corpora lente augescent cito extinguuntur

Ok, so there are just TOO MANY photos to post, so I made a couple slideshows-

Part 1


And Part 2


There are some AWESOME shots that are in these slideshows that are not in this post, so if you have time, check em out.

Then yesterday me and Hunter watched Xena and played Paradise Burnout. It was truly a day of rest, and I bloody needed it. I did a grand total of NOTHING and it was well deserved I think.

The night before the trip, I got 3 1/2 hours of sleep, and was SO TIRED when we were on the launch boat that I actually fell asleep. I was afraid I was going to get seasick, but I fell asleep like a fucking baby. It was great.

I now know that I love being on boats, and I was kind of heartbroken to have to leave Astoria.

It's an exquisitely beautiful town, and though horribly economically depressed, still manages to be wonderful and quirky. All the buildings were really old and all the paint was chipping and flaking. There were cracks in everything, and the cool, gloomy, grey mist that enveloped the whole town put me in a fantastic mood. I was bouncing around like a little kid half the time, and passed out asleep the other half.

Rindy, my coworker and guide, pointed out to me all the "Goonies" sights (the house, the jail, etc) and we ate Lemon Merangue Pie ice cream and the BEST goddamned squid I've ever had at this fish and chips place called "The Ship Inn".

We had gotten there just in time to see "The World", a floating condominium whose cabins go for a million bucks a pop passing by.
They were going to drop anchor to go to the Scandinavian Festival in the ailing township, but it was gloomy as hell, with rain-spittle and gusty wind all day, so I imagine most of the passengers just stayed on and played shuffleboard.

We ended up going all the way out to overlook the ocean, but by then my camera was out of batteries, tragically.
You'll just have to believe me when I tell you that it was really fukcking pretty.

In the 1800s they stacked up these HUGE boulders on the coast (South Jetty) so that the soil and sand would not erode into the channel and make it more difficult for boats to come in.
It's absolutely AMAZING there- like 15ft high of stacked rocks and if you climb to the top of them it's just ocean- that's all you can see. But if you're down on the ground all you can see is this endless rock wall. It's totally incredible.


Here's some of my favorite highlights for those of you who can't be bothered with a slideshow



The route from Portland



From Astoria to the tipppy tip of Oregon, looking out at the Pacific.








( My favorites, still a ton of photos, don't even bother if you've got dial up )

Today I spent twelve and a half hours on a work meet and greet- it was time consuming and bloody exhausting, just because of the number of people, and the fact that I'd slept 3 1/2 hours last night.
Anyway, from conception to end, this is probably the largest photo post anywhere, and I'm not even posting them all.

This is part 1 of 2, this is the pre tour shit- aw some stuff before we went on the trip that is not directly related, but is awesome- when I'm less drunk tomorrow I'll post more.


I just want to drink beer (thank you god for half off on good local brews) and stare vacantly into space, done with socializing, ready for nothing:



( Bus People, Bums, and awesome stuff )

So we left on... I don't even know what day it was. Saturday? Sunday? I'm in such a haze I don't even remember.



Scan of a polaroid. I'll get a better one later
Barbara (friend of granda), me, Hunter, Hunter's mum, granda (Hunter's mum's mum)

( Long story+Photos )

Seeing my family was great. They're an awesome, though very small, group of people.
It was me, Hunter, Rosie, my uncle Eric (eggy), and his daughter (my one and only cousin) Molly Rose (age 14). Eggy's wife Donna wasn't feeling well, so stayed home (Spokane) for the trip.

Molly has gotten quite a bit taller since the last time I saw her, and really looks a lot like her mom (beautiful, blond, moon faced, great skin). She's clearly very bright, though pathalogically quiet- which honestly, I think, is probably a good thing. You learn a lot more when you're a listener instead of a talker.

Anyway.
We ate a bunch and talked a bunch and then turned around and came home (after a surprisingly comfy night on an air mattress). Eric took a bunch of photos of the family, so I didn't bother-
He's promised to send me copies, and I'm sure they'll be better than anything my phone could do in a dimly lit room.

So rather than family shots, I give you a photo essay of driving home.


It's possibly the biggest photo post ever, so if you have a dial up modem, I'd reccomend you buy a lotto ticket before trying to load this.

I have more to talk about, but this post is all about

( 210 miles; A Photo Essay of the Journey Home )

Dear LJ-

I love you, but you're only sending me 50% of my comment notices in my email. I don't like that one bit. You are going to have to straighten this out for our relatioship to work.

Edit:
From LJ Support:
"* Outbound email to Yahoo, Hotmail, and AOL is currently blocked or delayed. LiveJournal is working with these providers to have our new IP address whitelisted."

Well, at least they know about it.




So it's settled.
I'm going to be taking two different trips in the near future.
Next weekend I'll be forcing Hunter to drive us to Pendleton to see grandma Rosie and Uncle Eric (aka Eggy); and then this December, we will be going to South Carolina to see his family.
This will be the FIRST TIME I have ever visited the east coast, and the first time in 18 years that I've been on a plane.
I know that security will be a bitch and all, and jet lag from Oregon to South Carolina has got to be brutal BUT.... But I'm REALLLY fucking excited.
I haven't been on a "vacation" in more years than I have fingers, so it's been a long time coming.
I've never seen the sun rise over the water, I've only ever been to the "south" once before, and I've never met his father OR his brother- Also, last time his mom and stepfather saw me I was at my high-weight, so seeing their shock will be pretty fun.

Anyway, that's it. I'm just happy as a clam- We'll be staying at his mom's "lake house" which sounds pretty opulent by my standards- the whole having two places to live, I mean.
I'll be taking oodles of photographs, and no doubt throwing myself into dangerous situations unknowingly.
For instance: We have hardly ANY poisonous or venomous creatures here, but the woods there are packed with the little fuckers, and a BUNCH of them are really bad/ deadly.
Not as dangerous as say, Austrailia, but for a sissy pants Oregonian who's most dangerous predator seen outside of the zoo has been the Giant Killer Bananna slug..... you get the idea.
So lets hope I don't stick my hand somewhere stupid, shall we?


Yay for trips!





On a totally random note, I discovered that Movie Madness (the video store/ museum I used to work at) got it's grubby little hands on the Maltese Falcon.
I am seriosuly considering pumping sleeping gas into the buliding then making a daring ninja type heist and stealing it for my very own.


The Maltese Falcon

Right behind it is part of a set for Blade Runner.
Cool, right?



Yeah, but I want that fucking bird.