We dropped in on Kelly’s grandma, Luca and Scout’s great grandma – Grandma Pitt – outside Olympia on the way from Seattle to Portland. Grandma Pitt always puts a good feed on and we get to catch up with Kelly’s cousin’s, uncle’s and aunt’s – I love visiting and always leave very full.
I played navigator for the trip into Portland with Kelly driving and between us we made it to Kelly’s mum’s new place without a hitch. Typical Portland weather though – just like a Sydney winter. We ate well on the entire trip but nowhere better than at Kelly’s mum’s. It’s unusual for me to say something trumps good food and beer but those things were not the highlight in Portland - Phil, Kelly’s step dad was the MVP getting us into the Adidas Co. store with a 50% off coupon. We left with five massive bags of stuff, including 9 pairs of shoes – it was like Christmas or a good dream and I must admit I was a bit dazed and confused walking around the store, slightly overcome with excitement.
We knew Luca and Scout were in great hands, again there would be no missing mum and dad, they weren’t even excited or sad to see us leave – seeya and a wave over the shoulder. We headed off to Steven and Renaun’s wedding in Sisters, Oregon.
I love road trips and although it wasn’t a long drive it was pretty cool going through mountains of central Oregon to get there. We stayed in a house with seven other people for the wedding, it was awesome fun and great catching up with a whole bunch of my Seattle friends. We were there Thursday through Sunday with events every night (one leading to a crazy pitch black walk home across a golf course, which at night seemed like some type of Lewis and Clark adventure but in daylight was all of 200 meters). During the day we did some swimming (horse riding for Kel), lots of sitting around reading, shooting the breeze, watching college football, drinking and eating. The wedding itself was amazing, the backdrop was probably the most spectacular I’ve seen with a lake and twin snow topped peaks (The Sisters) behind it. Lots and lots of dancing and drinking.
The next days was a rush but all for a good reason. Up early and out before the rest of the house was awake, lunch in Portland with Kel’s mum (great take-out burgers), pick up the kids, a quick stop to say “hi” to Gram Pitt on the way through and back to Seattle. That night we went to see Ray Lamontagne in concert – a favourite of Kelly’s, she had been tracking his movements around the world trying to line up a concert and it all worked for us in Seattle. It was superb, totally won me over – it was definitely worth the mad day.
The final adventure, a few nights up in the San Juan’s with Tiff, Jeff and Abe. We stayed on the beach on Decatur Island in a massive beach house. This part was probably the most fun for the kids, they had the run of the place inside and out, we went crabbing which Luca loved (the crab fights between the “keepers” as we threw them down in hole of the boat were his favourite), picked blackberries, went kayaking, rode bikes, saw deer and seal lions and generally chilled out.
A final hurrah a breakfast with a bunch of friends at Pat and Katie Perkin’s beautiful house and then a much more successful and rather uneventful trip home. Sydney is home but Seattle is my second home – I miss it.
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