Bend, Oregon

We went to Bend a few weekends ago, to attend the wedding reception of Rebecca and Mike. When we originally booked the trip, we were supposed to fly in Thursday night and leave Sunday morning. Due to some additional developments with childcare, jobs, and whatnot, we ended up going about a half day earlier. We rented a pretty sweet house via vrbo and took a 45 minute Alaska Air flight save ourselves the 6-7 hour drive each way with a three year old.

The reception itself was pretty low-key, in part because of the couple and in part because the actual wedding was a few days earlier with family. There were a handful of kids there and Dom had a great time jumping around the dance floor and throwing his hat with the other boys around his age. We were fortunate enough to have childcare, so Dom went to bed around 9 pm and we stayed out until the end of the party.

Unfortunately, I woke up Thursday with a tickle in my throat that would develop into a full blown cold or the flu over the weekend. We didn’t do nearly as much in Bend as I’d hoped because I spent a lot of time in bed and even more time sitting around resting. Probably the worst part of it is I just recently got over whatever it was, but not before infecting Dom and Melissa. None have really done that much except be very sick in the two weeks since we got back. It was a nasty, nasty bug – the worst any of us has had for a long time.

Bend is an interesting place. It was cold, insanely dry (despite it snowing), and very reminiscent of a winter resort town. There was a lot of breweries, good food, and keeping warm by all the various fire pits Bend had to offer. The whole vibe of the place is to dress in really nice (and expensive) outdoor wear – at least that’s what we found of the tourists that appeared to be around us. It was hard to tell if we ever really around locals; I suspect not much. My cold really impacted our ability to explore, which is unfortunate. Everyone was really nice, though. It reminded me of how Seattle used to be when we moved here eight years ago.

We would go back to Bend, but it’s not super practical at this point in our lives. There are so many places closer to us in Washington (and Oregon) that we could drive to easily. Heck, we could even drive to Idaho in less time than we could drive the Bend. Flying is too expensive, even though tickets are somewhat reasonable. So, yeah, Bend! Congrats Mike and Rebecca.

Remembering Jean Grey

We lost Jean Grey a little over a week ago. She’d been suffering from a heart murmur and kidney issues for some time – she finally decided she’d had enough. She really wasn’t well the last few months, but she seemed to still be enjoying life overall. She was pretty tough to get along with in her final days, although I’m sure many of us are needy in our final stage of life.

She and Dom got along for the most part, although she much preferred the attention of adults over the kind Dom offered. He enjoyed having a cat and sometimes referred to her as his best friend. I think he’s also called a rock or similar his best friend… not that it diminishes the way he felt about her. They had a good near-three years together.

I think the hardest part was thinking of having to explain it to him. He doesn’t really get the concept and hasn’t asked about her, especially since we left for a week of vacation the day after we put her to sleep. He did crack a short frown when I told him Jeanie was going to where the doggies in the picture went. It’s a picture of me when I was young, with Muffin and Mony (sp?) – dogs of family friends I spent my childhood around. He’d asked me a few days prior if it was a picture of him and where the doggies were.

Jean is the last major component of our life in the DC area. We got her somewhat on a whim from the Loudoun County Animal Shelter on the way back from a road trip. They told us she was the shy one of her and her recently adopted brother. She purred a lot, which she never grew out of… and she was never ever really shy. Anyone who spent any time around her knew that. We actually got her a month after we got married. In 2003. She was almost 16.

Well, goodnight Jeanie. We love you.

P.S. – It’s unfortunate I didn’t do this when Logan died. Sorry bud.

Palm Desert

Two and a half months ago, not the lifetime like it feels, we took a family vacation to Palm Desert in California. We wanted to head somewhere where it was warm, the sun would be shining, and was in the same time zone. Coachella Valley to the rescue. We rented what is basically a glorified hotel room with a small kitchen on a Marriott property and that’s about it. We went to the zoo one day and went to pool a lot of the days. There were also naps and adult beverages at the pool. Oh, and we took a day trip through Joshua Tree National Park one day. That was cool. I could see us going back as a slow paced spring break getaway. Shame flying in Palm Springs is expensive enough that you drive the hour to/from Ontario.