Mt Hood vacation with the family and the sweetheart

I'm back in PDX for a few days before I leave for Nanjing, China on friday the 12th. Considering this is something I have been planning for approximately six years to do, it feels really incredibly weird to be actually doing it. I was organizing and packing last night, and in addition to overpacking, somehow, for a five week trip in one suitcase, there is also this sense of freedom from everything that has kept me tied to this place for the last ten years. What a way to mark a decade. But now, we have
some pictures of my post Whidbey,
pre back to PDX adventures in and
around the Mt. Hood
national forest....

Post grad trip, leg 1

8-29-08: Graduation! Yay! Finally!
8-30-08~9-6-08: Up to Seattle, and Whidbey Island, where my sister now lives with my nephew, Orzo. See?

<-- This is Whidbey Island...pretty! Actually, it is one of many many beaches on Whidbey, only a couple of which I got to see this trip. There will be more to come however when I visit again in November, before heading off to Korea. It is so strange, all I have with me now is one suitcase, my gigantic timbuk-2 and a small duffel bag. Everything else is either in storage at U-Haul, or waiting in my sister's attic to get trekked across the world to Korea with me. So while on the island, biking and hiking and sleeping and reading and cooking, I did a fair amount of thinking about things that I have put on hold for the last few years. Mostly, stuff I never dealt because it wasn't as important as this-and-such-assignment. But now it seems to lurk in the background of my mind in a creepy "I'm going to get you" sort of way. I don't think it's all bad, but hopefully it will get me writing again. I also did a fair amount of thinking about possessions. All the "stuff" we have decided we need to get through the day, and are kind of upset without. For me, I've realized that this is the rather vain, but also sentimental choice of jewelery. I have a lot of various sorts of things, now all left on Whidbey, that I usually wear based on some sort of mood or dream or event that is happening that day. Everything I have collected has some meaning. If it doesn't, I generally don't wear it. Now for travel I have it paired down to a pair of earrings my sweetie gave me and a necklace full of baubles from my mother. It feels kind of naked not having a choice. I know decorations like this are completely unnecessary, but it had become a ritual that I'll have to replace. Anyhow, onto more important things. So once in Seattle/Whidbey, my sister and I dropped my Dad off at the airport on the 31st and went to Bumbershoot. This is my third year in a row going, and I am a bit more than burnt out on festival type festivities.

Highlights were: Saul Williams, whom I adore. My soul is always fed when I read, or listen to or get to see him. I am inspired in all sorts of ways and my mind goes in thousands of directions at once. I bought his new CD, but have yet had the chance to listen to it. If you don't know who he is, I personally recommend checking out his poetry/spoken word.
The PNW ballet was also lovely. They did a 9 song Frank Sinatra tribute with dresses by Oscar de le Renta, and two other pieces.

After the festival was the aforementioned Whidbey Island, where there are

pirates who live in houses
on the shore



and cute terriers that swim in the ocean










and now, on 9-6-08, 5 days before I leave for China, I am in Welches, OR, looking foward to
some more family time with my Mom and Jim and some hiking time with my lady.

Here is my Mom and Jim at the Space needle today, and a silly picture of me and Seattle from the needle for your viewing enter- tainment.






Well, Hurrah for my first real blog post. Stay tuned for real adventures in places that look much more far off than our beloved PNW.