the end of summer

I feel like I haven't had a summer break ... and school starts again on Tuesday! (Is it just me, or does school seem to start earlier every year?)

One reason my summer has felt shorter is because I have had an international student staying with me for the past five weeks. She came right after the Fourth of July to boost her English before beginning her senior year. She worked extremely hard, and her English improved greatly ... and I learned that it's hard work being a "mother"! She didn't even have any crises or behavioral issues; I just struggled with things like getting up in time to make sure she got around in the morning, making supper every night (when you live alone, you can do cereal ... or just go to your mom's if you're fortunate enough to live close by), and figuring out what on earth to pack for her lunch. Plus, I've gotten way less sleep than I need. If I've had trouble with a fairly independent and self-sufficient 17-year-old, I don't even want to imagine what an infant would be like!

Hoa and me at Buffalo Wild Wings. She tried a lot of new foods this summer!

Another reason my summer has seemed short is that I'm reading all the time. Remember how one of my goals for 2012 was to learn to say "no"? Well, while I have passed on many a book review, I probably need to pass on more ... because this is my current "to be read" bookcase! The top shelf is my review books (except for Attachments, which belongs on the shelf below—not sure how it ended up on the wrong shelf), and the bottom shelf is my "read when I don't have a review deadline approaching" section. While I've read some fantastic books this summer (like this one, this one, and this one), I think I'm going to have to cut back for sanity's sake!

I did manage to go on a short trip this summer. Blendy and I try to take a road trip each summer, and this year we decided to go to Indiana and Ohio. Hoa went with us to Indiana, and then she met up with her cousins who attend Indiana University. Blendy and I went on to Ohio, where we spent a few days with college roomie Jodi, her husband Peter, and their adorable baby girl. Our friend Holly met up with us one day for mini-golfing and supper, and it was great to see her again. Back in Indiana, we had lunch with college roomie Jen and her adorable baby girl. And we spent time relaxing with Val. It was a short trip, but it was fun! Most of the pictures we took revolve around food ... if you want to see them, go here.

While I'm sad to see summer's end, I'm also very excited for the return of my kids! When I go to work in the morning, most of the ones who are returning will be back at school. And tomorrow night, my mom and I are going to pick one up at the airport. I can't wait to see them all!

blendy's birthday bash

You only turn 21 once.

To celebrate her 21st birthday, Blendy and I spent a fabulous weekend in Wichita. This was supposed to be a surprise, but she guessed it months ago when I said, "You'll never guess what I have planned for your birthday!" She proved me wrong with the very next words out of her mouth: "You're taking me to the Warren to the balcony theater."

I hate when my sisters guess their gifts! I suppose I could have changed it to something else, but I was anticipating it as much as she was, so I just went with it.

Due to our crazy schedules (work and speech), we couldn't actually go for her birthday, so we went a month later. And it was the perfect weekend to travel—temps in the 80's the entire time!

We left on Saturday morning and arrived in Wichita around 3. Our first stop? Chick-fil-A, of course!

Forgot to take the camera or phone inside the restaurant ... and apparently we don't know how to turn our cups to show the Chick-fil-A logo, either. You'll just have to take my word for it that we stopped there!

Then we checked into our hotel—The Hampton Inn & Suites on Greenwich. Nice hotel. It was also the site of a wedding reception on Saturday, and when we arrived, several guests were well on their way to getting wasted. Fortunately, we had our own plans on Saturday night, so they didn't bother us at all!

We met up with cousins Jon & Lauren for shopping, a movie, dinner, and drinks. (Never fear, Mom—Blendy and I drank Diet Coke!) It had been a long time since we'd spent any real time with them, so it was nice that they wanted to come hang out with us!

We saw Mirror Mirror at the Warren ... it had a decidedly Ella Enchanted vibe to it,
thus ensuring cousin Jon's enjoyment!

