Michelle's blog

The snow descended on Oregon and the holidays happened. This year we spent the season in Connecticut with my family and was able to persuade Russ and Jaci to join us. We flew out on Christmas day, with amazingly no problems considering what had been happening at the airport because of snow. We had already planned on moving the holidays around a little to make it work with the flights.

Christmas Day:
Russ and Jaci were kidnapped and whisked away to New Hampshire, but don't worry too much, they join us again later. My family finally got a chance to get together, when Marc, KC and brood came over for dinner. Lots of fun was had playing with playdough and watching Leena walk all over the place. They are growing so fast, I could barely recognize my niece she has grown so much.

Christmas Eve:
The main event of my family's holiday meals. And this year we had a lot of help. Russ, Jaci, Gwen, Nicole, Justin and I were set with the mission of preparing and serving Christmas Eve dinner. Everyone did an excellent job. Justin made a menu. Russ, Jaci and Justin cleaned and cut the squid. Nicole made fantastic salads and soups. Gwen and I rolled a lot of pork products, and set the longest table ever in my parents dining room. Everyone helped to cook, fry and serve the many courses. And as it happened my parents were both working so that they only had to show up later and be served dinner, I get the funny feeling that they may have planned it that way. Also at dinner was Grandma, who gave the nod of approval to the fried fish, Nicole's parents and brother and dogs! Even if I don't eat most of the meal, it was exactly how I feel holiday dinner should be: lots of food, friends and family at the table.

New Years:
Following the gorging of Christmas Eve, we then were off to MA to the Home for New Years. We stayed for 3 nights in the Berkshires and had a great time. More good times with friends and tasty food and games, just what a vacation is supposed to be. New Years Eve was a full house with the Wallace clan, Gwen, Nicole, Kareene, Russ, Jaci, Brian, Nate, Justin and I. We partook in the traditional yankee swap, Celebrity (of course) and toasted in the New Year. It even snowed on New Years Eve, so the place was very pretty blanketed in white. Later on we tried some letterboxing, and we were successful in finding 1 of 2 boxes. I know we would have gotten them all, if it wasn't for the cold, but we will find Cleopatra Watkins next time.

The week went by way too quickly. And soon we were back in CT to get our flight back home. No major issues getting home (we got home at least) but it did take a lot longer than expected due to a 2 hour delay in Chicago. On the other hand, we did fly back in first class, so it wasn't too bad.

I hope everyone else had a lovely holiday. I was bummed that we didn't get a chance to see everyone while we were home. Just means we are going to have to go back again really soon.

• Michelle's pictures
• Justin's pictures

Its crazy that Thanksgiving has come and gone already. We spent the holiday in Corvallis with our good friends Russ and Jaci. The holiday started on Wednesday night after work when we arrived and Jaci and I started on the pies and bread. We made a fantastic strawberry-rhubarb, pumpkin (from scratch- no canned pumpkin for us), and apple. And since there was a lot of pumpkin left we also made some pumpkin apple bread for Thanksgiving morning. I don't remember when it was, late Wednesday night perhaps, we realized that the turkey was still frozen solid. So after some google searching, decided the best and safest way to quickly defrost the thing was to keep it in cold water and changing it every 30 minutes. Everything was going along pretty smoothly until Jaci had a work emergency that was going to keep her very busy and on minimal sleep thru Thanksgiving day.

Thanksgiving day: Russ and I tackled the meal, Justin was a key assistant. In the end I believe we all made an amazing meal which included: Turkey (which Russell flipped while it was cooking), Squash Soup, Cranberry Relish, Chipotle Sweet Potatoes, Manchego Mashed Potatoes, Homemade Bread, Apple-onion stuffing, Cheese Service, Artichoke spinach dip, and then everything the Mulls brought over. Oh and Justin and Russell made this intensive giblet gravy that took hours, I heard it was good, but they lost my interest when they added organs to the dish. It was a great Thanksgiving that included the Mull Family and Jaci's brother. Had some live music performances and even played multiple rounds of Apples to Apples.

