My Heart's in Oregon

We spent the first weekend of September in our first (married) home - the beautiful Pacific Northwest. We'd been aching to get back and visit the place and people we loved and missed so much--so much so that we subjected ourselves to 12 hours in the car (each way) with a 1-year-old. For those of you who don't have 1-year-olds or who may have forgotten...it may be the worst phase ever to attempt something like this. They are too old to sleep for longer than an hour or two at a time, and too young to just "plug-in" to a movie. Which means that you have about 2-3 hours of quiet, relaxed road-tripping, and 10+ hours of desperately trying to entertain a toddler.

Plus, if your baby is like our baby she doesn't quite love sleeping in the pack-and-play. In fact, she LOATHES it. She (and we) get like an hour or two of sleep. Plus we're weaning her, she's cutting a molar, and we decided to move her up to her new car seat ON OUR TRIP. We knew this would be our dismal fate going into this trip. And yet, we did it anyway!

Portland, Vancouver...that's how much you mean to us.

Annie did...OK on the way up, and amazingly well on the way back (seriously, thank you for your prayers people!). And at the end of the day, this whirlwind vacation was TOTALLY worth it! My heart started racing as we entered the breathtaking Columbia River Gorge. I wanted to film every view so I could watch it and just soak it in later. And then when we hit Vancouver I felt so at home it was as though we'd never left.

Isn't it strange how missing a place makes it so beautiful. Distance and time makes people, places, and memories all the sweeter, like a juicy summer peach picked from a Washington U-pick farm. Truly absence makes the heart grow fonder.

We visited old colleagues, friends, and people that are really like family. Stomped on our old stomping grounds. Ate at our favorite Portland hole-in-the wall joint. And even went boating for old time's sake. It was truly a perfect weekend with some of our favorite friends doing our favorite things.

Instead of reading our adventures, you can watch them! Enjoy this tribute to our beloved PNW family. A piece of our hearts is, and forever will be, in Oregon (and Vancouver!).

My Heart's In Oregon