Our longest day

It appears that for us this year, the longest day wasn't really June 20, but January 31. Let me explain. We arose at 4:15 am CST after very little sleep because we were still tying up loose ends in the wee hours of the morning. We got our showers, threw our computers in the car and headed off for Greg's in the near zero morning weather. We had sent our clothes, etc. by Fed Ex, so we wouldn't need to hassle with baggage through the airports. (We recommend it.) Greg dropped us off at the airport to begin our voyage. Although I used to fly nearly monthly, I hadn't flown in years (before 911) and Georgia last flew in 2000. We were preparing for our second stint at Oregon State University in as many years.

The Illinois prairie looks pretty bleak at 7:30 am in January. We were full of anxiety and excitement. Leaving our loved ones and home, but returning to "our beloved Corvallis" where we enjoyed our first trip to the Pacific Northwest a year ago. Those feelings, however gave way to exhaustion as we settled back in the tight little American Eagle plane to nap our way to Dallas.

As we approached Dallas, we snapped another picture (without snow; since the temp in Dallas was far above the single digits we had been enduring at home.) Once we had made our way through Disneyland like DFW from B to D where our connection to Portland was to depart, we slipped into Friday's for a great breakfast. Got voicemails from the FedEx office Corvallis that the stuff we sent there to pick up on our arrival was ready to pick up. Georgia went to pick up some things and I had just pulled out my computer when the announcement came, "flight XXX to Portland will now depart from gate A..... " By now the 2 computers were getting a bit heavy. We hoofed it back to the monorail and made our way to concourse A to wait for our flight. And we did have to wait because the plane we were to take to Portland was late getting to Dallas. We had heard that the temp in Portland was 51 degrees, so I packed the scarf (that Melissa knitted for me) into my computer case. On boarding, to cut down on things to handle, I also packed the camera and stored everything overhead except Georgia's purse. That became significant later. On the clock, the trip from Dallas to Portland appeared to be only about 2 hours, but we crossed from central, over mountain, and into pacific time during the trip. We both napped again, but were really blessed that it was clear as we crossed the Rocky Mountains. I kept trying to figure out where we were comparing it to our driving trip last year. Then about 20 minutes before landing Mount Hood came into view. My, my, my, what a beautiful sight. We had seen it from Portland last year (see post from March 08) and had driven up to the Timberline Lodge during a snowstorm, but here we were looking down on it. Oh! The camera is packed away. damn... Well, here is a pic I found that is very close to what we saw. As we circled to come into Portland from the Northwest, we got to see ships at the mouth of the Columbia River, etc. The difference between bustling DFW and the Portland airport was astounding. Peaceful and serene. There was even a lady singing to us (in person) as we made our way to the car rental area. Got the car. Upgraded to a 2009 Subaru Forrester which we thought would be needed for the trips we planned into the Cascades.

We got to the FexEx office in Corvallis about 5pm to pick up our "medical machines" and prescriptions, etc. that we had sent on Thursday (2 day shipment). We had sent our clothes by FexEx ground several days earlier and Dave from the Corvallis Depot had e-mailed us earlier that those 4 suitcases had arrived.

After picking up our stuff, we were ready to eat our second meal of the day, so we stopped by one of our favorite places in Corvallis; the New Morning Bakery. It was as good as we remembered. While there, we called Dave at the Depot to let him know we were in town. He said he was at the office so he would meet us there. He greeted us and told us that he had already put our bags (and the fan we left last year) in our apartment. That of course meant we wouldn't need to lug those bags up those stairs. Didn't upset us in the least. Dave said he didn't know we were rock collectors.... .referring to the weight of our bags. As we walked up the stairs and into the apartment, it was a great familiar feeling, similar to how we feel when we open the door every other July to the condo at the Maverick in Ormond Beach, Florida. We unpacked a few things and put the few groceries away that we had picked up at the Safeway on the way to Washington Hall (Corvallis Depot Poultry Building). After rumbling around a bit, we fell into bed about 10 pm. That may not seem like such a long day, but it started at 4:15 am CST and ended at 10 pm PST and included a complete change in surroundings and lifestyle. Although I am looking forward to working with the folks at the vet school, I realize that I will be working 5 days a week for the next several weeks. Since last March, the longest I have done that was 2 weeks. Got a welcome message today from Vicki, the transcriptionist. Today, I rented a TREK Town and Country bicycle (very much like my old Schwinn Cruiser) to ride the one mile to work. Don't know why I didn't do this last year. Got a helmet to go with it. Now I should fit in with the locals a little better. The guy at Peak Sports where I rented the bike said that police would arrest you for running stop signs, etc. so be careful. I'm not used to obeying traffic rules on a bicycle. (http://www.peaksportscorvallis.com/) I got my route figured out (bike path all the way to the vet school) and found the bike racks at the vet school. I got to listen to the Illini beat Iowa via my computer (the Big 10 network isn't a big deal out here) and we watched the Superbowl on a 19 inch panasonic TV..... That's a bit of a drag, knowing what TV setups we have at home. Did nose around enough to see that the great Italian restaurant Iovino's, as well as Cloud 9 and the cute little French Bistro are still operating. Can't wait to see how many more of our discoveries from last year we can find.... and add a few more. We will be going back this weekend to the Lodge at Suttle Lake which was one great place near Sisters, Oregon. We found a new place for Feb 14 in Georgia's favorite shopping town of Florence called the Edwin K B&B (http://www.edwink.com/index.html) which was recommended last year by someone at the vet school. We had hoped to return to the Columbia Gorge Hotel which we were sad to hear on the news had closed this past weekend. We tried the Whale Cove Inn in Depoe Bay, but it was booked for that weekend.