Update to two posts...

We have good news and bad.

Which do you want first?

Okay, we'll give you the bad.

We didn't get the house. At least not yet. In this market, you never know, but to keep a long story short, there are apparently people out there who have looked for a house in the city even longer than we have (I'm calling our starting date July). And it's possible, not likely, just possible, that in their one year of looking, they've looked at more houses than we have. Anyway, they bid, we bid, and their offer was higher. Nevermind giving us the chance to offer a little more, Seller's Realtor, just go ahead and let them have it. Oh well. We'll see if they get a mortgage, get through the inspection, etc. If they do, more power to them. Our perfect home will come along eventually. Hopefully we won't have to look at 80 more (I'm not kidding) to find it.

The good news is that Felix did indeed catch us a mouse the first day we were here! He also caught one this Saturday night. Dennis is getting good at disposing of mouse guts without getting his church clothes dirty.

So, my task for this week is to find us a furnished apartment in Portland so I can quit this nonsense of driving an hour or more to work each day. Dennis has me beat, okay, CLOBBERED, on the commute thing. I dropped him off last night at the airport for his flight to San Francisco to catch his red eye to Philly so he could pick up his Mustang (any bets on whether a PA state trooper will be able to catch him?) at Hertz and drive to Collegeville for a full day of work today.

Miles logged today: 120 for me, and I ended up in the same place where I started. For Dennis, it was more like 3,000.

Week 1 as Oregonians

After getting acquainted with our temporary housing and making an even bigger mess, (I think our stuff takes up 1/3rd of the hanger, and the overflow from bork takes up the entire upstairs of the house) we decided it best to begin our house hunt ASAP. I'm sure between our trip in July and this past week (starting everyday after 3:30, because I had to work East Coast hours this week) that we've seen well over 60 houses. We have finally settled on one and we put an offer in late last night. The sellers already had an offer on the table, but from the sound of things, they weren't going to accept it. We're keeping our fingers crossed. The good news is, there are over 60 other houses to choose from. Some that have definite possibilities, many that have no chance.

I worked remotely this week. Starting at 5am Pacific time to stay inline with the team back east. I must say, it's been pretty nice rolling out of bed and turning on a computer with coffee in hand. Then heading out on my lunch break at 3 pm eastern just to come back for an hour of work and be done by 2pm Pacific. I just wish I could do that through the rest of the year. But no dice, I leave Sunday night for a redeye back to Philly to work through Thursday, fly back here Thursday night and work remotely Friday. Should be a blast.

Mary was going to head into the office as she has gotten a few panic phone calls from her boss this week. But it was nothing they couldn't handle. We're getting good practice being eco-nuts. We're surviving on one car, of course we've driven said car nearly 6,000 miles in the past 2 weeks, but we got good gas mileage, around 30mpg...

Hopefully we'll have a chance to update this with pictures of our new house soon, Cross your fingers

Day 10

We made it to our temporary home at mom and dad's! Please note the bright blue sky in BOTH photos. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to arrive. In fact, we had just about perfect weather our entire trip. Our GPS said we'd arrive in Independence around 4, so we called to make sure there was room at the dinner table. Mom said Noah (oldest son of Curt and Deanna) had a soccer game in Corvallis at 4, so we just met them there. Noah was a little surprised to see us there to cheer him on, all the way from Philadelphia. The other two kids were home with Deanna. The kids have chicken pox.

The field was right by the OSU stadium so we could hear each and every time the Beavers scored on the Cougs, and that was A LOT. Sorry, Coug fans. We finally made it to mom and dad's around 6, caught most of the Penn State game and had a nice home cooked meal! Felix was thrilled to see us. He did rub our legs and purr a little, then promptly headed outside to catch something for us. That wasn't successful as far as we can tell. We'll have to check the lawn tomorrow.

So, tomorrow we are looking forward to a day of NOT DRIVING!!!

Miles logged: 600 or so... just enough to get here, no more, no less.
Total Miles: ~5,200 which is a lot!!!

Days 8 & 9

These days shall forever be known as "Dennis is a rock star driving machine" days. Yesterday we woke up early and drove from St. George, UT to Fallbrook, CA. I think I drove somewhere around 45 minutes - just around my old stomping grounds in San Bernardino and Highland where I grew up, to my grandparents' old place in Fontana, which is unrecognizable. All their old chicken ranch buildings, house, and other miscellaneous outbuildings were demolished a few years ago and I'm pretty sure this was the first time I've been there since. Also since my last visit, I think about 10,000 new cookie cutter houses and 14 strip malls have been constructed in the immediate vicinity. SHEESH.

