Katie's Birthday

We went to Seaside to continue the tradition of always being on the beach for Katie's birthday since she moved to Oregon. (24th: Newport, 25th: Astoria, 26th: Seaside) We got ice cream and watched the sun set.

Nathan's Birthday

We went to Newport (early) for Nathan's birthday. Stayed at the Hallmark Inn. Ate at Mo's (horrible wait first time, left, came back next day and froze to death) Ate at Georgie's next to hotel. Got great wine at Depoe Bay. Outlet shopping in Lincoln City.

GA Trip 2010

We went to GA for 8 days (and only used 4 of Nathan's vacation days...I should get a medal for learning how to manipulate the system like that! ha!) This time we stayed at the SpringHill Suites Marriott in Buford, GA which is right across the street from the Mall of Georgia. We flew Continental, rented a car from Avis from the ATL airport (which moved all the cars to a separate rental car location) and were amazed to see snow there while Oregon was actually having a heat wave! Got to see Ashlie's newest, Hope, who was only a week old! Shipped some of my stuff back UPS in addition to checking bags of old stuffed animals, etc.

The Resort at Mt. Hood

We went to The Resort at Mt. Hood for the first weekend in December. Hoping to see snow and got a bit more ice than snow. Treated ourselves to their spa services and LOVED the couples massage! We also learned there are acceptable forms of Crocs and later purchased our own! Ate at local pizza place, watched SEC championship which was wonderful to see Tebow lose and cry about it. Fireplace in room. Ate at ZigZag Inn and got fabulous baked potato. Brought our own hot chocolate mix and marshmallows. Really cool curved soap bar with loop for your hand to hold built into it!

OSU Football 2009 Season

2009 OSU Football Home Schedule:
September 5 - vs. Portland State (W, 34-7)
September 19 - vs. Cincinnati (L, 18-28)
September 26 - vs. Arizona (L, 37-32)
October 10 - vs. Stanford (W, 38-28)
October 31 - vs. UCLA (Homecoming) (W, 26-19)
November 14 - vs. Washington (W, 48-21)

We drove down to Corvallis for 4 of the 6 games this season (all but Arizona and UCLA) and officially tailgated for the Stanford game.

Our Anniversary - Seattle

We made a long weekend out of our anniversary and decided to go to Seattle. We discussed many options for how to get there and where to stay and what to do. We didn't get a lot of that decided though which left us pretty much freefalling to plan the weekend. We opted to leave after rush hour so traffic wouldn't be bad but apparently that's unavoidable in Seattle! We took Hwy 30 out to Longview (I stuck my tongue out at the sign to show my displeasure about being in Longview again even though this one wasn't in Texas.) then took I-5 up. Washington has interesting on/off ramps that can be quite confusing. But, they have installed new lighting on the sides of the road that are like stadium lights! We like those a lot!

Truth be told, we got there just fine. We made online reservation at Marriott (Courtyard this time) and found it fairly easily. I had a desire to be near water so we tried to get a high level room to look out on the lake but instead we got pool view. Well, it's still water...

Next day I got my water alright. We took an Argosy lake cruise out on Lake Washington and got to see lots of homes that would've made an entire episode of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous". Most notably, Bill Gates house now valued at $150 million. Coolest part about his house that our tourguide told us, they have you take a survey when you get there and then give you a lapel pin to wear with your preferences programmed into it so when you enter a room the thermostat, music, artwork, lighting, etc change to match your desires. And if two people are in the same room, it compromises. So cool!

We cheated the system a bit and called Olive Garden to order takeout instead of waiting to be seated. Then we crossed the street and got our dinner while lots of people were sitting on the sidewalk waiting for their buzzers to go off. Oh! Before that, we took a walk around our hotel's neighborhood and saw something that was a first for both of us. There's a 24 hour vet who is open for emergencies...and has their own ambulance! Never had we seen an ambulance for pets!

In the parking deck we chose near the boat cruise, we experienced our first act of vandalism to our new car. Someone bent our front license plate 90 degrees on each side. No other marks on the car and it didn't snap right back into place either so they must've really worked at it to do that.

