PORTLAND HO!

Sorry about the formatting on some of these posts. The blog is not cooperating. Doesn't want to do paragraph returns.

Medford to Portland was another gorgeous drive through hilly and mountainous countryside, very green and some trees in bloom. Also raining.

Lunch at Burgerville (Oregon's In n Out); but you know it's the northwest because on the menu is wild salmon and hazelnut salad and triple berry shakes. Yum.

And now we are in Portland! Pouring rain, aren't you glad? We probably would have been disappointed otherwise. Thistle is hiding under the bed in our apt. It's quite nice here; new rental furniture and apt has recently been redone. Washer and dryer, too!

Now we are going out to dinner: crawdads!

I'll post pics tomorrow.

Sac to Medford

On Palm Sunday morning, we set out for Medford, driving through beautiful countryside - valleys, mountains, hills, rivers, all decked out in spring colors.

Jess drove my car, and I relaxed and entertained her, and Bobby drove the pickup and Tom was the entertainer. You know, we were selecting bad radio stations and looking up stuff on the iphones.

Stopped at the Olive Pit (olive and olive oil tasting) in Corning, CA, and at the Black Bear Diner in Redding.

Entered Oregon at 4:59 p.m., and guess what? It's raining!
Ashland is a beautiful town built on the hillsides, and I'm sure we will be returning here to attend the Shakespeare festival.

Thistle is freaked out, hiding under a bed somewhere. Oh, well, I probably would be too, if I had been in a crate all day.

Tomorrow: Portland Ho!

Packing up

After thinking about moving to Portland, Oregon for several years, we finally decided last summer that if we were going to do it, we had better do it before we got too old to enjoy it! So for the last several months, we have been decluttering, throwing out, making trips to Goodwill and Salvation Army, cleaning, remodeling, polishing, painting, planting, pruning, staging the house, etc., etc., etc.!

We listed the house on 19 February 2010 at 3:00 p.m., and at 5:00 p.m. the buyers who would make an offer looked at the house. The offer was presented the next day, and we accepted it!

Bobby and I started resigning from our church responsibilities (sadly), but felt that we had accomplished many things for our church community at First Presbyterian Church of San Bernardino. We have been members there for almost the entire 25 years we have lived in Southern California!

Our church friends hosted a beautiful goodbye party, and wine and tears and laughter flowed copiously! They signed a journal with many words of love, gratitude and enthusiasm for our upcoming adventurous journey to Portland.

You know the date of departure is near when:

you are eating cottage cheese with maple syrup for lunch because that's what's in the fridge

you finally get rid of all the soy sauce, salsa and wasabi packets in the fridge door

and Edison picks up your 21-year-old fridge for recycling!

Who would have guessed a refrigerator has so much meaning?

The usual red tape was cut through, documents signed, inspections made, loans approved, etc., and on 24 March (a 30-day escrow) escrow closed on 3771 Palm Crest Drive, Highland, CA. A day of packing, a day of loading onto the moving van, then turning over the keys, and on 27 March we drove to Sacramento, Bobby in his pickup, and Thistle (the cat) and I in my Honda (plus my peonies).

The drive was uneventful; we ate snacks in the car and pickup; I listened to NPR when I could get it, and Celtic cds the rest of the time. Thistle meowed for a while, then quieted down.

The California landscape was spring-beautiful: lupines, mustard, orchards, and lots of aqueduct. When we came over the grapevine, the valley looked like a lavender lake, but was actually acres of lupine.

We arrived at Tom & Jess' house about 3:30 p.m., watered their community garden, had snacks and wine at a wine bar, then came home for salad and pasta.

Mushu and Neko (the Sac cats) weren't overly curious about another cat secluded in the tv room, so that went pretty calmly. Thistle has never slept in the same room with us, but she was very quiet!