We had supper at Il Vicino Wood-Oven Pizza. It was excellent pizza. And the cannoli? To die for! 

We went back to Oscar's Lounge at the Warren to hang out a bit longer. The paintings on the wall are of movie stars, and there's one that I swear looks like Chris Harrison ... I didn't snap a picture, but if you follow this link and scroll to the last picture, the painting of "Chris" is on the left. If you know who it's really supposed to be, please tell me!

On Sunday, we got down to business—the business we went to Wichita for—we saw The Hunger Games in the Warren's balcony theater! Ever since we started going to the Warren several years ago (I think Pride & Prejudice is the first movie we saw there, so it's been a while), Blendy has wanted to go to the balcony theater. Since you have to be 21 to get in, we had to wait. Until now.

Trying to decide what to order. She ended up with a pizza; I got a grilled chicken sandwich.

I think it was everything Blendy was hoping it would be—huge screen, food & drink service at your seat, and a great view. However, she didn't get carded, which I think was slightly disappointing!

Then, we went shopping at Bradley Fair. Following a fair amount of window shopping, we ended up at Cocoa Dolce, a local chocolate shop, where we each purchased three $2 chocolates. They were really good, but I'm not sure I'd pay $2 for a tiny chocolate again!

Left to right: Sinful Mint, Lemon, and Mocha.

Then we made my favorite food stop of the weekend—Marble Slab Creamery, where I got a scoop of lemon frozen yogurt. It tasted exactly like the lemon ice cream my grandma used to buy me at Braum's. Speaking of Braum's, why on earth didn't we stop there on the way home?

Given a choice between lemon and chocolate, I'd choose lemon nine times out of ten.
Why isn't there more lemon ice cream in this world?

Next, we started the serious shopping—Barnes & Noble, World Market, and Target ... with another movie thrown in for good measure! After spending more money than either of us intended, we headed back to the hotel to relax and snack on the insane amount of food we bought at Target. (If you're wondering, I took a complete break from my diet over the weekend. As if you hadn't gathered that already!)

Time for snacks, Battleground, and toenail painting!

On Monday, we slept in, hit Chick-fil-A once more, and headed home. We stopped at the visitor's center in Belleville (the last town before the Nebraska border), where I picked up some Jayhawk earrings to match the ones Blendy bought on our way down. I had high hopes for the championship game ...

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend ... and I'm pretty sure Blendy will always remember how she celebrated her 21st birthday!

2010 retrospective

I realize I'm a little late on this (don't people usually do the look back at the year at the end of December?), but my two snow days are finally giving me a chance to catch up on some things!

2010: A year filled with high highs and low lows. Of my 29 years, 2010 was probably the hardest, yet I also learned so much through the challenges. Here's a look back at the events that impacted me the most throughout the year.

January: On January 1-2, I spent about 3 hours in the emergency room with abdominal pain. It definitely wasn't how I planned to begin my year, but something good came out of it. The ER doctor sent me home after ruling out appendicitis and kidney stones, but she suspected gall stones. While the ultrasound I had the next week didn't show any stones, my doctor suspected my gall bladder was "sluggish," and she suggested I drastically cut the fat in my diet. Wanting to avoid pain and more trips to the doctor, I did ... and in the process lost 25 pounds! Somewhere along the line, I picked five back up, so I'm starting 2011 twenty pounds lighter than I started 2010. I'm hoping to make it another 20 this year, but I know doing so will require a lot of discipline and hard work.


April: My friend and former roommate Melissa married Ryan, and I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids. It was a wonderful (and short) celebration, and I loved seeing my friend so happy! Also, by that point in the year, I'd lost enough weight that my dress had to be taken in :-)

Melissa and me on her wedding day.