Anyway, it was incredibly smoggy in that area, but then we headed south to Temecula where Amber (friend and college roomate) teaches math and coaches soccer (and coincidentallywhere my two brothers used to live). Thankfully it cleared up a bit around there and we didn't feel like we were breathing chunks of toxic substances. We had a great visit with Amber AND got to watch the Phillies win game one of the NLCS AND we got to see it on TIVO so it was a fast game!


So we left Fallbrook early this morning and headed bravely through Orange County AND LA rush hour traffic and actually didn't have it too bad. Then we got Dennis his first ever In 'N Out burger in Santa Maria to fuel the long drive up Highway 1 from San Luis Obispo to Monterrey. Beautiful but NUTS. There's no cell phone OR radio reception, and you're basically within one wrong move of falling down a 100 foot cliff into the rocky Pacific Coastline at any time for a 4 hour period. We caught the first couple innings of game 2 and luckily got to Santa Cruz in time to listen to the last couple innings of the long game. Nancy's 4th inning text message that the Phillies were winning was clutch as we were just in civilization long enough to receive it midway through that drive.

THEN we navigated our way through San Francisco to the Golden Gate bridge just barely in time to cross as the last daylight was fading over the Pacific Ocean. What a traffic disaster San Francisco was. Dennis made it over the bridge and then I think finally needed a driving break, so here we are in Santa Rosa, CA (Hallie's hometown - we'd have called her parents if we'd known!) for the night and might make the push to Independence tomorrow. GPS says it's something like 8 hours from here, if we go the fast way. Which we might. Driving is SOOOOO yesterday.

Bork is doing great. I think he'll be really happy for a bath and oil change in Oregon, plus a little R&R in mom and dad's driveway.

Miles logged today:550-ish
Miles logged yesterday: good question... enough.

Day 7

As expected, it was a long one. We opened up the breakfast buffet at the hotel and headed out to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon fast. Good thing, because some creatures there were up having their breakfast waiting for us.


We let the elk family know we already ate and we kept moving. We took about a 5 mile round trip walk along the south rim and then hit the road.
Next stop, Bryce Canyon. That was a long drive, but pretty. We took a 2.5 or 3 mile actual hike there. At somewhere around 6,000 - 7,000 feet, that was a bit taxing. Oh and did we mention this was the first time we've asked our legs to do any more than lug our suitcases into a hotel room at the end of the day since about a week and a half ago? I can see how inactivity can get adicting, fast.

Then you realize that a little walking gets you views like these...

At Bryce

And Zion (though truth be told our Zion photos were almost entirely from the car. We were racing the sunset to get through it.)

We made it to St. George, Utah tonight. It's the only place I've ever been where, when I asked for a Mango Margarita at the Mexican Restaurant where we had dinner, our waitress asked, "Would you like that with alcohol?"

Miles logged: "A lot, but not a lot" according to Dennis.
Tomorrow we go to Southern CA so Dennis can see that lovely town where I grew up, and then we'll see Amber!

What day are we on?

It's been a constant question today.
Day 6... hump day. I think.
Started out early this morning and went through Santa Fe, NM, found a rest stop for a quick lunch out of our cooler just west of Albequerque, then went through the Petrified Forest in Arizona. That was a highlight, especially the Painted Desert. We stopped for dinner in Flagstaff and Dennis realized it was the first time we saw trees (other than scrub brush type trees) since Tennessee. We found a good brewery called the Beaver Street Brewery and Whistle Stop Cafe. We're laying our weary heads down in Grand Canyon Village tonight. Dennis drove the entire way today - all 600 miles at 75 miles an hour down all kinds of straight interstate roads.

Quick entry tonight... slow internet and long day tomorrow, starting out early again so we can see a bunch of canyons.

Dennis by the oldest house (Santa Fe, circa 1250 or something crazy like that)

Painted Desert

Days 4 & 5

Oof, we missed a day. Sunday morning Jamie made us biscuits and gravy at their apartment which was an awesome stick to your ribs kind of meal!


We were barely even hungry for dinner last night! Sunday was another beautiful day for driving and we made it to Austin, TX in no time... well, a mere 6 and a half hours, anyway. Dennis drove and I passed the time satisfying his incessant need for Phillies AND Eagles score updates via his cell phone. Those things sure do come in handy. Jen and Matt were so kind to welcome us into their brand new, just moved in this weekend, home. We had dinner with them and some of their friends in Austin - finally got the queso we've been craving since leaving nationals in Austin in 2007. YUM!!! I LOVE QUESO!!!


