We've been having a great time in Oregon, but we're coming up to our last day. It's been an eventful trip so far and we're not quite ready to go back to England. Since it is now a bit late to do a play-by-play of our trip, here are some various events that have taken place since we flew out of Boston:
*Spent the 8th through 13th in the Willamette Valley, most of the time in Eugene, but we did meet up with K's sister at a McMenamin's near the Portland airport after we picked up our rental car. We stayed at K's grandmother's house during our time in Eugene. Went out to eat frequently with various sections of K's family.
*K's grandmother let us move all of our stuff out of our storage room in Hubbard and into her garage in Eugene. We rented a van and did the move in one day. It was great to visit our stuff, but seeing my massive collection of homebrewing equipment made me REALLY miss brewing!
*We spent two days with K's dad and step-mom. And also had lunch with her grandmother (on her dad's side) at Papa's Pizza along with her dad and grandmother-on-her-mother's-side. [It so much easier in Danish or Swedish: Farmor (FatherMother) = grandmother-on-dad's-side and Mormor (MotherMother) = grandmother-on-mom's side and then there's Farfar (FatherFather) and Morfar (MotherFather)]. Got it?
*Wednesday last week, we got a great deal on a massage at K's step-mom's salon: two sessions for the price of one. So K and I both had a fabulous full-body massage (my first professional massage ever). I can see why people don't mind shelling out $50 or so for something like that. If you're ever near Coburg, OR, be sure to pop in to Coburg Hair Studio for a massage from Laurie!
*On Friday the 13th, we left Eugene at about 10am to drive to Baker City with a stop-over in Sisters to have lunch at Black Butte Ranch with K's aunt (on her mother's side). After that, we drove to her ranch to see her new flock (gaggle? herd?) of alpacas. They are somethin' else! I've seen them singly, but never in a herd of 30. They group together like birds and seem just as skittish as birds.
*The drive out to Baker City was gorgeous! Just the perfect American open road with drastically changing scenery. We were virtually the only ones on the road, sort of surreal. We spotted a couple of trees with hundreds of shoes hanging in them. Lots of cows and horses. But my favorite animal sighting was an American Bald Eagle circling down out of the clouds to land in a tree by a lake. Beautiful.
*We got to Baker City around 7:15 on the 13th and after a tour of J-Mom and J-Dad's house, we sat down for a home-cooked meal.
*Since then, we've been partaking in Baker City life: going to some of their great, little independent shops (like Mad Matilda's and Bella's); driving around to look at houses; having lunch and/or dinner at some of their fine eating establishments; and so on. On Saturday, we had dinner at Haines Steakhouse, a classic American restaurant with kitchy decor and servers dressed like they were about to head to the rodeo. Other than that, we've been doing quite a bit of relaxing (much needed relaxation!).
*Went to the Geiser Grand Hotel for the Baker City Rotary Club lunch meeting with J-Dad last Monday, which was a great "small town" experience. Sat next to the town's chiropractor. The meeting was regarding the upcoming Hell's Canyon Motorcycle Rally which rolls into town in June. The Rotary Club will be acting as Baker City's hospitality department.
*On Tuesday, I ended up being invited to the local homebrewing club's monthly meeting. They're called "Good Libations". The meeting was held at one of the members' house, a state trooper who specializes in catching poachers. He also happens to brew some great beer! There were 5 of us at the meeting. We talked about how to clarify beer using finings, then tasted some homebrews that people had brought along (I even brought some of mine which I had rescued from the storage room), and then did a tasting of six or seven different West Coast stouts. Oh, and we voted on who's homebrew was the best. My barleywine won! So they had me select a prize from the prize box.
*On Wednesday, we drove up to La Grande to see the Eastern Oregon University campus and then took the scenic route home, stopping in Union to have lunch at the Union Hotel Fireside Cafe.
*I've been drinking a lot of American craftbrews, particularly beers from the Northwest. K has been accommodating enough to go to restaurants that serve good beer, so I've been quaffing some great suds and reviewing a few of them on BeerAdvocate. Tonight we're going to Barley Brown's, Baker City's only brewpub, to have dinner.
*Today is a take-her-easy/last minute tasks day. We have to pack because we're heading out tomorrow. Our flight is at 7am on Saturday morning, so we're driving to Portland (5-6 hours away) in the morning, checking in to a hotel, returning the rental car, and taking the Max into Portland to have dinner with K's sister. Then comes one hell of a return journey:
7am - Portland to Seattle
8.45am - Seattle to Boston (arriving at 5:30pm)
9:30pm - Boston to London Heathrow (arriving at 8:35am on Sunday)
10:45am - National Express bus to Bournemouth (2 hours)
Needless to say, we will be thoroughly jet-lagged. And I have to work the next day!
[Click on the title of this post to go to our picture gallery featuring pics of this trip]
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