May: I started feeling sick again. Well, I really started feeling "off" in April, but I didn't actually see a doctor until May. My strange symptoms--lightheadness, headaches, racing heartbeat, no appetite, no energy--led to some expensive tests and no real answers. Finally in June, after a brain scan that showed nothing abnormal, I decided to go to the chiropractor. After he heard my symptoms, he immediately wanted to take an x-ray of my neck. I had several vertebrae out of place. He also suspected an iodine deficiency and started me on supplements. Within two weeks of treatments, most of my symptoms were gone, and within a month, I had my energy back! I still don't know if my neck sprain is the only thing that was wrong, but I don't care ... 'cause I feel good! I'm now a firm believer in chiropractic care!

June: One of my high school acquaintances started a women's Bible study. There are five of us who normally attend, and this has been a needed addition to my life. Now I have a group of women praying for me and keeping me accountable, and I eagerly anticipate each meeting. God brought this into my life just when I needed it!

July: July is a blur--I spent much of it away from home! At the beginning of July, Blendy and I drove to Indiana for my college roommate Jen's wedding. This wedding was a total celebration, and I had a blast! We arrived a couple of days before the wedding, and it was great to hang out with Jen and (hallmate) Sarah and get to know Jen's beloved a bit, as well! Then at the end of the month, Blendy and I took off on our great road trip adventure! We started in Michigan, spent a couple days in Pennsylvania, visited my college friend Holly near Cleveland, attended college roommate Jodi's wedding, and then stayed overnight at Jen & Josh's apartment before we returned home. It was such a fun trip!

Me and Sarah a couple days before Jen's wedding

The Hrens and me.

Me and Blendy on our fabulous road trip.

Me and Jodi.

August: While we were on our roadtrip adventure, I got a call from Val's landlord. Val and her roommate decided to move to Grand Island, and Larry wanted to know if I was interested in renting the house after they moved out in August. Because the house was going on the market, they were willing to rent for next to nothing ... so I decided to take a leap and move! I'm loving living in a house instead of an apartment ... and I'm really loving the garage!

My house (obviously not in August!)

November: I accompanied nearly 50 high school students on a trip to Washington, D.C. I had a blast (though I could happily live my life without spending another night on a bus!) and intended to blog about it when I got home. That didn't happen, but at least you can see some pictures here!

December: Two things consumed my December. The first was the Singing Christmas Tree. This was my fourth year as a choir member, and I had the most fun of any year--probably because I connected with other choir members better than I had before. As an added bonus, Blendy had a solo, and I overflowed with sisterly pride each time she sang.

Blendy singing her solo. Sorry it's so blurry!

The other thing consuming December wasn't so pleasant. My grandma's health was declining rapidly, and on December 20, she died. I woke up that morning feeling an urgency to see her, so I got everything in order at work and left for Kansas. My mom was already there--she had gone down the week before--and after I arrived, we spent a while with Grandma before leaving for supper. Then we returned and spent another hour or so with her before leaving for the night. While I was there, I said everything I wanted to say to Grandma, and though she wasn't really able to communicate, I will go to my grave believing she was trying to say "I love you." When we left that night, we had no idea she was so near to death, so it was quite a shock when the nursing home called us at 11 to say she had passed away. The next week was a whirlwind of activity--my mom's brother and sister both arrived the next day, and the funeral was set for the Monday after Christmas. Prior to Grandma's death, I worried that Christmas would be depressing and sad, and we all certainly faced moments of sadness, but overall the mood was happy. Grandma had been in severe pain, and I rejoice in knowing that she will never experience pain again!

Most memorable moment of the year: I had no idea this would turn out to be my most treasured memory of 2010 when it happened, but now I'm so thankful for the day in July when Mom and I took Grandma out for her birthday. It turned out to be my last meaningful time with Grandma. She had an absolute blast--we took her to Cracker Barrel for supper, then we returned to her house for pie and presents. I will never forget how happy she was, and I will always treasure that night.  

Grandma and Mom at Cracker Barrel.

She got a free sundae because it was her birthday. Hamming for the camera was rather uncharacteristic!