This morning Matt headed off to work and Jen saw us off after giving us good advice on which way to head to get to New Mexico in reasonable time. 70 miles an hour down a 2 lane road feels a little nuts at times, but hey, it's Texas, and apparently it's just what people do. The first part of the drive was pretty - rolling hills, cattle ranches, etc. But then, we hit the flatlands of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico.

We'll see Santa Fe tomorrow and hopefully make it to the Grand Canyon.

Total miles logged: 400 yesterday, Somewhere around 600 today... we forgot to look but we went a loooooong ways today.

Day 3

I let Mary sleep in a little today, we got up at 6:45 instead. Simple but free breakfast at our Quality Inn and we were on our way. We drove into Memphis to see the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, the site of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. It was an eye opening experience. Since we were in Memphis we figured we had to drive by Graceland, so we drove by. Think of how tacky Elvis' clothes were and that's about what Graceland was.

Off to Arkansas, where Mary missed the big huge welcome sign on the bridge. The first half was rather boring as Mary gave me updates to the Penn State Game from my cell phone. We found a sports bar finally outside of Little Rock so I caught the last 2 minutes of the game. It was Mary's turn to drive after that and I tried to catch a few Z's. I wake up to Mary saying "I'm bored, you want to go do some wine tasting?" To which I reply, "In Arkansas?!?!?" We pull in to a nice place off of I-40 and we were both pleasantly surprised.

After too much wine for Mary, it was Dennis' turn to drive and we headed straight for Oklahoma City. We found Jamie and Kimo's place where we spent the evening catching up and polishing off some Arkansas wine. Who knew? We hope to find Matt and Jen later today.

Miles Logged: 550

Day 2

Well see if I ever tell Dennis I am on his schedule again! We started our day at 6:30 this morning (isn't this vacation, too???) in Roanoke and after a brief stop at Panera Bread and Wachovia, we hit the road. It was a lot of interstate today, but we did spend a good amount of time in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. That was beautiful. There's a lot more fall color down this direction than there was around Philadelphia. We had a little picnic near the entrance to the park and drove up around some good sized mountains.

We had dinner in Nashville at a brewery not far from the Titans stadium downtown and then headed toward Memphis. We stopped about 25 miles short in Brownsville. Oh and we forgot to tell you yesterday that we saw a mama bear and baby bear on Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah Forest. That was cool. They ran across the road a good ways ahead of us.

The View

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Miles logged day 2 - 600
Oklahoma City, here we come!

Day 1

Well after running around like chickens with our heads cut off, we got the car loaded, got a few things shipped by UPS and we were on our way. We started this journey with 2 cars in hopes that a stop in New Oxford, PA would mean a new car for Dennis' cousin and one less car for us. After lunch and a stop at the title place to swap some formalities we were again on the road.


We took a loop around Gettysburg and swung down through Maryland. We drove through Harpers Ferry which took us from Maryland, to Virginia, to West Virginia and back to Virginia in a little less than 30 minutes.

We found the entrance to Skyline drive and viewed the scenery of the Shenandoah Valley. Lucky for Dennis we were on top of the mountains and 1210 sports radio came in loud and clear and we could drive AND listen to the Phillies game. We made a stop for dinner and caught a few innings at David's Taverna on the campus of JMU. We finally laid our weary heads to rest just outside of Roanoke.


Total Miles logged: 420
Off to Nashville

Moving Day is here!!!

Julia came over last night and made us dinner which we SO appreciated. Mac and Cheese and salad. Yum. We were running around a bit trying to fit our 4 months' supply of clothes into whatever suitcase and container we could find. We're hoping everything but golf clubs and a few random other things will fit in Bork and can ride with us.

It's beautiful driving weather. Bright, sunny blue sky after thunderstorms yesterday. I can only hope and pray that it's the same when we get to Portland in 10 days! That would be a nice way to start out there! Perhaps I ask too much.

We'll see how far we get today. The Phillies play their second playoff game today, so I have a feeling that might determine when we stop.

Going away party at the Urban Saloon

Saturday night we got together with a bunch of friends at Urban Saloon, which is a bar in my very favorite Philadelphia neighborhood that was recently opened by the guy who dj'ed our wedding reception and his wife. We had a ton of fun, shed a few tears (well, I shed a few tears. My pregnant friend Erin, with all the hormones, got to me!) and said our "See you laters!" That's the great thing about having so much family here - we know we'll be back often!

Us with Mel (and K2), Justin, and Mark

Julia, Carolyn, Karen, Mary, and Erin (and A2)

Mark, Bill, Dennis, Jon, Julia, Alicia, and Lauren

Us

Thanks everybody for coming!