So, oh my brothers, I have left you for almost a full week with nary a post in sight. I am happy to say that the journey of Chris and Milca was an eventful one, so this shall be a whopper of a post for you. I am also happy to say that this post will be of a more positive note than the previous two, and those topics will be on the backburner for the time being. But now, as promised, the journey began…
On the 11th, Friday, my brithday, at 7 am. We got up, got the rental car, packed it, and left around 9 am. Not as early as I would have liked, but we made good time. We stopped for our last In ‘n Out along Interstate 5, met a wacky biker who told us of his riding tales, making the break in an otherwise boring and dreary location somewhat tolerable and even enjoyable.
It took almost exactly 11 hours to get to Ashland, Oregon, where we stayed with my Uncle Craig (my father’s brother), my Aunt Karen (I have 3 Aunt Karens, this is the only one on my father’s side), my cousins Hannah (the only female born a Loop in well over a hundred years), and Michael (A quiet, well mannered, and extremely curious and monkey-like five year old). Karen is a teacher, preschool teacher to be more specific. She studied the Waldorf method, which is how you would rrefer to it I suppose, which was very new to me. My dad painted a rather not positive image of this method when I was younger, and I had made negative comments about it to my cousin Griffin (Craig’s son from a previous marriage who has since moved to Mt. Shasta) when we were younger. In hindsight, I was just an angry little boy who was talking out of one of his not so clean orrafices. I am completely enthralled by the entire theory and process of Waldorf now, though. I wouldn’t be opposed to studying it myself. My thirst for knowledge greatens… MUAHAHAHAHA!
We spent a good deal of time in Ashland, survived a rare domestic incident in the neighborhood that ruffled the feathers of the little ones (and some of the not so young ones in the town), toured downtown, walked in one of the most awesome public parks I’ve ever seen, and quickly fell in love with the town. We also did all of this walking. No cars, just feets. It was a great time, and I got to spend some quality time with some family that I rarely see.
After spending some good time there, we left for the Eugene area. We arrived in Springfield, where we stayed the first night with Bear and Courtney. This was my first time meeting Courtney and her 5 year old son Morgan. They are most awesome. We had dinner at their apartment after a rather rousing game of croquet. Milca got to meet the majority of the Audacity Camp crew. Shelly, Gil, Bear, Whitney, Joe, and Greg made it for dinner. Courtney made lasagnas (one with no wheat for Shelly et. al.), and Shelly made sushi. We grubbed to our hearts content, played an awesome game of charades using the dictionary for inspiration, then hit the sack for some much needed sleep.
We woke and left for Eugene to have breakfast in Eugene with Bear, Whitney, Courtney, Morgan, and Seabrook at a little place called Glennwood. The food was pretty decent, and they were able to seat our somewhat large group rather quickly, considering there were 7 of us. The prices were also really decent, so I picked up the tab for the table, which I hadn’t really done for such a large group before. I guess I was expecting a much larger tab from such a place. If you get the chance to go, get the tomato and cheese soup. It’s all kinds of good.
The entourage, minus a Seabrook, escorted us to Gil and Shelly’s in Cottage Grove, who took us to get groceries and last minute camping stuffs. They then excorted us to our camping spot, a secluded site in the Umpqua National Forest. Much of Oregon has massive logging, which became apparent when you look at the line between the beginning of the National Forest and the clear cut that had just happened. It’s black and white different, and depressing as I could possibly imagine. Why can’t we just use hemp to make our paper? It won’t solve all of the problem, but it would make quite a difference, I’ll tell you what.
The site itself was filled with trees. Those of you in California might think you understand, but unless you’ve seen it, you really don’t. Let’s imagine the Sequoia National Forest, which is the woodsiest site I’ve ever seen in California. Now add one more tree for every two. Now add lots of shrubbery, fallen branches, and moss on everything. No, not just the branches, I mean everything. The floor covering, the branches on the floor and the ones still attached to trees, whose trunks too are covered in moss. EVERYWHERE. The end result was an atmosphere of pure, breathing, all encompassing energy that pulsed around you, even beneath you feet. This was aided by the creek that was rushing past not 50 yards from our camp.
Milca and I spent that first night there alone. Until that night she had only seen the slightest of glimpses of my Boy Scout skills. The only other fire I had tried to make lacked tinder and kindling, which I now had all around me. The fire was pretty good, considering we weren’t able to buy any firewood and relied on what was mostly wet wood. The potatoes we cooked took a bit longer than we would have liked, but they did cook. She was wowed and amazed, but most importantly, warm.
The next day we hiked, walked, and layed out in the flowers until the crew showed up. The first to show was Courtney, Bear, Morgan and Whitney. After they unloaded, Bear Whitney and I (the men) went for firewood. This was a quest in and of itself, as none of the spots that were remotely close to us had firewood. The round trip was close to an hour, but we didn’t come home emptyhanded. I had already set up the starting fire, so when we got back I started her up, and boy did she start. With real firewood to burn it was a much warmer and more impressive fire than the previous evening’s. Gil and Shel showed, with more firewood, and with Shel’s daughter Samantha (Sami) and a friend of her’s.
We ate, talked, sang, joked, and performed for each other. In short, we had a great time. The next day we packed up, cleaned up, and went back to Gil and Shel’s where we lagged as much as possible to avoid the inevitable goodbyes. They came, and, like us, went.
The trip home was okay. We made a short stop in Ashland again to eat, get gifts for those that had birthdays coming up, buy candy apples from the local sweet shop, and to get some more CD’s, as we had heard the ones we brought at least 3 times each.
The trip back as a whole was pretty decent, except for the short stint in Corning. We stopped at a Best Western and got a room, but not after hearing a long and unwanted story from the woman at the front desk. I knew she was a winner when she expressed a strong desire for something that McDonald’s was offering. Yuck. I repeat, Yuck (with a capital Y). Upon entering the room we found the beds had been slept in. I went to the desk where I was given keys to another room. Unfortunately the keys (those magnetic card type) weren’t properly keyed, so I had to go to the front desk for a third time to have them keyed. We got in to the room, at last, that was hotter than a whore in church. While we showered the AC cooled the room to a comfortable temperature so we could rest and eat the candy apples.
We arrived home to some very excited dogs and cats, who we had missed quite a lot.
Today was a day of post vacation errands, so that we could re-enter the work routine tomorrow with as little of a bumpy transition as possible. Granted, we are both still dreading it, but only because this much needed vacation went so well, and was so fun-filled.
The final verdict is that we are ver interested in moving to Oregon, and found that doing so would not be too difficult. My only concern is the job market up there, but I am confident that I won’t have too much of a problem with my resume.
I missed my brother Corey’s graduation ceremony from high school, which was on the 15th. I had to schedule my vacation time early in the year, so I started planning this vacation back in February, even though Milca and I had been planning this trip even earlier than that. With Corey telling me about the date of said ceremony only a month or so ago, I was not able to make it. He understood, as the trip had a special significance which will unfold with time. I was informed that the ceremony was very nice. I hadn’t graduated on time myself (which was a theory as to the motive behind my absence, which I believe I have squashed, as it’s not true), so I am very proud that he did what I could not. In the pissing contest that is being one of the 3 Loop boys, there are certain parralels between his path and mine, but the bar graphs seem to balance fairly evenly. The only roadblock, or speed bump, that lies ahead is Corey finishing his Eagle on time. That means all the crucial stuff done by the first of July. Here’s hoping. I’m fairly certain he’ll be okay, but I can’t help but think that he is going to stir up some heart failure in some of the adults around him.
And so ends the journey of a would be hobbit and his love… or that should read:
And so begins the journey of a would be hobbit and his love.