My last picture with my grandma. It's one I'll treasure.

a picture's worth ...

They say a picture's worth a thousand words. Since I haven't been writing much lately, I thought I'd throw up a few pictures to catch you up with my life!

I got Mom tickets to Straight No Chaser's Omaha concert for her birthday. As you can see, we were quite happy to be there! My favorite part was, surprisingly, this Lady Gaga medley.

In early October, my sisters and I ran/walked a 5K. The experience made me want to do another!

Thanks to a facebook friend, I've become obsessed with this bread. It's so easy and absolutely delicious!

In early November, I accompanied a group of students on a trip to DC. This is one of my favorite shots.

My cousin Shawna was on the trip, and I enjoyed spending time with her. Here we are outside Lee's Mansion in Arlington National Cemetery.

On the way home from DC, we stopped at the Creation Museum near Cincinnati, where I "got" to hold this snake. Pretty brave, if I do say so myself!

This picture serves two purposes: 1) To show off my new hair color. 2) To thank cousin Bethie for the Sleepy Monk coffee and Cannon Beach mug she brought me when she visited for Thanksgiving.

Yesterday, Blendy and her friend Janelle came over to help me decorate. Then we watched You've Got Mail while I wrapped all the presents I've bought so far.

leavin' on a coach bus

Early tomorrow morning, I and 45 or so others will climb onto a bus, where we'll remain until we arrive in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, early Tuesday morning. From there, we'll continue on to Washington, D.C. I'm going along as a sponsor for my school's annual sophomore trip. If you think of me in the next week, pray for me: bus rides and I are not friends, as I have an extremely difficult time sleeping while traveling. Bus ride aside, I'm very excited about this trip, as I've never been to DC before. To make it even better, my cousin Shawna will be on the trip, and I'm looking forward to spending some time with her! I'm not taking my laptop, so I won't be blogging along the way like I did on my last several road trips, but I promise to update you when I get home!

pricelining: days 3 & 4

We were without internet access at our last hotel, so I wrote this on Friday but didn't have the opportunity to post until tonight.

For what we did on day three, see Blendy’s blog!

This morning, we got up at 9 and readied ourselves to leave. I booked our hotel—$48 for a room at the Extended Stay America in Copley, Ohio. This was our worst deal yet, as regular price is $70. Also, this is our worst hotel yet, but I’ll get to that later.

After filling the car and driving through Krsipy Kreme, we headed off for Butler, Pennsylvania, the location of the nearest Ross store. Val and I visited Ross in Oregon last summer, and I was looking forward to more great clothing deals. Unfortunately … we never found the store! Google Maps let us down :-(. So we continued on our way to Copley (which is near Akron).

As we pulled up to the hotel, I thought, “Uh, oh.” It just looked, well, not very nice. My hesitation continued as we stepped into the lobby and were greeted by the scent of cigarette smoke. We checked in, headed to the car, and lugged our stuff up to the second floor. We entered our room—and realized it hadn’t been cleaned yet! I called the front desk, and the girl asked us to return for a new room. So we lugged all our stuff downstairs and then back up again. In retrospect, I should have checked out the room before bringing everything in. To top it all off, internet access costs $5—so we decided to pass on that for the night. The room itself isn’t so bad—we have lots more space than we had at the Microtel in Erie—but I’m just pretty unimpressed with the whole experience so far.

We had a double bed ... but I enjoyed sitting in the recliner.

The room had a kitchenette ... it would have been perfect for a longer stay.

Tonight, we got together with my college friend, Holly. Our hotel just happened to be literally two minutes from her apartment! We went our for supper at Swensons, a drive-in restaurant. This was—by far—the highlight of my day! You know how at Sonic the car-hops sometimes wear skates? Well, at Swensons, the car-hops RUN. As in, when they see your lights on (which is how you signal you need help), they run towards your car, full steam ahead. It was absolutely hilarious watching them!

Holly drove us by LeBron James' house.

