The Final Leg...AY

There is nothing quite like the sunshine of Los Angeles ~ granted it’s expensive sunshine ~ but wonderful nonetheless. We had just a few short days here…enough for Jen to go shopping and for us to recover before the casual 16-hour straight shot to Portland on Monday morning. The time here is always too short...and as we packed the car for our 5am departure…Gus looked about as unimpressed as a dog can at the prospect of climbing into a car once more. The final leg of our trip was smooth and we arrived in Portland to collect the keys to Jen’s new place and with 24 hours to prepare for the Herrera invasion of Portland.  Of course there is no better way to help someone move into their new place than to get a stomach bug and end up in a cold sweat and a fetal position on the floor….but that’s just the sort of dedicated partner that I am. With Jen moved in to a great new place, we spent the week with the family who had arrived from Los Angeles to celebrate the wedding of Lucas and Kirsten.

We knew the day was coming, but after an incredible summer traveling together, including 25 states and two Canadian provinces in three weeks, we chose to live in denial of the fact I would return to the east coast to start my residency training. With a final weekend together we decided to climb back in the car and head towards America’s New Zealand…Canada (minus the sheep and Velcro gloves...). It was an incredible weekend ~ we ventured through Vancouver for a day or two…taking in the beaches, the parks, fish and chips and Chinese gardens, before it was off to a friend’s cabin by the lake a few hours east. Here, despite neither of us being seaworthy, managed to take a small boat out on the lake – and return to shore without any major events. Then we swam and looked around some national parks nearby before heading back to the US.

Now with Jen all set for another year in Portland, I will climb on a plane back to the east coast to start the final leg of the academic adventure they call graduate school. 

Pics: Jen’s new digs, an unimpressed Gus, Vancouver, Chinese Garden, Vegemite icecream and the lake.