The weekend only got better since we had reservations in Bend for Saturday night. Saturday morning the four of us got into the car for a road trip over the mountains to the high desert. It was crazy to pass through dense forests only to end at flat brown desert. Jaci and I had letterboxing plans for the afternoon and we spent time in a local park. At the trailheads they warned you about mountain lions and bears, luckily we didn't find either. Once it started to cool down we headed over to our hotel. We had managed to get a reservation in a cottage at the McMenamins Old St. Francis School. Meaning we got to stay in a adorable house, that at one time was the schools Art House, and our backdoor emptied us out to a pub with multiple firepits. And did I mention that they also had a Turkish-style bath, free movies, and a pub! This place was awesome. I wish I could live there. We did take advantage of everything we could, went to the pool, saw the movie 'Burn After Reading', and tasted many a fine food and drink.

Oh I almost forgot the High Desert Museum. Lots of fun, got to meet Thomas the otter (he was off, meaning otters are either on or off, it was nap time for Thomas) and Daisy the skunk while going for a walk around the museum.

Sadly the weekend had to come to an end, but we were able to experience a winter tradition of lights at the Corvallis Pepsi Bottling Plant. It was classic!

Great weekend, excellent friends, good company, and lots of fantastic food! What more could you ask for?

• Thanksgiving photos

So over a week ago, Justin and I flew back to the East Coast to spend a week in MD with Justin's parents. It was a great relaxing week, just what we were looking forward to. We even spent a couple nights in Chincoteague and visited Assateague Island. The islands were great, since it was off season everything was very quiet and relaxed. The wildlife refuge was the best part, some of the famous ponies were even chillin right on the side of the road, very convenient for some photos. The islands have some other animals that we were lucky enough to see, deer, a type of mini elk, and many many birds. We even went letterboxing along the islands and I think found all of them.

The remaining part of the visit was spent playing games, watching TV, catching up on movies, eating tasty food and just hanging out. After a week of that it was hard to get back to normal life again.

• Our Assateague Island pictures

As I sit here typing this post I wish there was a way I could send you the smell of baking apples; cause that is what our apartment smells like right now. Another great weekend to report on; and this was all fall. Jaci and I had planned a fall weekend a couple of weeks ago; but I didn't think it would become this successful.

Saturday Justin and I drove down to Corvallis and spent the afternoon picking many many apples at Russ' parents farm with Russ and Liz (Jaci's coworker). And what is the easiest way to pick apples you may ask? Well I learned you use the chainsaw to prune the tree at the same time. Russ' dad wanted to trim the oversized apple tree and we didn't want to waste the opportunity. We collected a ton of apples.

After picking apples and felling tree branches a good way to relax may be to sit around and watch a movie, but not this weekend. Russ, Jaci, Liz, Justin and I went to Junction City for a haunted corn maize! It was excellent; well worth the ginormous line for tickets. The maze was huge; corn as high as an elephants eye in fact, and it had a pirate theme; with a pirate ship in the maze. It was a lot of fun, with good scare factor.

Next morning back to work. Russ and Jaci picked up the apple cider press and everyone got to work. Cleaning, cutting, grinding, pressing and bottling cider. In the end we made 15 gallons of oh so yummy cider and still a pile of apples for baking. Couldn't get much more fall perfect than this. I look forward to Thanksgiving to see how the hard cider turns out.

• Michelle's pictures (regular camera)
• Justin's pictures (iPhone)
• Lone Pine Farms Corn Maze

Well we did it again, we spent another weekend on the Oregon coast. This time Justin had planned a weekend away as part of my birthday present, isn't he just great! We started the weekend heading down I-5 and stopping in at the Eugene Saturday Market, which has been going on since 1970. It was a great time, lots of fun shopping and tasty food. Then we headed over to University of Oregon campus and toured the Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Mostly if featured history about Oregon and the Native Americans that were there. But it also had a special exhibit on shoes, Eugene is home to Nike afterall. It didn't take long to notice everyone wearing yellow and green Oregon Duck colors, meaning there was a home game. Since Justin and I don't really pay much attention to sports we kinda didn't realize this and quickly found out that there was no way we were going to find a hotel room to stay the night in Eugene. Luckily we didn't really have a plan and drove over to Florence that night instead of the morning.

Florence is located on the coast and is a beautiful town along the Siuslaw River. We spent time walking along the very windy beach and made it there in time to catch the sunset. The next day my birthday gift really started as Justin and I went to visit the Sea Lion Cave. This is supposed to be the year round home to a group of Stellar's Sea Lions. However no sea lions were in the cave! We did see and hear them swimming along the shore. That made up for some things, but I really really wanted to see them up close, we will have to try again next time. We also drove up to Heceta Head Lighthouse. This lighthouse is maintained by the Oregon Parks, but the light is cared for by the Coast Guard. They had some great volunteers and we were able to climb up to the base of the light. They sure like their lighthouses here. Oh... trivia question for you: what state in the US has constructed the most lighthouses?