Holly and me. We hadn't seen each other in six years!

Now we’re back at the hotel. I’m trying to steal the wi-fi signal from the Raddison across the street so we can watch some Veronica Mars, but it’s not working very well. We’ll need to leave for the wedding around 10:30—I’m looking forward to sleeping in!

pricelining: day 2

"Life doesn't always turn out the way you plan." While You Were Sleeping

Today certainly didn't turn out the way I planned. First of all, I didn't get up on time ... a fact that Blendy so kindly recorded on her blog. Then I had a few issues reserving our hotel room. Namely, I didn't want to pay what it was going to cost to stay in Canada ... so we changed our plans and booked a room in Erie, Pennsylvania. (A little different than Canada; I know!) Turns out that while we both wanted to see Niagara Falls and say we'd been through Canada, we were okay with staying in the good old USA. We have our room for two nights, and tomorrow we'll just explore the area. We'll definitely go to New York, as I've never been there before, and it's not so far from Erie. Don't know what we'll do there, but I've never been in New York before, so we can't be this close and not go!

Our trip was quite uneventful--which is good! Five hours and one crazy-expensive Ohio toll road later we arrived in Erie. Tonight's price: $50. Regular price: $89. So this deal isn't quite as good as last night's. Also, our room reminds us of a hospital. It's the Pepto-Bismol pink decor.

Unfortunately, we only have one bed.

My favorite part of the room--a window seat!

We decided to order pizza from Papa John's, and on our way there, we saw a discount movie theater that we might hit tomorrow night. Now we're watching Psych, and then we'll plan our day. I'm really glad we won't have to move tomorrow!

Steph enjoys the Papa John's pizza--we can't get it at home.

pricelining: day 1

Blendy and I are Pricelining our way out East. What that means is we're reserving all our hotels using Priceline.com's "Name Your Own Price" feature. Today's deal: $35 for a room at the Baymont Inn & Suites in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Regular price: $84.15.

Our trip began at 8 a.m. with a stop at our local coffee shop. It was all smooth sailing until we were about 40 miles from Kalamazoo. Then I glanced down and saw the low tire light was on ... dun, Dun, DUN! (I was going to link to last year's Oregon Trail blogs, as we had tire troubles then, too ... but after rereading all of them, I see that I didn't mention our leaky tire at all! Oh, well ... here's the link, anyway.) We pulled off at a closed rest area and checked the tires. They all seemed fine and had the appropriate amount of pressure, so we continued on our way. I'm very thankful that didn't happen as we were flying through the Chicago area!

After arriving at our hotel, we relaxed, watched a couple episodes of Veronica Mars, and headed to bed--we each had our own queen bed!

Our plan is to head to Canada tomorrow, visit Niagara Falls on Thursday, and end up in Akron, Ohio, on Friday. Then Saturday we'll go to college roommate Jodi's wedding and end up at college roommate Jen's apartment on Saturday night.

Blendy has also been blogging about this trip ... so you should check it out!

off the oregon trail: thoughts after returning home

• I’m so glad I took Wednesday off—it would have stunk to get home at midnight and then be at work by 8.

• While in Bozeman, we couldn’t use any hair products because Sarah’s sister is allergic to scents. My hair behaved reasonably well, so I thought I might try going without any hair products for the rest of the trip. I changed my mind when we arrived in Cannon Beach and my hair went crazy. Duh! Bozeman’s low humidity is what allowed my hair to behave without artificial help.

• I think Steph and Nate would be perfectly happy to never, ever hear “Don’t Stop Believing” again in their entire lives. It was our unofficial trip song, and I had to belt it out every time I heard it! (Not the original Journey version—which I do enjoy—but the Glee version.)

• Looking back on the trip, it’s so amazing that we were all able to go on it together. What a gift!

• If I ever move to the mountains (Montana???), I’ll need a new car. My baby would never survive!