We opted to go home early to be able to sleep in our own bed and experience less traffic. Driving home on Sunday afternoon was the easiest thing ever. Except we felt really bad for northbound traffic as they stopped for 30 miles for NO REASON! Poor people!

But we got home ok, the boys were happy to see us, and we were able to relax more the next day than we had orginally planned to do.

Circle of Oregon - July 4, 2009

After our accident, my (Katie) parents were a bit shook up on how we were really doing. And apparently it's a mom thing to have to see you in person to really believe you're ok. So, we worked it out for them to come visit for 4th of July weekend.

They got here Friday around noon and we showed them Portland-ish areas. International Test Rose Gardens, our neighborhood, etc.

Saturday, we made a giant circle. We left as bright and early as possible and took I-5 south to Salem headed toward Dallas to see Nathan's grandma. Then we took Hwy 99 over to Corvallis, which I've never done before. We stopped at OSU to show Mom and Dad where Nathan went to school and how similar it is to UGA (yet how different...) Then over to Nathan's parents' house to see Scarlet, Nikki and Gizmo (his parents weren't home but the dogs were!) Then we took Hwy 20 out to the coast (Newport) and as we crested the last mountain and saw the ocean....we saw fog! Weirdest thing ever! We ate at Moe's (of course!) and walked on the beach collecting rocks, not seashells. Weirdest thing for my parents to see me freezing on July 4th instead of melting. Literally, it was around 55 degrees on the beach.

After that we took Hwy 101 up to Cannon Beach where we stopped to see Haystack Rock and then took Hwy 26 home. This was our first long drive since the accident so I was still skittish and we were both sore afterwards but the trip was definitely worth it, 12 hours long as it was.

Here is what happened... Why people are awesome.

Here we are just getting into Texas on our way to Dallas where we intended to turn North and go to Oklahoma City. As we get into an area of I-20 about 2 hours east of Dallas we see traffing being slowed with everyone getting into the left lane. There was a idiot in the right lane not in a car trying to pick something up. I was being safe and minding my own business and slowed down to a stop in the left lane.

In my rear view mirror i see what looks like a giant F-350 (found out afterwards it was hauling a trailer) which is NOT slowing down. In panic mode I attempt to move into the right lane to get out of his way but I didnt make it in time - he struck the rear-driver side part of the car at what I would guess was at least 50-60 MPH given where we ended up. We were pushed through the right lane where we spun once then rolled over a full rotation and landed off the side of the road in the ditch where some trees caught us - pinning Katie's door.

As we are hanging upside down we both yell we are ok and unclick our seatbelts which had kept me from being ejected as the driver side door was busted open and our stuff went out. We both fell down with a thud and I crawled out then helped Katie out my side which was open due to the door being destroyed. There were people there instantly, a man named Richard led the first-aid efforts and had me lay down as I was dizzy and disoriented while they tended to Katie who was bleeding badly from her legs. Other people stopped and helped (of whom I will talk later) and the police/paramedics showed up to take us to the emergency room.

Katie got a small room and they taped her wounds closed since she didnt want stitches and that was all (she was hurt worse but I got all the attention since they thought I had a concussion). I got a cat scan, 2 x-rays, and a 4 hour stay in the ER. We are discharged with minor injuries and we get to leave.... problem is we have no car, no phones, and no clue what to do.

We found a city police officer named Bryan. We asked how to get to our car which was towed to a different city (Marshall, TX). Bryan was so helpful, he tried to get his cousin to drive us to Marshall but they finally talked us into going to a hotel and taking care of things in the morning. Officer Bryan drove us to a mariott and even let us use his phone. Once we got there we checked in for 2 nights and went to wal-mart next door to get some clothes for the night and today.

The insurance company and car rental places gave us the run around and we ended up calling this nice couple, John and Margaret, who offered us any help we needed when they stopped to help us during the wreck. These people are amazing, they drove from Marshall to pick us up and take us to the car, helped us go through the wreckage, took us and our stuff to their house to help us sort and box stuff up to ship, then drove us back to our hotel after buying us drinks and paying for our shipping supplies. They even stopped at the crash site on the way back so we could look for our wedding album and phones which are all that are missing. These people made our lives so much easier.