And the day only got better, when Justin and I went on our horseback ride along the beach at sunset! Turns out no one else signed up for the ride, so that made it just the two of us, our guide, Buddy and Chaser (the horses). It was a lot of fun, and now I kinda want to add that to things I want to learn how to do. The weather was a bit warmer on Sunday night than it was on Saturday, but the clouds moved in time for the sunset. To get to the beach we had to ride the horses over the tall beach dunes! And to top the weekend off, we spent the night in a YURT! And it was beautiful, really even though this was in a campground it was the furthest thing from camping. I mean we had a bed, heat, fridge, toilet and shower! And it was excellent, I definitely will be staying in one of those again. Camping anyone?

My mom came down to spend a long weekend with us. It was also the end of my birthday week, and the beginning of hers, so it was a great week! Throughout the whole weekend we had some great food, but the highlight was my birthday corned beef, carrots, potatoes and cabbage. YAY, thanks to mom that was very yummy and it was great to have Russ and Jaci there to join us!

Today we woke up very early.... got some energy from corned beef hash. And then went on our way toward the coast. After a windy drive over the Coastal Range we ended up at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Justin has already been here once, when he took a trip to Oregon six years ago with Gwen and Russ, but it was a first for me and my mom. The highlight... eating cheese and ice cream of course! Justin even got a prize block of cheese for home and we all shared some snacking cheese for the car ride. For the rest of the journey we stuck to 101 or the coastal road. We saw many signs for tsunami evacuation routes, thats a new one for me. They don't have those on the East coast.

We stopped at a couple sites, Cape Meares, Cape Lookout and Oceanside beach. I even got to stick my hands into the Pacific for the first time! Unfortunately our camera was being a little funny so we don't have any pictures to prove it. Cape Meares was great and had some amazing views from the cliff looking down onto the waves. It also has a lighthouse that you can walk inside and stand right next to the Fresnel lens.

Justin was quite a trooper with all the driving, I think some of the time both my mom and I fell asleep in the car! We had dinner at Mo's in Lincoln City. It was good- at least I give the grilled cheese sandwich 2 thumbs up. Best part of dinner was not the food, but watching the seals play in the water just outside of our window. I'm not really sure what they were doing, it looked like too much fun to be looking for food. They kept slapping the water and twisting and sticking their tail fins in the air. After that we headed back home, but there is still lots more coast line for us to explore- so I know we will be taking a few more trips there as soon as we can.

• Oregon coast photos

As this is the beginning of my favorite week of the year, we planned a fun-filled farm day. And luckily Oregon is the perfect place to have it. Justin and I started the day at the Canby Farmers Market. I haven't been to a farmers market since Marbella so it was long overdue. We picked up some yummy local veggies for dinner before heading off.

After leaving the market, we went to the Canby fair grounds to see the Flock & Fiber Festival. We arrived just as the Irish Wolfhound judging competition was ending. These are some incredible looking dogs. And they are huge! All I wanted to do was give them a big hug and cuddle them. It was kinda odd to see so many gigantic dogs all in one place, but they seemed to be enjoying the day too. After the dogs we walked to the other side of the grounds to the festival. If you know me at all, you might have heard I have a thing for sheep. We went first to the animal side of things and checked them out. They were beautiful, and very well behaved. They even had some baby lambs with their mom, very cute. The rest of the festival was a knitter's, crochet, weaver's dream, every type and color of fiber was available for purchase.

We soon set off and after having a tasty pub lunch at McMenamins Oregon City we drove to the Philip Foster Farm in Eagle Creek. They were just happening to have their cider squeeze. It was perfect weather to hang outside and listen to some fiddle music, eat some homemade apple pie and get some cider for home.

Just an excellent day in Oregon! And we still have tomorrow...

• Flock & Fiber photos
• Apple Cider Festival photos

I thought I would explain a little about why we are in Oregon and what we are doing here, for those who don't know.

Justin and I wanted to continue our travel around the world and the US. And we figured there must be some way to keep it up, even with our jobs. Justin's job is very transportable, so that just left me. And just like traveling nurses there are travel physical therapy jobs as well.

