yes, Kyle and Dave snuck out of NYC and jet-setted off to the fine state of Oregon.  There's something homey about living in a state that starts with "O" again.  So we made it... we crammed all of our stuff from Ford-Explorer-size to Toyota-Camry-size and threw it on a truck.



Shipping your car from Cleveland to Portland - a total blast.  Wait up until 3:30am on a Monday only to find out your car won't fit on the carrier.  Then get another truck lined up to take it and realize you just sent your entire life packed inside your car on a truck across the country with some trucker dude and you just have to hope that it ends up where you are flying in a couple days.  Glad it did...

Flying with a cat - boy was this fun.  You get to take the cat out of its cage to go through security, change its wee-wee pads in the bathroom when it poops in the airport, carry it in and out of airports and planes all day and hope it doesn't die of a panic attack... so much fun.  I recommend it.

Portland apartments versus NYC apartments - Let me try my luck at some ascii art...
Portland:
 ________
|________|

NYC:
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Working in EST but living in PST - What's this?  I get to see daylight M-F?  Amazing.

Corvallis HO
After spending a month at home with family and then suddenly being 2500 miles away we were going through a bit of withdrawal.  QUICK!  FIND LOVED ONES!  My cousin was actually fixin to fly to China soon so it was a good time to visit the extended fam in Corvallis.  Good call!  It was a blast to see everyone along with their homey homes that I'd never seen before.

West Coast HO
We headed out to the coast (about a 2hr drive) to check out Cannon Beach where you can see "haystack rock".  Google it and see all the pretty pictures.  Now look at my picture:

Haystack Rock in the fog

So, I can't remember for sure if we actually saw it, or I just dreamt that we saw it.  For some reason the weather conditions were such that this heavy mist/fog was coming off the ocean and making it (a) freezing cold and (b) impossible to see anything!  We were told a nearby town called Seaside was warmer that day, so we headed up there and it was the strangest beach experience I've ever had.  It was so foggy that we were walking along the beach and couldn't see the ocean!  We felt like we were the only ones there until we all but tripped over someone.  Meanwhile there were all these families there that seemed to be enjoying a normal day at the beach.  We felt like we were ghosts returning to earth and wandering amongst the living.

Seattle HO
Time to celebrate our first anniversary!  So I had this great idea to post on Facebook "what would you do in Seattle WA if you were only there for a day?".  Here are the responses I got:

• Pike Place Market
• Pike Place Market
• Pike Place Market
• Pike Place Market
• Pike Place Market
• Pike Place Market
• Pike Place Market
• Pike Place Market

OK already we will go!  So go we did, and it was cool.  Thank you everyone-I've-ever-known for suggesting it.

Vancouver, B.C. HO

Keep going!  Make this anniversary international!  Vancouver is a beautiful city.  I blame Kyle for our long rides in the hotel elevator... we got stuck with the top floor of the hotel, what a drag!  But I guess we couldn't complain about the view...

View from Blue Horizon hotel

We indulged in "high tea" and then took a long walk around Stanley Park (Vancouver's equivalent  of Central Park).  We saw this guy who balanced rocks for a living.  Once balanced, he'd stand among them and glare at people so they couldn't just take their own pictures instead of buying his for $10.  Too bad for him I have a crop tool!

Kent Avery's Balancing Rocks

Coming up... maybe we can find some time to actually spend in Portland so I can blog more about the city in which we LIVE.  I guess this whole having-a-car thing is giving us wanderlust.  Stay in touch!