Mom left a day early from work and is coming to pick us up in a rental car and got us free tickets to fly back to portland tomorrow.

We have most of our stuff, more importantly we are alive and will be ok - with a new car!!

Athens, GA to Jackson, MS

An eventful day on our first leg back towards Oregon... Once we got our Dunkin Donuts and got on the road the weather was beautiful and we were ready to go! Traffic through Atlanta was minimal - travelling in a giant city is really not bad on a Sunday. We did happen to see 5.. count them 5 DeKalb county sheriffs pulling over a mass of people all within a quarter mile of each other. One of them pulled back into the lane next to me only to pull over the guy next to me for not getting over for the OTHER ones pulled over at that spot.. it was insane but we got through ok.

We stopped in Birmingham for lunch at Jason's deli and wandered around the mall there near Samford for a bit to get some energy back as we had gone through the worst rain I have ever seen in a lightning storm that kind of came out of nowhere once we hit the Alabama state line.

After that it was a race to Jackson where we got into the same Mariott that we had stayed at on the way down to Florida. Same irritating staffer was on duty and I am not even sure what they are charging us for this room since I think I interrupted her 8:15 break. She should catch up at her 8:30 break though so it is ok!

Tomorrow's plan is to shoot for Wichita, KS but to stop in Oklahoma City if we are tired or push on to Hays, KS if we have lots of energy. There are Fairfields at each place so we know we have some place to stay that wont be like the Columbia mess last week.

We have 10 lbs of Dry ice in the cooler keeping our BBQ and Left over wedding cake frozen, including everything around the cooler since it is that cold. MMM BBQ...

-Nathan

Cullman, AL to Athens, GA

I have a lot of friends. And by association, so does Nathan. I just wish they were closer.

We checked out of the motel and drove out to the project for breakfast with the dwindling crew at the Carpenters' project. After a few last hugs we hit the road. Only for an hour though since we were stopping at Samford. We went to the bookstore to get a few things we hadn't found to order online and then met with the alumni director, David. He's a really nice guy who I had only spoken with by email. Definitely a good connection to have. While we were at the bookstore, I saw Sherry who worked in Human Resources and got a hug from her. In the food court I talked to a different David and was amazed he remembered me even 3 years after graduating. I saw Miss Dot in the caf and she was just as sweet as ever. I got to show Nathan a few things we had missed last year in our stop at Samford but there's still plenty more to see the next time. I kinda like it that way....it means we have to come back. =)

Our next stop was in Gainesville to have dinner with Ashlie and Derrick. That meant driving thru Atlanta....on a Friday afternoon.....on the downtown connector. This may sound simple if you're not from here. Our side alone of the downtown connector (I-75/I-85) had 7 lanes. I can only imagine the southbound side had 7 lanes too. We criss-crossed traffic changing interstates 3 times or more. We had a massive lightning storm while sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. And we saw a couple people merge 5 lanes of traffic in one swoop. Nevertheless, traffic really wasn't that bad. Most of the time it stayed moving and we were always in the right lane thanks to accurate signage being posted in advance!

We got to Applebee's and had good food and good service. Mostly I was intersted in the good fellowship so I think I forgot to eat. We had such a good time we went to Starbucks for after dinner coffee and I got a slice of marble loaf since the Pacific NW has decided never to serve it again (meanies!). It was wonderful to realize how similar married life is, no matter where you live or how long you've been together. We definitely enjoyed an adults only dinner (though the boys are precious...) and wish we could do it more often. So if anybody would like to invent an instant travel machine.....

The drive to Athens from Gainesville wasn't bad. No deer and no cops. We have been on the road quite a bit today but it was worth it. We are now in eastern time zone and not quite used to it. Maybe it is better to fly and settle into it faster than a one hour adjustment every few days...not sure. Soon enough we'll be back in my favorite time zone (Central) which is where the majority of our trip takes place, surprisingly.

My favorite car (detail) wash also does oil changes so we're going to go there tomorrow since we've definitely gone 3000 miles! We'll also be negotiating our return route as the bonus of our trip has been canceled. Maybe another day.

'Night, y'all.