The week was long and felt foreign. It’s like traveling in some sort of parallel dimension where the “you” that exists in the real world, is an alien in another. In Oregon I feel like a stranger. It’s not like coming home anymore. My home is in Denver, nestled deep in the mountains, breathing the thin air, drinking Fat Tire, being sticky in the summer, and crispy in the winter. All the same, to see Oregon feels like going through the Wardrobe in the spare room. It’s so green there, the air is so sweet and the folks are very real.

Everyone seems to be doing well. Mary has a kick ass job with this Extreme Paintball company and my nephew Mathew is even more amazingly adorable in real life. The last night we were there, I rocked him to sleep, smelling the sweetness of his soft, baby hair. He won’t remember it, but I will. The new house my parents are living in is a big upgrade from where they were before. It’s a pretty normal sized house, but that backyard is HUGE. It’s got these towering Walnut trees that shade the first half and my dad planted a fruit grove out in the second half.

My parents picked up one of those above ground pools and put it out there, it gets pretty toasty out there on the hot days. The water was up to about 84 degrees for a while there. In any case, there is plenty of room for my little brother Jackson to ride his dirt bike around in the yard. He tried to teach me how to ride it, (and me being the adventurous sort) so I hopped right on it and promptly lurched across the yard like a drunken kangaroo. I tore up a bit of my Dad’s lawn but otherwise caused no damage. It scared the bejeesus out of me though. At least my Dad thought it was hilarious. I’ve got some video of how cute I look in a motorcycle helmet though. I really need to figure out how to upload that.

One of the days we headed out to Newport to take in the sites and buy some useless crap. I picked up a stylish Greek Fisherman cap, we saw a ton of Sea Lions and ran around on the beach. I got my fix of fish and chips and Echo and Utku came down to spent the afternoon with us. Tim saw the Pacific Ocean for the second time in his life and made the same face when he stepped in it… (brrrrrr!!!!)

The rest of the time we spent in Portland checking out the sights. It’s such a cool city, Tim and I both agreed we wouldn’t mind living there someday. The people are very chilled out and the views are spectacular. The highlight was taking my parents to the London Grill for dinner. It’s hands down the nicest place we’ve ever been to. The food was excellent, but it was just fun getting all dressed up and being out with them. My mom looked so cute in her cocktail gown that she had gotten especially for the occasion. We all just laughed and talked and stuffed our faces pretty much all night. Ahhh, good times…

Anyway, tomorrow, it’s back to the grindstone. *sigh* I hate it when vacations end…