• I wish Nebraska had good hiking trails. Hiking is fun, but we don’t really have anywhere to hike around here. At least nowhere I'm aware of . . .
  

• Can I get a job reading maps? I think I would really enjoy it.

• It’s surprising how well my sisters did with each other on the trip. I’m not sure that they ever really fought. Surprisingly, Val and I were the ones with the issues on the way home.

• After all the coffee I had on the trip, I’m going to go through some serious caffeine withdrawals as I go back to my regular one caffeinated drink per day routine.

• I forgot to mention the coffee we had in Portland. It came from Stumptown Coffee Roasters, and it was some of the best coffee I had on the trip. Look for a massive coffee/restaurant review post in the next few days.

on the oregon trail: day 14

We slept in a bit on Tuesday . . . at least until Mom started calling! We hadn’t told her we’d be sleeping in, so she thought calling at 8 would be fine; I think she was a bit confused when I answered my phone with my sleepy voice.

We had coffee at Wild Boar Coffee, just off the Colorado State campus. I really liked my coffee; Val thought hers was good but not great. It was the last coffee we had on our trip.

When Val looked up the Salt Lake City Starbucks, she also looked up a Panera Bread in Denver. Again, she didn’t find directions; she just looked at a map and tried to figure it out. That would have been OK, except that many downtown Denver streets are one-way. Once again, I pulled out the trusty atlas and got us there.

Stephanie had never been to Panera before, so the guy at the counter gave her a free cookie. We enjoyed our wonderful soup and bread and headed off toward Colorado Springs.

Steph loves Panera!

When I started planning this trip, I decided we should definitely visit Focus on the Family. The visitors center was interesting, but the Whit’s End/Odyssey portion was slightly disappointing. It would have been great for an 8-year-old (or for a young family), but we weren’t all that thrilled. Don’t get me wrong—there were lots of interesting things to see—but I had high expectations that weren’t quite met.

After Focus, we went to The Garden of the Gods. Spectacular! We only spent about 45 minutes there, but we could have spent hours!

The formations at The Garden of the Gods were breathtaking!

Steph was wearing a KU shirt yesterday; while we were walking down one of the trails at The Garden of the Gods, we passed two college age guys who started chanting, “Rock Chalk! Rock Chalk! Rock Chalk!” It was hilarious.

We found a Chick-fil-A for supper! We don't have them, so this was a real treat :-)

Finally late in the evening, we crossed into Nebraska! We got Blizzards in North Platte, stopped at one last rest stop, and then drove like mad to get home, arriving at midnight.

At our last rest stop, Val & Steph show their elation at being back in Nebraska.

on the oregon trail: day 13

Monday morning, we headed off to Salt Lake City. Val had looked up a Starbucks location, but she hadn’t looked up driving directions—she just looked at a map and tried to figure it out. As we approached Salt Lake, I was driving, and she was navigating. I got off on the road she said . . . which turned out to be the right road, just 10 miles or so north of where we wanted to be; however, I spotted a Starbucks in a strip mall, and we were in business. We decided that, rather than taking I-70 to Denver as I wanted to, we would take I-80 through Wyoming and then drop down into Colorado. My car (Uncle Tommy named it “Toad” before we left, but I can’t call it that because I think of it as a girl, and “Toad” is a terrible name for a girl) didn’t like the mountains at all, and we figured 80 would be less mountainous than 70. All this to say, we looked for a hotel in the Fort Collins area. This time, Priceline gave me the option of looking for a 3-1/2 star hotel, so I did, putting in $50 as my price. I didn’t think any hotel would accept it, but The Hilton did. THE HILTON!

After securing out hotel, we made our way to Temple Square. At this point, Val began driving, while I navigated with my trusty atlas. (I adore maps. I could spend hours looking at them, and I understand them, so we decided that perhaps it would be a better plan to have Val drive and me navigate.) Because of the time (it was after noon, and we still had a good eight hours of driving left), we didn’t stop, but we did drive around, and we saw the Mormon Temple and Tabernacle . . . sort of.

