Oregon

Ryan and I went to Seattle to find a place to get married. We were successful and have set a date of August 15, 2009 (more on the location to come.) Usually, we trek to Canada for a day or two while we are up there; however, this time we thought we would head down to Oregon for a visit to Mt. Hood.

Highlights from our trip and facts about Oregon!

We stop when we get into Portland for gas and this guy comes over to pump it for us. Ryan apologized (thinking he must have pulled in the full service lane) and offered to move and the guy told him that it doesn't matter where he pulls up - state law prohibits him from pumping gas. Okay? Whatever!!! I was thinking we would get to the bottom of it later.

Then, we go by Kohl's to use up some Kohl's cash before it expires and could not get to the total at the register that we had calculated in our head. End Result - Oregon has no sales tax on ANYTHING!

After that we head to Mt. Hood - the only place to ski year round in the USA. We drove into Government Camp to grab something to eat and who do we pass on the street but Shaun White. Ryan and I both were thinking it had to be him and although I wanted to stop and take a photo - he told me "NO." At lunch the waitress confirmed that he indeed was in town skiing with some of the other X-games and Olympic athletes. Small world.

We did several trips down the Alpine Slide; however, we were a bit disappointed at the speed we were moving. Ryan figured out a way to get his cart to run faster by sitting over the wheels. It worked great UNTIL he came flying out and traveled a big portion of the slide on his body and obtained a fiberglass burn. We then made that our last run and headed out of town. On the way out of the mountain, he scrapes begin to swell so we had to make an emergency run to the food mart for medical supplies.

After that and with Ryan all beat up we headed to downtown to Oregon to catch up with some of my old friends (Leslee Biggs and Amber 'Anderson' Johnson) from my HS days in Norman, OK. I had not seen one of them since I moved when I was a sophomore at age 15. The other I think I saw in college but it has been over 10 years since I had even talked to her. Leslee is an Architect and took us on a great walking tour of downtown (oh yeah, another fact - they call it "City Center") Portland and then we went to Amber's office, she has a PhD in psychology and does research at the university in City Center (that just sounds so weird.)

Leslee provided the answer to the gas question on the walk back to the car. When I asked "what was up w/ that?" she told me it supposedly happened when Oregon's economy was in the dumps because the logging industry was disappearing. Unemployment was way way high and the anti-self serve advocates argued Oregon needed jobs, not to eliminate them! Who knows! Basically, you are not allowed to pump your own gas because it creates a job for someone. Sounds like Oregon philosophy's to me. We should probably hire people to brush our teeth for us to, don't you think?

It was fun to catch up and I always find it so amazing how when you see someone who was important in your past, it is so easy to fall right back in to a comfortable state with them. I am really lucky to have so many great friends from the past. Even though I may not speak to them all the time or even see them every year, I always feel comfortable and cared for in the presence. Thanks all!!!!