We arrived in Portland the morning of the 30th. We had a very important person to meet right away! Alfred has been wanting a Great Dane for a long time. I guess he figured now was a good time because he is buying a house. I found a breeder just north of Portland. He put a deposit on the pup, but since the drive was only 2 hours we headed to Onalaska, Washington to meet him! We had been flying all night, but got pretty good sleep on the plane. I have taught Alfred the art of sleeping on the plane. Stuff LOTS of pillows around you and take the red eye...works like a charm! We arrived at the ranch around noon. It was a beautiful drive even though it was rainy in Washington. The fall colors were awesome and all the farms were beautiful. We were super excited to meet the pup. The ranch was a little run down and he had ALTO of dogs. We knocked on the door and a goofy older man answered. He said "I thought yal were coming tomorrow". I am pretty sure we gave him the date and time like 5 different times...lol! He invited us in and we were greeted by two huge blue female danes. They were the sweetest dogs!! He took us out to a little shed where our pup was. When he opened the door a huge black and white dog came over to check out what we were up too. She was the mother and boy was she a whopper!! I could tell Alfred was pleased. Our fat little pup was by far the biggest and we took our time holding him and taking pictures. Mom was letting us visit but was very concerned about her pups! We visited with "Vardamin" (hope that's how you spell it...honey)our pups name. There is a story behind the name....its a dental thing...ask Al..lol! We also went out to see the father and he was amazingly handsome!! We stayed for over an hour playing with dogs and getting covered in mud! We were really pleased when we left. I am glad he didn't have a girl pup because I want one too! We should be getting him around Dec 5th! Woohoooo!!! I can tell Alfred is just soooo excited about his dog. It makes me so happy to see him happy!! He is the greatest! Now back to explore Portland...I have been looking forward to this for awhile!!
We arrived back in Portland along with the fog and rain. We drove up to Al's dental school. It is so beautiful! I can't believe he got to go to school there! It overlooks the entire city! He showed me his old apartment building where I saw the infamous steep hill! He has been talking about this really steep hill that you take to get into his apartment...he was not kidding! It should be illegal to drive a road that steep!! I am loving learning about his life and all the things he did before I met him. I really enjoy getting to know him! Next we headed over to Trader Joe's..one of our many "must stops" along the way. Wow wow wow....we need one of those stores in Anchorage it was so awesome! Next we headed over to Mark and Josie's house (friends of his we were staying with). I was pretty excited to meet some of his friends too...I feel bad because he made some really awesome friends in Dental School and most of them live outside Alaska. mark and Josie were great and they have the most apartment right in downtown Portland in the Pearl District. It was right along the water and by some of Portland's famous bridges. I better be careful I am starting to like this city already. We decided to go for a walk to the local Saturday market. It was great and I can already tell that Portland has a very unique crowd! Luckily the rain held off the entire day and we did lots of touring around the city. That evening we went to Laurelwood for dinner and to meet a few more of this friends. We met another dentist who I know as "Ninja". Al has been talking about him since we met. He and his wife have a super cute little 2 yr old! We had a nice dinner, but I felt bad that we couldn't spend more time with them. After dinner went and shot pool for a bit with Mark and Josie. It had been a super long day and I was excited to explore more tomorrow so we called it a pretty early night. First day in Portland was a definite success and I am impressed!!To be continued later........
The next day we had to head South to visit Al's Mom and meet some of his family. They live just outside Eugene about 2 hours South of Portland. I was super excited to meet his family. We spent most the day in Portland because the weather was beautiful. We went to a rose garden and a pumpkin patch! I miss the Fall season stuff living in Alaska...there are no hayrides or pumpkin fields like back home. We hit the road about 6pm. Al's Mom was so excited to see us!! I can tell she loves her kiddo very much!! We visited with her and her little dogs for the rest of the night. The next morning we awoke to dogs barking and someone rolling into the house at about 7 am. It was his Grandma! We had plans to eat dinner at her place that night and she was stopping in to say hello! We visited for a bit then Al and I got dressed to go for a run. We kinda slacked a bit on the run the day before. There was a trail close to his Moms so we hooked up with that. I loved the morning dew from the rain and the light Fall chilly weather. We were running along when I saw the best thing ever. A lady with a horse passed us right on the trail.....ah loved it. I am pretty sure I asked Al "Ummm when are we moving here??" Hurry up Oregon economy and pick back up!! We shopped with his Mom the rest of the day then went to dinner at this Grandmoms. She made amazing pot roast and I met some more of his family. He is very fond of his Uncle Eric. His Uncle is an amazing woodworker and had a shop nearby I was hoping to see. Dinner was nice, but the visit was so short. I enjoyed meeting his family and can't wait to get back there again in March for the Spring!! We had to get back home early the next morning to pick up my Mom, who was meeting us in Portland. We were flying out early the next day East Coast wedding bound!!
Mom got in safe and off to the hotel for a few hours we went. We had to be up at 330 am to get the airport in time. The flights went smooth and we arrived in Philly at 4pm. My best friend from home, Amy, was picking us up from the airport. We had plans to meet a few friends of mine at the Cheesecake Factory in Newark. I was excited that 2 girls I haven't seen in like 10 years were coming. The mall I grew up with looks completely different now. Its amazing all the changes there! I had fun visiting with my friends through dinner. I wish we would've had more time. Turns out this is the only night I got to see any of the friends. However, this trip was for the wedding this time. I will see them again soon, I hope. I sure wish someone would come visit me. I had to stop at my Dad's house in Newark for a quick visit, so I had to end dinner a little earlier than I would've liked.