The Mormon Temple . . . what we saw of it!

As we were leaving Salt Lake City, my car got really angry. It got very hot, and lights started flashing, and I was honestly afraid something serious was happening. We began driving in the truck lane, very slowly, with the hazards flashing, and we stopped at the next town for lunch and to let my car cool down. We called Dad, and he said to drive in direct in the mountains, which helped immensely.

We stopped at Coco’s in Rawlins for supper—partially because we knew Nate would be jealous! I didn’t say much about Coco’s before because I intended to dedicate a whole post to it, but that didn’t happen, obviously! Coco’s is in the historic Blake house in downtown Rawlins. (I don’t know what makes the house historic; I just know that it is because of the sign out front!) For the past two years, it has been run by an Asian couple; apparently it’s been several different restaurants in the past 20 years. The cuisine is quite varied—sandwiches, steaks, seafood, pastas, and Asian dishes. The first time we went, I had a French dip sandwich, and Monday night I had chicken fried steak. It was phenomenal! The service is excellent, the atmosphere is cool, and the food is wonderful. So if you’re ever driving through Wyoming on I-80, consider a stop at Coco’s!

Three very satisfied Coco's customers.

We got to Fort Collins around 9:30 p.m., and as we drove through Old Town, we were amazed at how many people were still out and about. The Old Town area looks really cool—it would be fun to explore sometime. Val and Steph had been talking about getting ice cream, so when I checked in at the Hilton, I asked the guy at the front desk where we could find ice cream. He gave me directions to Coldstone and a local place in Old Town; what I hadn’t realized was that Val and Steph really wanted Dairy Queen! I wasn’t about to go back in and ask—I already felt horribly underdressed in my t-shirt and yoga pants. So we drove around for a while without ever finding a Dairy Queen. We did find a Sonic and a McDonald’s, though.

We really did stay here!

The Hilton was amazing. I’m used to Super 8’s and Days Inns—the Hilton was a huge step up! We rode up to our room in a glass elevator. The room itself was awesome. It was decorated beautifully, had a huge TV, a comfy chair, and a nice desk, and overall was just really nice. We definitely enjoyed our stay!

We love our room!

on the oregon trail: day 12

This was the day we had to say goodbye to both Beth and Nate. We went to Bagels by the Sea for breakfast, and then we waved goodbye to Beth and headed for the Portland airport so Nate could catch his flight back to Nebraska. (He is currently on a mission trip in South Dakota.)

Our last picture all together!

Val let him take her phone so he could call if he ran into any trouble. Just as we were passing the tree farm that so fascinated Nate on our way out, he texted to say he was in Salt Lake City waiting for his plane to Lincoln to take off. A couple hours later, he texted again to tell us he was on the ground in Lincoln. At that point, we were still in Oregon! It truly felt like we would never get out of Oregon . . .

When we got to Boise, we needed to find a wireless connection so that we could use Priceline’s name your own price to find a hotel for the night. We were sure that Boise would have at least one Starbucks, but we didn’t know where to find one, so we began our drive around the city. Val pulled out her computer, and we drove slowly to see where she could pick up wireless. We finally pulled into the parking lot of a Red Lion Hotel and “borrowed” their connection. It was very weak, and we didn’t get very far with Priceline, but we were able to find the address for a Starbucks nearby. When we got there, we discovered the connection was only free if you had a registered Starbucks card that had been used in the past 30 days. I have one, but I haven’t used it in ages—in fact, I don’t think it even has a balance. I was about to add money to it when I saw that there was an option to log on with another wireless service. I suddenly remembered a postcard I got from Qwest a few weeks ago, saying that they were proud to announce they had partnered with thousands of coffee shops around the nation to provide free wireless to their customers. At the time, I thought scoffed because I thought that most coffee shops offered truly free wireless; however, I was very glad for that info on Sunday! I entered my Qwest login info, and we were on our way to finding a Priceline deal. I never would have thought of trying Priceline, but right before we left on the trip, a friend showed me the ins-and-outs of getting a great deal. Anyway, my price was accepted at a Red Lion in Twin Falls, Idaho. We thought that was really funny, considering we’d been using a Red Lion connection earlier!

