Brookings and Grants Pass, OR

August 13-22

Allow me to begin by quickly summing up the less than relaxing two weeks for me following Seattle:

Tuesday, in Louisiana:  Found out they have drive-thru margarita bars (no, I'm not kidding). Flight home was delayed 7 hours.  Learned that yes, Dominos will deliver that late to an airport.

Thursday, in Chowchilla, CA:  Met parents for dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory.  Found out one of the principals attending workshop was a former classmate and friend from college.

Friday, in Fairfield, CA (near Napa):  Discovered you can buy Boudins sourdough bread at the Oakland airport.  And there was much rejoicing!  

 Next Monday, in Frisco, TX (near Dallas):  Worked and went straight to airport to fly to El Paso.

Tuesday, in El Paso:  Worked and went straight to airport to fly back to Dallas.

Wednesday, in Frisco again:  Worked and went straight to airport to fly to El Paso again.

Thursday, in El Paso again:  Where am I?  What time zone am I in?

Waiting with Rachel for flight out of  Louisiana.  We even got the TSA agent to  join us for pizza!

!

For the alcoholic who's always on the go... but no U-Hauls (because that would be... dangerous???)

August 28-29

Pinned to the wall in my office is a small map of the U.S. showing the states I have been to.  To date, my total is 22.  One of those states already colored in was Oregon, because well, technically I had been there before.  Now, I was only 4 years old at the time, so my memory of the trip is obviously pretty limited.   Basically, the only thing I remember from the trip was being in tears because I was totally convinced that my parents had stolen my snow during the train ride up there and replaced it with water.  (Since I had never seen the stuff before, they scooped some snow into a cup for me during one of the stops.)  They kept trying to tell me some bogus story about how snow melts and becomes water... blah, blah, blah, but come on, would you buy that story?  Yeah, me either ;)

Well, this trip gave me the opportunity to return to the scene of the crime and see California's neighbor to the north.  On the agenda for this trip were the towns of Brookings and Grants Pass.

The trip began with a flight from Las Vegas to Crescent City, CA via San Francisco.  Aly was not with me this time, so of course I got into and out of SFO with no delays.  As the plane began its ascent out of SFO and towards Crescent City, I was able to get these pics of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges:

View of Golden Gate Bridge
from the plane

... and the Bay Bridge

I heard that there was a lighthouse in Crescent City that was worth checking out, so after landing, I took the short drive to the Battery Point Lighthouse and grabbed these shots:

Welcome to Oregon, enjoy your visit...

Cool fact- this lighthouse is also a museum, but apparently somebody lives here, so I didn't want to be rude and get too close.  Also, the lighthouse is located on an island which requires a small boat to reach it.  This made the decision even easier.  Maybe another time.  I strolled around the area for a bit, then it was time to get in the car and head north to the Oregon border and the town of Brookings.

I love the coast

Brookings is a really small town located along the Pacific Ocean.  My hotel, while not the best hotel I've ever been to, scored major points for being located right on the beach.  Man, nothing beats opening the window and enjoying the cool breeze, smelling the ocean air, looking out on the endless horizon, and reading the tsunami warnings that were posted EVERYWHERE!  Wait...what?!  Not because they were expecting anything, but as a precaution.  Geez!  You guys sure know how to make a guy feel uneasy.  Maybe I should grab dinner to get my mind off that possibility- after all, I've already had a couple of close calls with a hurricane, an earthquake, and a tornado in the past year.  I'd prefer to not add to the list.

After a dinner of scallops and fish at the Hungry Clam, I was ready to head back to the hotel to unwind and prepare to present the next day.

Fast forward to the following day at 4:00 and I'm back in the car (nope, didn't get the family truckster) heading to Grants Pass.  Now, if you look on a map, you will see that Grants Pass is northeast of Brookings, not that far away.  So why, I ask, is my GPS telling me to go south?  Well, let me to tell you- that's because you have to drive over an hour an a half BACK into California before you can cross over again into Oregon and continue another hour to make it to Grants Pass.  Definitely not the most direct route possible, but it was a nice, scenic drive nonetheless.  Here's a small sample:

Somewhere in Oregon

Somewhere Else in Oregon

Knowing it was going to be a quick turnaround, I didn't even bother unpacking anything.  Just wanted to check-in, drop-off my bags, and go eat.  After a quick search on Yelp, I found that Musashi Sushi Restaurant was the place to go.  Located in the downtown area, near "that one bar" and "the other bar" (I might mention here that Grants Pass is pretty small too), Musashi's claim to fame is the JD Roll, which consisted of shrimp tempura, salmon, onions, tobiko, and topped off with several lemons, sliced so thinly that you were supposed to eat it as part of the roll, rind and all.  It was an interesting concept to say the least, but you know what, it actually worked.  It really added a 'punch' of lemon, but not too overpowering.

All in all, it was pretty good couple of days in the Beaver State.  No rest for the weary, though.  After my work day it was time to head back to the airport (Medford this time) to meet up again with Aly, Chris, and Katie.  This time, though, I would be meeting them in Anaheim because we were about to embark on something really dumb, or maybe I should say Dumbo?  That's right, it was time for the Dumbo Double Dare Race Weekend!  I was about to run 19.3 miles in two days because, you know, half-marathons are so last month ;)  Never a dull moment!