Friday June 11, 2010 - Kennewick, Washington to Portland, Oregon

Pendleton, Oregon has been special to Gena and I since our honeymoon. On our first massive road-trip together (Phoenix to Vancouver Island, Canada & back), we stopped in Pendleton and visited the factory and purchased a nice woolen blanket. We stopped in Pendleton again in 2005, on our big road trip from St. Louis to Washington state and back again, picking up another wool blanket. When we added whiskey to our family last year (the dog - the drink has been part of our family for much longer!), she decided that the two wool blankets were her chew toy. I was heartbroken when she mangled both blankets.

So, almost 10 years after our wedding and first visit to Pendleton, we were stopping again. In 2000 we had no kids. In 2005 Alec was 3 and Mika was just six months old - Caedmon didn't exist yet. Now the kids are all present and accounted for and frighteningly larger. We found two beautiful wool blankets to replace the two that were eaten by Whiskey. And Gena was smugly happy to prove that her memory had been correct, and that the blankets available at the mill's 'blanket outlet' were probably half the price or less of the same blankets advertised in their glossy catalogs. I have to figure out how to best pack these for the remainder of our trip, but we're both excited to have this souvenir of our trip.

Then it was a three-mile drive westward on I-84 to Portland. I realized that we had been in I-84 before on our journey - though on the entire opposite side of the country! We had taken that highway from eastern Pennsylvania on our way to Boston -nearly two months ago! This stretch of interstate was familiar to us, having traveled it several times over the past decade. The Columbia River is truly impressive as it churns alongside the interstate, channeled through two dams less than 100 miles east of Portland.

Today was the first completely sunny and rain-free day we've had for at least a week if not longer. I kinda miss the rain, but I suppose now that we've reached nearly the middle of June, I have to resign myself that being back west, things are going to be sunny and hot and there's no way around it.

We arrived in time to settle in and have a drink with Doug & Doni before I headed out with them to the book club meeting. The meeting was nice - great people enjoying fellowship and food and wine. I continue to wonder the best way for a group to talk about a book. Should it be guided and directed somewhat, or free-flow and open to wherever and whatever anyone wants to say about the book? This one was very free-flow. There were folks who loved the book, those who didn't care for it as much, and those who hadn't finished it - all of which makes for challenging discussion environment! But it was good to hear the questions people had - why this or that person or event was important, what made sense and what confused them. Reading is such a powerful activity, but it can also be an overwhelming one.

The experience further confirmed for me that I need to definitely organize this sort of thing wherever we end up living and working next. Perhaps it's the teacher in me, or maybe it's just the reader in me - I love the idea of reading with others and talking about the impacts what we read can have on us.