I've known about travel PT since school, but there is always seems to be a bad association with it. For instance, you are going to be placed somewhere no one else wants to work- and there is usually a good reason for that. I have also heard that you may be the only therapist around and in charge of everything. And I still believe those positions are out there; I just made sure I didn't get that.

There are a lot of recruiter agencies out there- I kinda just stumbled into mine and so far am pretty happy with them. Initially they asked me where I wanted to go and what setting I wanted to work in. When Justin and I came up with a list of places to travel to, it was well over 10 cities/states and we had to slim it down. In our case we decided on the northwest and then more specifically Portland area. From that point it was easy.

Moving out here was relatively simple. It was very nice to just walk into a furnished apartment, unload our car and be done. But there has been some difficulty, I can't imagine a move without something happening. In our case it has been setting up internet- always an issue when you move. But this is particularly a problem since it effects Justin's work. But he managed and in the meantime found all the coffee shops and checked out the library.

I started my position about 1 month ago; and will stay there for 13 weeks in all. After that we don't really know what we are going to do, but it will be an adventure.

I ran into another traveler here who gave me some advice that I wish I knew in the beginning. She has been traveling for 2 years and loves it. She recommended never take an assignment over 13 weeks- try to extend if you like the facility later, and always work 2 days off into your contract. That way you have some time off if you need it, or you don't have to take it if you don't but at least you have the option. Good advice for next time.

For those of you that are following our travels...

When we last left you, Justin and I were spending the night in Wisconsin. Tonight I am reporting from Butte, Montana. But let's back up first.

We left Wisconsin to work our way thru Minnesota and into South Dakota. But even before entering South Dakota we started seeing 'Wall Drug' signs back in MN. Most of driving thru South Dakota was the same, flat open spaces. Things didn't start to get really interesting until we stopped off to look at the Corn Palace. The highway signs were too good to pass it by, "Be A-Maize-D" and "Come see the Ear-chitecture" And yes it was "Spectacu-ear".

Our next stop was at Badlands National Park. We didn't have a lot of time, so we stuck to the loop drive but it was quite a sight. We were lucky enough to time our visit at sunset and we got some great views. We also had dinner here at the lodge. Now my parents may remember a time (around 3rd grade) that I decided that I wanted to be a Native American, we had spent a long time on this unit in class. My Dad tried to explain how that wouldn't really work... and then to dissuade me from this by telling me that if I did manage it I would only be able to eat corn grits for the rest of my life. Well that was enough for me, even then I couldn't imagine life without pasta, so I gave up on my quest. But Dad you were WAY WRONG, for dinner in park I had some Sioux Indian tacos, which is basically buffalo meat tacos, but the best part is the fry bread. Why didn't someone tell me about fry bread before, its so YUM! What person wouldn't like to eat tacos on fried dough!

We left Badlands, visited Wall Drug, and spent the night in Rapid City. We woke up early (thank you very much iphone for getting the time change wrong) and made it to Mount Rushmore by 8:30am. In actuality it was a good time to be there, there were a lot more tourists there when we were leaving. We got some great views, walked around the president trail and I learned about how it was built.

Next we were back on the road, with a goal of getting to Montana for the night. States are much MUCH bigger here then I am used too, but tonight we are staying in Butte, MT. I wasn't too excited about about Montana until we started to see some of the views against the mountains. We also had dinner at an excellent brewpub called Montana Ale Works in Bozeman. That was some good eats!

Stay tuned for more, we are crossing the Rockies tomorrow!

After spending last week in Connecticut finishing up loose ends (if he has time, maybe Justin can inform you about the wonders of the CT DMV) we started our road trip to Oregon yesterday.

Due to some time restraints we are keeping our route pretty direct, and following I-90 the entire way. Which means we left Hartford and headed up to Albany, then Buffalo and spent the first night just across the border in Pennsylvania near Erie. The most interesting part was being stuck in a hail storm, with hail the size of ping-pong balls bouncing off the car. All we could do was pull over and try not to wince everytime one struck the car. Turns out we have some dents on the hood and roof that we need to figure out what we are going to do.

This morning we cut across the top of PA, travelled thru Ohio (seeing Cleveland and Toledo from the road), drove along the top border of Indiana, thru Chicago and we just entered Wisconsin and are headed toward Madison. So that makes it 3 new states for Michelle, and 1 for Justin.

We are ending the night in Wisconsin Dells, which it turns out is a hotspot for water parks, they are everywhere. Another good thing about Wisconsin- cheese, we just may have to make a grocery run before we leave the state.