Our “eat locally” mantra fell by the wayside on our trip home—we didn’t want to take any extra time finding places to eat. We pulled off at some exit between Boise and Twin Falls, and we each went to a different fast food place. I got a spicy chicken sandwich at a Jack in the Box. I went there because we don’t have them in Nebraska, so I wanted to try it out. I need to find out what drink normally comes with a combo meal because I was charged an extra dollar-ish for substituting a Diet Coke. I noticed that coffee comes with the breakfast combos. I was amazed at their menu—burgers, chicken, Asian, and Mexican.

Our hotel, which Priceline called 3-star, was basically a glorified Super 8. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! (And the price I paid was considerably less than I paid for either Super 8 on the way to Oregon.) I just looked up the Red Lion website, and I think that we were in one of the shabbier ones . . . I intended to blog, but instead we watched last week’s episode of The Bachelorette, where we saw Jillian finally come to her senses regarding Wes!

Steph & Val relax in our hotel room.

on the oregon trail: day 11

We spent Saturday in Portland. Beth had to work again, so it was a good day to go. It was also good because our cousin Kim and her husband Rob had the day off and were able to meet us downtown. We met at the Saturday Market, which would have been lots of fun to browse through if we were shoppers. But I’m certainly not (with some notable exceptions), and neither is Val. I think Steph would have liked to spend more time looking around there than we did.

Waiting for Kim & Rob in Portland. Check out how beautiful the wind made my hair!

We spent most of our time at Powell’s Books. It takes up a full city block and has 9 rooms of books. Nate didn’t buy anything, but Val, Steph, and I all stimulated the Portland economy. A glimpse into our bags—guess who bought what: 1) Mere Christianity, The Case For Christ, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Sense & Sensibility, Betty Crocker Cookbook, The Hiding Place. 2) Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of NIMH, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure, The Tale of Despereaux. 3) The Picture of Dorian Gray, Great American Short Stories: From Hawthorne to Hemingway. In a few days, I’ll post the correct answers.

The cousins outside of Powell's: Val, Kim, Rob, Me, Steph.

After Powell’s, we went in search of food. After briefly considering a Thai place, we ended up at a pub that I can't remember the name of. Then we went back to Powell’s, where Kim & Rob left us. Val wanted to keep looking for books, so Nate, Steph, and I walked back to the car to drop off our things; then we went in search of dessert because Nate wanted ice cream. We ended up at a place right across the street from Powell’s: Mio Gelato. This was my first gelato experience, and it was awesome. I saw a sign in the shop saying it had been voted one of the best places to get dessert in Portland, and I believe it!

Nate & I enjoy our gelato. Mine is tiramisu; his is cinnamon.

We thought about going to Forest Park on our way out of Portland, but it was already approaching 5 p.m., and I wanted to be back in Seaside well before dark. We met Beth at Safeway, where we bought necessary items for our journey home and brownie sundae makings. Beth had picked up a pizza from Pizza a’Fetta—it was supposed to be half pepperoni and half something fancier, but they messed up the order and didn’t do the pepperoni half, so they also gave us three slices of pepperoni. We also had awesome cheese covered breadsticks.

Nate enjoys his pizza--with all the "extras" off my piece.

After supper, we packed up all our stuff; then we had brownie sudaes (with Tillamook ice cream!) while watching Hancock. Hmmm . . . not sure what I think about that movie. It was not what I was expecting, and I'm not sure it even knew what it was trying to be--comedy, drama, romance, or superhero movie--it had elements of all of them.